Masao Suenaga

Masao Suenaga (末永正雄, Suenaga Masao, 13 February 1978, Kagoshima) is a Japanese professional drifting driver, currently competing in the D1 Grand Prix series for D-MAX. He is the younger brother of Naoto who both were taught by Nobushige Kumakubo.

Masao Suenaga
Nationality Japan
Born (1978-02-13) February 13, 1978
Kagoshima
Related toNaoto Suenaga
D1 Grand Prix career
Debut season2002
Current teamNANKANG TIRE DRIFT TEAM D-MAX
Wins3
Best finish2 in 2005 & 2014
Previous series
2006-2007D1 Street Legal

He began his motorsport career racing minibikes in the Kyūshū area, later winning a title. Following this, his motorcycle racing career ended at the age of 20 caused by injuries. As Naoto was involved in the 'Tono Club' hashiriya group (which one of the members included Katsuhiro Ueo), he also became involved which he was taught how to drift by Naoto. Masao later joined the 'Gowasu?' hashiriya group.[1]

He has been competing in the D1 Grand Prix series since 2002. In 2002 and 2003 he was the youngest driver to compete in the top 16 and he was soon picked up by RE Amemiya a renowned tuner of rotary powered cars. So he switched from his Nissan Silvia to a Mazda RX-7 (FD3S) went from strength to strength. The Silvia would be driven by Naoto until he became one of the Kumakubo led Team Orange drivers. Masao took his first win in 2005 and went on to place second overall. He had a slight lull in his performance in 2006, but was back on form in 2007 winning twice and finishing the season in third.

He is one of the few D1GP drivers to compete the spinoff D1 Street Legal series in his own FD RX-7 winning the first two rounds of the inaugural season.

Suenaga competed in the M150 20B-Powered FD3S RX-7 in the inaugural Formula Drift: Asia at Fuji Speedway Japan where he would take first place against Masashi Yokoi.

He had been with RE Amemiya for years, but left in 2016. In 2017, he was picked up by Toyo Tires GLION TRUST RACING and became teammate of Masato Kawabata. He drove Nissan GT-R (R35).

From 2020, he belongs to D-MAX and works with Masashi Yokoi.

Complete Drifting Results
ColourResult
GoldWinner
Silver2nd place
Bronze3rd place
GreenLast 4 [Semi-final]
BlueLast 8 [Quarter-final]
PurpleLast 16 (16) [1st Tsuiou Round OR Tandem Battle]
(Numbers are given to indicate Top 10 finish)
BlackDisqualified (DSQ)
(Given to indicate that the driver has been stripped of their position through disqualification)
WhiteFirst Round (TAN) [Tansou OR Qualifying Single Runs]
RedDid not qualify (DNQ)
  • When driver's position are highlighted in blue, this indicates either the driver earned 100pt or 100pt tansou (solo run) bonus has been awarded, with the latter being in use for Pre-2005.

D1 Grand Prix
Year Entrant Car 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Position Points
2002 Toyota Corolla Levin AE86 BHH
TAN		 EBS
DNQ		 SGO
6		 TKB
16		 EBS
DNQ		 SEK
TAN		 NIK
4		 12 24
2003 Nissan Silvia PS13 TKB
16		 BHH
10		 SGO
5		 FUJ
16		 EBS
TAN		 SEK
16		 TKB
8		 13 20
2004 RE Amemiya Nissan Silvia S13 IRW
16		 16 14
Mazda RX-7 FD3S SGO
8		 EBS
16		 APS
TAN		 ODB
DNQ		 EBS
TAN		 TKB
7
2005 RE Amemiya Mazda RX-7 FD3S IRW
6		 ODB
5		 SGO
6		 APS
3		 EBS
4		 FUJ
1		 TKB
4		 2 96
2006 RE Amemiya Mazda RX-7 FD3S IRW
TAN		 SGO
3		 FUJ
TAN		 APS
6		 EBS
6		 SUZ
10		 FUJ
16		 IRW
6		 8 51
2007 RE Amemiya Mazda RX-7 FD3S EBS
3		 FUJ
2		 SUZ
1		 SGO
4		 EBS
11		 APS
13		 FUJ
1		 3 92
2008 RE Amemiya Mazda RX-7 FD3S EBS
4		 FUJ
4		 SUZ
13		 OKY
5		 APS
6		 EBS
NS		 FUJ
1		 3 89
2017 TOYO TIRES GLION TRUST RACING Nissan R35 ODB
28		 ODB
R		 TKB
3		 MSI
1		 EBS
22		 EBS
22		 ODB
20		 11 55
Year Entrant Car 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Position Points
2006 Mazda RX-7 FD3S SEK
1		 EBS
1		 SGO
 FUJ
 APS
 EBS
 SEK
2007 Mazda RX-7 FD3S SEK
 SUZ
 SGO
 EBS
 SEK

Sources

References
  1. "サービス終了のお知らせ".
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.