2021 Super GT World Awards: GT500 Driver of the Year

Naoki Yamamoto of Team Kunimitsu has been named the winner of the 2021 Super GT World Awards GT500 Driver of the Year, via unanimous selection, for his second GT500 Driver of the Year award.

Yamamoto, who won the GT500 Driver of the Year award in 2018 after a season that saw him win both the GT500 and Super Formula Drivers’ Championships in the same season, becomes the second driver to win the GT500 Driver of the Year award two times since the award was first introduced in 2016. He joins Ryo Hirakawa, who won the award in 2017, and again in 2020, as the only other driver to win the award on multiple occasions.

All five accredited motorsports writers and broadcasters who were part of the selection panel cast their first place votes, each worth five points each, for Yamamoto – who finished with a perfect score of 45 points.

2021 Super GT World Awards: GT300 Driver of the Year

Hideki Yamauchi, one half of the 2021 GT300 Drivers’ Champion duo at R&D Sport, has been named the GT300 Driver of the Year as part of the 2021 Super GT Awards, via unanimous decision.

Yamauchi is a first-time winner of Super GT World’s GT300 Driver of the Year honour, becoming the sixth different recipient of the award since its inception in 2016. He is the first driver of a GTA-GT300 vehicle to win the award, and the fourth championship-winning driver to win the award after Takamitsu Matsui (2016), Nirei Fukuzumi (2019), and João Paulo de Oliveira (2020).

All five accredited motorsports writers and broadcasters who were part of the selection panel bestowed upon Yamauchi all five of their first place votes, each worth nine points, giving him a perfect score of 45 points.

2021 Super GT World Awards: Team Manager of the Year

Masahiro Ozawa of R&D Sport has won the 2021 Super GT World Awards Team Manager of the Year.

It is a justly deserved honour for the man who steered Subaru and R&D Sport to their first respective GT300 championships as manufacturer and team respectively. Ozawa had previously worked with the Subaru World Rally Team throughout the 2000s, then worked in the engine department for Subaru Tecnica International (STI) as they developed the first-generation BRZ GT300 race car.

2021 Super GT World Awards: Shingo Tachi Memorial Award (GT500)

Nobuharu Matsushita is the recipient of the 2021 Super GT World Awards Shingo Tachi Memorial Award for the GT500 class Rookie of the Year, given to the most outstanding eligible driver in their first season competing in the top flight.

The Shingo Tachi Memorial Award is named in honour of the late 1998 GT300 champion Shingo Tachi, who died in a GT500 testing accident on 11 March, 1999, before he was set to make his premier class debut. From 2020, separate awards for GT500 and GT300 class Rookie of the Year would be given if three or more eligible rookie drivers raced in GT500 that season. This season, exactly three drivers ran enough races to be eligible for GT500 Rookie of the Year.