Super Taikyu Suzuka 4 Hours Preview: Survival of the Fastest

The Super Taikyu Endurance Series returns to action on June 10th and 11th for the first of its two major events of the season. The Suzuka Super Taikyu 4 Hour Race will see all seven active classes, including the newest ST-TCR class, competing on track at the same time in a single long-distance event.

54 teams and over 150 drivers of all skill levels will do battle this weekend, and at Suzuka, there will be a few prolific teams and drivers making their season debuts – including the return of two Japanese racing legends in a single car, and a new machine making its Super Taikyu debut in ST-TCR.

2017 Super GT in Kyushu preview: GT300 – Lucky 13th?

For the thirteenth time as a championship event, the Autobacs Super GT Series returns to the undulating, winding, and technical Autopolis circuit in Oita Prefecture on the island of Kyushu this week.

This, of course, is an emotional return to Autopolis for Super GT, over a year removed from the Kumamoto earthquakes of April 2016 which forced this event to be cancelled, and later postponed to November as part of a double-header Grand Final at Twin Ring Motegi.

And for the GT300 class, this is a race that is often so difficult to predict for the sole reason that, in twelve previous runnings from 2003 to 2015, twelve different models of vehicles have won this event, fielded by eleven different teams – and there could be another new winning machine at the 2017 running of the Super GT in Kyushu 300km just yet!

2017 Super GT in Kyushu 300km preview: GT500 – Welcome back, Autopolis

Autopolis, the high-altitude, undulating, and somewhat enigmatic circuit located in Oita Prefecture in Kyushu Island, hosts the third round of the 2017 Autobacs Super GT Series – the Super GT in Kyushu 300km.

For the first time since the deadly earthquakes that killed over 200 people in neighboring Kumamoto Prefecture on April 14 and 16, 2016, top-level Japanese motorsport returns to a rebuilt Autopolis circuit, following a Super Taikyu race in November 2016, and several off-season tyre tests – including one a few weeks ago.

The macro element of this event will be its status as a fun-filled event for the people of Kyushu to enjoy, a diversion from the tough rebuilding process that’s still ongoing. For the Super GT series on its own, this is a pivotal race in the GT500 championship – the last before a two-month spring break leading into the Summer Series.

2017 Fuji GT 500km Race Preview: GT300 – The Power and the Glory

Round 2 of the 2017 Autobacs Super GT Series is one of the biggest races of the season, the Fuji GT 500km Race, held every year on the 4th of May. Once recognized as a “Citizen’s Holiday”, May 4th is now recognized as Greenery Day in Japan. For many fans of Japanese motorsport, however, the 4th of May, and the Golden Week holiday, means Super GT at Fuji International Speedway.

In 2017, we have the largest GT300 field in history – 30 different cars in total – as well as the fastest GT300 field, lapping the 4.5 kilometer Fuji Speedway as fast as the GTE class cars of the FIA World Endurance Championship.

For the GT300 teams and drivers, the Fuji 500km is an important race, and a pivotal point in the 2017 championship to come – and one that will serve to highlight the big differences between the two sub-categories of cars in GT300: FIA GT3, and the JAF-GT300 and Mother Chassis machines.