Yutaka Suzuki, the general manager, Super GT team director, and chief engineer of GT500 vehicle development for NISMO (Nissan Motorsports International), died Sunday at the age of 56 after battling an undisclosed illness throughout this year.
Suzuki had been an integral member of NISMO as both an engineer and architect since he joined the company in 1990. Upon his arrival, Suzuki headed up vehicle development for Nissan’s touring car efforts in the All-Japan Touring Car Championship during the Group C and Super Touring eras.
He contributed to the Nissan R390 GT1’s landmark third place overall finish at the 1998 24 Hours of Le Mans, as the development engineer and track engineer for the number 32 entry driven by Aguri Suzuki, Kazuyoshi Hoshino, and Masahiko Kageyama.
In 2009, Suzuki was promoted to team director of NISMO’s flagship GT500 entry in the Autobacs Super GT Series. As manager of the Motul Autech Nissan GT-R of Satoshi Motoyama and Benoît Tréluyer, Suzuki found his way to the top step of the podium twice in his first season as manager, and then won three times in 2011 as Motoyama and Tréluyer finished runner-up in the GT500 Drivers’ Championship.
Over the ensuing years, the NISMO number 23 team would undergo a transition period that would culminate in establishing a ‘core four’ with Suzuki as team director, Tsugio Matsuda and Ronnie Quintarelli as ace drivers, and Takeshi Nakajima as chief engineer. The team also struck up a deal with Michelin as their new tyre supplier.
The Suzuki-led NISMO team and the Matsuda/Quintarelli driver combination would achieve their greatest successes, winning back-to-back GT500 Drivers’ and Teams’ Championships in 2014 and in 2015.
At the same time, Suzuki was also the chief engineer for GT500 vehicle development, and oversaw the team’s private testing programmes. He was also the head of development for the Nissan Leaf NISMO RC electric racing concept vehicle.
Under the stewardship of Suzuki, NISMO won 16 races, two championships, and 15 pole positions. Quintarelli became the first four-time GT500 Drivers’ Champion and the winningest foreign GT500 driver of all-time, while Matsuda became the all-time GT500 career wins leader driving for Suzuki.
These accolades include their victory in this year’s third round at Suzuka Circuit – by which point, Suzuki had moved to a remote support position due to his declining health.
DSC would like to extend our condolences to Suzuki-san’s family and friends, and to the entire Nissan/NISMO racing community.
Images courtesy of John Brooks, Nissan, and the GT Association (GTA).
