Super Taikyu Series
Auto racing championship in Japan From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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 Empowered by Bridgestone for sponsorship reasons, is a Japanese endurance racing series that began in 1991. In contrast to the Super GT series, Super Taikyu 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.
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| 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 |
| Tyre suppliers | Bridgestone |
| Official website | SuperTaikyu.com |
 Current season | |
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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.
In 2022, Eneos became the new title sponsor of the series.[1]
Classes
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Perspective
The series has nine classes of vehicles, ranging from international GT3, GT4, and TCR categories to domestic categories of commercially available cars with effective displacements of under 1,500 cc.
GT3 cars were introduced with the debut 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 layout limits in place. A fifth production class was introduced with the addition of ST-5 in 2010.
ST-Q
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In 2021, the ST-Q class was introduced for manufacturer-developed, non-homologated special racing vehicles, similar to Nürburgring Langstrecken Serie's SPX class.[2] Toyota and ROOKIE Racing entered a modified Corolla Sport (GR Corolla) hatchback, equipped with a hydrogen-powered internal combustion engine, in ST-Q beginning in 2021.[3] In the 2021 season finale, Mazda entered a modified version of their Demio (Mazda2) subcompact, powered by biofuel.[4]
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In 2022, Toyota and Subaru entered special versions of their GR86 and BRZ sports cars, adapted to run on carbon-neutral synthetic fuel.[5] That same year, Nissan entered a "Racing Concept" version of their new Fairlady Z (RZ34) sports car, which served as the prototype for the Nissan Z GT4.[6] Mazda introduced a new biodiesel concept, the Mazda3 Bio Concept, at the end of 2022.[7]
The hydrogen GR Corolla will adopt the use of liquid hydrogen in 2023 - the first race car in the world to do so.[8] Honda introduced a carbon-neutral fuel compatible version of the Civic Type R in 2023.[9]
Tyres
Yokohama 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 became the series' new tyre supplier. Their contract was to last for three years, ending in 2023, with the option to extend the contract through the end of the 2025 season.[11]
Due to the fire at Hankook's manufacturing plant in Daejeon on 12 March 2023, Bridgestone signed a new three-year contract to take over as the tyre supplier of Super Taikyu beginning in 2024. On 24 April, it was announced that Bridgestone would take over as the series' tyre supplier with immediate effect on 24 April, prior to the second round of the 2023 season.[12]
Champions
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Perspective
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ST-X/GT3 Class (2011–present)
Bold drivers indicate a driver that entered scored every possible point for their respective teams. Drivers listed in italics competed in a select number of rounds for their respective team.
ST-Z/GT4 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 |  Saitama Toyopet GreenBrave |
Toyota GR Supra GT4 | Rin Arakawa (Rd. 2, 7) Naoki Hattori Seita Nonaka (Rd. 1–6) Manabu Yamazaki Hiroki Yoshida |
| 2023 | Saitama Toyopet GreenBrave |
Toyota GR Supra GT4 | Naoki Hattori Kohta Kawaai Manabu Yamazaki Hiroki Yoshida Seita Nonaka (Rd. 2) |
| 2022 | Team 5Zigen (Rd. 1-6) |
Mercedes-AMG GT4 | Ryūichirō Otsuka Kakunoshin Ohta Toshihiro Kaneishi Iori Kimura (Rd. 2) |
| 2021 | Endless Sports |
Mercedes-AMG GT4 | Yūdai Uchida Hideki Yamauchi Togo Suganami Ryō Ogawa (Rd. 1, 3–5) |
| 2020 | Endless Sports |
Mercedes-AMG GT4 | Yūdai Uchida Hideki Yamauchi Tsubasa Takahashi Shinnosuke Yamada (Rd. 1) Ryūichirō Tomita (Rd. 1) Togo Suganami (Rd. 4-5) |
| 2019 | Endless Sports |
Mercedes-AMG GT4 | Yūdai Uchida Hideki Yamauchi Tsubasa Takahashi Shinnosuke Yamada (Rd. 3) |
| 2018 | BEND (Rd. 3, 5) |
Porsche Cayman GT4 | Masamitsu Ishihara Daisuke Ikeda Yūya Sakamoto Shinya Hosokawa (Rd. 3) Atsushi Yogō (Rd. 3) |
| 2017 | No entries | ||
ST-TCR Class (2017–present)
| Year | Team | Vehicle | Drivers |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | M&K Racing |
Honda Civic Type R TCR (FL5) |  Lee Jung Woo "Kizuna" Sena Yamamoto |
| 2023 | M&K Racing |
Honda Civic Type R TCR (FL5) | Mitsuhiro Endō Yūsuke Mitsui (Rd. 4) Tōsei Moriyama (Rd. 4–5) Shinji Nakano (Rd. 5–7) Takashi Kobayashi (Rd. 7) |
| 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) |
ST-1 Class (1991–present)
Bold drivers indicate a driver that entered scored every possible point for their respective teams. Drivers listed in italics competed in a select number of rounds for their respective team.
ST-3 Class (1991–present)
Bold drivers indicate a driver that entered scored every possible point for their respective teams. Drivers listed in italics competed in a select number of rounds for their respective team.
| Year | Team | Vehicle | Drivers |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | TRACYSPORTS with DELTA |
Lexus RC 350 | Shunsuke Ozaki Yoshiyuki Tsuruga Toshiki Ishimori Takanobu Ishizuka (Rd. 2, 4–7) Sesshū Kondō (Rd. 2) |
| 2022 | TRACYSPORTS with DELTA |
Lexus RC 350 | Yūsuke Tomibayashi Takashi Itō Hirotaka Ishii Takuya Ōtaki (Rd. 1–2, 4) Dai Mizuno (Rd. 2) Gento Miyashita (Rd. 2) |
| 2021 | TRACY SPORTS with Delta |
Lexus RC 350 | Yūsuke Tomibayashi Kazuya Ōshima Hirotaka Ishii (Rd. 2–6) Yoshiyuki Tsuruga (Rd. 3) Ryūta Ukai (Rd. 3)
|
| 2020 | TRACY SPORTS |
Lexus RC 350 | Kazuya Ōshima Yūsuke Tomibayashi Hirotaka Ishii Sesshū Kondō (Rd. 1) Hirohito Itō (Rd. 1) Yoshihiro Itō (Rd. 4) |
| 2019 | TECHNO FIRST |
Lexus RC 350 | Yūya Tezuka Riki Ōkusa Shūji Maejima Takao Ohnishi (Rd. 3) |
| 2018 | TRACY SPORTS |
Lexus RC 350 | Makoto Hotta Ryōhei Sakaguchi Morio Nitta (Rd. 3–4) |
| 2017 | TRACYSPORTS |
Lexus IS 350 | Yūya Tezuka Shūji Maejima Akira Suzuki Taketoshi Matsui (Rd. 5) |
| 2016 | TRACYSPORTS |
Lexus IS 350 | Makoto Hotta Ryōhei Sakaguchi Yūhi Sekiguchi (Rd. 4) |
| 2015 | OKABEJIDOSHA motorsport |
Nissan Fairlady Z (Z34) | Masaaki Nagashima Tooru Tanaka Tetsuya Tanaka Daisuke Imamura (Rd. 3) |
| 2014 | Techno First Racing Team |
Nissan Fairlady Z (Z34) | Shūji Maejima Masahiro Sasaki Kazuki Hirokawa Hironobu Yasuda (Rd. 3) |
| 2013 | OTG Motor Sports |
Lexus GS 350 (GRS191) | Shinya Satō Hiroki Yoshimoto (Rd. 1–2, 4–7) Shigekazu Wakisaka (Rd. 3–7) |
| 2012 | OKABE JIDOSHA motor sport |
Mazda RX-7 (FD3S) | Kazuomi Komatsu Kenichi Sugibayashi Yoshinobu Masuda |
| 2011 | KOTA RACING |
Honda NSX (NA2) | Kōta Sasaki Hiromasa Kitano Tatsuya Hashimoto (Rd. 1, 3–4) Tohjirō Azuma (Rd. 2, 5–6) |
| 2010 | MAKIGUCHI ENGINEERING |
BMW M3 (E46) | Isao Ihashi Hideki Hirota Yoshihisa Namekata (Rd. 1–2) Shinsuke Misawa (Rd. 3–7) |
| 2009 | TEAM 5ZIGEN |
Honda NSX (NA2) | Katsuyuki Hiranaka Kōsuke Matsuura Hiroki Yoshimoto |
| 2008 | EXEDY H.I.S. ings |
Nissan Fairlady Z (Z33) | Shūji Maejima Masahiro Sasaki Subaru Yamamoto (Rd. 4) |
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 crashing into a barrier at the first corner of the circuit.[13]
References
External links
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