Super Taikyu Series
Super Taikyu (スーパー耐久, Super Endurance), formerly known as the Super N1 Taikyu Series prior to 2005 and N1 Endurance Series prior to 1995, and currently named the Eneos Super Taikyu Series Powered by Hankook for sponsorship reasons, is a Japanese racing series that began in 1991. In contrast to the Super GT Series, the Super Taikyu Series is a pro-am racing series for commercially available racing vehicles such as GT3, GT4, and TCR cars, and minimally-modified production vehicles mainly from the Japanese domestic market.
| Category | GT3, GT4, TCR, Group N |
|---|---|
| Country | Japan |
| Inaugural season | 1991 |
| Classes | ST-X, ST-Z, ST-TCR, ST-Q, ST-1, ST-2, ST-3, ST-4, ST-5 |
| Drivers' champion | Yutaka Toriba Yuta Hiraki Reiji Hiraki |
| Teams' champion | HELM Motorsports |
| Official website | SuperTaikyu.com |
| Current season | |
Super Taikyu races are held across all of Japan's major motor racing circuits, with formats including a single five-hour race, and a double-header format of two three-hour races. The series' largest event is the Fuji Super TEC 24 Hours, which is held annually at Fuji Speedway since its revival in 2018. Prior to that, the Tokachi 24 Hours was the series' largest event, held annually from 1994 until 2008.
Yokohama Rubber was the series' official tyre supplier until the end of 2017. In 2018, Pirelli became the series' new tyre supplier as part of a three-year contract. In 2021, Hankook Tire became the series' new tyre supplier. Their contract is for three years, ending in 2023, with the option to extend the contract through the end of the 2025 season.[1] In 2022, Eneos became the new title sponsor of the series.[2]
Classes
The series has nine classes of vehicles, ranging from FIA GT3 cars to commercially available cars with effective displacements of under 1,500 cc. GT3 cars were introduced with the introduction of the ST-X class in 2011 (named ST-GT3 from 2012 to 2013). In 2017, the series introduced the ST-Z class for GT4 cars, and the ST-TCR class for TCR touring cars (initially named ST-R for the first round of the 2017 season).
The ST-1, ST-2, ST-3, and ST-4 classes have all existed since the first year of the series in 1991, based on the original Group N regulations and with various displacement and drivetrain limits in place. A fifth production class was introduced with the addition of ST-5 in 2010.
In 2021, the ST-Q class was introduced for manufacturer-developed, non-homologated special racing vehicles, similar to Nürburgring Langstrecken Serie's SPX class.[3] Toyota and ROOKIE Racing entered a modified Corolla Sport hatchback, equipped with a hydrogen-powered internal combustion engine, in this class beginning in 2021.[4] In the 2021 season finale, Mazda entered a modified version of their Demio (Mazda2) subcompact, powered by biofuel.[5] In 2022, Toyota and Subaru entered special versions of their GR86 and BRZ sports cars, adapted to run on carbon-neutral synthetic fuel.[6] That same year, Nissan entered a "Racing Concept" version of their new Fairlady Z (RZ34) sports car, which served as the prototype for the upcoming Nissan Z GT4.[7] Mazda introduced a new biodiesel concept, the Mazda3 Bio Concept, at the end of 2022.[8]
Champions
ST-X/GT3 Class (2011-present)
Bold drivers indicate a driver that was entered in every race for their respective team. Drivers listed in italics competed in a select number of rounds for their respective team.
| Year | Team | Vehicle | Drivers |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | HELM Motorsports | Nissan GT-R NISMO GT3 | Yutaka Toriba Yuya Hiraki Reiji Hiraki Shaun Thong (Rd.2) |
| 2021 | D'station Racing | Aston Martin AMR Vantage GT3 | Satoshi Hoshino Tomonobu Fujii Tsubasa Kondo |
| 2020 | Mercedes-AMG Team Hirix Racing | Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo | Daisuke Yamawaki Shaun Thong Shinichi Takagi (Rd. 1–3) Yuki Nemoto (Rd. 1, 4–5) |
| 2019 | GTNET Motor Sports (Rd. 1–4, 6) | Nissan GT-R NISMO GT3 | Teruhiko Hamano Kazuki Hoshino Kiyoto Fujinami Kazuki Hiramine (Rd. 3) |
| 2018 | GTNET Motor Sports | Nissan GT-R NISMO GT3 | Teruhiko Hamano Kazuki Hoshino Kiyoto Fujinami Hironobu Yasuda (Rd. 3) Sun Zheng (Rd. 3) |
| 2017 | ARN Racing | Ferrari 488 GT3 | Hiroaki Nagai Kota Sasaki Tsubasa Mekaru (Rd. 5) |
| 2016 | Kondo Racing | Nissan GT-R NISMO GT3 | Yudai Uchida Tomonobu Fujii Kazuki Hiramine |
| 2015 | Endless Sports | Nissan GT-R NISMO GT3 | Yukinori Taniguchi Kyosuke Mineo Yuya Motojima |
| 2014 | GTNET Motor Sports (Rd. 2–6) | Nissan GT-R NISMO GT3 | Kazuki Hoshino Naofumi Omoto Takayuki Aoki |
| 2013 | Petronas Syntium Team | Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG GT3 | Melvin Moh Dominic Ang (Rd. 1-4, 6-7) Nobuteru Taniguchi (Rd. 1-6) |
| 2012 | Petronas Syntium Team (Rd. 1–3, 5–6) | Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG GT3 | Nobuteru Taniguchi Fariqe Hairuman Dominic Ang |
| 2011 | Audi Team Hitotsuyama (Rd. 1–3) | Audi R8 LMS GT3 | Tomonobu Fujii Akihiro Tsuzuki Michael Kim |
ST-Z Class (2017-present)
Bold drivers indicate a driver that was entered in every race for their respective team. Drivers listed in italics competed in a select number of rounds for their respective team.
| Year | Team | Vehicle | Drivers |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | Team 5Zigen (Rd. 1-6) | Mercedes-AMG GT4 | Ryuichiro Otsuka Kakunoshin Ohta Toshihiro Kaneishi Iori Kimura (Rd. 2) |
| 2021 | Endless Sports | Mercedes-AMG GT4 | Yudai Uchida Hideki Yamauchi Togo Suganami Ryo Ogawa (Rd. 1, 3–5) |
| 2020 | Endless Sports | Mercedes-AMG GT4 | Yudai Uchida Hideki Yamauchi Tsubasa Takahashi Shinnosuke Yamada (Rd. 1) Ryuichiro Tomita (Rd. 1) Togo Suganami (Rd. 4-5) |
| 2019 | Endless Sports | Mercedes-AMG GT4 | Yudai Uchida Hideki Yamauchi Tsubasa Takahashi Shinnosuke Yamada (Rd. 3) |
| 2018 | BEND (Rd. 3, 5) | Porsche Cayman GT4 | Masamitsu Ishihara Daisuke Ikeda Yuya Sakamoto Shinya Hosokawa (Rd. 3) Atsushi Yogo (Rd. 3) |
| 2017 | no entries | ||
ST-TCR Class (2017-present)
| Year | Team | Vehicle | Drivers |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | Team Noah (Rd. 1-2, 4-5, 7) | Honda Civic Type R TCR | Yoshikazu Sobu Toshiro Tsukada (Rd. 1-2, 4) Shigetomo Shimono (Rd. 1, 7) Shingo Wada (Rd. 1, 7) Yu Kanamaru (Rd. 2) Koji Miura (Rd. 2) "J" Antonio (Rd. 2, 5, 7) Yuji Kiyotaki (Rd. 2, 4-5) Yasuhiro Ogushi (Rd. 4) Kuniyuki Haga (Rd. 5) |
| 2021 | Team Noah | Honda Civic Type R TCR | Yoshikazu Sobu Shigetomo Shimono Kuniyuki Haga (Rd. 1, 3, 5) Riki Tanioka (Rd. 1, 3) Toshiro Tsukada (Rd. 2–4, 6) Yuji Kiyotaki (Rd. 2–4, 6) Shingo Wada (Rd. 5) |
| 2020 | Floral Racing with Uematsu | Honda Civic Type R TCR | Tadao Uematsu Yuji Ide Shintaro Kawabata Tomoki Nojiri (Rd. 1) |
| 2019 | Birth Racing Project | Audi RS 3 LMS TCR | Takeshi Matsumoto Takuro Shinohara "Hirobon" (Rd.1) Yuya Ohta (Rd. 2–6) Kouichi Okumura (Rd. 3) |
| 2018 | Modulo Racing with Dome | Honda Civic Type R TCR | Tadao Uematsu Shinji Nakano Hiroki Otsu Takashi Kobayashi (Rd. 1, 3–6) Keishi Ishikawa (Rd. 3) |
| 2017 | Motul Dome Racing Project | Honda Civic Type R TCR | Takuya Kurosawa Keishi Ishikawa Hiroki Katoh Hiroki Yoshida (Rd. 5) |
Incidents
During a 2012 race at Suzuka Circuit (a support event for the 2012 FIA WTCC Race of Japan), Osamu Nakajima, driving a Nissan Fairlady Z (Z33), died after he crashed into a barrier on the first turn of the circuit.[10]
References
- ^ "スーパー耐久シリーズ 2021年からハンコックをタイヤサプライヤーに決定 | 【公式】スーパー耐久シリーズ Powered by Hankook". supertaikyu.com. Retrieved 2021-03-16.
- ^ "Eneos Becomes Title Sponsor Of The Super Taikyu Series | dailysportscar.com". www.dailysportscar.com. Retrieved 2022-03-09.
- ^ "Super Taikyu Completes Official Pre-Season Test At Fuji | dailysportscar.com". www.dailysportscar.com. Retrieved 2021-03-16.
- ^ CORPORATION, TOYOTA MOTOR. "Toyota Developing Hydrogen Engine Technologies Through Motorsports | Corporate | Global Newsroom". Toyota Motor Corporation Official Global Website. Retrieved 2021-10-13.
- ^ "MAZDA NEWSROOM｜Mazda to Participate in Motor Sports Race Powered by Next-Generation Biodiesel Fuel｜NEWS RELEASES". Mazda News Releases. Retrieved 2022-01-22.
- ^ CORPORATION, TOYOTA MOTOR. "Kawasaki Heavy Industries, Subaru, Toyota, Mazda, and Yamaha Take on Challenge to Expand Options for Producing, Transporting, and Using Fuel Toward Achieving Carbon Neutrality | Corporate | Global Newsroom". Toyota Motor Corporation Official Global Website. Retrieved 2022-01-22.
- ^ "Nissan Z Racing Concept for Fuji 24-hour race unveiled". Official Global Newsroom. 2022-06-04. Retrieved 2022-12-03.
- ^ "57 Cars Entered For Super Taikyu Finale at Suzuka | dailysportscar.com". www.dailysportscar.com. Retrieved 2022-12-03.
- ^ "Super Taikyu 2022 Sporting Regulation" (PDF) (in Japanese). Retrieved 2 December 2022.
- ^ "Osamu Nakajima". Motorsport Memorial. Retrieved 2013-07-22.