54 Cars Entered For First Round of 2023 Super Taikyu Season at Suzuka Circuit

The entry list for the 2023 Eneos Super Taikyu Series powered by Hankook’s season opener at Suzuka Circuit was released Tuesday. Suzuka will host the series’ first five-hour endurance race on 19 March, and the entry list includes an eclectic mix of 54 cars representing nine different classes.

And, for the full 2023 season, Motorsport Japan (Twitch.tv/motorsportjapan) will broadcast every race live with English-language commentary, free to everyone.

Along with the full entry list at the bottom of the page, here is a guide to the teams that will compete in every class at Suzuka.

ST-X (GT3)

The overall victory will be contested among the teams in the ST-X class. Last year’s champions, HELM Motor Sports, are eager to defend their new number one plate. With an unchanged core of racing brothers Yuya and Reiji Hiraki plus top gentleman racer Yutaka Toriba, can their blue and orange Nissan GT-R NISMO GT3 repeat as premier class champions?

Nissan’s other two representatives are a reorganised GTNET Motor Sports team, joining forces with MP Racing to field the #819 GT-R for Joe Shindo, Kiyoto Fujinami, Takayuki Aoki, and Natsu Sakaguchi. Shindo has returned from injuries that sidelined him and MP Racing in the middle of last season, while two-time SUPER GT GT300 champion Fujinami begins the road back from his spectacularly troubled off-season. Team 5Zigen (“go-jigen”), last year’s ST-Z (GT4) champions, have stepped up a class with a new GT-R. Hirobon, the mononymous, two-time, undisputed TCR Japan Series champion, will race in GT3s for the first time – supported by young talents Shintaro Kawabata, Yusuke Shiotsu, and Yu Kanamaru.

Mercedes-AMG has a new and surprising customer team this off-season, in the form of Toyota works squad ROOKIE Racing. The #14 Zhongsheng ROOKIE Racing AMG GT3 of Ryuta Ukai, Naoya Gamou, Hibiki Taira, and Tatsuya Kataoka boasts two past GT300 champions and a top prospect of the Toyota Gazoo Racing Driver Challenge (TGR-DC) academy. The #23 TKRI Mercedes of Daisuke, Yuya Motojima, and past GT300 champion Yuhki Nakayama returns with an unchanged line-up from 2023.

For the first time, the Honda NSX GT3 will run a full season in ST-X as Hong Kong’s KCMG returns to the series, fielding the #202 Honda for Paul Ip, Ho-Pin Tung, and Marchy Lee. apr’s #31 Lexus RC F GT3 is a returning and familiar presence in ST-X – and this year they’ve added Hiroaki Nagai as the gentleman driver to partner Koki Saga and 2022 Super Formula Lights champion, Kazuto Kotaka.

UPDATE – Hiroaki Nagai was a late scratch for this event and was replaced by his brother, Hideki, who drove the #31 Lexus last season.

ST-Z (GT4)

A formidable 11-car entry in ST-Z is eager to tackle Suzuka to open the new season, and at the top of the list is the all-new Nissan Z GT4, which makes its series debut with two pilot teams: Naniwa Denso Team Impul (#20, Yuki Tanaka/Kazuki Hiramine/Kazuki Oki/Kazuki Hoshino), and Team ZeroOne (#26, Ryuichiro Otsuka/Ryuichiro Tomita/Teppei Natori/Takuro Shinohara). Certainly, the presence of the legendary Team Impul and their reigning SUPER GT GT500 champion driver Hiramine as the ace of their line-up stands out, but Team ZeroOne and their experienced line-up backed by the student and service mechanics of the Nissan Mechanic Challenge are not to be overlooked.

Toyota will have three of the latest GR Supra GT4s on the grid, with SHADE Racing (#885, Hiroyuki Hayashi/Katsuyuki Hiranaka/Eijiro Shimizu) returning as last year’s championship runners-up. The Toyota GT4 camp is bolstered by the addition of star-studded Saitama Toyopet GreenBrave (#52, Manabu Yamazaki/Naoki Hattori/Hiroki Yoshida/Kohta Kawaai), and last year’s ST-TCR champions Team Noah, with the #75 to be piloted by Yoshikazu Sobu and a cast of drivers to be named later. (UPDATE: For the first round it is Toshiro Tsukada, Shingo Wada, and team owner Yuji Kiyotaki.)

A strong contingent of foreign-make GT4s features two Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 RS Clubsports for Birth Racing Project (#19, Kenji Suzuki/Takeshi Suehiro/Kohei Fukuda/Tatsuya Tanigawa) and Porsche Team EBI Waimarama (#22, Shota Kitazono/Katsumasa Chiyo/Naoya Yamano), plus two Audi R8 LMS GT4s for Audi Team Hitotsuyama (#21, Daisuke Yamawaki/Seiya Jin/Sean Walkinshaw/Yuki Ano) and new customers Techno First Racing Team (#34, Masaki Kano/Riki Okusa/Hironobu Yasuda).

The Mercedes-AMG GT4 is the model that has won every ST-Z championship to date, and they will have one customer, the returning team Auto Factory (#555, Shigehiro Ikemoto/Jun Tashiro). And the McLaren 570S GT4 will race in the series for the first time with the new team Buzz Kota Racing (#111, Ken Alex/Kazuki Tokufuji/Kota Sasaki/Ryosuke Kagami).

ST-Q

Four innovative and manufacturer-developed cars will begin the season in the ST-Q class – with four more still to come this season!

The ground-breaking Toyota GR Corolla H2 Concept entered by ROOKIE Racing begins its intrepid next stage, making the switch to liquid hydrogen fuel. The #32 “Hydrogen Corolla” has a familiar line-up with lead development driver Masahiro Sasaki, two-time Super Formula champion Hiroaki Ishiura, Yasuhiro Ogura, and the former President of Toyota Motor Corporation, Akio “Morizo” Toyoda.

Unfortunately, this car will not race in Suzuka due to a testing fire and a conventional, petrol-powered Toyota GR Yaris is entered in its place.

Toyota and Subaru will enter similar versions of their GR86 and BRZ sports cars adapted to run on renewable carbon-neutral fuel (CNF). A new-look line-up for the #28 ROOKIE Racing GR86 features company employee Keizo Kato and Daisuke Toyota plus GT500 champions Kazuya Oshima and Kenta Yamashita – though, after an off-season testing accident, Yamashita has been scratched and replaced by Eisuke Sasaki, another Toyota employee driver.

Meanwhile, Team SDA Engineering still have GT300 champions Takuto Iguchi and Hideki Yamauchi with employee drivers Koichi Hirota and Kazuhiro Ito.

Mazda Spirit Racing debuted the #55 Mazda3 Bio Concept at this venue in the 2022 season finale, and the larger hatchback, adapted to run on special, sustainable biodiesel fuel, will run a full season this year. Kazuhiro Terakawa, Kaoru Ijiri, Yutaka Seki, and Mazda’s senior designer Ikuo Maeda will renew a combination that previously drove the smaller Mazda2 Bio Concept. The team will debut an innovative version of the Mazda Roadster later this year.

ST-1

Two off-the-shelf racing specials have entered ST-1, K’s Frontier KTM Cars with their #2 KTM X-Bow GTX (Taiyo Ida/Kazuho Takahashi/Hiroki Katoh/Hiroki Yoshimoto) returning as two-time and defending champions, versus D’station Racing and their #47 Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT8R (Tatsuya Hoshino/Manabu Orido/Kenji Hama/Jake Parsons).

ST-2

ST-2 recently bid a tearful farewell to TOWA INTEC Racing and their Subaru WRX STI which won a record seven consecutive class titles. However, there are still five interesting entries with three different models.

The two Toyota GR Yaris of defending series champions Kobe Toyopet Motor Sports (#225, Kengo Ichijo/Rin Arakawa/Jiei Okuzumi/Shunji Okumoto) and runners-up Endless Sports (#13, Masaya Hanazato/Mizuki Ishizaka/Reimei Ito/Hitoshi Okada) are poised to renew their rivalry from last year. But the two finely-aged Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution Xes of 2021 champs Shinryo Racing Team (#6, Tomohiro Tomimasu/Yasushi Kikuchi/Masazumi Ohashi and #7, Yoshiki Fujii/Kensuke Anzai/Masato Narisawa/Kazuya Shimogaki) still have the speed to compete against the all-wheel drive hatchbacks.

After a promising debut, the newest-generation FL5 type Honda Civic Type R of Honda R&D Challenge will run the full season. Longtime Honda factory driver Hideki Mutoh, and Civic Type R project leader Hideki Kakinuma, will join Hiroaki Ishigaki and Junichi Kidachi in the #743 Honda for its second race at Suzuka.

ST-3

The ST-3 class features three of the previous-model Nissan Fairlady Z34s and two current-model Lexus RC 350s.

Tracy Sports with Delta have won the last three ST-3 titles in a row, but this year they’ve retooled the line-ups of their two Lexus RCs. Takashi Itoh is the only returning driver from last year’s title-winning crew in the #39, now joined by Takumi Sanada and fellow eSports star turned real-world driver Mamoru Okada, while the #38 has an all-new crew (Shunsuke Ozaki/Yoshiyuki Tsuruga/Toshiki Ishimori).

Team ZeroOne’s #25 Fairlady Z features the two-time GT500 and Super Formula champion Tsugio Matsuda alongside Genki Nishimura, Kimiya Sato and Daiki Fujiwara, while mainstays Okabe Jidosha Motorsport return with two cars (#15, Masaaki Nagashima/Masaya Kono/Aruga Tomita/Seiya Motojima and #16, Hirokazu Suzuki/Toru Tanaka/Tetsuya Tanaka/Kazuomi Komatsu).

ST-4

The latest Toyota GR86 is still the model of choice in the ST-4 class, making up six of the category’s eight entries.

Reigning champions TOM’s Spirit (#86, Hisashi Yabuki/Takamitsu Matsui/Shunsuke Kohno/Sho Tsuboi) dominated last season and last years runners-up SHADE Racing (#884, Masahiko Kageyama/Yuji Kunimoto/Shinnosuke Yamada) won the only race that TOM’s Spirit didn’t. Both teams have multiple SUPER GT and Super Formula champions on their roster.

However, a returning and a new entry look to threaten their grip on the class. Endless Sports are back in ST-4 with the new #3 GR86 (Hiroyuki Saka/Ryo Ogawa/Togo Suganami), and Tracy Sports with Delta (#41, Hirotaka Ishii/Yusuke Tomibayashi/Dai Mizuno) have two drivers looking for a new challenge after a hat trick of ST-3 titles.

Meanwhile, Over Drive (odula) is entering the upscale Mazda Roadster RF coupe for the first time. The #65 Roadster (Kousei Kanto/Kyosuke Inomata/Takahisa Ohno/Ryohei Sakaguchi) is the only non-Toyota model in the class, joined by HMR Racing still running with their first-generation Toyota 86.

ST-5

ST-5 had a dramatic finish to their season in 2023, with Team Bride winning a close battle in their third-generation Honda Fit. This year they planned to switch to the newest Toyota Yaris – one of two such models in the field joining AutoLabo’s #290 Yaris with its aggressive custom body kit. A re-organised Access Racing Team is running the previous-generation Vitz hatchback.

However in pre-season testing, “The Bride Yaris” had an accident, and the #4 team are going to enter “The Bride Fit” for at least this round.

The newest fourth-generation Honda Fit (GS5) makes its debut via Honda Cars Tokai, while Team Yamato has entered its GK5 model.

There are five rear-wheel drive Mazda Roadsters in the class. The Nihon Automobile College (NATS) and Murakami Motors squads return after race wins in 2022, along with Over Drive and Love Drive Racing, who’ve each had victories in previous seasons. Mazda Spirit Racing is also fielding a conventional Roadster in this class to promote drivers from Mazda’s grassroots racing series in Japan.

Team NOPRO is running two different generations of Mazda Demio this season: Their diesel-powered DJ-type #17, and their petrol-powered DE-type #37.

Images © STO