Yu Kuai


Yu Kuai, also known as James Yu, is a Chinese racing driver who last raced for Audi Sport Asia Team Absolute in GT World Challenge Asia.
He is the 2023 Sepang 12 Hours winner and is also an Audi Sport Asia Young Driver.

Early career

Born in Shanghai, Yu moved to Japan in 2011 to start his karting career, where he competed against Yuki Tsunoda, Marino Sato and Nirei Fukuzumi.
Stepping up to single-seaters in 2016, Yu competed in Formula Masters China for two years, in which he scored four wins which all came in 2017, three of which at the second Sepang round and the fourth win came at Zhuhai on his way to finishing fourth in the standings.
At the start of 2018, Yu joined Chase Owen Racing to compete in the 2018 F3 Asian Championship. Switching to Zen Motorsport for the rest of the season, Yu stayed with them as he returned to the series for two more seasons, where he scored a pole position at Sepang in 2019–20 but never scored a podium in his three-year tenure in the series.
Following the 2019–20 F3 Asian Championship, Yu was given the opportunity by Han Songting to compete in the Chinese GT Championship.
In 2021, Yu joined Team StarChase to compete in Porsche Carrera Cup Asia. Yu scored his first win at Ningbo and took two more wins at Zhuzhou to finish third in the standings.

GT career

Yu began 2023 by winning the Sepang 12 Hours with Absolute Racing, and remained with them for his first full season in GT World Challenge Asia, alongside Andrew Haryanto. In his first year in the series, Yu achieved his maiden win in GT3 competition at Motegi, and also scored his second win in the final round at Sepang in race one after starting from pole. Yu ended the season eighth overall and sixth in the pro-am standings.
Yu returned to GT World Challenge Asia and Absolute Racing for the 2024 season, pairing up with Akash Nandy. Scoring two poles in his second season in GT World Challenge Asia, Yu achieved his third overall win in the series at the penultimate round of the season at Okayama in race one. At season's end, Yu was eighth overall and third in the Silver standings. At the end of 2024, Yu made his debut at Macau, racing in the FIA GT World Cup for Uno Racing Team. Yu finished 20th in his maiden outing at the street circuit.
The following year, Yu switched to Phantom Global Racing to race alongside Franky Cheng Congfu, scoring an overall win at Buriram and three more class wins to secure the Silver Cup title at season's end.

Education

Yu studied at Mander Portman Woodward for his A-Levels from 2018 to 2020, where he received an A* in Sociology and A in both Mathematics and Physics. He currently studies at the Faculty of Environment and Information Studies at Keio University. He has graduated from King’s College London with a Bachelor’s degree with Honours in Philosophy.

Racing record

Racing career summary

Complete Formula Masters China results

YearEntrant123456789101112131415161718DCPoints
2016Super License TeamSHI
1
5		SHI
2
6		SHI
3
Ret		ZHU
1
Ret		ZHU
2
8		ZHU
3
8		CHA
1
5		CHA
2
4		CHA
3
5		SEP1
1
4		SEP1
2
3		SEP1
3
4		SEP2
1
5		SEP2
2
6		SEP2
3
5		PEN
1
PEN
2
PEN
3
5th94
2017Absolute RacingSEP1
1
Ret		SEP1
2
5		SEP1
3
4		SEP1
4
4		SEP2
1
1		SEP2
2
3		SEP2
3
1		SEP2
4
1		ZIC1
1
Ret		ZIC1
2
Ret		ZIC1
3
7		ZIC2
1
1		ZIC2
2
4		ZIC2
3
6		SIC
1
10†		SIC
2
DNS		SIC
3
8		SIC
4
8		4th139

Complete F3 Asian Championship results

Complete GT World Challenge Asia results

YearTeamCarClass123456789101112DCPoints
2023Audi Sport Asia Team AbsoluteAudi R8 LMS Evo IIPro-AmBUR
1
7		BUR
2
14		FSW
1
9		FSW
2
5		SUZ
1
4		SUZ
2
7		MOT
1
1		MOT
2
Ret		OKA
1
5		OKA
2
18		SEP
1
1		SEP
2
11		6th96
2024FAW Audi Sport Asia Racing TeamAudi R8 LMS Evo IISilverSEP
1
1		SEP
2
3		BUR
1
2		BUR
2
2		FSW
1
Ret		FSW
2
1		SUZ
1
3		SUZ
2
1		OKA
1
2		OKA
2
1		SIC
1
2		SIC
2
2		3rd189
2025FAW Audi Sport Asia Team PhantomAudi R8 LMS Evo IISilverSEP
1
1		SEP
2
1		MAN
1
3		MAN
2
4		BUR
1
1		BUR
2
2		FUJ
1
1		FUJ
2
Ret		OKA
1
2		OKA
2
2		BEI
1
3		BEI
2
3		1st211