Kimiya Sato
Kimiya Satō (Japanese佐藤 公 哉, Satō Kimiya; born October 5, 1989 in Hyōgo Prefecture ) is a Japanese racing driver. He started 2014 in the GP2 series.
Career
Like most racers began Satō his career in karting, where he was active from 1995 to 2005. In 2006 he moved to Formula racing and came first in Europe. In the British Formula BMW he finished tenth in the standings and also the second best newcomers. 2007 Satō denied his second season in the British Formula BMW for Nexa Racing. With a win, he finished the season in fourth place, scoring one point more than his team-mate Valle Mäkelä.
2008 Satō returned to Japan and went to the Japanese Formula Challenge at the start. He won a race and was behind Yuji Kunimoto runner-up. He also completed a guest stint in the Formula BMW Pacific. In 2009, he moved to Nova team in the Japanese Formula 3 Championship. In an older model he started in the national class in which he was runner-up behind Naoki Yamamoto. His best overall finish was a third place. 2010 remained Satō in the national class of the Japanese Formula 3 and was having a rating winning fourth in the standings.
After Satō had participated for Moto Park Academy already at the Macau Grand Prix 2010, he was awarded for the 2011 season with this team a cockpit in the Formula 3 Euro Series. With a win, he finished the season on top of the tenth overall. In addition, Satō was entitled points in the FIA Formula 3 Trophy 2011. There he placed ninth. 2012 started Satō for assisted Moto Park Academy Lotus team in the German Formula 3 Cup. He won four races and finished third overall, while his teammate Jimmy Eriksson won the championship.
2013 moved Satō to Auto GP to EUR Nova Racing. He won five races and stood on the podium nine times. With 213 to 222 points he lost to Vittorio Ghirelli and was runner-up. In addition, he completed testing for the Formula 1 team Sauber. 2014 Satō received a cockpit in the GP2 Series at Campos Racing. After the first race weekend, he finished 23rd overall.
Others
Satō is gemanaget by former racing driver Taki Inoue.
Statistics
Career stations
- 2009: Japanese Formula 3 National class (2nd place)
- 2010: Japanese Formula 3 National class (4th place )
- 2011: Formula 3 Euro Series (No. 10)
- 2011: FIA Formula 3 Trophy ( 9th place)
- 2012: German Formula 3 ( 3rd place)
- 2013: Auto GP (2nd place)
- 2014: GP2 Series