Shinobu Katayama

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Shinobu Katayama
Nationality Flag of Japan svg.png Japanese
Born 7 April, 1990
Tsukuba, Ibaraki
Current Team Template:FRA Venturi
Car Number 39
Former Teams Template:AUS Minardi
Flag of Japan svg.png Sunshine
Flag of Japan svg.png Revolution
Template:GBR Lomas
Flag of Finland svg.png/Flag of Germany svg.png Nurminen
Races 87 (62 starts)
Championships 0
Victories 2
Podiums 8
Points 61
Pole Positions 2
Fastest Laps 5
First Race 2012 Tasman Grand Prix
First Victory 2013 Japanese Grand Prix
Last Victory 2014 Macau Grand Prix
Last Race 2018 German Grand Prix (Ongoing)
Best Finish 3rd (2014)


Shinobu Katayama (born 7th April 1990, Tsukuba, Ibaraki, Japan) is a female Japanese racing driver, currently driving for the Venturi team in the AutoReject World Series' 2018 season. Behind 2012 champion Pippa Mann, Katayama is the most successful female driver in the history of the F1RWRS and ARWS.

Early Career

Living close to the Tsukuba circuit, Shinobu at a young age wanted to be a racing driver. She won several karting championships before she was 12 and won the Japanese Karting Championship at 15. During high school she flirted with Formula Suzuki and came 3rd despite only completing in half the races and won 75% of the races she entered. She was signed by Nissan as part of their young driver program. The Japanese F3 championship was won when she was 18, Formula Nippon at 20 and the inaugural F1RLFS Cup at 21 with just one last-minute race victory. By the time the series was taken over by Finnish NVRT Holdings under the guise of Rejects of LFS, the driver's championship trophy (won by Cave Johnson and Marcel Agyemang-Badu in 2014 and 2015 respectively) is named after her.

Career in the F1RWRS

Australian Minardi (2012)

Katayama made her first appearance in the F1RWRS mid-way through the 2012 season, driving a second car for Australian Minardi. This came about following the takeover of the team by Nissan's motorsport arm Nismo, who desired a Japanese presence in the team. Katayama was guaranteed a place at the team for 2013 anyway, but was given the last six races of 2012 to get herself accustomed to the series. Following her debut at the Tasman GP, Katayama generally struggled for performance, however she was able to finish a strong fourth at the Australian Grand Prix, her first ever points finish, and Australian Minardi's last before the full takeover by Nissan took effect.

Sunshine Infiniti (2013-2014)

At the end of 2012, the Australian Minardi team was re-branded as Sunshine Infiniti and used Nissan engines badged as Infinitis, the name of the manufacturer's luxury vehicle arm. Katayama was thus retained in the new team, and was partnered by fellow countryman Hagane Shizuka. The Sunshine SN-1 suffered greatly with unreliability over the course of the 2013 season however, and consequently Katayama only finished three races over the whole year, though she was classified as completing over 90% of the race distance in a further two. In all three races she scored points though, starting with fifth at the US Grand Prix, followed by her first podium with second place at Portugal, where she also took fastest lap, a feat she achieved on three other occasions during the year. Her final finish was also her best, at her home race, the Japanese Grand Prix, she took pole position, and went on to win in front of a jubilant Japanese crowd. With a total of 18 points over the year, it was enough to give Katayama joint 8th place in the drivers' championship by the end of the season, tied with Daniel Melrose.

For 2014, Katayama remained with Sunshine, and reaped the benefit of a more reliable car. Whilst teammate Kay Lon struggled greatly with accidents and mechanical issues, Katayama was able to consistently finish and pick up a number of good results. By half distance she had scored all of the team's 15 points, with a best result of two second places at Australia and France. A third place at the ninth race of the year, the German GP, meant she had beaten her score from 2013 with another seven races left to go.

Racing record

Career summary

Year Series Team Position
2006 Formula Suzuki ?? 3rd
2007 Japanese F3 ?? ??
2008 Japanese F3 ?? 1st
2009 Formula Nippon ?? ??
2010 Formula Nippon ?? 1st
2011 LFS Cup Sunshine Infiniti 1st
2012 F1RWRS Australian Minardi 25th
2013 F1RWRS Sunshine Infiniti 8th
2014 F1RWRS Sunshine Infiniti 3rd
2015 F1RWRS Sunshine Daihatsu 18th
2016 F1RWRS Revolution Engineering 43rd
2017 F1RWRS Rob Lomas Racing 26th
BASF Nurminen Grand Prix
2018 ARWS Venturi Formula 18th

Complete LFS Cup results

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

Complete F1RWRS and ARWS results

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

Year Entrant Chassis Engine 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 DC Pts
2012 Australian Minardi Minardi PS10 BMW P86/12 BAV SAX GER LUX BEL NED GBR KEN ENG TAS
10
SUR
Ret
NSW
12
AUS
4
CHN
22
USA
14
500
15
25th 5
2013 Sunshine Infiniti Sunshine SN-1 Infiniti GLX13T TAS
Ret
AUS
Ret
MEX
Ret
USA
5
MON
Ret
FRA
11†
GBR
11†
GER
Ret
NED
Ret
BEL
Ret
POR
2
MED
Ret
MAC
Ret
CHN
Ret
JPN
1
BRA
Ret
8th 18
2014 Sunshine Infiniti Sunshine SN-2 Infiniti GLX14T TAS
4
AUS
2
BRA
12
MEX
8
USA
Ret
MON
Ret
FRA
2
GBR
12
GER
3
BEL
6
ITA
3
MED
Ret
NED
9
MAC
1
CHN
3
JPN
10
3rd 38
2015 Sunshine Daihatsu Sunshine SD-01 Daihatsu Zeetec-R1 TAS
Ret
AUS MED MON
Ret
MEX USA CAN GBR 18th 6
ArrowTech-Acuri Autosport Arrowtech AT-05 Renault RS1 GER
4
BEL
15
AUT
4
ITA
Ret
Revolution Engineering DMS Revolution HS-15 Honda RA101E NED
DNQ
CHN
DNPQ
JPN
Ret
BRA
DNPQ
2016 Revolution Engineering DMS Revolution HS-16 Renault RSXXI-16 AUS
DNPQ
NSW
DNPQ
GBR
DNPQ
ITA
Ret
AUT
DNPQ
CAN
DNPQ
SUS
DNPQ
NUS
DNPQ
GER
DNPQ
NED
DNPQ
MON
DNPQ
BEL
DNPQ
MEX ARG CHN
DNPQ
JPN
DNPQ
43rd 0
2017 Rob Lomas Racing Lomas RLR-P01 Audi AF1-4 AUS NSW GBR
Ret
ITA
DNPQ
AUT
DNPQ
CAN
6
SUS
Ret
NUS
DNPQ
GER
DNPQ
NED
DNPQ
MON
DNPQ
BEL
DNPQ
26th 1
BASF Nurminen Grand Prix Nurminen NRE Type 01 Holden LSF1-17 MOR
DNQ
ARG
12†
JPN
Ret
CHN
Ret
2018 Venturi Formula Venturi V2-001 Yamaha OX64 AUS
14†
NSW
DNPQ
ITA
Ret
MAR
Ret
CAL
Ret
USA
11
CAN
Ret
GBR
10
AUT
Ret
GER
7
SCA
9
BEL
Ret
MON
Ret
RSA
11†
BRA
Ret
ARG
JPN
CHN
18th* 0*

* Season still in progress.
† Did not finish, but was classified as she had completed more than 90% of the race distance.

Sporting Accolades
Preceded by:
None
LFS Cup Champion
2011
Succeeded by:
Cave Johnson
2014