🇯🇵 Rikuto Kobayashi

Rikuto Kobayashi is an established professional sportscar and single-seater driver competing at the highest levels of Japanese motorsport. His Racer Rating of 5,155 places him among the established professionals; this denotes a full-time seat in a major championship and consistent performance against strong fields. The FIA Gold categorisation confirms his status within endurance racing as a full professional alongside Platinum-graded peers.[1]

Kobayashi's career remains early, spanning three seasons from 2024 onward. His primary focus has been Super Formula Lights, where he has driven for TOM'S and amassed four wins and 23 podiums across 34 starts, establishing himself as a regular front-runner in that field. He has also entered Super GT, the premier endurance championship, where he competes for TGR Team KeePer CERUMO but has yet to win, recording a single podium from 16 starts through the 2026 season. His head-to-head record within Super Formula Lights shows dominance over mid-field drivers; he has consistently beaten Furutani and holds an emphatic record over Shimizu. However, he struggles against the championship's elite, trailing Syun Koide, the 2024 Super Formula Lights champion, by 21 to 9 across their 30 shared races, and finishing behind Seita Nonaka, a Gold-graded professional, in 17 of 30 encounters. In Super GT, he has been outpaced significantly; he finished ahead of three all-time Super GT champions, Makino, Tsuboi, and Yamamoto, on single occasions each, results that stand out as rare high points against vastly more experienced rivals rather than evidence of parity. His average finish of P10.9 across all series reflects a driver consistently in the top half of strong grids without yet establishing dominance at the elite level.[2]

Kobayashi remains active and has moved to Super Formula proper for 2026, a step up in single-seater progression that will test whether he can elevate his performance against the strongest drivers in Japanese motorsport. Recent results show him qualifying competitively in Super GT, indicating that continued growth at endurance level remains possible alongside his expanded commitments.