Ill, Jonas Folger will be replaced by Japanese driver Kohta Nozane, at least for this Japanese Grand Prix.
21 years old (soon to be 22), Kohta Nozane was born on 29/10/1995 in Chiba.
A late protégé of the great Norick Abe, Nozane took up motorcycling at the age of three and began racing mini-motos at the age of six.
He made his Grand Prix debut at 16, as a wild card at the 2 Japanese Moto2012 round on a SAG team FTR. He is disqualified there.
Alongside his final victory in the J-GP2 category of the Japanese championship, he repeats the operation in Grands Prix in 2013, this time replacing Mike Di Meglio with the Motobi of the JiR team in Australia (17th) then a TSR then a TSR of Mitsuo Abe's Webike Team Norick NTS with whom he obtained a 16th place. He also took part in the Valencia Grand Prix but was forced to retire.
While he was logically preparing for his first full season in the Moto2 World Championship, the Japanese rider unfortunately had to deal with the death of his father and renounced his commitment to Gianluca Montiron's JiR team for the 2014 season.
He therefore participated in the All Japan JSB1000 Championship on a Yamaha YZF-R1 for 3 years, oscillating between 9th and 7th place.
In 2017, he joined YART to complete the entire World Endurance Championship season after finishing 4th in the Suzuka 8 Hours in 2016.
He is currently an official Yamaha Factory test rider.
😱 What a picture! Kohta Nozane collapses in his pit box after having the courage to bring his bike back following a fall. #lequipeMOTO pic.twitter.com/Dumz4ZpqFK
— la chaine L'Équipe (@lachainelequipe) September 16, 2017
