Naoki Nagasaka

Naoki Nagasaka (born 24th April 1953) is a Japanese former racing driver. He is perhaps most famous for being the 1988 World Touring Car Masters Class B champion, driving for Nissan.

For much of his early international career, particularly in Formula One, Nagasaka was erroneously referred to as 'Naoki Nagasaki' - so much so that he is still often referred to by this name by many western publications to this day.

Formula One

Nagasaka's international bow would come at the early Japanese Grands Prix in 1976 and 1977, where he would unsuccessfully attempt to qualify with the Mitsuoka team on both occasions.

WTCM

1988

Nagasaka was selected as the team leader for Nissan at the launch of the WTCM in 1988, racing the controversial R32 Skyline at the opening round. Nagasaka would win the first ever race - a pre-qualifier at Bathurst - in the series amongst sheer domination from the Nissan team in the opening round. Ford would lodge a complaint to the FIA about the R32's legality, which was upheld - meaning the Nissan team would have to switch to the R31s for the remainder of the season and drop down into the B Class.

This did not dismay Nagasaka, as he'd successfully clinch the Class B title, his only competition coming from Argentinian independent Francisco Hernandez - also using an R31.

1989

Nissan and Nagasaka would return to the top class in 1989, this time with their R32s - however the Ford team had also stepped forward in terms of pace meaning the Nissan team was on the back foot again. Nagasaka would be the best of the Nissan team but would finish the season a distant fifth in class A - narrowly beating teammates Roland Asch and Andrea Geisler.

Complete WTCM Results

Year	Entrant	Car	Class																								WDC	Pts.	Class	Pts.
1988	Nismo Motorsport			Template:AUS				Template:USA								Template:FRA		Template:GBR				Template:BEL
				E	S	E	S	E	S	E	S	E	S	E	S	E	S	E	S	E	S	E	S	E
		Nissan Skyline R32	A	BAT 3	BAT Ret																						8th	115	17th	32
		Nissan Skyline R31 GTS-R	B			FUJ 8	FUJ 6	GLN 3	GLN 8	NOR 10	NOR Ret	KYA 8	KYA Ret	HOC 3	HOC 6	CHA Ret	CHA Ret	BIR Ret	BIR 21	MNZ 8	MNZ 10	SPA 20†	SPA 12	NUR Ret					1st	324
1989	Nismo Motorsport	Nissan Skyline R32	A			Template:USA				Template:FRA						Template:FRA		Template:GBR		Template:BEL				Template:AUS			4th	130	5th	181
				E	S	E	S	E	S	E	S	E	S	E	S	E	S	E	S	E	S	E	S	E
				FUJ 1	FUJ 4	GLN Ret	GLN 15	KYA 2	KYA 2	PAU DNQ	PAU DNQ	BRN 16†	BRN 2	MNZ 3	MNZ 5	CHA Ret	CHA 2	BIR DNQ	BIR DNQ	SPA 4	SPA Ret	NUR Ret	NUR Ret	BAT Ret
1990	Nissan Motorsport	Nissan Skyline R32	A			Template:USA				Template:GBR		Template:FRA						Template:FRA		Template:GBR		Template:BEL				Template:AUS	3rd	205	3rd	301
				E	S	E	S	E	S	E	S	E	S	E	S	E	S	E	S	E	S	E	S	E	S	E
				FUJ 7	FUJ 1	GLN 3	GLN 3	LAG Ret	LAG 15	BRH 3	BRH 5	PAU 8	PAU 18	BRN Ret	BRN 6	MNZ 4	MNZ 1	CHA Ret	CHA 4	BIR Ret	BIR 4	SPA 15	SPA 1	NUR Ret	NUR 13	BAT 2