Max Racing has made the surprising and difficult decision to withdraw from the Autobacs SUPER GT Series, effective immediately, and to cease all further activities as a racing team.
The announcement comes weeks after their Toyota GR Supra GT300 race car was damaged in a fire during the most recent SUPER GT race at Fuji Speedway on 6 August. The #244 Hachi-Ichi GR Supra of Kimiya Sato and Atsushi Miyake was already slated to miss the upcoming Suzuka GT 450km Race this weekend.
Team director Tetsuya Tanaka wrote in a statement released today: “It is with great urgency that we announce that Max Racing will be withdrawing from the SUPER GT Series. We would like to express our deepest apologies to everyone involved and to our supporters for this disappointing news, and we sincerely ask for your understanding.”
“With the sudden passing of team owner Tsuyoshi Oono last year, along with the desire to continue his legacy, we have been able to move forward thanks to the strong support and assistance of all of you who have been cheering us on. However, due to repeated crashes since last season and a car fire at the previous round at Fuji, some of the parts that were damaged during the crash were not available during the season. In light of this situation, and after careful consideration, we regret to announce that we have decided to withdraw from the SUPER GT Series.”
“This is where our activities as a team will come to an end,” Tanaka continued.
“We would like to express our deepest gratitude again for the kindness and support you have shown us. We hope that the SUPER GT Series will continue to be a safe and wonderful racing series in the future.”
Established in 2018 by Tsuyoshi “Go Max” Oono, Max Racing first competed in the Super Taikyu Series ST-X class from 2018-2019 before taking the step up to SUPER GT in 2020. With the backing of Tsuchiya Engineering as a technical partner, the scouting of top single-seater prospect Miyake as a driver, and the hiring of SUPER GT legend Tanaka as its team principal, Max Racing had a firm foundation in its first years in SUPER GT.
The acquisition of a new GTA-GT300 spec Toyota GR Supra, and the addition of Yuui Tsutsumi to partner Miyake helped Max Racing achieve a phenomenal first victory at Suzuka in the 2021 Suzuka 300km.
Miyake’s success with Max Racing, in both GT300 and in Super Formula Lights seat funded by the team, led him to a race seat in Super Formula last year along with multiple tests with Nissan in the 2021-22 and 2022-23 off-season auditions.
However, the team’s hardships would begin not long after Oono-san’s sudden death on 2 March 2022. Max Racing’s new combination of Miyake and Kimiya Sato were robbed of a chance to win last year’s Suzuka 450km in August after a GT500 car crashed into them, and they finished 2022 with just one top-ten finish.
2023 seemed to be the start of a turnaround, though – Sato and Miyake finished third in this year’s rain-shortened opening round at Okayama.
Two and a half weeks ago, Sato was at the wheel when an exhaust component fell off the Hachi-Ichi GR Supra, causing a heat surge that sparked a fire inside the car. It was initially believed that the damage was not terribly severe, and that the team might return after Suzuka to finish the rest of the season.
Max Racing’s withdrawal comes after Takeshi Tsuchiya, owner of Tsuchiya Engineering and Hoppy Team Tsuchiya, confirmed that they would not return for the rest of 2023 after their own Toyota GR Supra suffered terminal damage in a separate fire in the same race.
DSC would like to wish everyone at Max Racing the very best in their racing futures.
Images © GTA
