TUNING

Toyota’s Thrilling Transition: The Blue & White KeePer Era

posted at：2024.04.25

TEXT: AMW PHOTO: GTA／Movie：平岡寿道（HIRAOKA Toshimichi）

GR Supra continues to mature

The 2024 season of SUPER GT, Japan’s premier GT car race, will begin at Okayama International Circuit in Okayama Prefecture on April 13-14, 2024. The GT500 class, in which three manufacturers, Toyota, Nissan, and Honda, compete, is a fierce battleground where top drivers are engaged in heated battles every race. Here we introduce the machines that will be competing in the GT500 class. In this third volume, we will introduce cars No. 37 through No. 100!

Car No. 38 has attracted a great deal of attention due to the transfer of its driver!

The most noteworthy car in the Toyota camp is No. 38, the “KeePer CERUMO GR Supra”. Yuji Tachikawa, who had been driving for many years, was appointed as the team’s representative and manager. In the vacant driver’s seat will be Hiroaki Ishiura, Tachikawa’s partner, and Toshiki Oyu, who has transferred from Honda. Oyu has experience in karting, FJ, and F4, and started competing in SUPER GT in 2020. in 2021, he stepped up to the GT500 class, driving for ARTA and TEAM Red Bull MUGEN. having competed in both GT300 and GT500 in NSX What kind of driving will Oyu, who has competed in both the GT300 and GT500 classes with NSX, show us?

As the machine’s name suggests, it will be in the red and silver ZENT colors until 2023, but for the 2024 season, it will be in the blue and white KeePer colors, which many fans may associate with the TOM’S machine.

The driver lineups for the No. 37 Deloitte TOM’S GR Supra and No. 39 DENSO KOBELCO SARD GR Supra remain unchanged, with Ukyo Sasahara and Giuliano Alesi driving the No. 37 car and Yuhi Sekiguchi and Yuichi Nakayama driving the No. 39 car. The car will be driven by Ukyo Sasahara and Giuliano Alesi.

Riki Okusa steps up from the GT300 class to drive the Civic

Honda has made no changes to the driver lineup for the No. 100 STANLEY CIVIC TYPE R-GT, with Naoki Yamamoto and Tadasuke Makino set to take the title in the No. 64 Modulo CIVIC TYPE R-GT. In No. 64 “Modulo CIVIC TYPE R-GT”, Takuya Izawa will stay with the team and Riki Okusa will join the team in place of Kakunoshin Ota who moved to No. 17. He has been driving the “GT-R” for GAINER in the GT300 class from 2022 to 2023, but will step up to GT500 and take the steering wheel of the Civic Type R. He will be the first driver to drive a GT500 class car, and will be the first driver to drive a GT500 class car. This will be his first time driving a GT500 class machine, so he may not be familiar with many things, but we look forward to seeing his performance.

The opening round of the 2024 SUPER GT season will be held at Okayama International Circuit. Please come and watch the race and experience the powerful engine sounds of the racing cars in real life!