Super Taikyu Series Explained

Super Taikyu Series
Category:GT3, GT4, TCR, Group N
Country:Japan
Inaugural:1991
Classes:ST-X, ST-Z, ST-TCR, ST-Q, ST-1, ST-2, ST-3, ST-4, ST-5
Tyres:Bridgestone
Website:SuperTaikyu.com
Current Season: Super Taikyu Series

Super Taikyu (スーパー耐久, Super Endurance), formerly known as the Super N1 Taikyu Series prior to 2005 and N1 Endurance Series prior to 1995, and currently named the Eneos Super Taikyu Series Empowered by Bridgestone for sponsorship reasons, is a Japanese endurance racing series that began in 1991. In contrast to the Super GT series, Super Taikyu is a pro-am racing series for commercially available racing vehicles such as GT3, GT4, and TCR cars, and minimally-modified production vehicles mainly from the Japanese domestic market.

Super Taikyu races are held across all of Japan's major motor racing circuits, with formats including a single five-hour race, and a double-header format of two three-hour races. The series' largest event is the Fuji Super TEC 24 Hours, which is held annually at Fuji Speedway since its revival in 2018. Prior to that, the Tokachi 24 Hours was the series' largest event, held annually from 1994 until 2008.

In 2022, Eneos became the new title sponsor of the series.[1]

Classes

The series has nine classes of vehicles, ranging from international GT3, GT4, and TCR categories to domestic categories of commercially available cars with effective displacements of under 1,500 cc.

GT3 cars were introduced with the debut of the ST-X class in 2011 (named ST-GT3 from 2012 to 2013). In 2017, the series introduced the ST-Z class for GT4 cars, and the ST-TCR class for TCR touring cars (initially named ST-R for the first round of the 2017 season).

The ST-1, ST-2, ST-3, and ST-4 classes have all existed since the first year of the series in 1991, based on the original Group N regulations and with various displacement and drivetrain layout limits in place. A fifth production class was introduced with the addition of ST-5 in 2010.

ST-Q

In 2021, the ST-Q class was introduced for manufacturer-developed, non-homologated special racing vehicles, similar to Nürburgring Langstrecken Serie's SPX class.[2] Toyota and ROOKIE Racing entered a modified Corolla Sport (GR Corolla) hatchback, equipped with a hydrogen-powered internal combustion engine, in ST-Q beginning in 2021.[3] In the 2021 season finale, Mazda entered a modified version of their Demio (Mazda2) subcompact, powered by biofuel.[4] In 2022, Toyota and Subaru entered special versions of their GR86 and BRZ sports cars, adapted to run on carbon-neutral synthetic fuel.[5] That same year, Nissan entered a "Racing Concept" version of their new Fairlady Z (RZ34) sports car, which served as the prototype for the Nissan Z GT4.[6] Mazda introduced a new biodiesel concept, the Mazda3 Bio Concept, at the end of 2022.[7]

The hydrogen GR Corolla will adopt the use of liquid hydrogen in 2023 - the first race car in the world to do so.[8] Honda introduced a carbon-neutral fuel compatible version of the Civic Type R in 2023.[9]

NameRegulationExample Vehicles
ST-XSRO GT3 homologated vehiclesNissan GT-R NISMO GT3
Lexus RC F GT3
Honda NSX GT3
Mercedes-AMG GT3
Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3
ST-ZSRO GT4 homologated vehiclesMercedes-AMG GT4
Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 Clubsport RS
Toyota GR Supra GT4
Nissan Z GT4
Audi R8 LMS GT4
ST-TCRTCR homologated vehiclesAudi RS3 LMS TCR
Honda Civic Type R TCR
ST-QApproved racing vehicles not belonging to any other categoryToyota GR Corolla H2 Concept
Toyota GR86 / Subaru BRZ CNF Concept
Mazda3 Bio Concept
Mazda Demio / Mazda2 Bio Concept (2021-22)
Nissan Z Racing Concept
Honda Civic Type R CNF-R
ST-1Approved vehicles other than ST-2 through ST-5Porsche 911 GT3 Cup
KTM X-Bow GTX
Toyota GR Supra
Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT8R
ST-22,400 cc - 3,500 cc 4WD and front-wheel drive vehiclesMitsubishi Lancer Evolution
Subaru Impreza WRX STI
Toyota GR Yaris
Honda Civic Type R FK8/FL5
ST-32,400 cc - 3,500 cc rear-wheel drive vehiclesLexus RC 350
Nissan Fairlady Z34/Z33
Toyota Crown RS
ST-41,500 cc - 2,500 cc vehiclesToyota GR86 (ZN8)
Toyota 86 / Subaru BRZ (ZN6/ZC6)
Honda Integra Type R
Honda S2000
ST-51,500 cc or belowHonda Fit RS
Mazda Demio / Mazda2
Toyota Vitz / Yaris
Mazda Roadster (ND5RC)
Source:[10]

Tyres

Yokohama was the series' official tyre supplier until the end of 2017. In 2018, Pirelli became the series' new tyre supplier as part of a three-year contract. In 2021, Hankook became the series' new tyre supplier. Their contract was to last for three years, ending in 2023, with the option to extend the contract through the end of the 2025 season.[11]

Due to the fire at Hankook's manufacturing plant in Daejeon on 12 March 2023, Bridgestone signed a new three-year contract to take over as the tyre supplier of Super Taikyu beginning in 2024. On 24 April, it was announced that Bridgestone would take over as the series' tyre supplier with immediate effect on 24 April, prior to the second round of the 2023 season.[12]

Champions

ST-X/GT3 Class (2011–present)

Bold drivers indicate a driver that entered scored every possible point for their respective teams. Drivers listed in italics competed in a select number of rounds for their respective team.

!Year!Team!Vehicle!Drivers
2023 Zhongsheng ROOKIE RacingMercedes-AMG GT3 Evo Naoya Gamou
Tatsuya Kataoka
Hibiki Taira
Ryūta Ukai
2022 HELM MotorsportsNissan GT-R NISMO GT3 Yutaka Toriba
Yūya Hiraki
Reiji Hiraki
Shaun Thong (Rd.2)
2021 D'station RacingAston Martin AMR Vantage GT3 Satoshi Hoshino
Tomonobu Fujii
Tsubasa Kondō
2020 Mercedes-AMG Team Hirix RacingMercedes-AMG GT3 Evo Daisuke Yamawaki
Shaun Thong
Shinichi Takagi (Rd. 1–3)
Yūki Nemoto (Rd. 1, 4–5)
2019 GTNET Motor Sports (Rd. 1–4, 6)Nissan GT-R NISMO GT3 Teruhiko Hamano
Kazuki Hoshino
Kiyoto Fujinami
Kazuki Hiramine (Rd. 3)
2018 GTNET Motor SportsNissan GT-R NISMO GT3 Teruhiko Hamano
Kazuki Hoshino
Kiyoto Fujinami
Hironobu Yasuda (Rd. 3)
Sun Zheng (Rd. 3)
2017 ARN RacingFerrari 488 GT3 Hiroaki Nagai
Kōta Sasaki
Tsubasa Mekaru (Rd. 5)
2016 Kondo RacingNissan GT-R NISMO GT3 Yūdai Uchida
Tomonobu Fujii
Kazuki Hiramine
2015 Endless SportsNissan GT-R NISMO GT3 Yukinori Taniguchi
Kyōsuke Mineo
Yūya Motojima
2014 GTNET Motor Sports (Rd. 2–6)Nissan GT-R NISMO GT3 Kazuki Hoshino
Naofumi Omoto
Takayuki Aoki
2013 Petronas Syntium TeamMercedes-Benz SLS AMG GT3 Melvin Moh
Nobuteru Taniguchi (Rd. 1-6)

Dominic Ang (Rd. 1-4, 6-7)
2012 Petronas Syntium TeamMercedes-Benz SLS AMG GT3 Nobuteru Taniguchi
Dominic Ang
Fariqe Hairuman
2011 Audi Team Hitotsuyama (Rd. 1–3)Audi R8 LMS GT3 Tomonobu Fujii
Akihiro Tsuzuki
Michael Kim

ST-Z/GT4 Class (2017–present)

Bold drivers indicate a driver that was entered in every race for their respective team. Drivers listed in italics competed in a select number of rounds for their respective team.

YearTeamVehicleDrivers
2023 Saitama Toyopet GreenBraveToyota GR Supra GT4 Naoki Hattori
Kohta Kawaai
Manabu Yamazaki
Hiroki Yoshida
Seita Nonaka (Rd. 2)
2022 Team 5Zigen (Rd. 1-6)Mercedes-AMG GT4 Ryūichirō Otsuka
Kakunoshin Ohta
Toshihiro Kaneishi
Iori Kimura (Rd. 2)
2021 Endless SportsMercedes-AMG GT4 Yūdai Uchida
Hideki Yamauchi
Togo Suganami
Ryō Ogawa (Rd. 1, 3–5)
2020 Endless SportsMercedes-AMG GT4 Yūdai Uchida
Hideki Yamauchi
Tsubasa Takahashi
Shinnosuke Yamada (Rd. 1)
Ryūichirō Tomita (Rd. 1)
Togo Suganami (Rd. 4-5)
2019 Endless SportsMercedes-AMG GT4 Yūdai Uchida
Hideki Yamauchi
Tsubasa Takahashi
Shinnosuke Yamada (Rd. 3)
2018 BEND (Rd. 3, 5)Porsche Cayman GT4 Masamitsu Ishihara
Daisuke Ikeda
Yūya Sakamoto
Shinya Hosokawa (Rd. 3)
Atsushi Yogo (Rd. 3)
2017No entries

ST-TCR Class (2017–present)

YearTeamVehicleDrivers
2023 M&K RacingHonda Civic Type R TCR (FL5) Mitsuhiro Endō
Yūsuke Mitsui (Rd. 4)
Tōsei Moriyama (Rd. 4–5)
Shinji Nakano (Rd. 5–7)
Takashi Kobayashi (Rd. 7)
2022 Team Noah (Rd. 1-2, 4-5, 7)Honda Civic Type R TCR Yoshikazu Sobu
Toshiro Tsukada (Rd. 1-2, 4)
Shigetomo Shimono (Rd. 1, 7)
Shingo Wada (Rd. 1, 7)
Yu Kanamaru (Rd. 2)
Koji Miura (Rd. 2)
"J" Antonio (Rd. 2, 5, 7)
Yuji Kiyotaki (Rd. 2, 4-5)
Yasuhiro Ogushi (Rd. 4)
Kuniyuki Haga (Rd. 5)
2021 Team NoahHonda Civic Type R TCR Yoshikazu Sobu
Shigetomo Shimono
Kuniyuki Haga (Rd. 1, 3, 5)
Riki Tanioka (Rd. 1, 3)
Toshiro Tsukada (Rd. 2–4, 6)
Yuji Kiyotaki (Rd. 2–4, 6)
Shingo Wada (Rd. 5)
2020 Floral Racing with UematsuHonda Civic Type R TCR Tadao Uematsu
Yuji Ide
Shintaro Kawabata
Tomoki Nojiri (Rd. 1)
2019 Birth Racing ProjectAudi RS 3 LMS TCR Takeshi Matsumoto
Takuro Shinohara
"Hirobon" (Rd.1)
Yuya Ohta (Rd. 2–6)
Kouichi Okumura (Rd. 3)
2018 Modulo Racing with DomeHonda Civic Type R TCR Tadao Uematsu
Shinji Nakano
Hiroki Otsu
Takashi Kobayashi (Rd. 1, 3–6)
Keishi Ishikawa (Rd. 3)
2017 Motul Dome Racing ProjectHonda Civic Type R TCR Takuya Kurosawa
Keishi Ishikawa
Hiroki Katoh
Hiroki Yoshida (Rd. 5)

ST-1 Class (1991–present)

Bold drivers indicate a driver that entered scored every possible point for their respective teams. Drivers listed in italics competed in a select number of rounds for their respective team.

YearTeamVehicleDrivers
2023 K's Frontier KTM CarsKTM X-Bow GTX Taiyō Iida
Hiroki Katoh
Kazuho Takahashi
Hiroki Yoshimoto
Takashi Kobayashi (Rd. 2)
2022 K's Frontier KTM CarsKTM X-Bow GTX Taiyō Iida
Hiroki Katoh
Kazuho Takahashi
Hiroki Yoshimoto
Takashi Kobayashi (Rd. 2)
2021 KTM Cars JapanKTM X-Bow GTX Taiyō Iida
Hiroki Katoh
Kazuho Takahashi

Takashi Kobayashi (Rd. 3)
Hiroki Yoshimoto (Rd. 3–6)
2020 ROOKIE RacingToyota GR Supra Naoya Gamou
Daisuke Toyoda
Yasuhiro Ogura
Shunsuke Kohno

Hisashi Yabuki (Rd. 1)
Kazuya Oshima (Rd. 1)
2019 D'station RacingPorsche 911 GT3 Cup Kenji Hama
Tatsuya Hoshino
Manabu Orido

Kenji Kobayashi (Rd. 3)
Tsubasa Kondō (Rd. 3)
2018 D'station RacingPorsche 911 GT3 Cup Kenji Hama
Tatsuya Hoshino
Manabu Orido

Kenji Kobayashi (Rd. 3)
Ryūichirō Tomita (Rd. 3)
Lee Jung Woo (Rd. 3)
2017 aprPorsche 911 GT3 Cup Masami Kageyama
Katsuhito Ogawa
Ryūichirō Tomita
2016 D'station RacingPorsche 911 GT3 Cup Seiji Ara
Satoshi Hoshino
Tatsuya Hoshino (Rd. 4)
Lee Jung Woo (Rd. 4)
2015 BENDBMW Z4 (E86) Daisuke Ikeda
Masamitsu Ishihara
Yūya Sakamoto
Atsushi Yogō
2014 Tomei SportsIPS kuruma01 Osamu Hatakenaka (Rd. 1–5)
Ryō Hirakawa (Rd. 1–5)
Yuichi Nakayama (Rd. 1–5)
Andrea Caldarelli (Rd. 6)
Kenta Yamashita (Rd. 6)
2013 Faust Racing TeamBMW Z4 (E86) Kazutomo Robert Hori
Shigeru Satō
Naoya Yamano (Rd. 1–5)
2012 Endless SportsNISMO Amuse 380RS Kyōsuke Mineo
Shinichi Takagi
Yukinori Taniguchi
2011 Petronas Syntium TeamBMW Z4 (E86) Dominic Ang
Nobuteru Taniguchi
Masataka Yanagida
2010 Petronas Syntium TeamBMW Z4 (E86) Imran Shaharom
Nobuteru Taniguchi
Masataka Yanagida
2009 Petronas Syntium TeamBMW Z4 (E86) Fariqe Hairuman
Nobuteru Taniguchi
Masataka Yanagida
2008 Petronas Syntium TeamBMW Z4 (E86) Johan bin Azdmi
Tatsuya Kataoka
Nobuteru Taniguchi

Incidents

During a 2012 race at Suzuka Circuit (a support event for the 2012 FIA WTCC Race of Japan), Osamu Nakajima, driving a Nissan Fairlady Z (Z33), died after crashing into a barrier at the first corner of the circuit.[13]

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Eneos Becomes Title Sponsor Of The Super Taikyu Series dailysportscar.com . 2022-03-09 . www.dailysportscar.com.
  2. Web site: Super Taikyu Completes Official Pre-Season Test At Fuji dailysportscar.com. 2021-03-16. www.dailysportscar.com.
  3. Web site: CORPORATION. TOYOTA MOTOR. Toyota Developing Hydrogen Engine Technologies Through Motorsports Corporate Global Newsroom. 2021-10-13. Toyota Motor Corporation Official Global Website. en.
  4. Web site: MAZDA NEWSROOM|Mazda to Participate in Motor Sports Race Powered by Next-Generation Biodiesel Fuel|NEWS RELEASES. 2022-01-22. Mazda News Releases. en.
  5. Web site: CORPORATION. TOYOTA MOTOR. Kawasaki Heavy Industries, Subaru, Toyota, Mazda, and Yamaha Take on Challenge to Expand Options for Producing, Transporting, and Using Fuel Toward Achieving Carbon Neutrality Corporate Global Newsroom. 2022-01-22. Toyota Motor Corporation Official Global Website. en.
  6. Web site: 2022-06-04 . Nissan Z Racing Concept for Fuji 24-hour race unveiled . 2022-12-03 . Official Global Newsroom . en.
  7. Web site: 57 Cars Entered For Super Taikyu Finale at Suzuka dailysportscar.com . 2022-12-03 . www.dailysportscar.com.
  8. Web site: CORPORATION . TOYOTA MOTOR . FEATURES|World-First! Liquid Hydrogen Official Race Test at Fuji|TOYOTA TIMES . 2023-03-23 . TOYOTA TIMES . en.
  9. Web site: New Super Taikyu ST-Q Entries From Honda, Nissan Revealed dailysportscar.com . 2023-05-25 . www.dailysportscar.com.
  10. Web site: Super Taikyu 2022 Sporting Regulation . 2 December 2022 . Japanese.
  11. Web site: スーパー耐久シリーズ 2021年からハンコックをタイヤサプライヤーに決定 【公式】スーパー耐久シリーズ Powered by Hankook . 2021-03-16 . supertaikyu.com.
  12. Web site: Bridgestone Replaces Hankook As Super Taikyu Tyre Supplier With Immediate Effect dailysportscar.com . 2023-05-25 . www.dailysportscar.com.
  13. Web site: Osamu Nakajima. 2013-07-22. Motorsport Memorial.