Katsumasa Chiyo

Katsumasa Chiyo (千代勝正) is a Japanese factory racing driver, currently competing in the Autobacs Super GT Series as a factory driver for Nissan.

He is a graduate of the Nissan Driver Development Program (NDDP), and a past champion of the Bathurst 12 Hour race, and the GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup.

He finished 28th in the standings after taking just one points-scoring finish.

Chiyo began racing cars in 2007, competing in the Formula Challenge Japan (FCJ) series after earning a scholarship from the NDDP.

He finished third in the 2008 FCJ series, before moving into the National Class of the All-Japan Formula Three Championship in 2009.

Chiyo won the National Class title in 2011 with NDDP Racing, winning five races to defeat Honda prospect Tomoki Nojiri on a tie breaker.

After winning the All-Japan F3 National Class title in 2011, Chiyo stepped up to the Autobacs Super GT Series, racing a Nissan GT-R GT3 in the GT300 class for NDDP Racing.

He took his first victory at Sportsland SUGO with Yuhi Sekiguchi, and went on to finish the season in fourth place.

Chiyo returned to All-Japan F3 in 2013, competing in the main class with the B-Max Racing Team.

He finished third in the championship, with two victories.

Chiyo took part in the 2013 Macau Grand Prix, finishing in 15th place.

With NDDP prospect Daiki Sasaki moving up to GT300, Chiyo moved to pro-am team Dijon Racing for the 2013 season.

After missing the 2014 season due to his new commitments in Europe, Chiyo returned to Super GT in 2015, this time with Gainer in their new Nissan GT-R alongside André Couto.

Chiyo and Couto won the second round of the championship, the Fuji 500km.

Then in the Suzuka 1000km, Chiyo, Couto, and third driver Ryuichiro Tomita won the GT300 class, despite carrying 88 kilogrammes of Success Ballast.

Chiyo finished the season second in the championship, despite missing two races due to his ongoing commitments in the GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup.

Chiyo began racing in the Blancpain Endurance Series (now the GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup) in 2014, driving a Nissan GT-R Nismo GT3 for RJN Motorsport.

He scored a podium finish at Circuit Paul Ricard.

In 2015, Chiyo made a one off return to F3 at Fuji Speedway.

Along with Alex Buncombe and Wolfgang Reip, Chiyo won the 2015 series.

In 2016, Chiyo returned to F3 to contest the full season with B-Max Racing.

He won one race, and finished sixth in the championship, after missing four races over two rounds due to a back injury.

His performances in Japan and Europe secured a promotion to the GT500 class for the 2016 season, joining three-time GT500 champion Satoshi Motoyama at MOLA.

Chiyo and Motoyama finished third at Okayama International Circuit in their first race together.

Chiyo suffered a spinal injury after a crash in the summer race at Fuji, which forced him to miss over a month of competition including the Suzuka 1000km.

He finished the season twelfth in the standings in 2016, and again in 2017, where Chiyo nearly took his first premier class victory at Sugo after a last-lap battle between Motoyama and Kohei Hirate.

They finished 17th in the championship that season.

After the season, Chiyo was assigned to drive in the Intercontinental GT Challenge for Nissan and KC Motorgroup (KCMG), resulting in his second sabbatical from Super GT.

At the sixth round of the season in Autopolis, Chiyo was called on as a last-minute replacement for James Rossiter at Calsonic Team Impul, after Rossiter was diagnosed with acute tinnitus.

Chiyo and Motoyama remained team mates in 2018, as MOLA were replaced in GT500 by the new NDDP Racing with B-Max team.

Chiyo returned to full-time GT500 competition in 2020, returning to NDDP Racing with B-Max alongside Hirate.

They ranked 13th in the championship in 2020, and both drivers were retained for 2021.

In 2022, Mitsunori Takaboshi, a fellow NDDP graduate, replaced Hirate at NDDP Racing alongside Chiyo, coinciding with the debut of the new Nissan Z GT500.

At long last, Chiyo won for the first time as a GT500 driver when he and Takaboshi won the Suzuka GT 300km Race.

It was also the first win for the new Z in GT500.

Chiyo scored his second career win at Sugo in September, winning in a wet race.

Chiyo and Takaboshi would finish second in the GT500 championship standings, a career-best for both drivers.

Both drivers remained at NDDP Racing for the 2023 season.

Chiyo and Takaboshi were leading the Suzuka GT 450km Race on 4 June when the race was red-flagged following a severe accident involving NISMO driver Tsugio Matsuda.

Because they had not made two pit stops to fulfill the sporting regulations for the event, they were dropped from first to fourth in the final classification.