Japan’s longest-running endurance sports car race is returning next year and now, interested fans can save their dates on the calendar for the 49th annual Suzuka 1000km.
The Japan Automobile Federation (JAF) published its provisional racing calendar for 2025 and confirmed that next year’s Suzuka 1000km – the fourth round of the 2025 SRO Intercontinental GT Challenge – will take place on the weekend of 11-14 September.
From 1980, when the event returned following a seven-year hiatus due to the energy crisis, the Suzuka 1000km was scheduled for the fourth weekend of August. Except for 1989, when Typhoon Roger forced the race to be postponed until December of that year, the Suzuka Summer Endurance Race would continue to be held on that weekend as part of multiple championships for many types of prototype and GT sports cars.
That tradition continued when the Suzuka 1000km was reformatted into the Suzuka 10 Hours from 2018 to 2019, the last two times that the Summer Endurance Race was held before the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Following the cancellation of the 2020 Suzuka 10 Hours, the Autobacs SUPER GT Series – which held the Suzuka 1000km as part of its championship from 2006 to 2017 – began holding shorter races at Suzuka in the same calendar slot. Next year’s SUPER GT race at Suzuka is scheduled for 24 August, the fourth weekend of the month.
Further details of the 49th Suzuka 1000km will be announced at a later date.
2025 IGTC Calendar (updated 1 August)
- 31 January/2 February: Bathurst 12 Hour, Australia
- 20/23 June: ADAC Ravenol 24h Nurburgring, Germany
- 26/29 June: CrowdStrike 24 Hours of Spa, Belgium
- 11/14 September: Suzuka 1000km, Japan
- 2/4 October: Indianapolis 8 Hour Presented by AWS, USA
Images © SRO Motorsport Group, Peter “Pedro” May / Dailysportscar.com
