Honda legend Kunimitsu Takahashi on Wednesday passed away at the age of 82. The Japanese is cherished by Honda as one of the legends that has been partly responsible for the many successes that the Japanese car and motorcycle manufacturer has achieved.
“On Wednesday March 16, Kunimitsu Takahashi, a major contributor to motor sports, passed away at age 82.” Honda said in a statement.
Takahashi joined Honda in 1960 as a works rider and made his Grand Prix debut that year. The following year, he won his first race at the West German Grand Prix, giving Honda not only its first Grand Prix victory in the 250cc class, but also becoming the first Japanese driver to win a Grand Prix in both the two- and four-wheelers.
Within that time, Takahashi has mainly focused on four-wheel racing in different national categories in Japan. In 1977 he took part in the Formula 1 Grand Prix of Japan by wild card, in which he finished ninth.
In 1995, Takahashi won the 24 Hours of Le Mans in the GT2 class with a first-generation NSX car, along with his teammates Keisuke Tsuchiya and Akira Iida. He continued his racing career in the top class until 1999.
Since 2020, he has focused on managing Team Kunimitsu, competing in the Japanese GT category with NSX-GTs and HSV-010 GTs. In 2018 and 2020, he led his team to victory in the GT500 class of the SUPER GT series.
Takahashi was still a guest rider during the Dutch TT in Assen on the occasion of Honda’s sixtieth anniversary in 2019. He then completed another lap of honor on his 1961 machine on Sunday prior to the MotoGP race, along with another Honda legend: five-time 500cc World Champion Mick Doohan.
