It may not have been as gripping as the incredible pursuit to end last year’s race, but the joy of winning the Fuji Super TEC 24 Hours felt just as good the second time around for Zhongsheng ROOKIE Racing. The #1 Mercedes-AMG GT3 of Ryuta Ukai, Giuliano Alesi, Naoya Gamou, and Tatsuya Kataoka took overall victory in the crown jewel race for the Eneos Super Taikyu Series Empowered by Bridgestone.
The #1 ROOKIE AMG spent the first half of the 2024 Fuji 24 Hours battling for the overall (and ST-X class) lead with the #81 Daishin GTNET Nissan GT-R NISMO GT3. Unfortunately, GTNET MotorSports’ challenge fell to the wayside shortly after the halfway point, when the orange #81 Nissan was pushed into the garage for the first time with a throttle issue. The car would have to make two more trips to the garage for more engine problems. With nine hours left, the #81 Daishin GT-R was already 28 laps down and out of contention for the win.
Another car that had trouble in the second half of the race was the pole-sitting #33 Craft-Bamboo Racing Mercedes. With just over ten hours left, ace driver Kakunoshin Ohta stopped off course due to a fuel system issue, to bring out the eighth Full Course Yellow of the race. Ohta had to be towed back to the garage and the #33 car lost at least a dozen laps to the leaders.
Zhongsheng ROOKIE Racing brought the #1 Mercedes into the garage with eight hours and 50 minutes left for its required ten-minute maintenance time, where ROOKIE Racing’s mechanics changed brakes. This elevated the #23 TKRI/Matsunaga Kensetsu Mercedes into the overall lead for the next four hours.
With less than five hours left in the race – and less than an hour until maintenance time had to be carried out for all cars – the #23 TKRI AMG came into the garage for its maintenance stop, right before another Full Course Yellow came out for debris. When the ten-minute service finished, the #1 ROOKIE AMG had a one-lap lead over the #23 TKRI AMG. When ROOKIE Racing’s A-Driver Ukai went in for his final stint, Motojima was able to get back on the lead lap and claw back the deficit, getting to within 30 seconds with two hours remaining.
Motojima continued to gain time even after Gamou took over from Ukai at the next round of pit stops, down to around 17 seconds before the final pit cycle. However, TKRI – taking part in their first 24-hour endurance race – had to bring their A-Driver Daisuke Matsunaga into the car for one more stint to satisfy the sporting regulations before the end of the race. Matsunaga, the amateur driver, would finish the race for TKRI. Meanwhile, Alesi, the pro driver, would finish the race for ROOKIE Racing – and the race was effectively decided at that moment.
Alesi drove a fault-free final stint and the #1 ROOKIE AMG took the overall and ST-X class win at Fuji. It’s the second Fuji 24 Hours win for Zhongsheng ROOKIE Racing, Ukai, Gamou, and Kataoka and the first for Alesi; for Mercedes, it’s their third as a manufacturer.
Despite ten Full Course Yellows and persistent rain showers during the night, the quartet of Ukai, Alesi, Gamou, and Kataoka completed 773 laps, the second-most distance covered in the history of the race – 43 more laps than last year’s red-flagged race, and 28 short of the all-time distance record (801 laps in 2019).
Completing a Mercedes 1-2 was the #23 TKRI AMG of Matsunaga, Motojima, Nakayama, and Kosuke Matsuura, one lap off the win despite serving two drive-through penalties – one for overtaking under an FCY, and another for Motojima exceeding the maximum continuous drive time (2 hours, 36 minutes) earlier in the race.
Finishing three laps down in third was the #31 apr Lexus RC F GT3 (Hiroaki Nagai/Kazuto Kotaka/Miki Koyama/Koki Saga/Hideki Nagai/Yuichi Nakayama), which led briefly before sunset but fell away during the night hours. Nonetheless, the apr crew ran a trouble-free race and Koyama became the first woman to finish on the overall podium at the Fuji 24 Hours.
The #33 Craft-Bamboo AMG (Jeffrey Lee/Kakunoshin Ohta/Dean Chen/Liang Jiatong/Jayden Ojeda) didn’t have the blockbuster result it had hoped for in its Super Taikyu debut. But the Hong Kong-based squad came away with fourth place overall despite two serious mechanical issues and finished only 22 laps down, five laps ahead of the #81 Daishin GT-R (Noboyuki Oyagi/Kiyoto Fujinami/Takayuki Aoki/Natsu Sakaguchi/Ryuichiro Oyagi). All five ST-X cars finished in numerical order.
ROOKIE Racing wasn’t the only team headquartered just outside Fuji Speedway that won the race – because after seven years, SHADE Racing finally got its first class win at the Fuji 24 Hours, with its two cars winning ST-Z and ST-4.
The #885 SHADE Racing Toyota GR Supra GT4 of Hiro Hayashi, Katsuyuki Hiranaka, Eijiro Shimizu, and Morio Nitta picked up its first ST-Z win at the Fuji 24 Hours, finishing sixth overall and completing 726 laps – in what turned out to be a pretty gruelling race for the ST-Z class.
Both Team ZeroOne Nissan Z NISMO GT4s dropped out of contention early on – the #25 suffered near-terminal damage in a first-hour crash, and the #26 stopped while leading with a transmission failure at night-time. The #21 Hitotsuyama Mercedes-AMG GT4 had a sensor failure take it out of contention for the lead, and the #555 AutoFactory Mercedes had persistent brake issues that began before sunset. All these cars made it to the chequered flag – though the #25, #26, and #555 were not classified.
On the other hand, SHADE Racing ran a near-perfect race, completing the #885’s maintenance time just after sunrise and then powering to the class lead once all the other ST-Z runners completed theirs, unchallenged for the rest of the race. It’s the first time that Hiranaka and Nitta have won their class in a 24-hour race in over a decade and a half – Nitta won the 2006 Tokachi 24 Hours, and Hiranaka won it in 2007. For Shimizu and Hayashi Telempu CEO Hayashi, it’s their first 24-hour race win.
This was the second consecutive ST-Z class win for the Toyota GR Supra GT4 Evo, and a 1-2 finish for the GR Supra with the #52 Saitama Green Brave GR Supra (Manabu Yamazaki/Hiroki Yoshida/Naoki Hattori/Seita Nonaka/Rin Arakawa) finishing second in class and seventh overall.
Green Brave was only a lap behind SHADE Racing after serving a 60-second penalty stop around half-distance for leaving the engine on during refuelling.
Holding on to the final ST-Z podium place was the #19 Birth Racing Project Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 (Yuki Fujii/Takeshi Suehiro/Anna Inotsume/Kazuya Oshima (Neyagawa)/Kenji Suzuki/Koichi Okumura). This was Birth Racing Project’s first ST-Z podium in Super Taikyu since the 2022 Autopolis 5-Hour race.
BRP held on by just 17 seconds over the #20 Naniwa Denso Team Impul Z (Yuki Tanaka/Kazuki Hiramine/Kazuki Oki/Bertrand Baguette/Keishi Ishikawa) in fourth, while the #22 Porsche Team EBI Cayman (Shota Kitazono/Rintaro Kubo/Naoya Yamano/Yugo Iwasawa/Tsubasa Kondo) finished fifth in class – tenth overall. Porsche Team EBI was leading during the night-time, but made a costly error in the pits with less than four hours left, as Kondo almost left the pits with the left-rear wheel unfastened.
Finishing in 11th place overall (715 laps) was the #92 GR Team Spirit Toyota GR Supra of Keizo Kato, Takamitsu Matsui, Shunsuke Kohno, Kenta Yamashita, and Kazuki Nakajima – the highest-ranked of the eight ST-Q class entries.
The GT4-based R&D car had to overcome a very costly 60-second penalty stop to Kato for causing a collision with the #25 Team ZeroOne Z of Tsugio Matsuda just a few minutes into the race.
For most of the race, the #230 NISMO Nissan Z Racing Concept (Daiki Sasaki/Kohei Hirate/Katsumasa Chiyo/Mitsunori Takaboshi/Ronnie Quintarelli/Satoshi Motoyama) was not only the top-ranked ST-Q entry by some margin – it was running as high as sixth-place overall. But with less than three and a half hours to go, Hirate was spun out by another car at Turn 13 and limped back to the pits with a right-rear suspension problem that required extensive repair work. As the #230 sat in the garage, the #92 GR Supra clawed back the deficit and overtook it.
Nakajima, the three-time 24 Hours of Le Mans winner, took the wheel for the final stint as he’d done so many times before with Toyota Gazoo Racing. The #230 NISMO Z sunk to 19th overall, 30 laps behind the #92 GR Supra.
There were no points or prizes on offer for ST-Q – the real reward was that all eight entries finished the race.
Of the six production-based ST-Q cars, the top finisher was the #61 Team SDA Engineering Subaru BRZ CNF Concept (Kazuhiro Ito/Hideki Yamauchi/Takuto Iguchi/Masafumi Hanazawa/Koichi Hirota) in 20th overall. This was the last race for the carbon-neutral fuel BRZ in Super Taikyu: Team SDA Engineering will change to a new CNF concept vehicle based on the new Subaru WRX STI S4 platform beginning at the next race in Autopolis.
Transmission problems plagued the #55 Mazda Spirit Racing Mazda3 Bio Concept (Kazuhiro Terakawa/Kaoru Ijiri/Yutaka Seki/Ikuo Maeda/Takahiro Sato) which finished 48th overall, completing 505 laps.
The #32 ORC ROOKIE Racing Toyota GR Corolla H2 Concept (Akio “Morizo” Toyoda/Masahiro Sasaki/Hiroaki Ishiura/Yasuhiro Ogura/Masahiko Kondo/Jari-Matti Latvala) showed significant improvements in performance and range all day, able to meet its target of running up to 30 laps on a single tank. However, the car also spent significant portions of the race in the garage for repairs and only came out with less than 10 minutes left to finish the race. The liquid hydrogen GR Corolla completed 332 laps.
In the production categories, Tracy Sports with Delta took its second straight ST-3 class win, this time led by the #39 Lexus RC 350 of Shinya Fujita, Takashi Ito, Dai Mizuno, Takumi Sanada, and last-minute entry Takuya Otaki.
Bold strategy and great wet-weather driving on slick tyres led to a comprehensive class for the #39 team, which finished 12th overall and completed 698 laps. The #15 Okabe Jidosha Nissan Fairlady Z34 (Shuji Maejima/Masaaki Nagashima/Tsubasa Mekaru/Seiya Motojima/Ai Miura/Max Salo) finished seven laps behind for second in class.
Endless Sports’ #13 Toyota GR Yaris of Masaya Hanazato, Mizuki Ishizaka, Reimei Ito, and Hitoshi Okada won ST-2 for the second straight year (14th overall, 694 laps) with a flawless race.
Second place in ST-2 was decided by only 25 seconds, with the #6 Shinryo Racing Team Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution X (Tomohiro Tomimasu/Yasushi Kikuchi/Masazumi Ohashi/Turbo Asahi/Takahiro Matsuzawa) holding off the #743 Honda R&D Challenge Civic Type R (Hiroki Ishigaki/Tomoki Nojiri/Junichi Kidachi/Hideki Kakinuma/Tensho Kobayashi) – an upset over the reigning class champions, with the two-time Super Formula Champion Nojiri driving as a guest.
The #95 Team Spoon Civic (Eiji Yamada/Syun Koide/Ken “Piston” Nishizawa/Yusuke Mitsui/Taketoshi Matsui/Yasunori Nakajima) was one of only three cars that didn’t see the chequered flag, retiring after 14 and a half hours with a transmission failure.
As mentioned, SHADE Racing won ST-4 to make it a double victory for the team, as the #884 Toyota GR86 of Masahiko Kageyama, Yuji Kunimoto, Shinnosuke Yamada, and Teppei Tsuruta won the class (21st overall, 671 laps). They led almost the entire 24-hour duration along the way, and the two SHADE Racing cars came across the finish line in formation.
Kageyama now has class wins in the 24-hour races at Fuji, the Nürburgring, and Tokachi to go along with his third-place finish at Le Mans (1998).
The #41 Tracy Sports with Delta GR86 (Hirotaka Ishii/Yusuke Tomibayashi/Shunsuke Ozaki/Yuki Ohta) finished four laps behind in second place, followed by the #3 Endless Sports GR86 (Hiroyuki Saka/Togo Suganami/Ryo Ogawa/Miku Ikejima) in third.
Two ST-4 cars retired due to crashes or crash damage: The #60 Team G/Motion’ GR86 crashed hard at Dunlop Corner after Keisuke Ohara lost control in the wet, while the #66 Over Drive Mazda Roadster RF lost its roof while driving and was forced to retire.
But the most dramatic conclusion came in the ST-5 class, where the #17 Team NOPRO Mazda2 Diesel Turbo held on by just 3.370 seconds to give NOPRO its fourth ST-5 class win in the last five years with a diesel-powered Mazda2/Demio!
Tobio Otani needed every last drop of diesel fuel in the tank to make it to the end in a 100-minute final stint, while the quicker #65 Over Drive Mazda Roadster of Sena Kuronuma chased him down over the final 80 minutes of the race. With 20 minutes left, Kuronuma was still a minute behind, but he continued to push hard while Otani crawled through the final few minutes, at times lapping over ten seconds slower to make it to the chequered flag without stopping.
Over Drive almost pulled off the incredible reversal and took the win. But the #17 Mazda2 Diesel Turbo of Hideyoshi Nishizawa, Tobio Otani, Misaki Konishi, Hiroaki Yamamoto, Junichi Agematsu, and team founder/CEO Toshihiko Nogami held on to keep the diesel dynasty alive at the Fuji 24 Hours. It’s the second straight win for the six drivers who also won ST-5 in 2023; Agematsu scored his fourth win as the ever-present driver for all four of NOPRO’s ST-5 victories.
The #65 Over Drive Roadster (Tatsuya Ota/Shuichiro Hokazono/Sena Kuronuma/Takuma Ikeda/Eiji Niwa/Mitsuru Nomura) would have to consolidate second place, five laps ahead of the #88 Murakami Motors Roadster (Hiroyuki Murakami/Daichi Okamoto/Keiji Amemiya/Soichiro Yoshida/Ryohei Arioka) in third, making up an all-Mazda class podium.
The highest-ranked Honda was the #4 Team Bride Honda Fit4 RS (Yuya Ohta/Kaoru Arai/Takao Seto/Hiroshi Ito/Soichi Kurosu/Shunya Ito) in fourth, followed by the #222 Honda Cars Tokai Fit4 (Toshiki Takeuchi/Masayuki Sumi/Masaki Nishihata/Ryoji Matsumoto) in fifth, and fan-favourite “Koudan-chan”, the NEXCO-liveried #11 D.R.C EZO Fit3 (Hajime Omono/Ryohei Oshima/Ryoji Tashiro/Motoharu Sato/Ryuichi Furuido/Masaharu Nishoka) in sixth.
Making the finish at all was a feat for many cars that had serious trouble during the race, including the #2 K’s Frontier KTM Cars X-Bow GTX (Taiyo Ida/Hiroki Katoh/Kazuho Takahashi/Hiroki Yoshimoto/Takashi Kobayashi), which finished 50th overall as the sole ST-1 class entrant in a race where the car spent more than half the race in the garage with all kinds of issues.
This ninth annual edition of the Fuji Super TEC 24 Hours drew a crowd of 54,700 spectators across three days of racing, the largest attendance for the event since its revival in 2018.
Images © STO, except where otherwise listed
