Hideki Mutoh

Infobox racing driver
name = Hideki Mutoh


pixels =
caption = Mutoh at the 2008 Honda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg
nationality = JPN
date of birth = Birth date and age|1982|10|10
place of birth = Tokyo
date of death =
retired =
current series = IndyCar Series
first year = 2007
current team = Andretti Green Racing
car number = 27
former teams = Super Aguri Panther Racing
starts = 18
wins = 0
poles = 0
fastest laps =
best finish = 10th
year = 2008
prev series = Japanese Formula Three
Formula Nippon
Super GT
Indy Pro Series
prev series years = 2003-2004
2006
2006
2007
titles = Formula Dream Champion
title years = 2002
awards =
award years = nihongo|Hideki Mutoh|武藤 英紀|Mutō Hideki|born October 10, 1982 is a Japanese race car driver from Tokyo currently racing in the IndyCar Series for Andretti Green Racing.

Career

History

He began karting at age 12 in 1996 and quickly moved through the ranks, becoming a part of Honda's Formula Dream Project. He moved to Europe in 1998 to compete in Formula Vauxhall. He then moved on to the Formula Ford European Championship and competed in the Formula Ford Festival, finishing 7th in 2000 and 3rd in 2001. He then moved back to Asia to compete in Asian Formula 2000 and Formula Dream, where he finished second in his rookie season. He won the Formula Dream championship in his second year in 2002. Mutoh then moved to Japanese Formula Three, finishing 9th and 3rd in his two seasons there. In 2006 he drove in Formula Nippon and Super GT 500-class.

2007

In 2007, Autobacs Racing Team Aguri (ARTA) announced that Mutoh had been signed to drive their new entry in the Indy Pro Series in a car prepared by Panther Racing, who had last competed in IPS in 2003, winning the championship with driver Mark Taylor. Mutoh has done very well; he is currently second in points, and captured his first win in Liberty Challenge Race 1 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course on United States Grand Prix weekend.

On September 9, Mutoh made his Indy Racing League IndyCar Series debut with Panther Racing at Chicagoland Speedway in the Peak Antifreeze Indy 300 in the one-off entry #60 car, sponsored by the Formula Dream Project. Mutoh finished 8th and clocked the fastest lap of the race. On October 31, 2007 it was announced Mutoh would replace 2007 IndyCar Series champion Dario Franchitti at Andretti Green Racing in the team's full-time #27 IndyCar for 2008. [Freeman, Glenn. [http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/63718 Mutoh confirmed at AGR for 2008] , Autosport.com, October 31, 2007]

2008

Mutoh made his debut for Andretti Green Racing at Homestead-Miami Speedway in March and in May was the highest qualifying rookie for the 2008 Indianapolis 500. He finished 7th in the race, the second best finishing position for a Japanese driver in the history of the race.

Mutoh scored his best finish of his IndyCar Series career in June at the Iowa Speedway, finishing second to Dan Wheldon, setting a new mark for best IndyCar finish by a Japanese driver, surpassing the 3rd place of Tora Takagi at Texas Motor Speedway in 2003. He failed to finish higher than 6th in the remainder of the season, but beat transitional driver Justin Wilson to the Rookie of the Year title and 10th place overall in the series.

Career Results

IndyCar

(Races in bold indicate pole position)

: "* 2008 season in progress": "¹ Run on same day": "² Non-points race"

: ** Podium (Non-win) indicates 2nd or 3rd place finishes.: *** Top 10s (Non-podium) indicates 4th through 10th place finishes.

References

* [http://sports.yahoo.com/irl/news?slug=ap-irl-mutoh&prov=ap&type=lgns Mutoh moving quickly as Indy 500 rookie]

External links

* [http://www.hidekimutoh.com/ Hideki Mutoh official website]