Nobuharu Matsushita

Nobuharu Matsushita
Nationality	Japanese
Born	13 October 1993 Saitama, Japan
GP2 Series career
Debut season	2015
Current team	ART Grand Prix
Car no.	1
Starts	41
Wins	2
Poles	0
Fastest laps	5
Best finish	9th in 2015
Previous series
2015-16 2013–14 2012 2011	MRF Challenge All-Japan Formula Three Formula Challenge Japan Formula Pilota China
Championship titles
2014 2012	All-Japan Formula Three Formula Challenge Japan

Nobuharu Matsushita (松下信治 Matsushita Nobuharu, born 13 October 1993) is a Japanese racing driver, best known for winning the 2014 All-Japan Formula Three Championship.

Career

Karting

Born in Saitama, Matsushita began his racing career in karting in 2005, competing the All-Japan Junior Kart Championship. In 2008, he clinched the championship title in the Open Masters Kart ARTA Challenge. He ended his karting participations in 2010, finishing third in the KF1 category of the All Japan Kart Championship.^[1]

Formula Pilota China and Formula Challenge Japan

In 2011, Matsushita graduated to single–seaters into the Formula Pilota China with the Super License team.^[2] He missed the Ordos round, but after his returning he showed better performance than in the first part of the season. He won the final race of the season at Sepang and finished the season fourth.^[3]

For 2012, he switched to the Formula Challenge Japan mono-series. He scored ten podiums in twelve races, including five wins and took the championship title.^[4]

All-Japan Formula Three

In 2013, Matsushita stepped up to the All-Japan Formula Three Championship with the HFDP Racing.^[5] He collected five podiums and another seven point-scoring finishes, to end the season on the fifth position in the series standings, it was the best result for the Honda driver.^[6]

For the next season he decided to stay in the series with the same team.^[7] He was victorious at Motegi, Fuji and Sugo, grabbing the championship title from Kenta Yamashita with a twelve-point gap.^[8]

GP2 Series

Matsushita made his début in the GP2 Series in 2015 with ART Grand Prix.^[9] In the first race at Bahrain, he qualified second on the grid opposite teammate Stoffel Vandoorne and finished in the points in both races, setting the fastest lap in the sprint race. At the Red Bull Ring, Matsushita took his first GP2 podium by finishing third in the sprint race. He took his first victory in the sport in the sprint race at the Hungaroring as part of an ART 1-2. He finished 9th in the overall standings.

In February 2016, it was announced Matsushita would reunite with ART for a second season, alongside fellow 2015 rookie Sergey Sirotkin.

Matsushita was suspended for the 4th round of the season in Austria due to erratic driving at the previous event in Baku.^[10]

Formula One

On 20 February 2016, Matsushita was signed as a development driver for McLaren.^[11]

Racing record

Career summary

Season	Series	Team	Races	Wins	Poles	FLaps	Podiums	Points	Position
2011	Formula Pilota China	Super License	10	1	1	2	4	89	4th
2012	Formula Challenge Japan		12	5	1	5	10	91	1st
2013	All-Japan Formula Three	HFDP Racing	15	0	0	0	5	43	5th
2014	All-Japan Formula Three	HFDP Racing	15	6	5	5	9	102	1st
2015	GP2 Series	ART Grand Prix	22	1	0	1	3	68.5	9th
2015-16	MRF Challenge Formula 2000	MRF Challenge	4	2	1	3	2	80	6th
2016	Formula One	McLaren	Development driver
	GP2 Series	ART Grand Prix	20	1	0	4	2	92	11th

Complete GP2 Series 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	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	DC	Points
2015	ART Grand Prix	BHR FEA 10	BHR SPR 6	CAT FEA 11	CAT SPR 18	MON FEA Ret	MON SPR 19	RBR FEA 4	RBR SPR 3	SIL FEA Ret	SIL SPR 19	HUN FEA 8	HUN SPR 1	SPA FEA Ret	SPA SPR 15	MNZ FEA Ret	MNZ SPR 15	SOC FEA 10	SOC SPR 7	BHR FEA 2	BHR SPR Ret	YMC FEA 11	YMC SPR C	9th	68.5
2016	ART Grand Prix	CAT FEA 11	CAT SPR 8	MON FEA 8	MON SPR 1	BAK FEA 6	BAK SPR Ret	RBR FEA	RBR SPR	SIL FEA 6	SIL SPR 5	HUN FEA 6	HUN SPR Ret	HOC FEA 9	HOC SPR 12	SPA FEA 11	SPA SPR 11	MNZ FEA 11	MNZ SPR 6	SEP FEA Ret	SEP SPR 7	YMC FEA 2	YMC SPR 4	11th	92

References

1. "Profile" (in Japanese). http://nobunobuf1.wix.com/. Retrieved 13 February 2015. External link in |publisher= (help)
2. "Teams & drivers 2011". Formula Pilota China. Retrieved 19 February 2012.
3. "Formula Pilota China 2011 standings". driverdb.com. Driver Database. Retrieved 13 February 2015.
4. "Formula Challenge Japan 2012". Driver Database. Retrieved 13 February 2015.
5. "Honda 2013 Motorsports Overview". Honda Motor Co., Ltd. Honda Motor Co., Ltd. 8 February 2013. Retrieved 13 February 2015.
6. "Japanese Formula 3 Championship – Championship Class 2013". driverdb.com. Driver Database. Retrieved 24 August 2013.
7. "2014 Honda Global Motor Sports Activities Automobile[PDF]" (PDF). Honda Motor Co., Ltd. Honda Motor Co., Ltd. 7 February 2014. Retrieved 7 February 2014.
8. Allen, Peter (13 October 2014). "PaddockScout Roundup: GP2/GP3 Sochi, F3/F4 Imola". Paddock Scout. Retrieved 13 February 2015.
9. "Honda 2015 Motorsports Program Overview". Honda Motor Co., Ltd. Honda Motor Co., Ltd. 13 February 2015. Retrieved 13 February 2015.
10. "Matsushita suspended for next event". GP2 Series. GP2 Series Limited. 19 June 2016. Retrieved 21 June 2016.
11. "Matsushita named as McLaren F1 test driver". February 20, 2016. Retrieved February 20, 2016.

External links

• Official website (Japanese)
• Nobuharu Matsushita career summary at DriverDB.com