Masao Suenaga
| Masao Suenaga | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Nationality |  Japan |
| Born | 13 February 1978 Kagoshima |
| Related to | Naoto Suenaga |
| D1 Grand Prix career | |
| Debut season | 2002 |
| Current team | NANKANG TIRE DRIFT TEAM D-MAX |
| 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 retired Japanese professional drifting driver. 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.[citation needed]
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.[citation needed]
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.[citation needed]
He had been with RE Amemiya for years, but left in 2016. In 2017, he was picked up by Toyo Tires GLION TRUST RACING and became teammate of Masato Kawabata. He drove Nissan GT-R (R35).[citation needed]From 2020, he belongs to D-MAX and works with Masashi Yokoi.[2]
He announce his retirement from professional drifting at 2024 Tokyo Auto Salon due to personal reasons.[3] By the time of his retirement, he have the most D1GP win without winning the championship and he holds record for the fastest time around Tsukuba circuit in D1GP car which he set in 2014.[4]
Complete Drifting Results
[edit]| Colour | Result |
|---|---|
| Gold | Winner |
| Silver | 2nd place |
| Bronze | 3rd place |
| Green | Last 4 [Semi-final] |
| Blue | Last 8 [Quarter-final] |
| Purple | Last 16 (16) [1st Tsuiou Round OR Tandem Battle] (Numbers are given to indicate Top 10 finish) |
| Black | Disqualified (DSQ) (Given to indicate that the driver has been stripped of their position through disqualification) |
| White | First Round (TAN) [Tansou OR Qualifying Single Runs] |
| Red | Did not qualify (DNQ) |
- When driver's position are highlighted in blue, this indicates either the driver earned 100pt or 100pt tansou (solo run) bonus has been awarded, with the latter being in use for Pre-2005.
D1 Grand Prix
[edit]| 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 | |
| 2017 | TOYO TIRES GLION TRUST RACING | Nissan R35 | ODB 28 |
ODB R |
TKB 3 |
MSI 1 |
EBS 22 |
EBS 22 |
ODB 20 |
11 | 55 |
D1 Street Legal
[edit]| 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
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ "サービス終了のお知らせ".
- ^ D-Max (10 January 2020). "D-Max 2020 Line Up". X.
- ^ D-MAX (18 January 2024). 末永正雄選手 活動休止 D1GP引退. Retrieved 26 November 2024 – via YouTube.
- ^ VIDEO OPTION (5 November 2018). 2014 D1マシンスーパーラップ V OPT 251 ⑦. Retrieved 26 November 2024 – via YouTube.
External links
[edit]- (in Japanese)Gowasu?のホームページ - Official page
- (in Japanese)D1 Supporter profile
- (in Japanese)D1 Supporter profile (D1SL)