Takuma Aoki | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Aoki in 2008
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Nationality | Japanese | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Takuma Aoki (青木 拓磨 Aoki Takuma?, born February 24, 1974 in Tokyo) is a former Grand Prix motorcycle road racer from Japan. He began his Grand Prix career in 1993. From 1994 to 1996, Aoki competed in the World Superbike Championship, winning one race in that series. He returned to Grand Prix racing with Honda in 1997, enjoying his best season when he finished fifth in the 500cc world championship. A spinal injury in a 1998 motorcycle crash left him paralyzed below the waist. Aoki has continued to work with Honda, helping them develop cars for disabled people. He is the brother of Grand Prix racers, Nobuatsu and Haruchika Aoki.
Aoki has recently been involved in motorsports again. Using specially-modified 4-wheel drive vehicles, he has been involved in many cross country rallies, notably the Dakar Rally and the Asia Cross Country Rally.
() (Races in bold indicate pole position, races in italics indicate fastest lap)