Toranosuke "Tora" Takagi (高木 虎之介; born 12 February 1974) is a Japanese former racing driver.

Early career

Takagi was heavily influenced by his father, a touring car driver. In the early 1980s he began racing karts, competing in his first championship kart race in 1987. After winning several All Japan National Kart A2 series races, Takagi ended his kart racing career in 1991 and began racing Formula Toyota in 1992. In 1993, he began competing in All Japan Formula Three, finishing 10th in his rookie season.

Formula One

During his performance in a 1994 race he drew the attention of Japanese Formula One driver Satoru Nakajima, joining the Nakajima Racing team and competing in Formula 3000. He was heavily involved in the team from 1995 until he was chosen as Tyrrell's Formula One test driver in 1997. He graduated to a race seat for 1998. Takagi later competed with the Arrows Formula One team, and his European popularity was on the rise. However, there were organizational and communication problems between Takagi and both teams, and he left Formula One at the end of the 1999 season.

Post–Formula One career

In 2000, Takagi joined Nakajima Racing's Formula Nippon team, earning eight victories in ten races, the most dominant performance ever by a driver in the series. He later competed in CART (Champ Car) for the Walker Racing team in 2001 and 2002 finishing in a career-best 4th place in Houston, Texas. He transferred to Indy Racing League and joined Mo Nunn Racing, finishing 10th in 2003. In the same year, he competed in the Indianapolis 500, starting in 7th place and finishing in 5th, earning him the Indianapolis 500 Rookie of the Year award.

After another, largely disappointing season in the IndyCar Series, Takagi returned to Japan in 2005 to compete in Formula Nippon once again, taking part ownership of the Cerumo team and running one of their cars in his own name (Takagi Planning with CERUMO). Takagi also was one of the co-drivers of the #38 Toyota Supra Super GT car, claiming the series title along with Yuji Tachikawa. Takagi's title made him the first Super GT rookie to become champion in the GT500 class since John Nielsen and David Brabham in 1996, as well as the last until Jenson Button in 2018.

Career timeline

1987 – Finished 8th in Japanese A2 National Kart Series championship.

1988 – Finished 4th in Japanese A2 National Kart Series championship.

1989 – Won the Japanese A2 National Kart Series championship.

1990 – Won the Japanese A2 National Kart Series championship.

1991 – Finished 2nd in Japanese FA National Kart Series championship.

1992 – Won two races in Formula Toyota.

1993 – Finished 10th in his rookie season in Japanese Formula 3 championship.

1994 – Finished 6th in Japanese Formula 3 championship. Spot participation in Japanese Formula 3000 championship from Nakajima Planning, scoring three top-10 finishes.

1995 – Finished 2nd in Japanese Formula 3000 championship with Nakajima Planning, scoring three victories.

1996 – Finished 4th in Japanese Formula Nippon championship (ex Japanese F3000)with Nakajima Planning, scoring two victories.

1997 – Served as test driver for Tyrrell Formula One team. Takagi scored one victory en route to finishing 6th in Japanese Formula Nippon championship with Nakajima Planning.

1998 – Drove in Formula One in rookie year driving for Tyrrell. He finished in the top-10 twice, including ninth at Silverstone and Monza.

1999 – Competed in Formula One with Arrows, scoring two top-10 finishes, including a career-best seventh at Melbourne (Australian Grand Prix).

2000 – Won eight of 10 races en route to winning the Japanese Formula Nippon series title with Nakajima Planning .

2001 – Finished 21st in CART point standings in rookie year driving for Walker Racing. He finished in the top-10 three times, including a career-best fourth at Houston.

2002 – Finished 15th in CART point standings with Walker Racing. He finished in the top-10 seven times, including tying career-best finish with a fourth place at Chicago.

2003 – Finished 10th in Indy Racing League point standings in rookie year driving for Mo Nunn Racing. He scored nine top-10 finishes, including a season-best third in June at Texas. He started seventh and finished fifth in first Indianapolis 500, the highest-finishing rookie. He won the Indianapolis 500 Rookie of the Year award.

2004 – Competed in the Indy Racing League IndyCar Series with Mo Nunn Racing.

2005 – Competed in Formula Nippon as owner-driver of Takagi Planning with CERUMO.

Career results

Complete Japanese Formula 3000/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 DC Points 1994 Nakajima Racing SUZ FUJ MIN SUZ SUG FUJ SUZ
7 FUJ
8 FUJ SUZ
9 NC 0 1995 Nakajima Racing SUZ
7 FUJ
C MIN
5 SUZ
Ret SUG
1 FUJ
12 TOK
1 FUJ
1 SUZ
Ret 2nd 29 1996 PIAA Nakajima Racing SUZ
Ret MIN
3 FUJ
Ret TOK
Ret SUZ
1 SUG
1 FUJ
Ret MIN
Ret SUZ
6 FUJ
Ret 4th 25 1997 PIAA Nakajima Racing SUZ
Ret MIN
DNS FUJ
3 SUZ
1 SUG
Ret FUJ
Ret MIN
5 MOT
Ret FUJ
Ret SUZ
5 6th 18 2000 PIAA Nakajima Racing SUZ
1 MOT
1 MIN
Ret FUJ
1 SUZ
1 SUG
1 MOT
1 FUJ
1 MIN
1 SUZ
2 1st 86 2005 Team Cerumo MOT
9 SUZ
Ret SUG
11 FUJ
9 SUZ
10 MIN
9 FUJ
8 MOT
Ret SUZ
12 15th 0 2006 Team LeMans FUJ
22 SUZ
16 MOT
11 SUZ
8 AUT
16 FUJ
8 SUG
Ret MOT
Ret SUZ
Ret 18th 0 2007 Forum Engineering
Team LeMans FUJ
Ret SUZ
12 MOT
9 OKA
16 SUZ
8 FUJ
9 SUG
10 MOT
12 SUZ
8 16th 3

Complete Formula One results

(key)

Year Entrant Chassis Engine 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 WDC Points 1998 PIAA Tyrrell Ford Tyrrell 026 Ford V10 AUS
Ret BRA
Ret ARG
12 SMR
Ret ESP
13 MON
11 CAN
Ret FRA
Ret GBR
9 AUT
Ret GER
13 HUN
14 BEL
Ret ITA
9 LUX
16 JPN
Ret NC 0 1999 Repsol Arrows F1 Team Arrows A20 Arrows V10 AUS
7 BRA
8 SMR
Ret MON
Ret ESP
12 CAN
Ret FRA
DSQ GBR
16 AUT
Ret GER
Ret HUN
Ret BEL
Ret ITA
Ret EUR
Ret MAL
Ret JPN
Ret NC 0

Complete American Open Wheel racing results

(key)

CART

Year Team Chassis Engine 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 Rank Points 2001 Walker Racing Reynard 01i Toyota RV8F V8t MTY
10 LBH
20 TXS
NH NZR
14 MOT
20 MIL
DSQ DET
20 POR
18 CLE
14 TOR
22 MIS
13 CHI
11 MDO
21 ROA
22 VAN
7 LSZ
6 ROC
26 HOU
4 LS
13 SRF
16 FON
15 21st 29 2002 Walker Racing Reynard 02i Toyota RV8F V8t MTY
14 LBH
6 MOT
8 MIL
14 LS
16 POR
18 CHI
4 TOR
8 CLE
7 VAN
15 MDO
12 ROA
15 MTL
14 DEN
15 ROC
6 MIA
15 SRF
18 FON
18 MXC
6 15th 53

IndyCar Series

Year Team Chassis No. Engine 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 Rank Points 2003 Mo Nunn Racing G-Force GF09 12 Toyota Indy V8 HMS
12 PHX
22 MOT
8 INDY
5 TXS
3 PPIR
6 RIR
13 KAN
18 NSH
7 MIS
6 NZR
14 CHI
9 FON
18 TX2
7 10th 317 Dallara IR-03 STL
7 KTY
18 2004 Mo Nunn Racing Dallara IR-04 HMS
4 PHX
8 MOT
10 INDY
19 TXS
10 RIR
19 KAN
21 NSH
11 MIL
20 MIS
20 KTY
20 PPIR
19 NZR
17 CHI
13 FON
14 TX2
12 15th 263

Indianapolis 500

Year Chassis Engine Start Finish Team 2003 G-Force Toyota 7 5 Mo Nunn Racing 2004 Dallara Toyota 26 19 Mo Nunn Racing