The Super Taikyu Organisation (STO) has confirmed its schedule for the 2022 Super Taikyu Series powered by Hankook, which begins Sunday, 20 March, at Suzuka Circuit.
Dates and venues for the seven-race calendar remain the same as the provisional calendar which was published this past November. Two five-hour races at Suzuka will bookend the calendar, while the marquee Fuji Super TEC 24 Hours will be held on 4-5 June, as the second round.
With a 61-car provisional entry list for the upcoming season, and garage capacity issues at some circuits, the STO has decided to withhold one of the series’ five production-based categories, ST-1 through ST-5, from five out of the seven rounds this season.
The non-participating categories will rotate throughout the calendar. ST-4 will not take part in the first Suzuka round on 20 March. ST-2 will be absent from the Sportsland Sugo round on 10 July. ST-5 will be absent from the Autopolis round on 31 July. ST-3 will be absent from the 4 September round at the officially renamed Mobility Resort Motegi. And ST-1 will not take part in the round at Okayama International Circuit.
All classes will be present for the Fuji 24h, and for the season finale at Suzuka on 27 November.
With ST-1 through ST-5 running six out of the seven races this season, it has also been decided by the STO that there will be a change to the series points ranking in the top three categories – ST-X (GT3), ST-Z (GT4), and ST-TCR. In these classes, the championship will be decided based on the highest six out of seven scores during the season, with the lowest score being dropped for the final results.
There will be no change to the points paying structure itself, which awards points to the top ten finishers in each class (except ST-Q), and is scaled based on race distance.
2022 Super Taikyu Series Schedule (ratified 28 February 2022)
19-20 March: Suzuka Circuit (5 Hours) – all classes except ST-4
3-5 June: Fuji Speedway (24 Hours) – all classes
9-10 July: Sportsland Sugo (3 Hours x 2) – all classes except ST-2
30-31 July: Autopolis (5 Hours) – all classes except ST-5
3-4 September: Mobility Resort Motegi (5 Hours) – all classes except ST-3
15-16 October: Okayama International Circuit (3 Hours x 2) – all classes except ST-1
26-27 November: Suzuka Circuit (5 Hours) – all classes
38 of the series’ 61 entries were at the pre-season test at Fuji Speedway on 23 February. This included the new Toyota GR86 and Subaru BRZ “CNF Concepts,” which are modified to run on renewable, ‘carbon-neutral’ fuel.
These cars will be in the special ST-Q category, along with the returning hydrogen-powered Toyota Corolla Sport H2 Concept and the Mazda2 Bio Concept, running on biofuel.
The #61 Team SDA Engineering BRZ CNF Concept completed 101 laps across four sessions including night practice. The #28 ORC ROOKIE GR86 CNF Concept ran 64 laps, opting to concentrate their efforts on the three daytime sessions. The GR86’s best lap was a 1’53.454, and the BRZ clocked a 1’56.197 as its best lap. These times matched up with the best times from the ST-2 and ST-3 class runners.
Meanwhile, the upgraded Corolla Sport H2 Concept completed 63 laps with a best time of 1’59.989, over four seconds quicker than its best time at the 2021 Fuji 24h, and the Mazda2 Bio Concept ran 108 laps, with a best time of 2’04.250, on pace with the ST-5 frontrunners.
The fastest time of all was set by the new #62 HELM Motor Sports Nissan GT-R NISMO GT3, which set a time of 1’39.102 during Session 2. The HELM GT-R of Yutaka Toriba, Yuya Hiraki, and Reiji Hiraki led Sessions 1 and 2, while the #81 Daishin GTNET GT-R GT3 (Noboyuki Oyagi/Takayuki Aoki/Kiyoto Fujinami/Natsu Sakaguchi) led Session 3 and Night Practice.
Images courtesy of Naoyuki Hata / STO
