Nobuharu Matsushita
Nobuharu Matsushita is a Japanese racing driver currently competing in the 2020 FIA Formula 2 Championship with MP Motorsport.
Career
Karting
Born in Saitama, Matsushita began his racing career in karting in 2005, competing the All-Japan Junior Kart Championship. In 2008, he clinched the championship title in the Open Masters Kart ARTA Challenge. He ended his karting participations in 2010, finishing third in the KF1 category of the All Japan Kart Championship.Formula Pilota China and Formula Challenge Japan
In 2011, Matsushita graduated to single–seaters into the Formula Pilota China with the Super License team. He missed the Ordos round, but after his returning he showed better performance than in the first part of the season. He won the final race of the season at Sepang and finished the season fourth.For 2012, he switched to the Formula Challenge Japan mono-series. He scored ten podiums in twelve races, including five wins and took the championship title.
All-Japan Formula Three
In 2013, Matsushita stepped up to the All-Japan Formula Three Championship with the HFDP Racing. He collected five podiums and another seven point-scoring finishes, to end the season on the fifth position in the series standings, it was the best result for the Honda driver.For the next season he decided to stay in the series with the same team. He was victorious at Motegi, Fuji and Sugo, grabbing the championship title from Kenta Yamashita with a twelve-point gap.
GP2 Series
Matsushita made his début in the GP2 Series in 2015 with ART Grand Prix. In the first race at Bahrain, he qualified second on the grid opposite teammate Stoffel Vandoorne and finished in the points in both races, setting the fastest lap in the sprint race. At the Red Bull Ring, Matsushita took his first GP2 podium by finishing third in the sprint race. He took his first victory in the sport in the sprint race at the Hungaroring as part of an ART 1-2. He finished 9th in the overall standings.In February 2016, it was announced Matsushita would reunite with ART for a second season, alongside fellow 2015 rookie Sergey Sirotkin.
Matsushita was suspended for the 4th round of the season in Austria due to erratic driving at the previous event in Baku.
Formula One
On 20 February 2016, Matsushita was signed as a development driver for McLaren.Super Formula
In 2018, Matsushita returned to Japan to compete in Super Formula for Honda team Dandelion.FIA Formula 2
In 2017, Matsushita competed in the inaugural Formula 2 championship, driving for ART Grand Prix alongside Alexander Albon. He scored his first win in the sprint race in Spain, and his second one during the sprint race in Hungary. He scored two more podiums, in Monaco and in Monza and finished sixth in the final standings, beating Albon by 45 points.Matsushita returned to Formula 2 in with the Carlin team, partnering Louis Delétraz. He won the feature races at the Red Bull Ring and in Monza. He, again, finished 6th in the championship, two positions above his teammate.
He was announced to drive for MP Motorsport in the 2020 FIA Formula 2 Championship together with Brazilian Felipe Drugovich.
Racing record
Career summary
Complete GP2 Series results
| Year | Entrant | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | DC | Points |
| 2015 | ART Grand Prix | BHR FEA 10 | BHR SPR 6 | CAT FEA 11 | CAT SPR 18 | MON FEA Ret | MON SPR 19 | RBR FEA 4 | RBR SPR 3 | SIL FEA Ret | SIL SPR 19 | HUN FEA 8 | HUN SPR 1 | SPA FEA Ret | SPA SPR 15 | MNZ FEA Ret | MNZ SPR 15 | SOC FEA 10 | SOC SPR 7 | BHR FEA 2 | BHR SPR Ret | YMC FEA 11 | YMC SPR C | 9th | 68.5 |
| 2016 | ART Grand Prix | CAT FEA 11 | CAT SPR 8 | MON FEA 8 | MON SPR 1 | BAK FEA 6 | BAK SPR Ret | RBR FEA | RBR SPR | SIL FEA 6 | SIL SPR 5 | HUN FEA 6 | HUN SPR Ret | HOC FEA 9 | HOC SPR 12 | SPA FEA 11 | SPA SPR 11 | MNZ FEA 11 | MNZ SPR 6 | SEP FEA Ret | SEP SPR 7 | YMC FEA 2 | YMC SPR 4 | 11th | 92 |
Complete FIA Formula 2 Championship results
| Year | Entrant | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | DC | Points |
| ART Grand Prix | BHR FEA 8 | BHR SPR 14 | CAT FEA 4 | CAT SPR 1 | MON FEA 3 | MON SPR 7 | BAK FEA 12 | BAK SPR 6 | RBR FEA 6 | RBR SPR 14 | SIL FEA 10 | SIL SPR 8 | HUN FEA 5 | HUN SPR 1 | SPA FEA 16 | SPA SPR Ret | MNZ FEA 2 | MNZ SPR 7 | JER FEA 18 | JER SPR 11 | YMC FEA 6 | YMC SPR 4 | 6th | 131 | |||
| Carlin | BHR FEA 9 | BHR SPR 12 | BAK FEA 13 | BAK SPR 12 | CAT FEA 11 | CAT SPR Ret | MON FEA 2 | MON SPR 9 | LEC FEA 9 | LEC SPR 9 | RBR FEA 1 | RBR SPR 5 | SIL FEA 9 | SIL SPR 7 | HUN FEA 7 | HUN SPR 2 | SPA FEA C | SPA SPR C | MNZ FEA 1 | MNZ SPR 5 | SOC FEA 6 | SOC SPR Ret | YMC FEA 2 | YMC SPR 7 | 6th | 144 | |
| MP Motorsport | RBR FEA 9 | RBR SPR 6 | RBR FEA 17 | RBR SPR 11 | HUN FEA 12 | HUN SPR 11 | SIL FEA 10 | SIL SPR | SIL FEA | SIL SPR | CAT FEA | CAT SPR | SPA FEA | SPA SPR | MNZ FEA | MNZ SPR | MUG FEA | MUG SPR | 16th* | 7* |
* Season still in progress.
Complete Super Formula Results
| Year | Entrant | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | DC | Points |
| 2018 | Docomo Team Dandelion Racing | SUZ 12 | AUT C | SUG 10 | FUJ 9 | MOT 4 | OKA 9 | SUZ 7 | 11th | 7 |