Rio Shimono

 

Rio Shimono is a Japanese driver who won her class in the Japanese TCR championship in 2020.

She made her major debut in the 2020 Japanese TCR series, although this was delayed by the coronavirus outbreak. 

The 19-year-old drove a Honda Civic run by Drago Corse when the championship restarted and won the Bronze class outright. She was second in the main Saturday series championship with one race win at Suzuka. She was fourth in the Sunday series that ran alongside it, with third places at Twin Ring Motegi and Suzuka.

During 2020 she became friendly with her fellow Drago Corse driver Tatiana Calderon, who was racing for the team in Super Formula. 

In 2021, she was third in the Kyojo Cup, an all-female one-make sportscar championship in Japan. Drago Corse ran her car. She entered the Kyojo Cup, which has a short season, again in 2022.

Rio previously raced in the Super FJ Series in Japan, an entry-level championship based at the Okuyama circuit. She scored two wins during the 2019 season, which was her first as a racing driver.

In 2022, she returned to single-seaters, entering the F4 Japan championship with Zap Speed team. Her season started badly with a lowly 34th place at Fuji, but she improved dramatically to 16th place in the second Fuji race. At the next rounds at Suzuka, she was 22nd and 34th, falling in the middle of the three Zap Speed cars. She did four more races, entering the top twenty once more at Suzuka with an 18th place.

Her second F4 Japan season gave her a 19th place. She was seventh in the first round at Fuji, but could not match that performance for the rest of the year. Normally, she was in the lower half of the top 20.

Her long-term ambition is the World Touring Car Championship.

(Image copyright Japan TCR)