Seven x Seven Racing celebrated a debut victory in Race 2 of the 2025 Super Taikyu Series Empowered by Bridgestone opening round at Mobility Resort Motegi. The #666 Porsche 911 GT3 R of Hiroyuki ‘Bankcy’ Ogawa, Kiyoto Fujinami, Tsubasa Kondo, and Taichi Watarai won from pole position in Sunday’s four-hour race.
The Sunday race featured the GT3 cars from the ST-X class, as well as the GT4 cars from ST-Z running their second race of the weekend. ST-1, ST-2, ST-3, and ST-4 cars rounded out the field along with the sole ST-Q class concept vehicle, for a total of 39 cars. Unfortunately, the #22 Team EBI Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 withdrew after its fire in Race 1 the day before, after contending for a podium up to that point.
The seven x seven Porsche’s pace looked ominous to the other ST-X challengers during two-stage aggregate qualifying. Gentleman driver ‘Bankcy’ led his leg of time trials by over a second, and Fujinami sealed pole position with a total time of 3:44.713. Manabu Yamazaki and Hiroki Yoshida would have gotten the #52 Saitama Green Brave Toyota GR Supra GT4 EVO2’s second pole of the weekend in ST-Z. But Yoshida’s best time was deleted due to a track limits infringement, handing the ST-Z pole to Hiro Hayashi and Katsuyuki Hiranaka in the #885 SHADE Racing GR Supra.
Pole positions in the other classes were awarded to: The #2 K’s Frontier KTM Cars X-Bow GTX of Taiyo Ida and Hiroki Katoh (ST-1), the #72 NATS Honda Civic Type R of Makoto Kanai and Tetsuya Yamano (ST-2), the #39 Tracy Sports with Delta Lexus RC 350 of Shinya Fujita and Takumi Sanada (ST-3), and, for the second time in two races, the #884 SHADE Racing Toyota GR86 of Masahiko Kageyama and Eijiro Shimizu (ST-4).
Fujinami led from the outset and all the way through to the end of his first 67-minute stint, after which, he handed the baton over to Bankcy. The ‘A’ driver of the team maintained seven x seven’s place at the front until the #101 Hitotsuyama Racing Audi R8 LMS GT3 of Sota Ogawa overtook him just before Ogawa was due to come in for service, handing the lead back to Bankcy, who then pitted for a driver change to Tsubasa Kondo.
With less than 42 minutes left, Kondo brought the yellow Porsche in for its final stop and Fujinami had a clear path to take the chequered flag after 121 laps of racing, interrupted only by a brief Full Course Yellow for the stranded #18 Asano Racing Service Toyota GR86 that stopped out of turn two.
Seven x Seven Racing has now won its debut race in the SRO Japan Cup, and in the Super Taikyu Series – which potentially bodes well for the team’s upcoming SUPER GT debut in April at Okayama.
Finishing second was the #23 TKRI Mercedes-AMG GT3 of Daisuke (Matsunaga), Tatsuya Kataoka, Shunji Okumoto, and Yuhki Nakayama. They ended up just 16.428 seconds off the win after four hours of racing.
Third place appeared to be sealed up for the #101 Hitotsuyama R8 GT3 (Kenji Suzuki/Sota Ogawa/James Pull/Anna Inotsume), but on the final lap, Pull came to a stop climbing the S-Curves. He couldn’t take the chequered flag, which meant Hitotsuyama Racing earned no points for their hard work.
That handed the final podium position in ST-X to the #31 apr Lexus RC F GT3 (Hiroaki Nagai/Naoya Gamou/Rikuto Kobayashi/Koki Saga). In fourth was the #777 D’station Racing Aston Martin Vantage GT3 (Satoshi Hoshino/Yuta Kamimura/Tomonobu Fujii), which was nothing short of a miracle after Hoshino crashed during the first leg of qualifying and left the car substantially damaged.
ST-X #777 D'station Vantage GT3
今朝の予選でクラッシュがありましたが、なんとか直してミックスカラーリングでピットスタートから出走！#S耐 #スーパー耐久 #SuperTaikyu #モビリティリゾートもてぎ #ENEOS #BRIDGESTONE pic.twitter.com/nna0OFHWKh— スーパー耐久シリーズ (@SuperTaikyu_STO) March 23, 2025
Using spare body panels that turned the red D’station Vantage into a red and green Christmas-style mashup, they were able to complete the race just four laps down from the overall lead.
The two ST-1 class cars finished fifth and sixth overall, with the class win going to the #2 KTM of Ida, Katoh, Kazuho Takahashi and Hiroki Yoshimoto, by one lap over the #47 D’station Porsche 992 GT3 Cup (Tatsuya Hoshino/Kenji Hama/Tetsuya Tanaka/Taiga Kabaki).
After Nissan Z NISMO GT4s finished 1-2 in ST-Z on Saturday, Toyota’s new GR Supra GT4 EVO2s led the way in Race 2 with the #52 Green Brave GR Supra of Yamazaki, Yoshida, Naoki Hattori, and Seita Nonaka powering through for its first win of 2025.
The two-time and defending ST-Z Champions battled their way into position to win, and took the lead with 53 minutes to go after the #885 SHADE GR Supra made its final stop of the race. Hayashi, Hiranaka, Yuji Kunimoto, and Yuki Sano finished second, 13.942 seconds back of their Toyota stablemates. After getting its first global victory on American soil, this was the first win in Super Taikyu for the GR Supra GT4 ‘EVO2’ package that was introduced to customer teams in 2025 – after undergoing several competitive on-track tests in Super Taikyu last year as the Toyota GR Supra ‘Racing Concept’.
The #26 Team ZeroOne Nissan Z NISMO GT4 (Ryuichiro Otsuka/Ryuichiro Tomita/Takuro Shinohara/Seiji Ara) finished third in Race 2 after winning Race 1. Tomita was forced to pit for a splash of fuel after running out on the penultimate lap. Fourth in ST-Z and tenth overall was the #26 Techno First Audi R8 LMS GT4 (Yuki Fujii/Riki Okusa/Hironobu Yasuda/Masaki Kano), just six-tenths ahead of the #20 Team Impul Z GT4 (Takashi Matsumoto/Kazuki Hiramine/Kazuki Oki/Jules Treluyer). A suspension problem for the #25 ZeroOne Z GT4 forced it to retire just before half-distance.
ST-2 delivered a grandstand finish between two top Toyota GR Yaris users. Thanks to a late pass for the lead by 18-year-old Toyota prospect Tokiya Suzuki, KTMS’ #225 GR Yaris, shared with Riona Tomishita and Hibiki Taira, got the win by 1.894 seconds to kickstart their ST-2 title defence. This was also a win for Kyojo Cup standout Tomishita in her Super Taikyu debut. Suzuki overtook Hitoshi Okada for the win, but Okada, Masaya Hanazato, Mizuki Ishizaka, and Reimei Ito consolidated second place in the #13 Endless Sports GR Yaris.
The pole-winning #72 NATS Civic Type R of Kanai, Yamano, and Toshiya Nojima finished third in ST-2. The leading Hondas had a tough race – the #72 was given a drive-through penalty for stalling in the pits, and the #95 Team Spoon Civic (Eiji Yamada/Syun Koide/Kazuma Nishimura) dropped out of contention with a mechanical issue.
In ST-3, the #39 Tracy Sports RC 350 of defending champions Fujita, Sanada, and Takashi Ito cruised to the win. The #16 Okabe Jidosha Nissan Fairlady Z34 (Toru Tanaka/Hironobu Shimizu/Atsushi Miyake/Hibiki Komatsu) was second, followed by the #38 Tracy Sports RC 350 (Shingo Imai/Yoshinari Fujiwara/Yohei Maruyama/Tomohiro Hayashi) in third.
And in ST-4, it was two wins in two races for the #884 SHADE Racing Toyota GR86 of Kageyama, Shimizu, and Shinnosuke Yamada. They once again beat the #41 Tracy Sports with Delta GR86 (Hirotaka Ishii/Yusuke Tomibayashi/Shunsuke Ozaki) in second place and the #3 Endless Sports GR86 (Hiroyuki Saka/Togo Suganami/Ryo Ogawa) in third, completing an all-Toyota podium.
Finally, the lone ST-Q challenger, the #104 GR Team SPiRIT Toyota GR Yaris DAT Racing Concept, finished 19th overall without any trouble during the race. Kazuhiko Omasa, Kenta Yamashita, Takamitsu Matsui, and Shunsuke Kohno (replacing a Nürburgring-bound Yuichi Nakayama) finished on the same lap as the top three in ST-2, driving their GR Yaris with its 8-speed direct automatic transmission tuned for sports driving.
The Eneos Super Taikyu Series returns on 26/27 April for the Suzuka Super Taikyu 5 Hour Race.
Images © STMO, TKRI
