Ryō
Hirakawa

Ryō Hirakawa was born in Kure, Japan, on 7 March 1994. He took up karting at the age of 13 and won the All-Japan Junior Kart Championship in 2008. He moved into single-seaters in 2010, mainly in Formula Challenge Japan. In 2012 he became Japanese Formula 3 champion and also won the Porsche Carrera Cup Japan, becoming the youngest champion in both series at 18.

Through the Toyota Young Driver Programme he reached Super Formula in 2013 with Team LeMans. He took his first win there at Motegi in 2019, finished runner-up in 2020 just two points behind Naoki Yamamoto, and was third in 2022. He made his Super GT debut in 2014. In 2017 he won the GT500 title with Nick Cassidy in the TOM's Lexus, and the pair were the youngest champions in the class. They finished second in 2018 and 2019, and took the teams' title in 2019. In the European Le Mans Series he won LMP2 races at Imola and the Red Bull Ring in 2016.

In 2022 he drove the number 8 Toyota GR010 Hybrid in the World Endurance Championship alongside Sébastien Buemi and Brendon Hartley, replacing Kazuki Nakajima. In that first season the trio won the 24 Hours of Le Mans and the Hypercar drivers' title, and they were champions again in 2023.

In Formula One, Hirakawa has worked as a reserve and test driver. McLaren took him into its development programme in 2023, and that October he tested a 2021 car in Barcelona. At the 2024 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix he drove in first practice for McLaren in place of Oscar Piastri. In 2025 he was with Alpine, driving in first practice in Japan, before moving to Haas as reserve driver. There he drove in first practice in Bahrain and took part in free practice at the Italian Grand Prix and in Mexico City. In 2026 he followed with Friday free practice sessions in Austria and Hungary.

Source: Wikipedia, “Ryo Hirakawa”. Text licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.