The Eneos Super Taikyu Series Empowered by Bridgestone returns this Saturday for the fourth round of the 2024 season at Mobility Resort Motegi. This year’s Motegi Super Taikyu 5 Hours Race is a one-day event, with qualifying and the race on the same day – this Saturday, 7 September.
47 cars across eight classes have entered, with four entries in the ST-X (GT3) category.
Of note, Zhongsheng ROOKIE Racing is absent from the entry list once again and in fact, ROOKIE Racing has already confirmed several weeks ago that it would sit out the Motegi round, meaning the team’s two ST-Q class cars will be absent as well. Mazda Spirit Racing has also elected not to bring either of its two ST-Q entries.
That leaves just the two Mercedes-AMG GT3s from TKRI and Craft-Bamboo Racing, the Lexus RC F GT3 from apr, and the GTNET MotorSports Nissan GT-R NISMO GT3 to compete for top honours in ST-X.
Only GTNET MotorSports has changed drivers from the previous round – gentleman driver Noboyuki Oyagi is back on the entry list alongside ‘A’ driver Nobuhiro Imada, Kiyoto Fujinami, and Natsu Sakaguchi.
There are no changes on the ST-Z entry list from the previous round either – and that’s a relief to fans of Naniwa Denso Team Impul, following another big accident at Autopolis in the previous round. Yuki Tanaka, Kazuki Hiramine, and Kazuki Oki are expected to drive the rebuilt #20 Nissan Z NISMO GT4.
In ST-Q, there are only three entries this time. Team HRC’s #271 Honda Civic Type R CNF-R is back this time, appropriately for the team’s home race at the Honda-owned circuit. Of note, Souta Arao – a Super Formula Lights driver and member of the Honda Formula Dream Project – will get his first taste of endurance racing, driving the #271 Civic alongside Honda factory driver Hiroki Otsu and past series champion Shinichi Katsura.
The #61 Subaru HighPerformanceX Future Concept is also back for its second race, joining the GT4-based #92 GR Team Spirit Toyota GR Supra Racing Concept in the exhibition category.
Rounding out the field are three ST-TCR entries, the single ST-1 class KTM X-Bow GTX, four cars in the returning ST-3 class, seven entries in ST-4, and 14 cars in ST-5.
| Class | No. | Team | Drivers | Vehicle |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ST-X (GT3) | 23 | TKRI | Daisuke (Matsunaga) Yuya Motojima Yuhki Nakayama | Mercedes-AMG GT3 |
| ST-X (GT3) | 31 | apr | Hiroaki Nagai Kazuto Kotaka Miki Koyama ♀️ Koki Saga | Lexus RC F GT3 |
| ST-X (GT3) | 33 | Craft-Bamboo Racing | Jeffrey Lee 🇹🇼 Liang Jiatong 🇨🇳 Dean Chen 🇨🇦 Kakunoshin Ohta | Mercedes-AMG GT3 |
| ST-X (GT3) | 81 | GTNET MotorSports | Nobuhiro Imada Kiyoto Fujinami Noboyuki Oyagi Natsu Sakaguchi | Nissan GT-R NISMO GT3 |
| ST-Z (GT4) | 5 | Team Noah | Toshiro Tsukada Yu Kanamaru Kokoro Morita Aruga Tomita | Toyota GR Supra GT4 Evo |
| 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 Hiramine Kazuki Oki | 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 Ryoma Henzan Hironobu Yasuda Riki Okusa | 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 🇫🇮 TBN Taiga Imoto | Mercedes-AMG GT4 |
| ST-Z (GT4) | 885 | SHADE Racing | Hiro Hayashi Katsuyuki Hiranaka Eijiro Shimizu | Toyota GR Supra GT4 Evo |
| ST-TCR | 97 | M&K Racing | Mitsuhiro Endo Shinji Nakano Ryusuke Masumoto TBN | Honda Civic Type R TCR (FL5) |
| ST-TCR | 98 | M&K Racing | Kizuna (Shigeru Sato) Lee Jung Woo 🇰🇷 Sena Yamamoto TBN | Honda Civic Type R TCR (FL5) |
| ST-TCR | 430 | Audi Team Show Apex | Yoshinari Fujiwara Shigetomo Shimono Shozo Tagahara | Audi RS 3 LMS |
| ST-Q | 61 | Team SDA Engineering | Kazuhiro Ito Hideki Yamauchi Takuto Iguchi Masafumi Hanazawa | Subaru High Performance X Future Concept |
| ST-Q | 92 | GR Team Spirit | Keizo Kato Kenta Yamashita Shunsuke Kohno TBN | Toyota GR Supra Racing Concept |
| ST-Q | 271 | Team HRC | Hiroki Otsu Souta Arao Shinichi Katsura | Honda Civic Type R CNF-R |
| ST-1 | 2 | K's Frontier KTM Cars | Taiyo Ida Hiroki Katoh Kazuho Takahashi Hiroki Yoshimoto | KTM X-Bow GTX |
| ST-3 | 15 | Okabe Jidosha Motorsport | Shuji Maejima Masaaki Nagashima Tsubasa Mekaru Seiya Motojima | Nissan Fairlady Z34 |
| ST-3 | 16 | Okabe Jidosha Motorsport | Kazuomi Komatsu Toru Tanaka Tetsuya Tanaka Masaya Kohno | Nissan Fairlady Z34 |
| ST-3 | 38 | Tracy Sports with Delta | Toshiki Komura Yuma Shoji Toshiki Ishimori TBN | Lexus RC 350 |
| ST-3 | 39 | Tracy Sports with Delta | Shinya Fujita Takashi Ito Dai Mizuno Takumi Sanada | Lexus RC 350 |
| ST-4 | 3 | Endless Sports | Hiroyuki Saka Togo Suganami Ryo Ogawa | Toyota GR86 |
| ST-4 | 18 | Asano Racing Service | Takeo Asano Shinnosuke Ito Kazumi Mikami ♀️ Yuta Kamimura | Toyota GR86 |
| ST-4 | 41 | Tracy Sports with Delta | Hirotaka Ishii Yusuke Tomibayashi Shunsuke Ozaki | Toyota GR86 |
| ST-4 | 60 | Team G/Motion' | Resshu Shioya Masayuki Minato Keisuke Ohara Takumi Umehara | 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 |
| 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 | 37 | Team NOPRO | Johnny (Toru) Ogura Suguru Kawana Hiroaki Yamamoto 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 Yoshihiko Nakamura | Honda Fit3 RS (GK5) |
| ST-5 | 76 | Buzz Progress Racing | Masaki Ano Junpei Kato Hitoshi Sakai Ken Alex (Watanabe) | Mazda Roadster |
| ST-5 | 88 | Murakami Motors | Hiroyuki Murakami Daichi Okamoto Soichiro Yoshida Ryohei Arioka | Mazda Roadster |
| ST-5 | 89 | Murakami Motors | Shinichi Uemura Marie Iwaoka ♀️ Takeshi Wakitani Keiji Amemiya | Mazda Roadster |
| ST-5 | 110 | Access Racing Team | Toshiyuki Matsuda Shingo Wada Sota Muto Akita | 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 | Yuichi Yokoo Yuuma Murata Takeshi Kitagawa Ayaka Takano ♀️ | Toyota Yaris (MXPA10) |
| ST-5 | 888 | Team Select Hotels Group | Takuya Shiga Taro Matsunami Hiroshi Nakamura Takaya Kusano | Honda Fit3 RS (GK5) |
Qualifying starts Saturday at 8:00 AM JST (local time), then the Motegi Super Taikyu 5 Hour Race goes green at 12:30 JST. The race will be available to watch, live and free, on the official Super Taikyu YouTube channel (STai TV) with Japanese commentary from Yuko Kazuno, Hideo Fukuyama, and pit reporter MC Hirata.
Feature image © STO