Toshi Arai

Toshi Arai
Born (1966-12-25) 25 December 1966 (age 57)
Related toHiroki Arai (son)
World Rally Championship record
Active years1997–2010, 2022
Co-driverJapan Toshio Omizo
Japan Hiroshi Suzuki
United Kingdom Roger Freeman
Australia Glenn MacNeall
New Zealand Tony Sircombe
United Kingdom Daniel Barritt
Japan Naoya Tanaka
TeamsPrivateer, Subaru
Rallies87
Championships0
Rally wins0
Podiums0
Stage wins0
Total points11
First rally1997 Rally Australia
Last rally2022 Rally Japan

Toshihiro 'Toshi' Arai (新井敏弘, Arai Toshihiro, born December 25, 1966) is a Japanese rally driver and team owner. He is the first Japanese FIA world champion.[1]

Arai was born in Isesaki, Gunma. He made his debut in 1987 and drove for the Subaru World Rally Team in the Group N World Rally Championship from 1997 to 2000 and 2002–2003, and in the Group A Championship in 2000–2001.

In 2004 he established his own team, Subaru Team Arai, and won the FIA Production Car World Rally Championship for Drivers in 2005 and 2007 driving a Subaru Impreza WRX STI, which made him the first Japanese FIA world champion.[2] He scored class victories in Turkey, Japan and Australia on his way to the title.

He was also the winner of the short-lived FIA Teams' Cup in 2000.

  1. ^ CORPORATION, TOYOTA MOTOR. "THE HISTORY OF WRC -Toyota has challenged to a great many roads in the world- | 2018 | SPECIAL | WRC". TOYOTA GAZOO Racing. Retrieved 2019-06-25.
  2. ^ RallyBase