Team Mach announced on Christmas Day that they, and their fans, have received the gift of continued participation in the 2023 Autobacs SUPER GT Series.
They will field a newer version of the Dome MC86 built on the GT300 Mother Chassis platform, and the driver lineup will consist of the returning Yusuke Tomibayashi, and new addition Takamitsu Matsui.
Since 2015, Tetsuji Tamanaka’s privateer team have campaigned with the Toyota 86 Mother Chassis, built and designed by Dome Racing – and with remaining models no longer carrying Toyota badges, the car is also referred to simply as the “Dome MC86”.
However, in the final race of the 2022 SUPER GT season at Mobility Resort Motegi, Tomibayashi was hit hard from behind by the No.31 apr Prius of Yuhki Nakayama, while under Safety Car procedures. Tomibayashi was uninjured, and Nakayama immediately apologised for the incident.
The damaged No.5 Mach Syaken/Air Buster MC86 was taken back to Dome’s headquarters where it was determined that chassis M101-0013, the same chassis that Team Mach have used for the last eight seasons, could not be made race-worthy again.
With the Fukuoka-based team’s future in jeopardy – Tamanaka even admitting he was close to leaving the series – Team Mach received an outpouring of support from fellow GT300 privateers. Takeshi Tsuchiya, the owner of Tsuchiya Engineering (Hoppy Team Tsuchiya), offered to let Team Mach use their championship-winning MC86 (chassis no. 0012) – but Tamanaka refused the offer, not wanting to risk any damages to a car whose history is invaluable to Tsuchiya Engineering.
Instead, they took up an offer from Haruhisa Urabe, the owner of INGING Motorsport, to purchase their MC86 that was used by Arnage Racing this past season.
This chassis, No.0014, made its debut in 2016 as the Toyota Team Thailand/Panther Team Thailand entry. INGING and muta Racing re-entered the car in 2020, after a two-year absence. And a reorganised Arnage Racing fielded it last season. Now in the hands of Team Mach, M101-0014 will be run by a fourth different team since its introduction.
The other major story is the addition of Matsui, who departs Hoppy Team Tsuchiya after spending his entire eight-year GT300 career with the team. In 2016, Matsui won the GT300 Championship in just his second season, alongside Tsuchiya in their No.25 MC86.
Matsui, who turned 35 ten days ago, has four career wins and seven pole positions in 61 races – but his last win was more than five years ago, in 2017 at Autopolis.
During this time, Matsui has driven alongside future Toyota GT500 champions Kenta Yamashita and Sho Tsuboi, and Tsuchiya Engineering has changed vehicles from their MC86, to a Porsche 911 GT3-R, to their own originally-constructed Toyota GR Supra. 2022, Tsuchiya’s first season with their Supra, was a difficult year that produced only a best finish of tenth at Sportsland Sugo.
Returning for his second season is 26-year-old Tomibayashi, the Japanese “gamer turned racer” who is now making quite the impression as a real-world driver!
Tomibayashi scored his first GT300 podium with Team Mach in round three of the 2022 season at Suzuka Circuit, a second-place finish – which equals Team Mach’s best result in twenty years of GT300 competition. That same year, he also captured his third consecutive ST-3 class title in the Super Taikyu Series, and won the Toyota GR86/BRZ Race Professional Series title for the first time.
Mach Syaken (Mach Vehicle Inspection) will continue to provide vehicle maintenance and support, in partnership with GTNET Motor Sports based in Osaka.
Feature image © GTA
