Kazuyoshi Hoshino
Kazuyoshi Hoshino (Japanese星野 一 义, Kazuyoshi Hoshino, born July 1, 1947 in Shizuoka ) is a former Japanese racing driver.
Hoshino's exceptional driving performance on a Bridgestone -frosted private Tyrrell 007 Grand Prix of Japan 1976 made him the top Japanese riders in the 1970s and 1980s. Many Japanese journalists believe he was the best to date Japanese driver ever. The race he had to give up just because of that early because he had no rain tires for changing more.
In 1968 he won the Japanese motocross championship in the 90 classes for Kawasaki - and 125 cc.
He was from 1969 factory driver for Nissan Datsun and later and remained so until the end of his career. Four times he won the Appreciation of Japanese Formel-2/Formel-3000-Meisterschaft. 1993, at the age of 46, he secured on a Lola Formula 3000 Championship for the third time. His last single-seater season he drove in the 1996 Formula Nippon in which he finished third in the overall standings.
As a Nissan factory driver he celebrated a plethora of wins and titles in Japan and was also successful at the major endurance races. In 1992, he won the 24 Hours of Daytona, together with Masahiro Hasemi and Toshio Suzuki. In 1998, he was with Aguri Suzuki and Masahiro Kageyama Nissan R390 GT1 on a third in the 24 - hour race at Le Mans.
In 1994, he became a master in the Japanese GT Championship, his second title after 1990, and contested races in this series until the early 2000s before he founded his own Formula Nippon team.
His eldest son is the racer Kazuki Hoshino.