Keiko Ihara (井原 慶子, Ihara Keiko) (born July 4, 1973) is a Japanese race car driver. She was a former race queen, a model who appears in a swimsuit or other fashionable apparel at race circuits, before deciding to become a racing driver. She is one of the few Japanese women nationals to race internationally at a high level. Her best finishes in the British Formula Three Championship are two 8th places finishes in 2005, which helped her to a final championship standing position of 16th with 12 points. In the 2006 series, she finished in 17th and last position in the Championship Class, with 4 points.

Keiko Ihara
Keiko Ihara at the 2014 6 Hours of Fuji
NationalityJapan Japanese
Born (1973-07-04) July 4, 1973 (age 51)
Tokyo, Japan
FIA World Endurance Championship career
Debut season2012
Current teamLarbre Compétition
Racing licence FIA Bronze
Car number50
Starts2
Wins0
Poles0
Fastest laps0
Previous series
2009
2008
2005-06
2005
2004
2003
2003
2002
2001
2000
Formula Le Mans Cup
Aston Martin Asia Cup
British Formula Three
Masters of Formula 3
Le Mans Endurance Series
Super GT
Formula BMW Asia
Asia Formula 2000
French Formula Three
Formula Renault 2.0 UK

Ihara joined the Gulf Racing Middle East to compete at the FIA World Endurance Championship in the LMP2 class with Jean-Denis Délétraz and Fabien Giroix as codrivers. In 2013, she raced two rounds for Gulf Racing Middle East and four with OAK Racing, both in the LMP2 class. The driver won the Fuji round of the 2014 Asian Le Mans Series for Oak Racing, together with Ho-Pin Tung and David Cheng.

Racing record

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Career summary

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Season Series Team Races Wins Poles Podiums F/Laps Points Position
2000 Formula Renault 2.0 UK Championship 12 0 0 0 0 0 NC
2001 French Formula 3 Championship ARTA/Signature 11 0 0 0 0 22 13th
2002 Asian Formula 2000 Autosports Racing Team ? 2 ? ? ? ? ?
Macau Asian Formula 2000 Challenge 1 0 0 1 0 N/A 3rd
2003 JGTC - GT300 R&D Sports 4 0 0 0 0 0 NC
Formula BMW Asia Team Yellow Hat 14 0 0 0 5 139 3rd
2004 Le Mans Endurance Series - GT T2M Motorsport 1 0 0 0 0 0 NC
2005 British Formula 3 International Series Carlin Motorsport 22 0 0 0 0 12 17th
Masters of Formula 3 1 0 0 0 0 N/A 25th
2006 British Formula 3 International Series Carlin Motorsport 22 0 0 0 0 4 17th
2008 Aston Martin Asia Cup 1 0 0 0 0 0 N/A†
2009 Formula Le Mans Cup Exagon Engineering 1 0 0 0 0 1 49th
2012 FIA World Endurance Championship - LMP2 Gulf Racing Middle East 8 0 0 0 0 ? ?
24 Hours of Le Mans - LMP2 1 0 0 0 0 N/A DNF
2013 FIA World Endurance Championship - LMP2 Gulf Racing Middle East 2 0 0 0 0 35 10th
OAK Racing 4 0 0 0 0
24 Hours of Le Mans - LMP2 Gulf Racing Middle East 1 0 0 0 0 N/A DNF
2014 Asian Le Mans Series - LMP2 OAK Racing Team Total 1 1 0 0 1 25 5th
European Le Mans Series - LMP2 Larbre Compétition 1 0 0 0 0 2 26th
24 Hours of Le Mans - LMP2 1 0 0 0 0 N/A 9th
2016 IMSA SportsCar Championship - Prototype Mazda Motorsports 1 0 0 0 0 24 32nd
2017-18 Asian Le Mans Series - LMP2 Eurasia Motorsport 1 0 0 0 0 12 10th
2018-19 FIA World Endurance Championship - LMP2 Larbre Compétition 1 0 0 0 0 10 18th

* Season still in progress. † – Charity race guest.

24 Hours of Le Mans results

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Year Team Co-Drivers Car Class Laps Pos. Class
Pos.
2012   Gulf Racing Middle East   Jean-Denis Délétraz
  Marc Rostan
Lola B12/80-Nissan LMP2 17 DNF DNF
2013   Gulf Racing Middle East   Fabien Giroix
  Philippe Haezebrouck
Lola B12/80-Nissan LMP2 22 DNF DNF
2014   Larbre Compétition   Pierre Ragues
  Ricky Taylor
Morgan LMP2-Judd LMP2 341 14th 9th

Complete FIA World Endurance Championship results

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Year Entrant Class Car Engine Tyres 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Rank Points
2012 Gulf Racing Middle East LMP2 Lola B12/80 Nissan VK45DE 4.5 L V8 D SEB
EX
SPA
9
LMS
Ret
SIL
11
SÃO
9
BHR
Ret
FUJ
6
SHA
Ret
70th 2
2013 Gulf Racing Middle East LMP2 Lola B12/80 Nissan VK45DE 4.5 L V8 D SIL SPA
9
LMS
Ret
22nd 12
OAK Racing Morgan LMP2 SÃO
5
COA FUJ
9
SHA
6
BHR
5
2014 Larbre Compétition LMP2 Morgan LMP2 Judd HK 3.6 L V8 M SIL SPA LMS
9
N/A N/A
OAK Racing Morgan LMP2 Judd HK 3.6 L V8 D COA FUJ
3
SHA BHR
3
SÃO
2018–19 Larbre Compétition LMP2 Ligier JS P217 Gibson GK428 4.2 L V8 M SPA LMS SIL FUJ
5
SHA SEB SPA LMS 18th 10

IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship series results

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Year Team Class Make Engine 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Rank Points
2016 Mazda Motorsports P Mazda Prototype Mazda MZ-2.0T 2.0 L I4 Turbo DAY
SIR
8
LBH
LAG
DET
WAT
MSP
ELK
COA
PET
32nd 24

* Season still in progress

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