2017 Super Taikyu Endurance Series

[rjoconnell]

Japan's answer to the VLN Endurance Series or Creventic 24H Series, Super Taikyu is back for 2017, and faster than ever with the introduction of the TCR International and FIA GT4 categories for 2017.

New for 2017 Class Structure



ST-X Class - FIA GT3 Cars
ST-R Class (NEW) - TCR Touring Cars
ST-Z Class (NEW) - FIA GT4 Cars
ST-1 Class - Cars with 3500cc or larger engines (Porsche Carrera Cup, Lamborghini Super Trofeo, Audi R8 Cup, etc)
ST-2 Class - Cars with 2000-3500cc engines, with all-wheel drive
ST-3 Class - Cars with 2000-3500cc engines, with front or rear-wheel drive
ST-4 Class - Cars with 1500-2000cc engines
ST-5 Class - Cars with 1500cc or smaller engines

2017 Calendar

February 26: Test Day - Twin Ring Motegi
April 1-2: Twin Ring Motegi (single race, 3hr20m)
April 29-30: Sportsland SUGO (two races, 3hrs each)
June 10-11: Suzuka Circuit (single race, 4hrs)
July 15-16: Autopolis (two races, 3hrs each)
August 2: Test Day - Fuji Speedway
September 2-3: Fuji Speedway (Fuji Super-TEC, 9hrs)
October 21-22: Okayama International Circuit (two races, 3hrs each)

Archive of race highlights from 2011-present available via the official STai YouTube channel:

https://www.youtube.com/user/SupertaikyuOfficial

2016 Champions:

ST-X: Kondo Racing - Nissan GT-R GT3 - Tomonobu Fujii / Yuudai Uchida / Kazuki Hiramine
ST-1: D'Station Racing - Porsche 991 GT3 Cup - Satoshi Hoshino / Seiji Ara
ST-2: TOWAINTEC Racing - Subaru WRX STi - Manabu Osawa / Hitoshi Gotoh
ST-3: Tracy Sports - Lexus IS 350 - Makoto Hotta / Ryohei Sakaguchi
ST-4: Endless Sports - Toyota 86 - Yuya Motojima / Nobuhiro Murata / Ryo Ogawa
ST-5: BRP★J'S Racing - Honda Fit - Junichi Umemoto / Takahisa Ono / Toshihiro Kubota

[Jonerz]

I'm a big fan of Super Taikyu... well, as big a fan as I can be living in South Texas. I speak no Japanese, but love watching their YouTube videos, and I've built ST cars on video game platforms in the past.

I'm interested to see the addition of TCR, which I believe is new to the championship this year. Though I fear it could move teams away from the home built cars of ST1-ST5. Of course, I feared STX and later STZ would bring about the end of ST1, ST2, and ST3 - and that has yet to happen totally.

Chris

[rjoconnell]

ST-1 champions D'Station Racing are stepping up to ST-X with a new #777 Porsche 911 GT3-R.

The drivers: Satoshi Hoshino (President & CEO of D'Station/NEXUS Group), Seiji Ara (2004 Le Mans 24 Hours Champion), Tsubasa Kondo (2016 Porsche Carrera Cup Japan Champion).

[Baliwa]

Since last year I curious what car Hub Auto run now? Their new M6 GT3 or 488 GT3

[rjoconnell]

Defending ST-X champions Kondo Racing will be back in 2017, with Tomonobu Fujii as the lead driver of the #24 ThreeBond Nissan Technical College GT-R:

https://newsroom.nissan-global.com/r...ogram-for-2017

[rjoconnell]

Saitama Toyopet GreenBrave will continue to compete in Super Taikyu this season, fielding a #68 Toyota Mark X in the ST-3 class for drivers Takayuki Hiranuma, Shigekazu Wakisaka, and Naoki Hattori. They were ST-4 champions in 2015, and this year they're making their Super GT debut with a slightly more extreme take on the Mark X sedan.

http://www.as-web.jp/domestic/92781?all

[rjoconnell]

Did a quick write-up of the Motegi test from Sunday. ARN Racing's Ferrari 488 GT3 (Kota Sasaki / Hiroaki Nagai) led the way by a whopping 1.3 seconds.

https://supergtworld.wordpress.com/2...r-taikyu-test/

[rich07]

Originally Posted by rjoconnell

Did a quick write-up of the Motegi test from Sunday. ARN Racing's Ferrari 488 GT3 (Kota Sasaki / Hiroaki Nagai) led the way by a whopping 1.3 seconds.

https://supergtworld.wordpress.com/2...r-taikyu-test/

Nice write up RJ, it's hard to find news in English about this series so thanks for the roundup of the test day. How long has Montoyama's team been around for? I'm guessing he's moving into management after he retires like a lot of other drivers.

[rjoconnell]

SKT Team Motoyama debuted mid-way through 2016, this will be their first full season.

ST-R is looking better and better as the start of the season gets closer, in addition to the Birth Racing Project getting an Audi RS3 LMS, Dome Racing and Honda announced they will be fielding two Honda Civic TCRs. Not bad for an upstart category announced months ago!

http://supertaikyu.com/teamrelease/data/2017/brp-e.pdf

https://www.facebook.com/SuperTaikyu...86414788043486

[rjoconnell]

http://supertaikyu.com/races/round1/..._entrylist.pdf

Entry list for Round 1 on April 1-2 at Motegi. It's two 3 hour 20 minute races that weekend.

Group 1 - 33 cars
ST-X - 8 cars
ST-3 - 9 cars
ST-4 - 16 cars

Group 2 - 24 cars
ST-R - 4 cars
ST-1 - 2 cars
ST-2 - 5 cars
ST-5 - 13 cars

[rjoconnell]

Super Taikyu (S-Tai) “Media Project” launched.

Information to be delivered from circuits through the integrated media unique to S-Tai!

In 2017, the Super Taikyu Organization (STO) will initiate the «S-Tai Media Project» in which information will be sent out from the circuits through its own integrated media.

This is a project where the members of the STO Executive Office control the media on their own to disseminate information from the circuits, using YouTube LIVE, SNS, and the like. Through YouTube LIVE, they are scheduled to relay images of the courses and the pit and to provide content of shows and events on a stage truck, including live concerts by “Fresh Angels,” the official poster girls of the S-Tai. Programs, to which drivers, team managers, paddock girls, partners (supporting companies), and parties concerned are invited as guests, are also planned to be broadcast live from the mini studio built in a circuit.　

Ms.Harumi Kuwayama, secretary-general of the STO Executive Office said:
“We are going to give an answer in 2017 to ‘what is the media content for the Super Taikyu,’ which we have been thinking for the past few years. All the members of the STO Executive Office involved in the Internet, images, events, and production have gathered under the banner of the ‘race’ to create and develop new content in a one-stop manner and outside the box. We plan to have a bilingual MC in the studio, aiming to broaden the appeal of the Super Taikyu to abroad. In this age of information terminals and the Wi-Fi environment, we hope that a wide range of users, as well as spectators at the races and racing sports fans, will enjoy massive endurance races. Because this year is the first year of the project, we will challenge ourselves to various things via a scrap-and-build approach, and we strongly believe that this project will, by using SNS, result in the growth of interactive media between the global users and the Super Taikyu. That is, this is the media that will be created in cooperation with users. It would be a pleasure for us to present the true selves of the teams and the paddock girls and the other side of the races, and invite the officials who support the series behind the scenes.

“Spark,” the official mascot whose name was chosen from the submissions from the public last year, will appear on site via Instagram, Twitter, and the like. Illustrations of Spark, and small stuffed toys of Spark which are going to make their debut soon, are all handcrafted by the members of the Executive Office. This «S-Tai Media Project» will be coordinated with our official website whose full renewal will be completed before the first round.”

A thirty-minute program is scheduled to be aired 6 times a year on BS11, which starts at 17:30 on Sunday, a week before each round. Details will be announced later on the official STO website.

https://www.facebook.com/SuperTaikyu...08096072542024

[rjoconnell]

One last post from me - the TCR International Series has officially announced its endorsement and support of the Super Taikyu TCR class, which will be known as ST-TCR starting at Round 2.

http://tcr-series.com/index.php/news...for-tcr-cars-2

[loon]

what chance of a stand alone tcr series next season, a first touring car championship in japan since 1998!!

[rjoconnell]

Super Taikyu livestreamed both races at Twin Ring Motegi this weekend and will do so for the rest of the season.

Group 2 Race (ST-R, ST-1, ST-2, ST-5)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zZpkjtD2Jh8

Group 1 Race (ST-X, ST-3, ST-4)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=62ubv1-_e9w

[ptclaus98]

Hey, I have a question, if I did an English language analysis/coverage of these races, is there anyway the series would be interested in making an English language channel.


EDIT: As soon as I finished, Alex started speaking in English, so nevermind.

[rjoconnell]

Suzuka 4 Hour Endurance Race is this weekend! The #999 CARGUY Lamborghini makes its series debut as does the #10 RacingLine VW Golf TCR. New drivers at this round include Ryo Michigami (former GT500 champion and WTCC driver) and Keiichi Tsuchiya (drifting pioneer, former GT500 and JTCC race winner, runner-up at Le Mans in '99)!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f7_LoOHTVEI - Qualifying Stream

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bygqMFWzP5Y - "Second Chance 100" Stream (A last chance qualifier for the bottom 3 teams in ST-X/3/4/5)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vCdcAfQP_0k - RACE STREAM

Entry List (ENG translation):
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0By4...11SGdRbGs/view

Live Timing (this service has been behaving weird lately so it's not a guarantee it'll work on race day)
http://racenow-suzuka-1.racelive.jp/

Preview:
https://supergtworld.wordpress.com/2...f-the-fastest/

[rjoconnell]

Report from qualifying / Second Chance 100.

Race starts Sunday @ 12:30 PM JST / 5:30 AM BST.