About Masahiro Hasemi
Masahiro Hasemi is a former racing driver and team owner from Japan. He started racing motocross when he was 15 years old. In 1964 he signed to drive for Nissan. After establishing himself in saloon car and GT races in Japan, he participated in his only Formula One race at the 1976 Japanese Grand Prix for Kojima on 24 October 1976. He qualified tenth after an error which cost him his chance of a pole position and finished 11th, seven laps behind the winner. Contrary to a widely propagated but mistaken result, however, he never set a fastest lap in a Formula One championship race.1 Along with compatriots Noritake Takahara and Kazuyoshi Hoshino, he was the first Japanese driver to start a Formula One Grand Prix. Hasemi became the Japanese Formula 2 champion in 1980, and got two titles in the Fuji Grand Champion Series in 1974 and 1980. He won the Japanese Touring Car Championship in 1989, 1991 and 1992. He also won the All Japan Sports Prototype Championship in 1990, with the controversial win at the Guia Touring Car race at the Macau Grand Prix in 1990 and Daytona 24 hour in 1992. This press release was promptly made known in Japan, and the Japan Automobile Federation (JAF) and Japanese media corrected the record.
Biography source: Wikipedia. The profile adds birthday-specific historical context from the Celebs Birthday Today editorial database.