Hibiki Taira
Hibiki Taira is a Japanese racing driver who most recently competed in Super GT for Hyper Water Racing Inging and in Super Formula for TGMGP. He is the champion of the 2020 F4 Japanese Championship, as well as a two-time class winner in the Super Taikyū Series. He is part of the TGR Driver Challenge Program.
Early career
Karting
Taira began his karting career in 2009, and became champion in the Okinawa series the following year. He would remain at prefectural level competition until its cancellation in 2014 and travelled annually to compete in the national Rotax Max Challenge, claiming a best finish of eighth. In 2015, Taira made his international karting debut at the Rotax Max Grand Finals at the Algarve International Circuit, where he impressed against the likes of Caio Collet but crashed out in the grand final. Taira's karting career concluded in 2018 after two years racing in the All-Japan Karting Championship.Formula 4
After making his formula racing debut by invitation in the final two rounds of the Formula 4 South East Asia championship in 2018, Taira began his first full season for Formula 4 in 2019, racing in the F4 Japanese Championship with TOM'S Spirit. He would go on to finish seventh in the standings, taking one podium. The following year, Taira remained in the series after gaining official junior status, graduating from the TGR-DC Racing School and joining its namesake team. He would go on to win the championship in a crushingly dominant fashion, consecutively winning ten out of the twelve races contested that season and taking pole position in all but two qualifying sessions.Super Formula Lights
For [2021 Super Formula Championship|Super Formula Lights|2021], Taira was promoted to Super Formula Lights with TOM'S, partnering longtime teammate Seita Nonaka and former Formula 2 driver Giuliano Alesi. He managed to claim 5th in the standings, finishing in the top six in every race, but never higher than third. Taira remained with TOM'S for 2022; despite claiming two race victories, he would finish fifth in the championship once again, one point behind teammate Nonaka. In his third season in the category in 2023, Taira started off strongly and led the championship by the halfway mark after taking three victories, but would ultimately lose out on the championship, finishing runner-up to Honda junior Iori Kimura.Super Formula
Taira debuted his first Super Formula season in 2024 the following round in Sugo to replace Ben Barnicoat at Team Impul, and returned for his second race at Fuji in July. Taira would return to finish out the season in the JAF Suzuka Grand Prix double-header.Taira would make his full season debut in 2025 with TGMGP along with Kazuto Kotaka.
Super GT
GT300
Taira made his sports car racing debut in Super GT for the 2021 season, racing for K-Tunes Racing in the GT300 class alongside series veteran Morio Nitta as a stand-in for Sena Sakaguchi. He continued his role as a replacement driver in 2022, competing for apr in three rounds in place of Hiroaki Nagai. Taira began his first full season in Super GT in 2023, driving a Toyota GR86 GT300 for muta Racing INGING alongside Yuui Tsutsumi after Hiroki Katoh stepped back from a full-time driving role, becoming the director of the team. Despite going winless, Taira and Tsutsumi finished in second on three occasions and claimed both pole position and the fastest race lap in the final two rounds of the season, earning enough points to finish second overall in the standings. Taira continues race with the same team, and pairing for 2024.Personal life
Taira currently attends Aichi Toho University in Nagoya, studying international business administration.Racing record
Career summary
* Season still in progress.‡ Team standings
Complete Formula 4 South East Asia Championship results
| Year | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | DC | Points |
| 2017–18 | SEP1 1 | SEP1 2 | SEP1 3 | SEP1 4 | SEP1 5 | SEP1 6 | CLA 1 | CLA 2 | CLA 3 | CLA 4 | CLA 5 | CLA 6 | CHA 1 | CHA 2 | CHA 3 | CHA 4 | CHA 5 | CHA 6 | SEP2 1 5 | SEP2 2 2 | SEP2 3 Ret | SEP2 4 4 | SEP2 5 2 | SEP2 6 2 | SEP3 1 5 | SEP3 2 8 | SEP3 3 7 | SEP3 4 4 | SEP3 5 8 | SEP3 6 5 | 6th | 127 |
Complete Super Formula Lights results
| Year | Entrant | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | Pos | Points |
| 2021 | TOM'S | FUJ 1 4 | FUJ 2 DNS | FUJ 3 4 | SUZ 1 5 | SUZ 2 4 | SUZ 3 3 | AUT 1 4 | AUT 2 4 | AUT 3 C | SUG 1 3 | SUG 2 3 | SUG 3 3 | MOT 1 WD | MOT 2 WD | MOT 3 WD | MOT 1 6 | MOT 2 4 | MOT 3 5 | 5th | 41.5 |
| 2022 | TOM'S | FUJ 1 3 | FUJ 2 3 | FUJ 3 1 | SUZ 1 7 | SUZ 2 4 | SUZ 3 5 | AUT 1 4 | AUT 2 Ret | AUT 3 5 | SUG 1 2 | SUG 2 4 | SUG 3 2 | MOT 1 10 | MOT 2 1 | MOT 3 7 | OKA 1 6 | OKA 2 6 | OKA 3 5 | 5th | 62 |
| 2023 | TOM'S | AUT 1 2 | AUT 2 6 | AUT 3 2 | SUG 1 1 | SUG 2 1 | SUG 3 12 | SUZ 1 2 | SUZ 2 2 | SUZ 3 1 | FUJ 1 3 | FUJ 2 3 | FUJ 3 2 | OKA 1 5 | OKA 2 4 | OKA 3 4 | MOT 1 4 | MOT 2 5 | MOT 3 3 | 2nd | 102 |
Complete Super GT results
| Year | Team | Car | Class | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | DC | Points |
| 2021 | K-tunes Racing | Lexus RC F GT3 | GT300 | OKA 6 | FUJ 14 | MOT 13 | SUZ | SUG | AUT | MOT | FUJ | 25th | 4 | |
| 2022 | apr | Toyota GR86 GT300 | GT300 | OKA | FUJ 18 | SUZ | FUJ 15 | SUZ 3 | SUG | AUT | MOT | 22nd | 11 | |
| 2023 | muta Racing INGING | Toyota GR86 GT300 | GT300 | OKA 18 | FUJ 2 | SUZ 2 | FUJ 11 | SUZ 7 | SUG Ret | AUT 2 | MOT 9 | 2nd | 53 | |
| 2024 | muta Racing INGING | Toyota GR86 GT300 | GT300 | OKA 12 | FUJ 6 | SUZ 23 | FUJ 8 | SUG 8 | AUT 2 | MOT 13 | SUZ 23 | 3rd | 80 | |
| 2025 | Hyper Water Racing INGING | Toyota GR86 GT300 | GT300 | OKA 10 | FUJ 3 | SEP 5 | FS1 6 | FS2 | SUZ 12 | SUG Ret | AUT 12 | MOT 9 | 10th | 63.5 |
| 2026 | apr | Toyota GR86 GT300 | GT300 | OKA | FUJ | SEP | FUJ | SUZ | SUG | AUT | MOT |
‡ Half points awarded as less than 75% of race distance was completed.
Driver did not take part in this sprint race, points are still awarded for the teammate's result.
* Season still in progress.