Tsugio Matsuda, the all-time Autobacs SUPER GT Series career wins leader and a two-time GT500 Drivers’ Champion, has announced today that he will retire from driving in SUPER GT at the end of the season – but will continue to race in other series.
Matsuda, 46, is the third veteran driver who will be retiring from the series at the upcoming Motegi GT 300km Race: Grand Final on 1/2 November, joining Toyota’s Hiroaki Ishiura and Honda’s Takuya Izawa, who will also bow out of GT500 competition at Motegi.
He is one of the most accomplished drivers in all of Japanese motorsport, highlighted by his 26-year career in GT500, of which he’s spent the last 20 seasons with Nissan. Matsuda won back-to-back GT500 Championships in 2014 and 2015 alongside the recently retired Ronnie Quintarelli. Last month, Matsuda took his 25th career GT500 class win at Sportsland Sugo to extend his career record.
Heading into his 203rd and final SUPER GT championship race (210 races including non-championship rounds), Matsuda is also the all-time leader in career GT500 podiums (51) and championship points (1,267).
“Achieving my 25th career win at round six in Sugo made me feel that I still had more to give. However, I decided that stepping away upon achieving my goals would be true to who I am,” Matsuda said in a statement issued today by Nissan. “At the same time, witnessing a young teammate [Teppei Natori] claim his first-ever SUPER GT victory filled me with a mix of emotions – joy, as well as a sense of passing the baton to the next generation.
“To all the fans who have supported me over the years, to Nissan, NISMO, Team Impul, Kondo Racing, tyre manufacturers, sponsors and everyone who has been part of my racing journey – and to my family – I offer my heartfelt gratitude. I love racing, the unique tension of the circuit and, above all, the feeling of driving. While I am graduating from SUPER GT, I won’t be retiring. Tsugio Matsuda, the race driver, will keep racing.”
Matsuda’s GT500 career started in 2000, behind the wheel of a privateer McLaren F1 GTR run by Team Take One. But he was already established as a Honda prodigy, graduating from the famous Suzuka Racing School Formula (SRS-F) class of 1997 with Toshihiro Kaneishi and Takuma Sato, and then driving for the legendary Satoru Nakajima in All-Japan Formula 3 and later Formula Nippon (now Super Formula).
So a move to Nakajima’s Honda GT500 team in 2001 felt inevitable; he took his first win in 2001, finished a close runner-up in the 2002 championship alongside co-driver Ralph Firman, and also drove with André Lotterer in the formative years of his sports car racing career. But Matsuda’s uncertainty of where he stood in the Honda camp led him to transfer to Nissan in 2006, beginning a successful 20-year run with the manufacturer.
With Team Impul, Matsuda won the 2008 Suzuka 1000km aboard the Nissan GT-R R35, and also won back-to-back Formula Nippon/Super Formula Championships in 2007 and 2008.
During his second stint at NISMO from 2014-2023, Matsuda formed a memorable partnership with Quintarelli, where he finally captured his elusive first GT500 title after 15 seasons, while also surpassing fellow Nissan legend Satoshi Motoyama and Toyota’s Yuji Tachikawa to become the all-time wins leader in GT500.
Matsuda moved to Kondo Racing in 2024, working alongside GT500 newcomer Teppei Natori and helping to develop Yokohama tyres for the #24 Realize Corporation Advan Z.
Outside of Japanese competition, Matsuda is an FIA World Endurance Championship race winner: In 2014, he joined KCMG and drove its Oreca 03R LMP2 to victory at Circuit of the Americas (COTA). Matsuda also drove the ill-fated Nissan GT-R LM NISMO at the 2015 Le Mans 24 Hours, then returned to the race the following year for KCMG.
His international sports car racing career also includes appearances in the Spa 24 Hours, Bathurst 12 Hours, and FIA GT World Cup for KCMG, and a ninth-place finish in the 2019 Nürburgring 24 Hours with Kondo Racing.
Yutaka Sanada, President of Nissan Motorsports & Customising (NMC), said: “As a Nissan driver, Matsuda-san has made significant contributions over the past 20 years to the development of GT500-class vehicles and tyres, while captivating fans and all of us with his exceptional driving skills. His passion for cars runs deep – not only in racing but also in drifting and production vehicles. He has enjoyed a wide range of models, from generations of the Fairlady Z and Skyline to the GT-R, and possesses extensive knowledge of them.
“We look forward to his continued involvement in various activities with Nissan/NMC in the future. For now, we will provide our full support as he gives his all in the final round at Motegi.”
Images © Nissan, GTA, Drew Gibson
