Tsugio Matsuda

Tsugio Matsuda (松田 次生) is a Japanese professional racing driver for Nissan and NISMO in the Super GT Series, and a team principal for KCMG in the Super Formula Championship.

Matsuda began his karting career in 1993, and achieved a notable result by winning the 1996 CIK/FIA Asia-Pacific Championship ICA Class race at his home track, Suzuka Circuit.

He enrolled in the Suzuka Circuit Racing School Formula (SRS-F) in 1997 and graduated alongside classmates Toshihiro Kaneishi and future two-time Indianapolis 500 winner Takuma Sato.

He raced in Super Formula from 1998 to 2013, and won back-to-back series titles in 2007 and 2008, when the series was known as Formula Nippon.

Matsuda has also represented Nissan in the FIA World Endurance Championship and Intercontinental GT Challenge.

Matsuda made the step up to the All-Japan Formula Three Championship in 1998, driving for Satoru Nakajima.

He won his first race at the new Twin Ring Motegi circuit and finished fourth in the championship.

Matsuda remained in All-Japan F3 for 1999, and finished fifth in the championship.

After the season, he finished fourth in that year's Macau Grand Prix.

During his rookie season in All-Japan F3, Matsuda was called on to drive for Nakajima Racing in the fifth round of the Formula Nippon Championship at Suzuka, replacing Koji Yamanishi.

Matsuda began racing full-time in GT500 in 2001.

He spent the following five seasons driving for Nakajima Racing and scored his first career win at Twin Ring Motegi.

His most successful season during this time was in 2002, partnered with Ralph Firman.

They won three races that season, but Matsuda and Firman lost the Drivers' Championship by one point to Toyota Team LeMans' Akira Iida and Juichi Wakisaka.

For most the next three seasons, Matsuda drove alongside future three-time 24 Hours of Le Mans winner André Lotterer.

Matsuda transferred from Nakajima Racing to Cerumo in 2003, then from Cerumo to Team 5Zigen in 2005.

At the last race of the season, Matsuda talked with Team Impul founder Kazuyoshi Hoshino, who was seeking a driver to replace Yuji Ide at his team after his departure to Formula One.

Matsuda and Lotterer won the 2004 round at Motegi, and finished second in the 2005 summer race at Fuji following an intense battle for the lead between Matsuda and eventual series champion, Yuji Tachikawa.

Matsuda joined Impul in 2006, and enjoyed his finest season to date - with a win at Autopolis, six podiums, and a pole position.

He finished as runner-up in the championship to team-mate Benoît Tréluyer.

The following season, Matsuda won an unlikely first series championship in Formula Nippon, despite not winning a race.

He was consistent throughout 2007, with eight top-five finishes in nine races.

Matsuda was crowned the champion shortly after the final round at Suzuka after Takashi Kogure, who provisionally won the race and was champion-elect, was later disqualified when his car failed post-race technical inspection instead.

Matsuda would return in 2008, and had his best-ever season.

He won three races in a row to open the season, four of the first five, with five straight pole positions in each.

He clinched the championship at Fuji with two races remaining, and became the first driver since the formation of the Japan Race Promotion (JRP) to win back-to-back Formula Nippon Championship titles.

Matsuda finished the season with five wins, six pole positions, and seven podiums.

Matsuda slumped the following season and finished 11th in the 2009 standings out of just 13 drivers.

He was replaced by a returning João Paulo de Oliveira in 2010, while Matsuda joined Kondo Racing from the fourth round.

A lack of sponsorship forced him to miss the 2011 season, but at the non-championship JAF Grand Prix round at Fuji Speedway, Matsuda returned to drive for KCMG in place of an absent Alexandre Imperatori.

Matsuda rejoined Impul in 2012 as Oliveira's team-mate.

He returned to the podium with a second-place finish at Suzuka.

Matsuda then opened the 2013 season, in what was now known as the Super Formula Championship, with another second-place finish, also at Suzuka.

He is the Super GT Series' all-time career wins leader in the GT500 class, and a two-time GT500 class champion in 2014 and 2015.

Just a few weeks after his 19th birthday, Matsuda finished sixth and scored a championship point on debut.

His first full-time ride in Formula Nippon came two years later when he joined Nakajima Racing alongside the returning Toranosuke Takagi.

In just his fourth career race at Miné Circuit, Matsuda won the race, becoming the youngest Japanese driver to win a Formula Nippon race at 20 years, 11 months, and 3 days old.

Six years after his last race as a Super Formula driver, Matsuda was appointed team principal of KCMG in 2019.

In the same year that Matsuda made his full-time Formula Nippon debut, he made his All-Japan Grand Touring Car Championship GT500 class debut on 10 September at TI Circuit Aida, driving the number 30 McLaren F1 GTR for privateer Team Take One.

Matsuda finished fourth in his debut race, and despite retiring from the final two races, he finished 19th in the championship standings.