Super Taikyu Series Publishes Provisional 62 Car Entry For 2023

The Super Taikyu Organisation (STO) announced on Sunday their provisional full-season entry list for the upcoming 2023 Eneos Super Taikyu Series powered by Hankook.

Japan’s Pro-Am endurance championship has 62 cars registered across their nine classes, though we can expect a few one-off and part-time entries throughout the course of the season. 41 of these cars will take part in the official pre-season test at Fuji Speedway on Thursday.

At the top of the card is the ST-X class for FIA GT3 cars, where HELM Motor Sports and their Nissan GT-R NISMO GT3 are the defending champions. As previously announced, brothers Yuya and Reiji Hiraki will return to drive alongside gentleman driver Yutaka Toriba.

Joining them are past champions GTNET Motor Sports and Team Daishin, who are partnering with MP Racing for a joint entry carrying the number 819 – a combination of Team Daishin’s #81 and MP Racing’s #9. And Team 5Zigen, the reigning ST-Z class champions, will step up to Super Taikyu’s top category with a GT-R of their own. Drivers for these teams will be announced later.

Toyota factory squad ROOKIE Racing introduce their Mercedes-AMG GT3 with sponsorship from China’s Zhongsheng Group. Ryuta Ukai, Naoya Gamou, Hibiki Taira, and driver/manager Tatsuya Kataoka will drive with them for the full season. Kataoka’s TKRI (TK Racing Invitation) team are also entered with a Mercedes of their own, supported by RS Fine – the garage behind Goodsmile Racing & Team UKYO’s success in SUPER GT.

From Hong Kong, KCMG return to the series after plans to race with the Honda NSX GT3 were thwarted due to COVID-19 in 2020. They’re back with the NSX GT3 in a dual programme that also includes GT World Challenge Asia. For the full season, Paul Ip, Ho-Pin Tung, and Marchy Lee will drive – and Edoardo Liberati will join them for the Fuji Super TEC 24 Hours with another driver to be named.

Fielding the sole Lexus RC F GT3 are the master constructors apr, driven by Hiroaki Nagai, Koki Saga, and Kazuto Kotaka. D’station Racing, fresh off their tough Asian Le Mans Series outing, will return with the Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3 in rounds that don’t conflict with the WEC commitments for Satoshi Hoshino and Tomonobu Fujii.

The official launch of the Nissan Z GT4 brings two new entries into the ST-Z class for FIA GT4 cars – one from the world-renowned Team Impul, and one from Team ZeroOne with the support of the Nissan Mechanic Challenge programme.

Naniwa Denso Team Impul have recruited reigning and defending SUPER GT GT500 Champion, Kazuki Hiramine, to anchor the team’s driver crew alongside Yuki Tanaka, Kazuki Oki, and owner/driver Kazuki Hoshino. Kazuo Kitanaka, the CEO of title sponsor Naniwa Denso, will be the team manager.

Team ZeroOne’s GT4 Nissan Z will be driven by Ryuichiro Otsuka, Ryuichiro Tomita, Teppei Natori, and Takuro Shinohara. Masataka Yanagida will work as an advisor alongside team manager Hatsuki Kohno. Team ZeroOne will also run an older Nissan Fairlady Z34 in the ST-3 class with Tsugio Matsuda, Kimiya Sato, and Daiki Fujiwara announced as three-quarters of their driver line-up.

Saitama Toyopet GreenBrave and reigning ST-TCR champions Team Noah each bring their new Toyota GR Supra GT4s to the class alongside existing GR Supra runners SHADE Racing. Manabu Yamazaki joins the existing trio of Naoki Hattori, Hiroki Yoshida, and Kohta Kawaai in the GreenBrave Supra, while SHADE Racing have announced Hiroyuki “Hiro” Hayashi, Katsuyuki Hiranaka, and Eijiro Shimizu.

There are two of the newest Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 RS Clubsports, one from Porsche Team EBI Waimarama and one for Birth Racing Project. Katsumasa Chiyo and Naoya Yamano will test for EBI Waimarama at Fuji. BRP already have their full-season drivers confirmed with Kenji Suzuki, Takeshi Suehiro, Kohei Fukuda, and Tatsuya Tanigawa.

New to the series is Buzz Kota Racing, operated by veteran driver Kota Sasaki in conjunction with Japanese McLaren specialsts FirstGarage, entering with a McLaren 570S GT4. Along with Sasaki, Max Salo – the son of veteran racer Mika Salo – will drive alongside Ryosuke Kagami, and three newcomers – Ken Alex, Naoto Uzuka, and Kazutaka Tokufuji.

Audi Team Hitotsuyama return for their second season with the R8 LMS GT4. Now managed by Shinichi Takagi, the Hitotsuyama R8 GT4 has an all-new driving line-up featuring Daisuke Yamawaki, Seiya Jin, Yuki Ano, and Sean Walkinshaw making his return to Japan. Takagi will drive in the Fuji 24 Hours.

With Team 5Zigen moving to ST-X, Auto Factory returns to the series to field the only Mercedes-AMG GT4 in the class. Shigehiro Ikemoto and Jun Tashiro will make up at least part of the driver line-up according to the entry list from this week’s test.

Lastly, Techno First – who’ve fielded the Ginetta G55 GT4 in recent years – have signed up with a vehicle and drivers to be announced.

Super Taikyu’s unique draw is the ST-Q class, which showcases innovative concept cars from manufacturers. There are eight of them set to take part with four of them entered at the test this week at Fuji.

Toyota and ROOKIE Racing will once again enter their signature GR Corolla with a hydrogen-powered combustion engine, the #32 GR Corolla H2 Concept joins their #28 GR86 CNF Concept, modified to run on carbon-neutral fuel.

Subaru and Team SDA Engineering will enter their own rear-wheel drive sports car, the #61 BRZ CNF Concept.

And after making its debut in last year’s finale, Mazda and Mazda Spirit Racing will run their Mazda3 Bio Concept for the full season, a car modified to run on plant-based bio diesel. Mazda Spirit Racing will also enter a second ST-Q class car (UPDATE: Mazda Spirit Racing have now confirmed it will be a CNF version of the Mazda Roadster!)

Announced in December, Honda and Team HRC will enter the Super Taikyu Series with the latest Honda Civic Type R road car using carbon neutral fuel. Team HRC have two registered entries, one of which we know is the CNF Civic Type R.

And finally, there is a “TBN” entry in the class carrying the number 230 – the number that Nissan and NISMO used when they ran a CNF version of the Nissan Z Racing Concept last year at the Fuji 24h.