Keiko Ihara

"Since taking part in her first race in 1999, Keiko Ihara has competed in 70 countries around the world. In 2014, she became the first female racer to climb the podium at the WEC World Endurance Championship series, which is the pinnacle of car racing, and also won the Le Mans series. Her WEC driver ranking was at 22nd, which is the highest in the world for a female racer. Apart from motorsport racing, Keiko Ihara is involved with various educational activities such as human resource development at the Graduate School of Keio
University, training kindergarten teachers at Chubu University, which is near her current hometown, and organizing English classes for local children.
She has also worked on infrastructure development projects for electric vehicles along with corporations of the automobile industry and local governments. In addition to these activities, she is the project producer of the “Work & Women in Innovation Summit”. Keiko Ihara received the “Profiles of Passion Without Borders Japan” Award from the Japanese government's Minister of State for National Policy, and appears in textbooks used at junior high/ high schools.
Keiko Ihara has served as the Asian Representative for the FIA (Fédération Internationale de Automobile), Industrial Structure Committee Member of Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, Japan House Advisory Committee Member of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Olympic/ Paralympic Number Committee Member of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, and Policy Advisor of Mie Prefecture."

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