Yuki Takahashi (高橋 裕紀, Takahashi Yūki, born July 12, 1984[1]) is a Japanese Grand Prix motorcycle road racer. He currently races in the All Japan Road Race JSB1000 Championship aboard a Honda CBR1000RR. For 2009 he made his debut in the MotoGP class, with the Scot Racing Honda team but was subsequently dropped by the team after just seven rounds of the 2009 season due to financial issues. Until that point, he had spent his entire career with Honda.

Yuki Takahashi
Takahashi at the 2011 French Grand Prix
NationalityJapanese
Born (1984-06-12) June 12, 1984 (age 39)
Saitama, Japan
Current teamF.C.C. TSR Honda France (EWC)
Bike number5
Motorcycle racing career statistics
MotoGP World Championship
Active years2009
ManufacturersHonda
Championships0
2009 championship position21st (9 pts)
Starts Wins Podiums Poles F. laps Points
7 0 0 0 0 9
Moto2 World Championship
Active years20102015
ManufacturersTech 3, Moriwaki, Suter, FTR
Championships0
2015 championship position27th (2 pts)
Starts Wins Podiums Poles F. laps Points
64 1 4 0 0 170
250cc World Championship
Active years20022008
ManufacturersHonda
Championships0
2008 championship position5th (167 pts)
Starts Wins Podiums Poles F. laps Points
65 2 7 0 0 546
125cc World Championship
Active years2001
ManufacturersHonda
Championships0
2001 championship positionNC (0 pts)
Starts Wins Podiums Poles F. laps Points
1 0 0 0 0 0

Career edit

Early career edit

Born in Saitama, Saitama, Takahashi developed his talents through an HRC Racing Scholarship, a program which has supported many young Japanese riders and aims to help them into the top level of competition. He made a wild card appearance in the 125cc World Championship in Japan in 2001. Between 2002 and 2004 he made four wild card appearances in his home country in the 250cc World Championship, finishing in the top five in all four. He won the MFJ All Japan Road Race GP250 Championship in 2004, having previously finished runner-up in the MFJ All Japan Road Race GP125 Championship in 2001.

250cc World Championship edit

 
Takahashi at the 2008 Japanese Grand Prix, riding a Honda.

He became a full-time 250cc World Championship rider in 2005, finishing eleventh overall on a Honda. For 2006 and beyond Honda did not develop their 250cc two-stroke racing machine, but Takahashi was still able to take two wins and sixth overall. He came eleventh overall without a podium in 2007 as the team began to struggle, but in 2008 he took three podium finishes, and qualified eighth and finished sixth in his home race. In his final 250cc appearance at Valencia he qualified tenth, but rode well, finishing second. He ended up in fifth place in the final standings: his best performance since starting to compete in the World Championship.[2]

MotoGP World Championship edit

For the 2009 season he was handed a MotoGP spot for Team Scot Honda, thus replacing his former 250cc team-mate Andrea Dovizioso who headed for HRC's official Repsol Honda outfit.[3] After the JiR Team Scot team split, JiR attempted to remain in the class with Ben Spies, but Honda opted to support Team Scot instead. Takahashi struggled early in the season, with a best finish of twelfth at the Circuit de Catalunya. He crashed on the first lap there, and also had an early collision with Nicky Hayden on his home round.

On 1 July 2009 it was announced that the Scot Honda team would be terminating Takahashi's contract with immediate effect due to financial constraints.[4] He was replaced by Hungarian rider Gábor Talmácsi. It marked the first time since 1991 that no Japanese rider was competing in the premier category.

Moto2 World Championship edit

Takahashi has dropped down into the new Moto2 class for 2010, partnering Raffaele de Rosa at Tech 3.[5] He took his first victory in the class at Barcelona, after a ride-through penalty for Andrea Iannone.[6] He finished the season 12th overall, for 2011 he signed to ride for Gresini Racing aboard a Moriwaki, he took 2 podium finishes and finished 11th overall. For 2012 he joined NGM Mobile Forward Racing and rode a Suter for the first six rounds and a FTR for the remainder of the championship, the season was a disaster as Takahashi only failed to score points until the final round of the season at Valencia. He remained in Moto2 for 2013 and joined IDEMITSU Honda Team Asia, ran by Tadayuki Okada and rode a Moriwaki once again. Takahashi was dropped in favour of Azlan Shah Kamaruzaman for the Misano round onwards after failing to score a point in the opening 11 rounds.

Career statistics edit

Grand Prix motorcycle racing edit

By season edit

Season Class Motorcycle Team Race Win Podium Pole FLap Pts Plcd
2001 125cc Honda OSL SC & Okegawa School 1 0 0 0 0 0 NC
2002 250cc Honda Team HRC 1 0 1 0 0 16 21st
2003 250cc Honda Dy Do Miu Racing Team 2 0 1 0 0 29 18th
2004 250cc Honda Dydo Miu Racing 1 0 0 0 0 11 25th
2005 250cc Honda Team Scot 16 0 0 0 0 77 11th
2006 250cc Honda Humangest Racing Team 14 2 2 0 0 156 6th
2007 250cc Honda Kopron Team Scot 15 0 0 0 0 90 11th
2008 250cc Honda JiR Team Scot 250 16 0 3 0 0 167 5th
2009 MotoGP Honda Scot Racing Team MotoGP 7 0 0 0 0 9 21st
2010 Moto2 Tech 3 Tech 3 Racing 17 1 2 0 0 86 12th
2011 Moto2 Moriwaki Gresini Racing 17 0 2 0 0 77 11th
2012 Moto2 Suter Forward Racing 17 0 0 0 0 5 28th
FTR
2013 Moto2 Moriwaki IDEMITSU Honda Team Asia 11 0 0 0 0 0 NC
2014 Moto2 Moriwaki Moriwaki Racing 1 0 0 0 0 0 NC
2015 Moto2 Moriwaki Moriwaki Racing 1 0 0 0 0 2 27th
Total 137 3 11 0 0 725

By class edit

Class Seasons 1st GP 1st Pod 1st Win Race Win Podiums Pole FLap Pts WChmp
125cc 2001 2001 Pacific 1 0 0 0 0 0 0
250cc 2002–2008 2002 Pacific 2002 Pacific 2006 France 65 2 7 0 0 546 0
MotoGP 2009 2009 Qatar 7 0 0 0 0 9 0
Moto2 2010–2015 2010 Qatar 2010 Catalunya 2010 Catalunya 64 1 4 0 0 170 0
Total 2002–2015 137 3 11 0 0 725

Races by year edit

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year Class Bike 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 Pos Pts
2001 125cc Honda JPN RSA SPA FRA ITA CAT NED GBR GER CZE POR VAL PAC
Ret
AUS MAL BRA NC 0
2002 250cc Honda JPN RSA SPA FRA ITA CAT NED GBR GER CZE POR BRA PAC
3
MAL AUS VAL 21st 16
2003 250cc Honda JPN
3
RSA SPA FRA ITA CAT NED GBR GER CZE POR BRA PAC
4
MAL AUS VAL 18th 29
2004 250cc Honda RSA SPA FRA ITA CAT NED BRA GER GBR CZE POR JPN
5
QAT MAL AUS VAL 25th 11
2005 250cc Honda SPA
Ret
POR
7
CHN
10
FRA
10
ITA
Ret
CAT
7
NED
15
GBR
Ret
GER
9
CZE
Ret
JPN
4
MAL
7
QAT
8
AUS
Ret
TUR
Ret
VAL
7
11th 77
2006 250cc Honda SPA
4
QAT
9
TUR
5
CHN
5
FRA
1
ITA
4
CAT
7
NED
6
GBR
7
GER
1
CZE MAL
4
AUS
Ret
JPN
Ret
POR
6
VAL
DNS
6th 156
2007 250cc Honda QAT
7
SPA
8
TUR
Ret
CHN
DNS
FRA ITA
11
CAT
Ret
GBR
4
NED
10
GER
8
CZE
Ret
RSM
9
POR
Ret
JPN
4
AUS
10
MAL
9
VAL
8
11th 90
2008 250cc Honda QAT
5
SPA
3
POR
6
CHN
7
FRA
4
ITA
Ret
CAT
12
GBR
9
NED
8
GER
9
CZE
6
RSM
2
INP
C
JPN
6
AUS
7
MAL
4
VAL
2
5th 167
2009 MotoGP Honda QAT
15
JPN
Ret
SPA
12
FRA
13
ITA
Ret
CAT
Ret
NED
15
USA GER GBR CZE INP RSM POR AUS MAL VAL 21st 9
2010 Moto2 Tech 3 QAT
Ret
SPA
4
FRA
Ret
ITA
8
GBR
18
NED
10
CAT
1
GER
Ret
CZE
2
INP
26
RSM
Ret
ARA
12
JPN
6
MAL
Ret
AUS
17
POR
26
VAL
18
12th 86
2011 Moto2 Moriwaki QAT
5
SPA
Ret
POR
3
FRA
2
CAT
Ret
GBR
7
NED
Ret
ITA
14
GER
Ret
CZE
12
INP
25
RSM
7
ARA
31
JPN
30
AUS
10
MAL
Ret
VAL
Ret
11th 77
2012 Moto2 Suter QAT
19
SPA
21
POR
Ret
FRA
17
CAT
21
GBR
25
28th 5
FTR NED
20
GER
Ret
ITA
17
INP
27
CZE
18
RSM
Ret
ARA
22
JPN
15
MAL
15
AUS
15
VAL
14
2013 Moto2 Moriwaki QAT
23
AME
18
SPA
22
FRA
17
ITA
23
CAT
20
NED
25
GER
18
INP
21
CZE
17
GBR
22
RSM ARA MAL AUS JPN VAL NC 0
2014 Moto2 Moriwaki QAT AME ARG SPA FRA ITA CAT NED GER INP CZE GBR RSM ARA JPN
26
AUS MAL VAL NC 0
2015 Moto2 Moriwaki QAT AME ARG SPA FRA ITA CAT NED GER INP CZE GBR RSM ARA JPN
14
AUS MAL VAL 27th 2

References edit

  1. ^ "MotoGP on G+" (in Japanese). Archived from the original on 2007-12-14. Retrieved 2008-02-07.
  2. ^ Cashman, Garret (2008-09-28). "Yuki Takahashi runs a determined race at the Grand Prix of Japan". London Bikers. Media Panther Ltd. Retrieved 2010-04-13.
  3. ^ Birt, Matthew (2008-09-26). "Motegi MotoGP: Yuki Takahashi makes MotoGP switch". Motorcycle News. Bauer Media Group. Retrieved 2010-04-13.
  4. ^ "Insidebikes: Takahashi dropped by Scot Honda". Retrieved 2009-07-01.
  5. ^ "Tech 3 names Moto2 riders, Romagnoli joins". crash.net. Crash Media Group. 2009-11-10. Retrieved 2010-04-13.
  6. ^ O'Leary, Jamie (2010-07-04). "Takahashi takes maiden victory". autosport.com. Haymarket Publications. Retrieved 2010-07-04.

External links edit