The Super Taikyu Organisation (STO) has released the entry list for next week’s Sugo Super Taikyu 3 Hour Race, the third round of the recently renamed Eneos Super Taikyu Series Supported by Bridgestone.
As is tradition, the Sugo round will feature two three-hour races, with the entire 46-car entry list split into two groups, with the Group 1 race featuring the GT3 and GT4 cars from ST-X and ST-Z classes, plus ST-1, ST-2, and two ST-Q cars.
TKRI’s #23 Mercedes-AMG GT3 returns to the grid in ST-X, complimenting the Fuji Super TEC 24 Hours-winning #14 Zhongsheng ROOKIE Racing Mercedes. In ST-Z, the #111 Kota Racing McLaren 570S GT4 returns, while the #75 Team Noah Toyota GR Supra GT4 has opted to skip this round, and the #555 Auto Factory Mercedes-AMG GT4 is out after its crash at Fuji.
Also, there are two noteworthy absences from the ST-Q class. The liquid-hydrogen Toyota GR Corolla H2 Concept from ROOKIE Racing is taking a planned withdrawal from this round, so the old #32 Toyota GR Yaris that ran in Suzuka will take its place once again. Mazda Spirit Racing has also elected not to run the #55 Mazda3 biodiesel concept for logistical reasons – the car is prepared in Hiroshima, over 1,100 kilometres southwest of Sugo.
However, the #271 Team HRC Honda Civic Type R CNF-R that debuted at Fuji will return for a second race supported by an all-works driver lineup.
Update: The #819 GTNET Motor Sports Nissan GT-R which finished second at the Fuji 24h has withdrawn from this event.
| No. | Class | Team | Drivers | Car | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | ST-X (GT3) | HELM Motorsports | Yutaka Toriba Yuya Hiraki Reiji Hiraki | Nissan GT-R NISMO GT3 | |
| 14 | ST-X (GT3) | Zhongsheng ROOKIE Racing | Ryuta Ukai Naoya Gamou Hibiki Taira Tatsuya Kataoka | Mercedes-AMG GT3 | |
| 23 | ST-X (GT3) | TKRI | DAISUKE Yuya Motojima Yuhki Nakayama | Mercedes-AMG GT3 | |
| 31 | ST-X (GT3) | apr | Hiroaki Nagai Kazuto Kotaka Koki Saga | Lexus RC F GT3 | |
| 202 | ST-X (GT3) | KCMG | Paul Ip 🇭🇰 Ho-Pin Tung 🇨🇳 Marchy Lee 🇭🇰 | Honda NSX GT3 | |
| 19 | ST-Z (GT4) | Birth Racing Project (BRP) | Kenji Suzuki Takeshi Suehiro Kohei Fukuda Tatsuya Tanigawa | Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 RS Clubsport | |
| 20 | ST-Z (GT4) | Naniwa Denso Team Impul | Yuki Tanaka Kazuki Hiramine Kazuki Oki Kazuki Hoshino | Nissan Z GT4 | |
| 21 | ST-Z (GT4) | Audi Team Hitotsuyama | Daisuke Yamawaki Seiya Jin Sean Walkinshaw 🇬🇧 | Audi R8 LMS GT4 | |
| 22 | ST-Z (GT4) | Porsche Team EBI Waimarama | KIZUNA Katsumasa Chiyo Naoya Yamano Shota Kitazono | Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 RS Clubsport | |
| 26 | ST-Z (GT4) | Team ZeroOne | Ryuichiro Otsuka Ryuichiro Tomita Teppei Natori | Nissan Z GT4 | |
| 34 | ST-Z (GT4) | Techno First | Masaki Kano Riki Okusa Hironobu Yasuda Tadasuke Makino | Audi R8 LMS GT4 | |
| 52 | ST-Z (GT4) | Saitama Toyopet GreenBrave | Manabu Yamazaki Hiroki Yoshida Naoki Hattori Kohta Kawaai | Toyota GR Supra GT4 | |
| 111 | ST-Z (GT4) | Buzz Kota Racing | Ken Alex Naoto Uzuka Kota Sasaki Max Salo 🇫🇮 | McLaren 570S GT4 | |
| 885 | ST-Z (GT4) | SHADE Racing | Hiro (Hiroyuki) Hayashi Katsuyuki Hiranaka Eijiro Shimizu | Toyota GR Supra GT4 | |
| 2 | ST-1 | K's Frontier KTM Cars | Taiyo Ida Kazuho Takahashi Hiroki Katoh Hiroki Yoshimoto | KTM X-Bow GTX | |
| 47 | ST-1 | D'station Racing | Tatsuya Hoshino Manabu Orido Kenji Hama Jake Parsons 🇦🇺 | Aston Martin Vantage GT8R | |
| 6 | ST-2 | Shinryo Racing Team | Tomohiro Tomimasu Yasushi Kikuchi Masazumi Ohashi | Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution X | |
| 7 | ST-2 | Shinryo Racing Team | Yoshiki Fujii Keisuke Anzai Masato Narisawa | Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution X | |
| 13 | ST-2 | Endless Sports | Masaya Hanazato Mizuki Ishizaka Reimei Ito Hitoshi Okada | Toyota GR Yaris | |
| 225 | ST-2 | Kobe Toyopet Motor Sports | Kengo Ichijo Rin Arakawa Jiei Okuzumi Shunji Okumoto | Toyota GR Yaris | |
| 743 | ST-2 | Honda R&D Challenge | Hiroaki Ishigaki Junichi Kidachi Hideki Kakinuma | Honda Civic Type R (FL5) | |
| 32 | ST-Q | ORC ROOKIE Racing | MORIZO (Akio Toyoda) Masahiro Sasaki Hiroaki Ishiura Yasuhiro Ogura | Toyota GR Yaris | |
| 271 | ST-Q | Team HRC | Hideki Mutoh Takuya Izawa Hiroki Otsu | Honda Civic Type R CNF-R |
ST-3 will not feature at Sugo as part of a planned rotation of classes to ease congestion in the paddock. Group 2 will feature the ST-4 and ST-5 classes, plus the two carbon-neutral fuelled GR86/BRZs.
| No. | Class | Team | Drivers | Car | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3 | ST-4 | Endless Sports | Hiroyuki Saka Ryo Ogawa Togo Suganami | Toyota GR86 | |
| 18 | ST-4 | Asano Racing Service | Takeo Asano Shinnosuke Ito Daiki Fujiwara | Toyota GR86 | |
| 41 | ST-4 | Tracy Sports with Delta | Hirotaka Ishii Yusuke Tomibayashi Dai Mizuno | Toyota GR86 | |
| 60 | ST-4 | Team G/Motion | Resshu Shioya Takao Seto Kengo Yamamoto | Toyota GR86 | |
| 66 | ST-4 | Over Drive | Kousei Kanto Kyosuke Inomata Takahisa Ohno Shigetomo Shimono | Mazda Roadster RF | |
| 86 | ST-4 | TOM'S Spirit | Hisashi Yabuki Takamitsu Matsui Shunsuke Kohno Sho Tsuboi | Toyota GR86 | |
| 216 | ST-4 | HMR Racing | ISHIKEN (Kenji Ishikawa) Yuki Kawahara Tomomitsu Senoo | Toyota 86 (ZN6) | |
| 884 | ST-4 | SHADE Racing | Masahiko Kageyama Yuji Kunimoto Shinnosuke Yamada Teppei Tsuruta | Toyota GR86 | |
| 4 | ST-5 | Team Bride | Yuya Ohta Hiroshi Ito Kaoru Arai Hidefumi Minami | Honda Fit RS (GK5) | |
| 11 | ST-5 | D.R.C EZO | Katsuhiro Sato Kenta Kawafuku Hajime Omono | Honda Fit RS (GK5) | |
| 17 | ST-5 | Team NOPRO | Hideyoshi Nishizawa Tobio Ohtani Misaki Konishi Toshihiko Nogami | Mazda Demio Diesel (DJ) | |
| 37 | ST-5 | Team NOPRO | Johnny (Toru) Ogura Kenichi Obara Yoshihiro Kato Tatsuya Nogami | Mazda Demio (DE) | |
| 50 | ST-5 | Love Drive Racing | Isao Ihashi Takashi Ohi Junko Fujii ♀ Mitsuhiro Kunisawa | Mazda Roadster | |
| 65 | ST-5 | Over Drive | Shuichiro Hokazono Hirohito Ito Tatsuya Ota Sena Kuronuma | Mazda Roadster | |
| 67 | ST-5 | Team Yamato | Shinya Uchiyama Ryohei Yasui Yoshihiko Nakamura | Honda Fit RS (GK5) | |
| 72 | ST-5 | Nihon Automobile College (NATS) | Makoto Kanai Tetsuya Yamano Toshiya Nojima | Mazda Roadster | |
| 88 | ST-5 | Murakami Motors | Hiroyuki Murakami Ryohei Arioka Soichiro Yoshida Daichi Okamoto | Mazda Roadster | |
| 110 | ST-5 | Access Racing Team | Toshiyuki Matsuda Tatsuki Maeda Shota Yanagihori | Toyota Vitz (XP130) | |
| 120 | ST-5 | Mazda Spirit Racing | Haruhiko Sugino Tatsuya Minowa Junji Ueda | Mazda Roadster | |
| 222 | ST-5 | Honda Cars Tokai | Toshiki Takeuchi Masayuki Sumi Hajime Saimen | Honda Fit RS (GS4) | |
| 290 | ST-5 | AutoLabo | Masayuki Minato Takeshi Kitagawa Yuichi Yokoo Atsuhito Otomo | Toyota Yaris (XP210) | |
| 28 | ST-Q | ORC ROOKIE Racing | Keizo Kato Kenta Yamashita Daisuke Toyoda Eisuke Sasaki | Toyota GR86 CNF Concept | |
| 61 | ST-Q | Team SDA Engineering | Koichi Hirota Hideki Yamauchi Takuto Iguchi Kazuhiro Ito | Subaru BRZ CNF Concept |
Both races will be streamed live with English commentary on Twitch.tv/MotorsportJapan next Sunday, 9 July.
Feature image © STO; entries are current as of 8 July 2023