Natsu Sakaguchi
Natsu Sakaguchi is a Japanese racing driver racing for JLOC in Super GT.
Career
Sakaguchi made his single-seater debut in 2012, racing in the Super FJ Suzuka Series, finishing fourth in points after winning the season finale. After finishing second in the Japanese Grand Prix-supporting Super FJ Challenge Cup the following year, Sakaguchi was awarded the Honda SRS-F scholarship to compete in JAF Formula 4 in 2014. Following a sixth-place points finish in the overall standings in JAF Formula 4, Sakaguchi made a one-off return to the Super FJ Suzuka Series, winning from pole position for Take First.Following one year on the sidelines, Sakaguchi made his racing return in 2017 by joining Team Mach in the GT300 class of Super GT alongside Kiyoto Fujinami. At Autopolis, Sakaguchi finished eighth, scoring his first points in the series and the team's first in seven years. Remaining with Team Mach for 2018, Sakaguchi was joined by Yuya Hiraki for his second season in the series. At the penultimate round of the season at Autopolis, Sakaguchi ran as high as second and finished the race a then-career best seventh.
In 2019, Sakaguchi was retained by Team Mach alongside Hiraki. Three rounds into the season, Sakaguchi took his maiden podium in GT300, finishing second at Suzuka and taking Team Mach's best result in Super GT. Sakaguchi remained with Team Mach for 2020, pairing up with Hiraki for the third season in a row. At the opening round of the season at Fuji, Sakaguchi scored his second career podium by finishing third, which enabled him to end the season 14th in the standings.
After spending four seasons with Team Mach, Sakaguchi switched to JLOC for 2021, partnering Kosuke Matsuura. Sakaguchi's best result of the season came at Sugo, where he finished fourth in what was his only points scoring result of the season. During 2021, Sakaguchi also won the Fuji 24 Hours overall. Sakaguchi remained with JLOC and Matsuura for the 2022 season. Having finished in the points three times in the first part of the season, Sakaguchi scored a podium at Motegi, finishing runner-up in the season-finale. In early 2023, JLOC retained both Sakaguchi and Matsuura for that year's Super GT season. At the fifth round of the season at Suzuka, Sakaguchi took his fourth career podium by taking second place behind Team UpGarage.
For the third consecutive season, JLOC retained the Sakaguchi-Matsuura pairing for their number 87 car. Having qualified second for the Fuji 350km race, Sakaguchi finished sixth in his last race with the Huracan Evo before switching to the Evo2 from the fifth round onwards. With the Evo2, Sakaguchi finished fourth in the penultimate round of the season at Motegi and ended the season 11th in the standings. Ahead of the 2025 season, it was announced that Sakaguchi would remain with JLOC and Matsuura as they would drive the Huracan Evo2 for the full season. In his first full season with the Huracan Evo2, Sakaguchi scored a best result of seventh at Okayama as he ended the year 20th in points.