Seiji Ara

Seiji Ara (荒聖治; Ara Seiji) (born May 5, 1974 in Chiba, Japan) is a Japanese race car driver.

Ara was the winner of the 24-hour Le Mans race in 2004, driving an Audi R8. In the same year, he also raced in the Le Mans Endurance Series and Japanese GT Championship.[citation needed]

In earlier years, Ara had competed in Formula Nippon (2001–2002), Japanese Formula 3 (1997–2000) and the Barber Dodge Pro Series (1995).[citation needed]

Ara made his World Touring Car Championship debut with Wiechers-Sport at the 2009 FIA WTCC Race of Japan.[citation needed]

Racing record

24 Hours of Le Mans results

Year	Team	Co-Drivers	Car	Class	Laps	Pos.	Class Pos.
2001	France Viper Team Oreca	Japan Masahiko Kondo Portugal Ni Amorim	Chrysler LMP	LMP900	243	DNF	DNF
2002	Japan Audi Sport Japan Team Goh	Japan Hiroki Katoh France Yannick Dalmas	Audi R8	LMP900	358	7th	6th
2003	Japan Audi Sport Japan Team Goh	Denmark Jan Magnussen Germany Marco Werner	Audi R8	LMP900	370	4th	2nd
2004	Japan Audi Sport Japan Team Goh	Italy Rinaldo Capello Denmark Tom Kristensen	Audi R8	LMP900	379	1st	1st
2005	Japan Jim Gainer International	Japan Ryo Michigami Japan Katsutomo Kaneishi	Dome S101Hb-Mugen	LMP1	193	DNF	DNF
2009	Japan Navi Team Goh	Japan Keisuke Kunimoto Germany Sascha Maassen	Porsche RS Spyder Evo	LMP2	339	DNF	DNF
2012	France Pescarolo Team	France Nicolas Minassian France Sébastien Bourdais	Dome S102.5-Judd	LMP1	203	NC	NC

Complete GT1 World Championship results

Year	Team	Car	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	Pos	Points
2010	Swiss Racing Team	Nissan	ABU QR 12	ABU CR Ret	SIL QR 14	SIL CR 9	BRN QR 15	BRN CR 14	PRI QR 12	PRI CR Ret	SPA QR 17	SPA CR 16	NÜR QR 17	NÜR CR 21	ALG QR 11	ALG CR 18	NAV QR 13	NAV CR Ret	INT QR 13	INT CR 16	SAN QR Ret	SAN CR 13	42nd	2

Complete JGTC/Super GT results

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

Year	Team	Car	Class	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	DC	Pts
2000	TOM'S	Toyota Supra	GT500	MOT 9	FUJ Ret	SUG 8	FUJ 14	TAI 12	MIN 9	SUZ 12			21st	7
2001	Tsuchiya Engineering	Toyota Supra	GT500	TAI 9	FUJ 11	SUG 11	FUJ DNQ	MOT 7	SUZ 7	MIN 10			19th	11
2002	Tsuchiya Engineering	Toyota Supra	GT500	TAI 6	FUJ	SUG 11	SEP Ret	FUJ 3	MOT 9	MIN 5	SUZ 7		16th	32
2003	Tsuchiya Racing	Toyota Supra	GT500	TAI 10	FUJ	SUG 4	FUJ 14	FUJ 17	MOT 3	AUT 12	SUZ Ret		13th	26
2004	Team Cerumo	Toyota Supra	GT500	TAI 5	SUG 1	SEP 7	TOK 14	MOT 10	AUT 11	SUZ 4			5th	45
2005	Kraft	Toyota Supra	GT500	OKA Ret	FUJ 7	SEP 12	SUG 14	MOT 11	FUJ 16	AUT 12	SUZ 16		19th	4
2006	Kondo Racing	Nissan Z	GT500	SUZ	OKA	FUJ	SEP	SUG 10	SUZ 5	MOT 6	AUT 14	FUJ 3	16th	28
2007	Kondo Racing	Nissan Z	GT500	SUZ Ret	OKA 15	FUJ Ret	SEP 1	SUG 10	SUZ 10	MOT 5	AUT Ret	FUJ 5	10th	34
2008	Kondo Racing	Nissan GT-R	GT500	SUZ 5	OKA 8	FUJ 11	SEP 1	SUG 8	SUZ 7	MOT 14	AUT 16	FUJ 15	14th	34
2009	Kondo Racing	Nissan GT-R	GT500	OKA 1	SUZ 8	FUJ 4	SEP 5	SUG 13	SUZ 11	FUJ 13	AUT 3	MOT 11	8th	48
2011	Lexus Team WedsSport BANDOH	Lexus SC430	GT500	OKA 15	FUJ 3	SEP 11	SUG 8	SUZ 11	FUJ 13	AUT 7	MOT 11		13th	18
2012	Lexus Team WedsSport BANDOH	Lexus SC430	GT500	OKA 12	FUJ 13	SEP 9	SUG Ret	SUZ 6	FUJ 3	AUT 3	MOT 5		9th	36
2013	Lexus Team WedsSport BANDOH	Lexus SC430	GT500	OKA 14	FUJ 11	SEP 15	SUG 9	SUZ 6	FUJ Ret	AUT 13	MOT 10		14th	9
2014	BMW Sports Trophy Team Studie	BMW Z4 GT3	GT300	OKA 2	FUJ 4	AUT 15	SUG 8	SUZ 7	FUJ 3	BUR 2	MOT 7		3rd	62
2015	BMW Sports Trophy Team Studie	BMW Z4 GT3	GT300	OKA Ret	FUJ 6	CHA 3	FUJ Ret	SUZ 2	SUG 19	AUT 3	MOT 9		7th	47
2016	BMW Team Studie	BMW M6 GT3	GT300	OKA 3	FUJ 24	SUG 10	FUJ 20	SUZ DNS	CHA 6	MOT 15	MOT 12		15th	17
2017	BMW Team Studie	BMW M6 GT3	GT300	OKA 13	FUJ 7	AUT 4	SUG 16	SUZ 6	FUJ 11	BUR 10	MOT 13		15th	18
2019	McLaren Customer Racing Japan	McLaren 720S GT3	GT300	OKA 19	FUJ 14	SUZ 13	CHA	FUJ Ret	AUT 2	SUG 12	MOT 7		15th	20
2020	BMW Team Studie × CSL	BMW M6 GT3	GT300	OKA 15	FUJ 22	SUZ 21	CHA Ret	SEP 9	SUG 8	AUT 18	MOT 19		26th	5
2021	BMW Team Studie × CSL	BMW M6 GT3	GT300	OKA 17	FUJ 20	SUZ 25	MOT 25	SUG 11	AUT 13	MOT 15	FUJ Ret		NC	0
2022	BMW Team Studie × CSL	BMW M4 GT3	GT300	OKA 24	FSW Ret	SUZ 1	FSW 21	SUZ 12	SUG 5	AUT 12	TRM 9		11th	29
2023	BMW M Team Studie x CRS	BMW M4 GT3	GT300	OKA 6	FUJ 13	SUZ 1	FUJ 2	SUZ 16	SUG 13	AUT 8	MOT 12		6th	43
2024	BMW M Team Studie x CRS	BMW M4 GT3	GT300	OKA 3	FUJ 11	SUZ 7	FUJ 7	SUG 4	AUT 4	MOT 52	SUZ 13		5th	43

* Season still in progress.

Complete Formula Nippon results

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

Year	Entrant	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	DC	Points
2001	Cosmo Oil Racing Team Cerumo	SUZ 3	MOT Ret	MIN Ret	FUJ Ret	SUZ 9	SUG 10	FUJ 8	MIN Ret	MOT 12	SUZ Ret		12th	4
2002	Olympic Kondo Racing Team	SUZ 8	FUJ 4	MIN 9	SUZ 10	MOT Ret	SUG Ret	FUJ Ret	MIN 9	MOT 11	SUZ 10		11th	3
2006	Kondo Racing Team	FUJ	SUZ	MOT	SUZ 10	AUT 10	FUJ 18	SUG 13	MOT Ret	SUZ Ret			NC	0
2007	TOM'S	FUJ 11	SUZ Ret	MOT 15	OKA 7	SUZ 10	FUJ 4	SUG Ret	MOT 13	SUZ 5			11th	11
2008	TOM'S	FUJ Ret	SUZ 11	MOT 10	OKA 10	SUZ1 13	SUZ2 11	MOT1 7	MOT2 1	FUJ1 10	FUJ2 10	SUG 16	15th	9

Complete Japanese Formula 3 results

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

Year	Team	engine	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	DC	Pts
1998	Team G.R.P	Toyota	SUZ	TSU	MIN	FUJ	MOT	SUZ	SUG 7	TAI 9	SEN 10	SUG Ret	NC	0
1999	TOM'S	Toyota	SUZ 1	TSU Ret	FUJ 3	MIN Ret	FUJ 3	SUZ 8	SUG Ret	TAI 10	MOT 4	SUZ	6th	20
2000	Toda Racing	Mugen	SUZ Ret	TSU 2	FUJ 4	MIN 5	TAI 2	SUZ 4	SUG 3	MOT 9	SEN 3	SUZ 3	3rd	30

Sporting positions
Preceded byTom Kristensen Rinaldo Capello Guy Smith	Winner of the 24 Hours of Le Mans 2004 with: Tom Kristensen Rinaldo Capello	Succeeded byJ.J. Lehto Marco Werner Tom Kristensen