The Big Names in the Fuji Super TEC 24 Hours

This week’s Fuji SUPER TEC 24 Hours is the premier race on the calendar for the pro-am Pirelli Super Taikyu Series, one of the most diverse endurance racing categories in the world – featuring GT3, GT4, and TCR touring cars mixed with a wide collection of race-tuned production cars.

Super Taikyu is not a full professional series like the GT500 class of Super GT, or Super Formula, but in this race there are many accomplished racing drivers who have achieved stardom both in Japan and abroad. Even some of the less-heralded gentleman drivers have earned a great deal of respect for their contributions inside and outside of motorsport.

At Super GT World, we’ve broken down the entire entry list and highlighted the top teams from the top three classes, and the big-name drivers competing in the lower categories, to help you find a team to support in this weekend’s landmark endurance event.

GTNET Motor Sports win action-packed Super Taikyu opener at Suzuka

In a dramatic first act of the 2018 Pirelli Super Taikyu Series at Suzuka Circuit, it was the #99 Y’s Distraction GTNET Nissan GT-R of Teruhiko Hamano, Kazuki Hoshino, and Kiyoto Fujinami that took the overall and ST-X class victory after 5 hours and 133 laps of racing on Sunday.

The win came following a drive-through penalty assessed to the #24 ThreeBond Nissan Gakuen GT-R of Yuudai Uchida, Tomonobu Fujii, and Kazuki Hiramine for a collision with the Y’s Distraction GT-R in the last 90 minutes of the race, relegating the polesitters to second in a Nissan 1-2 finish to kick off the Pirelli era in Super Taikyu.

Nissan GT-Rs lead the way at Super Taikyu test in Fuji

This past Saturday, 40 teams gathered for a full day of testing for the Pirelli Super Taikyu Series at Fuji Speedway, in preparation for not only the upcoming season which begins on April 1, but also for this June’s inaugural Fuji Super TEC 24 Hours. It was also the first day that the teams tested on the series’ new Pirelli tyres.

Out of the field in the premier ST-X class, it was the #24 Nissan GT-R NISMO GT3 of Kondo Racing, the 2016 series champions, that set a new class lap record around Fuji Speedway through the first three sessions of the test day.

Those three sessions were then followed by a night-time test – the first-ever at Fuji Speedway – to prepare teams and drivers for the 24 Hours on June 2-3.

27 cars entered on provisional Suzuka 10 Hours entry list

Suzuka Circuit announced the first provisional entry list for the upcoming Suzuka 10 Hours, to be held from August 24-26, this Friday.

The entry list contains a total of 27 entries, representing at least twelve different manufacturers and six different countries. Nine of these entries hail from the Autobacs Super GT Series, including the defending GT300 Series Champions, Goodsmile Racing with Team UKYO.