Marelli, one of the longest-running title sponsorships in all of professional motorsport is ending after the 2024 season.
Automotive parts supplier Marelli will end its title sponsorship of Hoshino Racing (Team Impul) after its current agreement runs out in February 2025, two months after the final race of the 2024 Autobacs SUPER GT Series.
It will end a 43-year relationship between Hoshino Racing and Marelli, which began in 1982 when the Nihon Radiator Company began sponsoring championship-winning driver Kazuyoshi Hoshino and his upstart Hoshino Racing team which started operating independently in 1983.
Nihon Radiator would change its name to Calsonic in 1988, and that same year, the first Calsonic Nissan Skyline to wear the company’s signature blue livery.
It debuted in the All-Japan Touring Car Championship. Hoshino and his team won the 1990 and 1993 All-Japan Touring Car JTC-1 Championships driving the now-legendary Calsonic Skyline GT-R R32.
The collaboration continued in 1994, the first season of the new All-Japan Grand Touring Car Championship (JGTC). Masahiko Kageyama drove the R32 and R33 Calsonic Skyline GT-Rs to back-to-back championships in the top GT1 category in ’94 and ’95, and over the next three decades, the world-famous blue Calsonic Team Impul Nissans would continue to race in JGTC and SUPER GT’s GT500 category.
Nihon Radiator/Calsonic would also sponsor Hoshino during his stint with the NISMO factory team across most of his nine starts at the 24 Hours of Le Mans (1986-1990 and 1995-1998) and his successful run in the All-Japan Sports Prototype Championship, where he became a two-time series champion in 1991 and 1992; Calsonic also sponsored Hoshino during his final season in Formula Nippon (now Super Formula) in 1996.
Calsonic Kansei (formed in 2000 after a merger with Kansei Corporation) would merge with Magneti Marelli in 2019 to form the current Marelli company.
But the Calsonic brand name would remain on the Team Impul Nissan GT500 cars through 2022, when Kazuki Hiramine and Bertrand Baguette won the GT500 Championship, Impul’s first SUPER GT title in 27 years.
Team Impul, now managed by Kazuyoshi’s son, Kazuki Hoshino, would acquiesce Marelli’s desire to phase out the Calsonic name from the cars in 2023, and in 2024, the famous “Calsonic Blue” livery was retired in favour of a darker blue that adorned this year’s car.
“Given our deep and influential relationship with Hoshino Racing (Team Impul), the decision to end our partnership was not taken lightly, as our long-standing relationship has gone beyond a simple business relationship,” wrote Marelli Representative Director Tsukasa Fujii. “It has been a source of inspiration and pride for Marelli and our employees.
“Marelli has been impressed many times by Hoshino Racing’s passionate determination and perseverance to never give up.
“Although our official partnership has come to an end, we will continue to stand by Hoshino Racing. We are confident that we will continue to support and be inspired by their battles.”
Hoshino Impul Co. Ltd President and Impul Team Director, Kazuki Hoshino, wrote: “Our partnership with Marelli began in 1982, and has continued for 43 years through Nihon Radiator, Calsonic, Calsonic Kansei, and now Marelli.
We would like to thank them for their generous support, both in terms of people and spirit.
“Marelli and Hoshino Racing (Team Impul) are bound by a bond of deep trust and respect that cannot be described simply as a business partnership, and this feeling will never be lost, even after the contract expires.
“We are proud of the path we have taken together as a team, and will continue to devote ourselves to it.
I would like to thank you from the bottom of my heart for this wonderful partnership and wish you continued growth and success.”
Images © GTA, Nissan
