Keiko Ihara (井原 慶子, Ihara Keiko) (born July 4, 1973) is a Japanese race car driver and businesswoman. She was a former race queen, a model who appears in a swimsuit or other fashionable apparel at race circuits, before deciding to become a racing driver. She is one of the few Japanese women nationals to race internationally at a high level. Her best finishes in the British Formula Three Championship are two eighth places finishes in 2005, which helped her to a final championship standing position of 16th with 12 points. In the 2006 series, she finished in 17th and last position in the Championship Class, with four points.
Ihara joined the Gulf Racing Middle East to compete at the FIA World Endurance Championship in the LMP2 class with Jean-Denis Délétraz and Fabien Giroix as codrivers. In 2013, she raced two rounds for Gulf Racing Middle East and four with OAK Racing, both in the LMP2 class. The driver won the Fuji round of the 2014 Asian Le Mans Series for Oak Racing, together with Ho-Pin Tung and David Cheng.
As of 2025, Ihara is president of Future, a developer of hydrogen-assisted bicycles.
Racing record
Career summary
{| class="wikitable" style="font-size: 90%; text-align:center"
! Season
! Series
! Team
! Races
! Wins
! Poles
! Podiums
! F/Laps
! Points
! Position
|-
! 2000
|align=left nowrap| Formula Renault 2.0 UK Championship
|align=left|
| 12
| 0
| 0
| 0
| 0
| 0
| NC
|-
! 2001
|align=left| French Formula 3 Championship
|align=left| ARTA/Signature
| 11
| 0
| 0
| 0
| 0
| 22
| 13th
|-
!rowspan=2| 2002
|align=left| Asian Formula 2000
|align=left rowspan=2| Autosports Racing Team
| ?
| 2
| ?
| ?
| ?
| ?
| ?
|-
|align=left| Macau Asian Formula 2000 Challenge
| 1
| 0
| 0
| 1
| 0
| N/A
|style="background:#FFDF9F;"| 3rd
|-
!rowspan=2| 2003
|align=left| JGTC - GT300
|align=left| R&D Sports
| 4
| 0
| 0
| 0
| 0
| 0
| NC
|-
|align=left| Formula BMW Asia
|align=left| Team Yellow Hat
| 14
| 0
| 0
| 0
| 5
| 139
|style="background:#FFDF9F;"| 3rd
|-
! 2004
|align=left| Le Mans Endurance Series - GT
|align=left| T2M Motorsport
| 1
| 0
| 0
| 0
| 0
| 0
| NC
|-
!rowspan=2| 2005
|align=left| British Formula 3 International Series
|align=left rowspan=2| Carlin Motorsport
| 22
| 0
| 0
| 0
| 0
| 12
| 17th
|-
|align=left| Masters of Formula 3
| 1
| 0
| 0
| 0
| 0
| N/A
| 25th
|-
! 2006
|align=left| British Formula 3 International Series
|align=left| Carlin Motorsport
| 22
| 0
| 0
| 0
| 0
| 4
| 17th
|-
! 2008
|align=left| Aston Martin Asia Cup
|align=left|
| 1
| 0
| 0
| 0
| 0
| 0
| N/A†
|-
! 2009
|align=left| Formula Le Mans Cup
|align=left| Exagon Engineering
| 1
| 0
| 0
| 0
| 0
| 1
| 49th
|-
! rowspan="2" | 2012
| align="left" nowrap| FIA World Endurance Championship - LMP2
| rowspan="2" align="left" nowrap| Gulf Racing Middle East
| 8
| 0
| 0
| 0
| 0
| ?
| ?
|-
|align=left| 24 Hours of Le Mans - LMP2
|1
|0
|0
|0
|0
|N/A
|DNF
|-
! rowspan="3" | 2013
| rowspan="2" align="left" | FIA World Endurance Championship - LMP2
|align=left| Gulf Racing Middle East
| 2
| 0
| 0
| 0
| 0
| rowspan="2" | 35
| rowspan="2" | 10th
|-
|align=left| OAK Racing
|4
|0
|0
|0
|0
|-
| align="left" | 24 Hours of Le Mans - LMP2
| align="left" | Gulf Racing Middle East
| 1
| 0
| 0
| 0
| 0
| N/A
| DNF
|-
! rowspan="3" | 2014
|align=left| Asian Le Mans Series - LMP2
|align=left| OAK Racing Team Total
|1
|1
|0
|0
|1
|25
|5th
|-
|align=left| European Le Mans Series - LMP2
| rowspan="2" align=left| Larbre Compétition
|1
|0
|0
|0
|0
|2
|26th
|-
|align=left| 24 Hours of Le Mans - LMP2
|1
|0
|0
|0
|0
|N/A
|9th
|-
! 2016
|align=left| IMSA SportsCar Championship - Prototype
|align=left| Mazda Motorsports
|1
|0
|0
|0
|0
|24
|32nd
|-
! 2017–18
|align=left| Asian Le Mans Series - LMP2
|align=left| Eurasia Motorsport
|1
|0
|0
|0
|0
|12
|10th
|-
! 2018–19
|align=left| FIA World Endurance Championship - LMP2
|align=left| Larbre Compétition
|1
|0
|0
|0
|0
|10
|18th
|}
Season still in progress. † – Charity race guest.
24 Hours of Le Mans results
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center; font-size:90%"
|-
! Year
! Team
! Co-Drivers
! Car
! Class
! Laps
!
!
|-
! 2012
|align="left"| Gulf Racing Middle East
|align="left"| Jean-Denis Délétraz<br> Marc Rostan
|align="left"| Lola B12/80-Nissan
| LMP2
| 17
| DNF
| DNF
|-
! 2013
|align="left"| Gulf Racing Middle East
|align="left"| Fabien Giroix<br> Philippe Haezebrouck
|align="left"| Lola B12/80-Nissan
| LMP2
| 22
| DNF
| DNF
|-
! 2014
|align="left"| Larbre Compétition
|align="left"| Pierre Ragues<br> Ricky Taylor
|align="left"| Morgan LMP2-Judd
| LMP2
| 341
| 14th
| 9th
|}
Complete FIA World Endurance Championship results
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center; font-size:85%"
! Year
! Entrant
! Class
! Car
! Engine
! Tyres
! 1
! 2
! 3
! 4
! 5
! 6
! 7
! 8
! Rank
! Points
|-
| 2012
! nowrap| Gulf Racing Middle East
! LMP2
! nowrap| Lola B12/80
! nowrap| Nissan VK45DE 4.5 L V8
|
|style="background:#FFFFFF;"| SEB<br /><small>EX</small>
|style="background:#DFFFDF;"| SPA<br /><small>9</small>
|style="background:#EFCFFF;"| LMS<br /><small>Ret</small>
|style="background:#DFFFDF;"| SIL<br /><small>11</small>
|style="background:#DFFFDF;"| SÃO<br /><small>9</small>
|style="background:#EFCFFF;"| BHR<br /><small>Ret</small>
|style="background:#DFFFDF;"| FUJ<br /><small>6</small>
|style="background:#EFCFFF;"| SHA<br /><small>Ret</small>
! 70th
! 2
|-
|rowspan="2"| 2013
! nowrap| Gulf Racing Middle East
!rowspan="2"| LMP2
! nowrap| Lola B12/80
!rowspan="2" nowrap| Nissan VK45DE 4.5 L V8
|rowspan="2"|
| SIL
|style="background:#DFFFDF;"| SPA<br/><small>9</small>
|style="background:#EFCFFF;"| LMS<br /><small>Ret</small>
|
|
|
|
|
!rowspan="2"| 22nd
!rowspan="2"| 12
|-
! nowrap| OAK Racing
! nowrap| Morgan LMP2
|
|
|
|style="background:#DFFFDF;"| SÃO<br /><small>5</small>
| COA
|style="background:#DFFFDF;"| FUJ<br/><small>9</small>
|style="background:#DFFFDF;"| SHA<br /><small>6</small>
|style="background:#DFFFDF;"| BHR<br /><small>5</small>
|-
|rowspan="2"| 2014
! nowrap| Larbre Compétition
!rowspan="2"| LMP2
! nowrap| Morgan LMP2
! nowrap| Judd HK 3.6 L V8
!
| SIL
| SPA
|style="background:#CFCFFF;"| LMS <br/><small>9</small>
|
|
|
|
|
!rowspan="2"| N/A
!rowspan="2"| N/A
|-
! nowrap| OAK Racing
! nowrap| Morgan LMP2
! nowrap| Judd HK 3.6 L V8
!
|
|
|
| COA
|style="background:#DFDFDF;"| FUJ<br/><small>3</small>
| SHA
|style="background:#DFDFDF;"| BHR<br/><small>3</small>
| SÃO
|-
| nowrap| 2018–19
! nowrap| Larbre Compétition
! LMP2
! nowrap| Ligier JS P217
! nowrap| Gibson GK428 4.2 L V8
!
| SPA
| LMS
| SIL
| style="background:#DFFFDF;"| FUJ<br />
| SHA
| SEB
| SPA
| LMS
! 18th
! 10
|}
IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship series results
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center; font-size:85%"
! Year
! Team
! Class
! Make
! Engine
! 1
! 2
! 3
! 4
! 5
! 6
! 7
! 8
! 9
! 10
! Rank
! Points
|-
| 2016
! nowrap| Mazda Motorsports
! P
! nowrap| Mazda Prototype
! nowrap| Mazda MZ-2.0T 2.0 L I4 Turbo
| DAY<br/>
|style="background:#DFFFDF;"| SIR<br/>
| LBH<br/>
| LAG<br/>
| DET<br/>
| WAT<br/>
| MSP<br/>
| ELK<br/>
| COA<br/>
| PET<br/>
! 32nd
! 24
|}
<nowiki>*</nowiki> Season still in progress