Kotaro Shimbara
Kotaro Shimbara is a Japanese racing driver who currently races in the Japanese Championship.
Career
Formula 4
Shimbara made his racing debut in 2021 race in F4 Japan with TOM'S backed RSS team from the third round onwards. He finished fourteenth in the standings.Shimbara made his full season debut in Japanese F4 with Zap Speed in 2022. He finished twentiethin the standings with one podium. In 2024, he returned to the series, racing with Kageyama Racing. He claimed pole in the first race, and a win after Ryota Horachi was disqualified in the last race at Suzuka. For 2025, he will stay in the series, moving to HFDP with B-Max Racing Team after winning the Honda Racing School scholarship with Rintaro Sato.
Personal life
Shimbara interested to become a racing driver by riding a rental cart at the race cart at the race cart run by a friend of his father when he was five years old. In Nada Junior High and High School, he joined the rugby club for the purpose of building up his physical strength. He also entered the University of Tokyo in 2023, where he studies Economics.Racing record
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 |
| 2026 | B-Max Racing Team | FUJ 1 | FUJ 2 | FUJ 3 | AUT 1 | AUT 2 | AUT 3 | SUZ 1 | SUZ 2 | SUZ 3 | OKA 1 | OKA 2 | OKA 3 | SUG 1 | SUG 2 | SUG 3 | MOT 1 | MOT 2 | MOT 3 |
Complete Super GT results
| Year | Team | Car | Class | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | DC | Points |
| 2026 | Team UpGarage | Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo | GT300 | OKA | FUJ | SEP | FUJ | SUZ | SUG | AUT | MOT |