The 2023 Eneos Super Taikyu Series Supported by Bridgestone is back next weekend for a pair of three-hour races at Okayama International Circuit on 22 October.
It’s the penultimate round of the championship before the season concludes with a four-hour race at Fuji Speedway in November. A total of 49 cars have entered, with the field split into two groups: 22 cars in Group 1 consisting of ST-X, ST-Z, ST-TCR, ST-1 and an additional ST-Q car, and 27 cars in Group 2 consisting of ST-3/4/5 and three ST-Q cars.
The ST-X class will welcome back Team 5Zigen for the first time since they won the season-opening race at Suzuka Circuit in March. Team 5Zigen and drivers Hirobon and Shintaro Kawabata took time out from racing in Super Taikyu to race in the GT World Challenge Asia Japan Cup, but the #500 Nissan GT-R NISMO GT3 has returned and should be a strong contender with Hirobon and Kawabata backed up by Yu Kanamaru.
Kota Racing has returned to the ST-Z class as well with its #111 McLaren 570S GT4, starring the likes of owner/driver Kota Sasaki and second-generation driver Max Salo. TGR WEC Challenge driver Ritomo Miyata will make his second start of the year in the #21 Audi Team Hitotsuyama R8 LMS GT4.
Meanwhile, FIA F4 Japanese Championship leader Yusuke Mitsui is set for his second drive in the ST-TCR class #97 M&K Racing Honda Civic FL5, as is current Super Formula star Ren Sato in the #5 AI’ Racing Civic FK7.
| 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 | |
| 81 | ST-X (GT3) | GTNET Motor Sports | Noboyuki Oyagi Natsu Sakaguchi Takayuki Aoki Kiyoto Fujinami | Nissan GT-R NISMO GT3 | |
| 202 | ST-X (GT3) | KCMG | Paul Ip 🇭🇰 Ho-Pin Tung 🇨🇳 Marchy Lee 🇭🇰 | Honda NSX GT3 | |
| 500 | ST-X (GT3) | Team 5Zigen | HIROBON Shintaro Kawabata Yu Kanamaru | Nissan GT-R NISMO 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 Sean Walkinshaw 🇬🇧 Ritomo Miyata | Audi R8 LMS GT4 | |
| 22 | ST-Z (GT4) | Porsche Team EBI Waimarama | KIZUNA Katsumasa Chiyo Naoya Yamano | Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 RS Clubsport | |
| 34 | ST-Z (GT4) | Techno First | Masaki Kano Riki Okusa Hironobu Yasuda | Audi R8 LMS GT4 | |
| 52 | ST-Z (GT4) | Saitama Toyopet GreenBrave | Manabu Yamazaki Hiroki Yoshida Naoki Hattori Kohta Kawaai | Toyota GR Supra GT4 | |
| 75 | ST-Z (GT4) | Team Noah | Shingo Wada Yoshikazu Sobu Kazuya Oshima [b.1997] | Toyota GR Supra GT4 | |
| 111 | ST-Z (GT4) | Buzz Kota Racing | Naoto Uzuka Max Salo 🇫🇮 Kazutaka Tokufuji Kota Sasaki | Mercedes-AMG GT4 | |
| 885 | ST-Z (GT4) | SHADE Racing | Hiro (Hiroyuki) Hayashi Katsuyuki Hiranaka Eijiro Shimizu | Toyota GR Supra GT4 | |
| 5 | ST-TCR | AI' Racing | Kazuhiro Sakai Shion Tsujimoto ♀ | Honda Civic Type R TCR (FK7) | |
| 97 | ST-TCR | M&K Racing | Mitsuhiro Endo Shinji Nakano | Honda Civic Type R TCR (FL5) | |
| 2 | ST-1 | K's Frontier KTM Cars | Taiyo Ida Hiroki Katoh Kazuho Takahashi Hiroki Yoshimoto | KTM X-Bow GTX | |
| 47 | ST-1 | D'station Racing | Tatsuya Hoshino Manabu Orido Kenji Hama Jake Parsons 🇦🇺 | Aston Martin Vantage GT8R | |
| 271 | ST-Q | Team HRC | Hideki Mutoh Takuya Izawa Hiroki Otsu | Honda Civic Type R CNF-R |
The ST-5 class returns to action in place of ST-2 which has the weekend off. This will be the final round of the class rotation, all nine classes of cars will be present at the season finale at Fuji.
| No. | Class | Team | Drivers | Car | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 15 | ST-3 | Okabe Jidosha Motorsport | Masaya Kono Masaaki Nagashima Aruga Tomita Seiya Motojima | Nissan Fairlady Z34 | |
| 16 | ST-3 | Okabe Jidosha Motorsport | Hirokazu Suzuki Toru Tanaka Tetsuya Tanaka Kazuomi Komatsu | Nissan Fairlady Z34 | |
| 38 | ST-3 | Tracy Sports with Delta | Shunsuke Ozaki Toshiki Ishimori Yoshiyuki Tsuruga Takanobu Ishizuka | Lexus RC 350 | |
| 39 | ST-3 | Tracy Sports with Delta | Takumi Sanada Takashi Itoh Mamoru Okada Shinya Fujita | Lexus RC 350 | |
| 3 | ST-4 | Endless Sports | Hiroyuki Saka Ryo Ogawa Togo Suganami | Toyota GR86 | |
| 18 | ST-4 | Asano Racing Service | Takeo Asano Shinnosuke Ito Kazumi Mikami ♀ | 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 | Toyota GR86 | |
| 66 | ST-4 | Over Drive | Kousei Kanto Kyosuke Inomata Takahisa Ohno | 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) 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 (GS4) | |
| 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 Suguru Kawana Yoshihiro Kato Tatsuya Nogami | Mazda Demio (DE) | |
| 50 | ST-5 | Love Drive Racing | Isao Ihashi Takashi Ohi Junko Fujii ♀ | Mazda Roadster | |
| 65 | ST-5 | Over Drive | Shuichiro Hokazono Tatsuya Ota Hirohito Ito Takayuki Takechi | Mazda Roadster | |
| 67 | ST-5 | Team Yamato | Shinya Uchiyama Ryohei Yasui Hideaki Ito | 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 Daichi Okamoto Soichiro Yoshida | 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 Noriyuki Higuchi Eiichi Honda Yuta Nakajima | Mazda Roadster | |
| 222 | ST-5 | Honda Cars Tokai | Toshiki Takeuchi Masayuki Sumi Masaki Nishihata | Honda Fit RS (GS4) | |
| 290 | ST-5 | AutoLabo | Masayuki Minato Yuichi Yokoo Takeshi Kitagawa | Toyota Yaris (XP210) | |
| 12 | ST-Q | Mazda Spirit Racing | Ryohei Sakaguchi Yuui Tsutsumi Ikuo Maeda | Mazda Roadster CNF Concept | |
| 55 | ST-Q | Mazda Spirit Racing | Kazuhiro Terakawa Kaoru Ijiri Yutaka Seki | Mazda Mazda3 Bio Concept | |
| 61 | ST-Q | Team SDA Engineering | Koichi Hirota Hideki Yamauchi Takuto Iguchi Kazuhiro Ito | Subaru BRZ CNF Concept |
But the one team that is very notable for its absence is Team ZeroOne, the Nissan Mechanic Challenge-backed team, which has taken the surprising decision to sit out this weekend’s races.
It is one of a number of responses that the team has made after gentleman driver Tomohide Yamaguchi was arrested and charged with drunk driving since the last round of the Super Taikyu Series.
Yamaguchi, who was the ‘A’ Driver for the #25 Nissan Fairlady Z34 in the ST-3 class, was arrested on 22 September just three weeks after he had won his class at Mobility Resort Motegi. Yamaguchi’s contract was officially terminated on 4 October.
In addition, Team ZeroOne vice-president, representative director and team principal Hatsuki Kohno has resigned from all of his roles of leadership. Kohno will remain with the company in a non-executive role.
As a result, neither the #25 Fairlady Z34 or the #26 Nissan Z GT4 will participate in next weekend’s races.
Also missing are ROOKIE Racing’s two ST-Q entries, the #28 Toyota GR86 CNF Concept and the #32 car which has changed models throughout the season; as well as the #230 NISMO Nissan Z Racing Concept which returned at Motegi.
Both races will be streamed live and free in English on the Motorsport Japan channel on Twitch – twitch.tv/motorsportjapan.
Images © Super Taikyu Organisation (STO)