Tomoko Igata (井形とも子, born October 30, 1965) is a Japanese former professional Grand Prix motorcycle road racer.[1] She competed in the Grand Prix world championships from 1992 to 1995. Igata is notable for being the second full-time female rider after Taru Rinne, to compete in Grand Prix motorcycle racing history.[2] In 2016, Igata was named an FIM Legend for her pioneering Grand Prix racing career.[3]
| Tomoko Igata | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Nationality | Japanese | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born | October 30, 1965 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Motorcycle racing career
editIgata competed in the 125cc All Japan Road Race Championship from 1991 to 1993, finishing in the Top 10 every year.[4] Her best result was in 199q when she finished 6th in the Championship. In 1992 Igata made her Grand Prix debut at Suzuka as a wild card where she survived the treacherous wet track finishing 20th and capturing the attention of the media.
In 1994 she signed up for a full 125cc World Championship with the FCC Technical Sports team racing a Honda RS125. Igata immediately won two points at the first race in Australia and rode an impressive race in Suzuka, but was injured in a crash at the Austrian Grand Prix and was replaced by her teammate in Japanese championship Tomomi Manako.[1] She returned towards the end of season to finish 28th in the Championship.[1]
Igata again competed in the 1995 season and achieved a best place finish of 7th at the Czech Grand Prix after having also occupied the 5th place during the race; the highest placing for a female in the history of the Championship. She ended the season in 20th.[1]
Igata subsequently returned to Japanese racing in the 125cc class but without major success.
References
edit- ^ a b c d "Tomoko Igata MotoGP statistics". motogp.com. Retrieved November 19, 2019.
- ^ "Female GP rider pussyfoots through 250 GP". iol.co.za. Retrieved November 19, 2019.
- ^ "FIM Legends". fim-awards.com. Retrieved April 20, 2020.
- ^ "All Japan Road Race Championship results". motoracing-japan.com. Archived from the original on September 11, 2007. Retrieved November 19, 2019.
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