Masao Suenaga
| Masao Suenaga | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Nationality |
 Japan |
| Born |
February 13, 1978 Kagoshima |
| Related to | Naoto Suenaga |
| D1 Grand Prix career | |
| Debut season | 2002 |
| Current team | RE Amemiya with Greddy |
| Wins | 3 |
| Best finish | 2 in 2005 & 2014 |
| Previous series | |
| 2006-2007 | D1 Street Legal |
Masao Suenaga (末永正雄 Suenaga Masao, 13 February 1978, Kagoshima) is a Japanese professional drifting driver, currently competing in the D1 Grand Prix series for RE Amemiya and Greddy. He is the younger brother of Naoto who both were taught by Nobushige Kumakubo.
He began his motorsport career racing minibikes in the Kyūshū area, later winning a title. Following this, his motorcycle racing career ended at the age of 20 caused by injuries. As Naoto was involved in the 'Tono Club' hashiriya group (which one of the members included Katsuhiro Ueo), he also became involved which he was taught how to drift by Naoto. Masao later joined the 'Gowasu?' hashiriya group.[1]
He has been competing in the D1 Grand Prix series since 2002. In 2002 and 2003 he was the youngest driver to compete in the top 16 and he was soon picked up by RE Amemiya a renowned tuner of rotary powered cars. So he switched from his Nissan Silvia to a Mazda RX-7 (FD3S) went from strength to strength. The Silvia would be driven by Naoto until he became one of the Kumakubo led Team Orange drivers. Masao took his first win in 2005 and went on to place second overall. He had a slight lull in his performance in 2006, but was back on form in 2007 winning twice and finishing the season in third.
He is one of the few D1GP drivers to compete the spinoff D1 Street Legal series in his own FD RX-7 winning the first two rounds of the inaugural season.
Suenaga competed in the M150 20B-Powered FD3S RX-7 in the inaugural Formula Drift: Asia at Fuji Speedway Japan where he would take first place against Masashi Yokoi.
Complete Drifting Results
(key)
D1 Grand Prix
| Year | Entrant | Car | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | Position | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2002 | Toyota Corolla Levin AE86 | BHH TAN |
EBS DNQ |
SGO 6 |
TKB 16 |
EBS DNQ |
SEK TAN |
NIK 4 |
12 | 24 | ||
| 2003 | Nissan Silvia PS13 | TKB 16 |
BHH 10 |
SGO 5 |
FUJ 16 |
EBS TAN |
SEK 16 |
TKB 8 |
13 | 20 | ||
| 2004 | RE Amemiya | Nissan Silvia S13 | IRW 16 |
16 | 14 | |||||||
| Mazda RX-7 FD3S | SGO 8 |
EBS 16 |
APS TAN |
ODB DNQ |
EBS TAN |
TKB 7 |
||||||
| 2005 | RE Amemiya | Mazda RX-7 FD3S | IRW 6 |
ODB 5 |
SGO 6 |
APS 3 |
EBS 4 |
FUJ 1 |
TKB 4 |
2 | 96 | |
| 2006 | RE Amemiya | Mazda RX-7 FD3S | IRW TAN |
SGO 3 |
FUJ TAN |
APS 6 |
EBS 6 |
SUZ 10 |
FUJ 16 |
IRW 6 |
8 | 51 |
| 2007 | RE Amemiya | Mazda RX-7 FD3S | EBS 3 |
FUJ 2 |
SUZ 1 |
SGO 4 |
EBS 11 |
APS 13 |
FUJ 1 |
3 | 92 | |
| 2008 | RE Amemiya | Mazda RX-7 FD3S | EBS 4 |
FUJ 4 |
SUZ 13 |
OKY 5 |
APS 6 |
EBS NS |
FUJ 1 |
3 | 89 |
D1 Street Legal
| Year | Entrant | Car | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | Position | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2006 | Mazda RX-7 FD3S | SEK 1 |
EBS 1 |
SGO |
FUJ |
APS |
EBS |
SEK |
|||
| 2007 | Mazda RX-7 FD3S | SEK |
SUZ |
SGO |
EBS |
SEK |
Sources
References
External links
- (Japanese)Gowasu?のホームページ - Official page
- (Japanese)D1 Supporter profile
- (Japanese)D1 Supporter profile (D1SL)