Masahiro Hasemi

Masahiro Hasemi (born 13 November 1945, in Tokyo, Japan) is a Japanese former racing driver most notable for his appearances in Formula One and World Touring Car Masters.

Hasemi preparing for a Japanese Top Formula race in the early 1970s

Formula One

1976

Masahiro Hasemi made his Formula One racing debut at the inaugural Japanese Grand Prix for the unfancied Kojima Engineering at Fuji Speedway alongside Canadian rookie Gilles Villeneuve.

Against all odds, Hasemi brought the Kojima-Ford home in sixth place, scoring a point on his and his team's debut.

1977

Following his excellent result at Fuji the previous year, Hasemi was courted by several larger teams including Hesketh and Penske over the winter period. Hasemi spurned these advances and remained with the Kojima team for their sole entry in Japan.

World Touring Car Masters

1988

The newly formed World Touring Car Masters saw Nissan join the championship with three new Nissan Skyline R32s driven by Hasemi, Naoki Nagasaka and Kenji Katayama. The Skyline dominated the opening round in Australia, with Hasemi winning the Endurance race - but a protest from Ford saw the Skyline R32 have its homogolation withdrawn by the FIA for the rest of the season. The ruling saw Nissan return to the Skyline R31 GTS-R in the B Class division. The R31 proved quick for Hasemi and he took eight class wins over the course of the season on the way to third in class behind Nagasaka and independent driver Francisco Hernandez.

1989

With the R32 homogolated in time for the 1989 season, Nissan entered four Skylines for Hasemi, Nagasaka, new recruit Toshio Suzuki and Mercedes-Benz refugee and 1988 Class C Champion Roland Asch.

Unfortunately for Hasemi, his season would be a short one - after failing to qualify for the season opening race at Fuji Speedway, Hasemi was involved in a huge wreck at the Watkins Glen raceway which saw him suffer two broken legs - ending his season.

Hasemi was replaced by Impul's Kazuyoshi Hoshino, who in turn suffered an injury in the same car at the following round. Hoshino was replaced by 1988 Class D champion Andrea Geisler.

Complete Formula One Results

Year	Entrant	Chassis	Engine	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	WDC	Pts.
1976	Kojima Engineering	Kojima K007	Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8	BRA	RSA	USW	ESP	BEL	MON	SOV	FRA	GBR	GER	AUT	NED	ITA	CAN	USA	JPN 6	25th	1

Complete World Touring Car Masters Results

Year	Entrant	Car	Class	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	WDC	Pts.	Class	Cl. Pts.
1988	Nismo Motorsport	Nissan Skyline R32	A	MPC 1	MPC 7																				10th	91	16th	38
		Nissan Skyline R31 GTS-R	B			FUJ Ret	FUJ Ret	WAT 8	WAT 5	NOR 12	NOR 10	KYA DNQ	KYA DNQ	HOC 6	HOC Ret	CHA 17	CHA 22	BIR Ret	BIR 23	MON Ret	MON 24	SPA Ret	SPA 9	NUR 5			3rd	274
1989	Nismo Motorsport	Nissan Skyline R32	A	FUJ DNQ	FUJ DNQ	WAT DNQ	WAT DNQ																		N/A	N/A	21st	0