Hirate began
karting in 1999 when he was 13. After winning the All Japan Junior Kart Championship, coming third and fifth in the All Japan Kart Championship and coming third in the FIA Oceania Championship, he moved on to
Formula Toyota, where he raced for the Tom's Spirit team and came second with four wins to his name. round of the
2010 Formula Nippon season In 2003, Hirate moved to Formula Renault, at the Prema Power team. In his two-year spell here, he won seven races and came second in the 2004 season. In 2004, he also raced for Prema Power's
Formula Three Euroseries team twice, and in 2005 made the decision to race here. After coming twelfth for Team Rosberg, he was made a
Toyota F1 test driver in 2006 and came third in the Formula Three Euroseries. In 2007, he continued as a Toyota test driver and also drove for
GP2 team
Trident Racing. Hirate returned to Japan in 2008, where he competed in both
Formula Nippon and
Super GT. He finished fourth in the
2008 Formula Nippon season and fifth in
2009, both times driving for
Team Impul. race ==Racing record==