The Super Taikyu Organisation (STO) has released the entry list for this week’s Sugo Super Taikyu 4 Hour Race weekend that will take place on Saturday and Sunday, 20/21 April. It is the first round of the 2024 season for the newly-rechristened Eneos Super Taikyu Series Empowered by Bridgestone.
A total of 54 cars are entered from eight different classes, and the field will be divided into two groups for the double-header weekend. The Group 2 race will run on Saturday at 12:45 PM JST, followed by Group 1 on Sunday at 1:25 PM JST. Each group will have Qualifying on the same day at 8:00 AM JST.
Group 1 will be headlined by four GT3 cars in the ST-X class: The two Mercedes-AMG GT3s of Zhongsheng ROOKIE Racing and TKRI, the Lexus RC F GT3 of apr, and the Nissan GT-R NISMO GT3 of GTNET MotorSports.
GTNET MotorSports recently announced its drivers for the season. Team Daishin owner Noboyuki Oyagi will split the role of “A Driver” with GT3 debutant Nobuhiro Imada. Imada is a past champion in the Masters’ classes of Super Formula Lights and the Formula Regional Japanese Championship and has previous experience in Ferrari Challenge and GT4 racing. Past ST-X champions Kiyoto Fujinami and Takayuki Aoki will also return to the team, sharing the car with Imada and Oyagi at Sugo.
Six ST-Q class cars are entered for the weekend and will be divided up across the two groups. The three cars selected for the Group 1 race include the two ORC ROOKIE Racing entries – the #28 Toyota GR86 CNF Concept, and the #32 Toyota GR Yaris DAT (direct automatic transmission) Concept, making its first appearance since its debut at Motegi last year. Group 1 also features #271 Team HRC Honda Civic Type R CNF-R.
The 25-car Group 2 grid also boasts a selection of production-class racers – seven each in ST-2 and ST-4, and four in ST-3.
| Class | No. | Team | Drivers | Vehicle |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ST-X (GT3) | 1 | Zhongsheng ROOKIE Racing | Ryuta Ukai Giuliano Alesi 🇫🇷 Naoya Gamou Tatsuya Kataoka | Mercedes-AMG GT3 |
| ST-X (GT3) | 23 | TKRI | Daisuke (Matsunaga) Yuya Motojima Yuhki Nakayama | Mercedes-AMG GT3 |
| ST-X (GT3) | 31 | apr | Hideki Nagai Kazuto Kotaka Miki Koyama ♀️ Koki Saga | Lexus RC F GT3 |
| ST-X (GT3) | 81 | GTNET MotorSports | Nobuhiro Imada Kiyoto Fujinami Takayuki Aoki Noboyuki Oyagi | Nissan GT-R NISMO GT3 |
| ST-Q | 28 | ORC ROOKIE Racing | Eisuke Sasaki Sho Tsuboi Kazuya Oshima (Tomioka) Daisuke Toyoda | Toyota GR86 CNF Concept |
| ST-Q | 32 | ORC ROOKIE Racing | Morizo (Akio Toyoda) Masahiro Sasaki Hiroaki Ishiura Yasuhiro Ogura | Toyota GR Yaris DAT Concept |
| ST-Q | 271 | Team HRC | Hiroki Otsu Hideki Mutoh Tomoki Nojiri | Honda Civic Type R CNF-R |
| ST-2 | 6 | Shinryo Racing Team | Tomohiro Tomimasu Yasushi Kikuchi Masazumi Ohashi | Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution X |
| ST-2 | 7 | Shinryo Racing Team | Hitoshi Gotoh Keisuke Anzai Kazunari Yoshioka Hisahiko Usui | Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution X |
| ST-2 | 13 | Endless Sports | Masaya Hanazato Mizuki Ishizaka Hitoshi Okada | Toyota GR Yaris |
| ST-2 | 72 | Nihon Automobile College | Makoto Kanai Tetsuya Yamano Toshiya Nojima | Honda Civic Type R |
| ST-2 | 95 | Team Spoon | Eiji Yamada Syun Koide Piston (Ken) Nishizawa | Honda Civic Type R |
| ST-2 | 225 | KTMS | Kengo Ichijo Shunji Okumoto Rikuto Kobayashi Jin Nakamura | Toyota GR Yaris |
| ST-2 | 743 | Honda R&D Challenge | Hiroki Ishigaki Tensho Kobayashi Junichi Kidachi | Honda Civic Type R |
| ST-3 | 15 | Okabe Jidosha Motorsport | Shuji Maejima Masaaki Nagashima Nozomi Udaka Seiya Motojima | Nissan Fairlady Z34 |
| ST-3 | 16 | Okabe Jidosha Motorsport | Toru Tanaka Tsubasa Mekaru Tetsuya Tanaka Kazuomi Komatsu | Nissan Fairlady Z34 |
| ST-3 | 38 | Tracy Sports with Delta | Takanobu Ishizuka Toshiki Ishimori Shunsuke Ozaki | Lexus RC 350 |
| ST-3 | 39 | Tracy Sports with Delta | Shinya Fujita Yuma Shoji Takashi Ito | Lexus RC 350 |
| ST-4 | 3 | Endless Sports | Hiroyuki Saka Togo Suganami Reimei Ito | Toyota GR86 |
| ST-4 | 18 | Asano Racing Service | Takeo Asano Shinnosuke Ito Kazumi Mikami ♀️ Shoya Suzuki | Toyota GR86 |
| ST-4 | 41 | Tracy Sports with Delta | Hirotaka Ishii Yusuke Tomibayashi Dai Mizuno | Toyota GR86 |
| ST-4 | 60 | Team G/Motion' | Resshu Shioya Masayuki Minato Keisuke Ohara | Toyota GR86 |
| ST-4 | 66 | Over Drive | Kyosuke Inomata Kohei Tokumasu Takahisa Ohno Hirohito Ito | Mazda Roadster RF |
| ST-4 | 216 | HMR Racing | Kenbow (Kensuke Ehara) Kota Sasaki Tomomitsu Senoo Ishiken (Kenji Ishikawa) | Toyota GR86 |
| ST-4 | 885 | SHADE Racing | Masahiko Kageyama Yuji Kunimoto Shinnosuke Yamada Teppei Tsuruta | Toyota GR86 |
Group 2 is headlined by the ST-Z class which boasts an impressive 11 cars from five different manufacturers – Toyota, Nissan, Audi, Mercedes-AMG and Porsche.
One late substitution comes from Naniwa Denso Team Impul – Kazuki Hiramine has been ruled out for the weekend as a precautionary measure, following a crash he suffered in private testing on Thursday 18 April. Keishi Ishikawa, one of the team’s drivers signed to run the Fuji 24 Hours, will take his place in the #20 Nissan Z NISMO GT4.
Mazda Spirit Racing’s two cars, the #12 Mazda Roadster CNF Concept and the #55 Mazda3 Bio Concept will feature in ST-Q – as well as the #92 GR Team Spirit Toyota GR Supra Racing Concept, a new entry for 2024 that is based on the current GR Supra GT4 Evo.
ST-1’s sole entry, the K’s Frontier KTM Cars X-Bow GTX, and a 14-car grid of ST-5 class production racers will complete the 29-car Group 2 field.
| Class | No. | Team | Drivers | Vehicle |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ST-Z (GT4) | 19 | Birth Racing Project[BRP] | Yuki Fujii Takeshi Suehiro Anna Inotsume ♀️ Kazuya Oshima (Neyagawa) | Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 RS |
| ST-Z (GT4) | 20 | Team Impul | Yuki Tanaka Kazuki Oki Keishi Ishikawa | Nissan Z NISMO GT4 |
| ST-Z (GT4) | 21 | Hitotsuyama Racing | Daisuke Yamawaki Sean Walkinshaw 🇬🇧 James Pull 🇬🇧 Shintaro Kawabata | Mercedes-AMG GT4 |
| ST-Z (GT4) | 22 | Porsche Team EBI | Shota Kitazono Rintaro Kubo Naoya Yamano Yugo Iwasawa | Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 RS Clubsport |
| ST-Z (GT4) | 25 | Team ZeroOne | Tadao Uematsu Tsugio Matsuda Kimiya Sato Teppei Natori | Nissan Z NISMO GT4 |
| ST-Z (GT4) | 26 | Team ZeroOne | Ryuichiro Otsuka Ryuichiro Tomita Takuro Shinohara Seiji Ara | Nissan Z NISMO GT4 |
| ST-Z (GT4) | 34 | Techno First | Masaki Kano Riki Okusa Hironobu Yasuda Ryoma Henzan | Audi R8 LMS GT4 |
| ST-Z (GT4) | 52 | Saitama Green Brave | Manabu Yamazaki Hiroki Yoshida Naoki Hattori Seita Nonaka | Toyota GR Supra GT4 Evo |
| ST-Z (GT4) | 111 | Buzz Progress Racing | Nagayasu Miyagi Max Yuki Salo 🇫🇮 Sota Ogawa Taiga Imoto | Mercedes-AMG GT4 |
| ST-Z (GT4) | 555 | AutoFactory | Jun Tashiro Shigehiro Ikemoto Kazutaka Tokufuji Go Nagata | Mercedes-AMG GT4 |
| ST-Z (GT4) | 885 | SHADE Racing | Hiro Hayashi Katsuyuki Hiranaka Eijiro Shimizu | Toyota GR Supra GT4 Evo |
| ST-Q | 12 | Mazda Spirit Racing | Hiroshi Kawata Ryohei Sakaguchi Yuui Tsutsumi | Mazda Roadster CNF Concept |
| ST-Q | 55 | Mazda Spirit Racing | Kazuhiro Terakawa Yutaka Seki Kaoru Ijiri | Mazda Mazda3 Bio Concept |
| ST-Q | 92 | GR Team Spirit | Keizo Kato Takamitsu Matsui Shunsuke Kohno Kenta Yamashita | Toyota GR Supra Racing Concept |
| ST-1 | 2 | K's Frontier KTM Cars | Taiyo Ida Hiroki Katoh Kazuho Takahashi Hiroki Yoshimoto | KTM X-Bow GTX |
| ST-5 | 4 | Team Bride | Yuya Ohta Kaoru Arai Takao Seto Hiroshi Ito | Honda Fit4 RS (GS4) |
| ST-5 | 11 | D.R.C EZO | Hajime Omono Ryohei Oshima Ryoji Tashiro Masaharu Nishioka | Honda Fit3 RS (GK5) |
| ST-5 | 17 | Team NOPRO | Hideyoshi Nishizawa Tobio Otani Misaki Konishi Toshihiko Nogami | Mazda Mazda2 Diesel Turbo (DJ5FS) |
| ST-5 | 27 | Maple Hiroshima Racing Team | Haruhiko Sugino Yuga Furutani Noriyuki Higuchi | Mazda Roadster |
| ST-5 | 37 | Team NOPRO | Johnny (Toru) Ogura Suguru Kawana Kazuhito Ishii Yoshihiro Kato | Mazda Demio (DE5FS) |
| ST-5 | 65 | Over Drive | Tatsuya Ota Shuichiro Hokazono Sena Kuronuma Takuma Ikeda | Mazda Roadster |
| ST-5 | 67 | Team Yamato | Shinya Uchiyama Ryohei Yasui Ryo Mukumoto | Honda Fit3 RS (GK5) |
| ST-5 | 76 | Buzz Progress Racing | Masaki Ano Junpei Kato Hitoshi Sakai Takashi Nara | Mazda Roadster |
| ST-5 | 88 | Murakami Motors | Hiroyuki Murakami Daichi Okamoto Soichiro Yoshida Shinichi Uemura | Mazda Roadster |
| ST-5 | 110 | Access Racing Team | Toshiyuki Matsuda Shingo Wada Taiga Kabaki | Toyota Vitz (NCP131) |
| ST-5 | 120 | Mazda Spirit Racing | Junji Ueda Tatsuya Minowa Shohei Oda Subaru Kumeta | Mazda Roadster |
| ST-5 | 222 | Honda Cars Tokai | Toshiki Takeuchi Masayuki Sumi Masaki Nishihata | Honda Fit4 RS (GS4) |
| ST-5 | 290 | AutoLabo | Takeshi Kitagawa Yuuma Murata Atsuhito Otomo Daimu Yasuda | Toyota Yaris (MXPA10) |
| ST-5 | 888 | Select Hotels Group | Takuya Shiga Taro Matsunami Hiroshi Nakamura Takaya Kusano | Honda Fit3 RS (GK5) |
Every race, including this weekend’s double-header, will be available to watch for free on the official Super Taikyu Series’ YouTube channel S-Tai TV with Japanese commentary.
As of publication, there are no plans for an English commentary feed, following the announcement that the Twitch channel Motorsport Japan will not return as the series’ official English broadcast partner for 2024.
Feature image © STO