Suzuka 10 Hours

Suzuka 10 Hours

Intercontinental GT Challenge
Venue	Suzuka International Racing Course
Corporate sponsor	BH Auction SMBC
First race	1966
First IGTC race	2018
Duration	10 Hours
Previous names	1000 km Suzuka GT Summer Special
Most wins (driver)	Kunimitsu Takahashi (4)
Most wins (manufacturer)	Porsche (11)

The Suzuka Summer Endurance Race, currently known as the Suzuka 10 Hours, is an annual motorsport event for sports cars that has been held at the Suzuka International Racing Course, Mie Prefecture, Japan since 1966,^[1] and the oldest automobile endurance race in Japan. The race is currently held over a duration of ten hours as part of the Intercontinental GT Challenge. From 1966 to 2017, the event was known as the Suzuka 1000km, a 1000 kilometre race held as part of various championships including Super GT, the All-Japan Endurance/Sports Prototype Championship, the FIA GT Championship, the BPR Global GT Series, and the FIA World Sportscar Championship.

History[]

Fireworks at the 2014 race.

The race, as a 1000 kilometre race, was first held as a standalone event from 1966 to 1973. After a hiatus, the event returned in 1980 for three years before joining the All Japan Sports Prototype Championship, the forerunner to Super GT, in 1983.^[1] The event later hosted a round of the 1992 World Sportscar Championship before these series were cancelled. After that the race became part of many different series, including the BPR Global GT Series from 1994 to 1996, the FIA GT Championship from 1997 to 1998, and the Super Taikyu Series as well as returning to being a non-championship event. In 2006, the race was added to the Super GT championship calendar for the first time. Previously, the race was open to JGTC/Super GT cars, but only a handful of competitors from the Super GT championship took part. In 2018, the race moved to the Intercontinental GT Challenge championship, replacing the Sepang 12 Hours held in Malaysia, featuring GT3 and select GT300 class cars from Super GT.^[2]

Beverage company Pokka served as the title sponsor of the race from 1994 until 2014. In 2019, Japanese banking company SMBC and collector car auction house BH Auction became the new joint title sponsors of the Suzuka 10 Hours.

The 2020 running of the race, originally scheduled for 22 August, was cancelled as a result of the 2019-20 coronavirus pandemic. The planned running of the race in 2021 was cancelled, also due to the influence of the coronavirus pandemic.

Format[]

The race was traditionally held over 1000 kilometres from 1966 to 2008. From 2009 to 2011, the race length varied; the 2009 Super GT race was shortened to 700 km due to increasing costs and CO₂ emissions regulations, as well as the economic crisis. The 700 km distance was retained in 2010, but as a result of the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami and Super GT energy conservation regulations in force that year, the race was cut to 500 km.^[1] From 2012, the race returned to being a 1000 kilometre event. In 2018, the race became a 10-hour event as part of its move from Super GT into the Intercontinental GT Challenge, matching the distance of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship race Petit Le Mans held in Braselton, Georgia (United States).^[2][3]

In 2018 and 2019, the race offered a prize purse of ¥100 million Yen, with the overall winner receiving a ¥30 million share, the second-place finisher receiving ¥10 million, and the third-place finisher receiving ¥5 million. Prize money is also awarded for the top team in a number of sub-classes including Pro-Am Cup, Silver Cup, and Am Cup. The top teams from Super GT and Super Taikyu also receive a prize bonus, as well as the winner of the Asia Award (given to the top team with no less than two Asian drivers), and the fastest team in both phases of qualifying. In 2019, a "Team of the Day" award was introduced, allowing viewers to vote for their favourite team during the race - who will also receive a prize bonus.^[4]

Winners[]

Among drivers, Kunimitsu Takahashi holds the all-time record with four overall victories at the Suzuka 1000km, winning for the first time in 1973, then taking three more victories during the Group C era of the JSPC in 1984, 1985, and 1989. Five other drivers - Daisuke Ito, Ryo Michigami, Naoki Nagasaka, Sébastien Philippe, and Juichi Wakisaka, have won the event three times overall.

Several past winners of the race have also won the 24 Hours of Le Mans, including Henri Pescarolo, Vern Schuppan, Masanori Sekiya, Stanley Dickens, Yannick Dalmas, Derek Warwick, JJ Lehto, Benoît Tréluyer, Loïc Duval, and Kazuki Nakajima. Past winners including Marcel Tiemann, Bernd Schneider, Frédéric Makowiecki, Maro Engel, Kelvin van der Linde, Dries Vanthoor, and Frédéric Vervisch have also won the Nürburgring 24 Hour race. Other notable former winners include three-time 24 Hours of Daytona winner Bob Wollek, 1989 Japanese Grand Prix winner Alessandro Nannini, 2015 FIA World Endurance Drivers' Champion and Formula One Grand Prix winner Mark Webber, four-time Super GT GT500 Drivers' Champion Ronnie Quintarelli, all-time GT500 class wins leader Tsugio Matsuda, and 2018 and 2020 Japanese "double champion" Naoki Yamamoto.

In recent years, the event has drawn interest from previous Formula One world champion drivers, many of whom had raced at Suzuka Circuit for years during their F1 careers. 2009 champion Jenson Button made his Super GT debut in the 2017 running of the Suzuka 1000km, and in 2019, two-time world champion Mika Häkkinen returned to compete at the Suzuka 10 Hours.

Porsche have more victories in the race than any manufacturer - eleven in total, spanning from 1967 to 1994. The winningest Japanese marques are Honda and Toyota, who have each won the race eight times overall, just ahead of Nissan with seven victories. Toyota's Lexus luxury brand has also won the race five times representing Toyota in the GT500 class of Super GT, from 2006 to 2017.

List of winners[]

Year	Overall Winner(s)	Entrant	Car	Series	Length
1966	[ja]  [ja]		Toyota 2000GT	Non-championship	1000 km	[5]
1967	[ja]  [ja]		Porsche 906			[6]
1968	[ja] Hiroshi Fushida		Toyota 7			[7]
1969	[ja]		Porsche 906			[8]
1970			Nissan Fairlady Z432			[9]
1971	Hiroshi Fushida		Porsche 910			[10]
1972	[ja]		Toyota Celica 1600GT-R			[11]
1973	Kunimitsu Takahashi Kenji Tohira		Nissan Fairlady Z432R			[12]
1974 – 1979	Not held
1980	Naoki Nagasaka	Red Carpet Racing Team	March 75S-Mazda	Non-championship	1000 km	[13]
1981	Bob Wollek Henri Pescarolo	Porsche Kremer Racing	Porsche 935 K3			[14]
1982	Naoki Nagasaka	Auto Beaurex Motor Sports	BMW M1			[15]
1983	Vern Schuppan	Trust Racing Team	Porsche 956	All-Japan Endurance Championship		[16]
1984	Kunimitsu Takahashi Geoff Lees	Advan Sport Team Nova	Porsche 956			[17]
	Kunimitsu Takahashi	Advan Sport Team Nova	Porsche 962C			[18]
	Hideki Okada	FromA Racing	Porsche 956			[19]
	Geoff Lees Masanori Sekiya Hitoshi Ogawa	Toyota Team TOM's	[ja]	All-Japan Sports Prototype Championship		[20]
	Hideki Okada Stanley Dickens	FromA Racing	Porsche 962C			[21]
	Kunimitsu Takahashi Stanley Dickens	Advan Alpha Nova Racing	Porsche 962C			[22]
1990	Kazuyoshi Hoshino Toshio Suzuki	Nissan Motorsports	Nissan R90CP			[23]
1991	Roland Ratzenberger Pierre-Henri Raphanel Naoki Nagasaka	Toyota Team SARD	[ja]			[24]
1992	Derek Warwick Yannick Dalmas	Peugeot Talbot Sport	Peugeot 905 Evo 1B	FIA World Sportscar Championship		[25]
1993	Takao Wada Toshio Suzuki	Team LeMans	Nissan R92CP	Non-championship		[26]
1994	Jean-Pierre Jarier Bob Wollek Jesús Pareja	Larbre Competition	Porsche 911 Turbo S LM-GT	BPR Global GT Series		[27]
1995	Ray Bellm Maurizio Sandro Sala Masanori Sekiya	GTC Racing	McLaren F1 GTR-BMW			[28]
1996	Ray Bellm James Weaver JJ Lehto	Gulf Racing GTC	McLaren F1 GTR-BMW			[29]
1997	Alessandro Nannini Marcel Tiemann	AMG-Mercedes	Mercedes-Benz CLK-GTR	FIA GT Championship		[30]
1998	Bernd Schneider Mark Webber	AMG-Mercedes	Mercedes-Benz CLK LM			[31]
1999	Osamu Nakako Ryo Michigami Katsutomo Kaneishi	Mugen x Dome Project	Honda NSX GT500	Non-championship		[32]
2000	Juichi Wakisaka Katsutomo Kaneishi Daisuke Ito	Mugen x Dome Project	Honda NSX GT500			[33]
2001	Hironori Takeuchi Yuji Tachikawa Shigekazu Wakisaka	Toyota Team Cerumo	Toyota Supra GT500			[34]
2002	Juichi Wakisaka Akira Iida Shigekazu Wakisaka	Esso Toyota Team LeMans	Toyota Supra GT500			[35]
2003	Ryo Michigami Sébastien Philippe	Dome Racing Team	Honda NSX GT500			[36]
2004	Ryo Michigami Sébastien Philippe Daisuke Ito	Dome Racing Team	Honda NSX GT500			[37]
2005	André Couto Ronnie Quintarelli Hayanari Shimoda	Denso Toyota Team SARD	Toyota Supra GT500			[38]
2006	Benoît Tréluyer Kazuki Hoshino  [fr]	Calsonic Team Impul	Nissan Fairlady Z GT500	Super GT Series		[39]
2007	André Lotterer Juichi Wakisaka Oliver Jarvis	Houzan Toyota Team TOM's	Lexus SC430 GT500			[40]
2008	Tsugio Matsuda Sébastien Philippe	Calsonic Team Impul	Nissan GT-R GT500			[41]
2009	Hiroaki Ishiura Kazuya Oshima	Lexus Team Kraft	Lexus SC430 GT500		700 km	[42]
2010	Ralph Firman Yuji Ide Takashi Kobayashi	Autobacs Racing Team Aguri	Honda HSV-010 GT GT500			[43]
2011	Takashi Kogure Loïc Duval	Weider Honda Racing	Honda HSV-010 GT GT500		500 km	[44]
2012	Masataka Yanagida Ronnie Quintarelli	MOLA International	Nissan GT-R GT500		1000 km	[45]
2013	Frédéric Makowiecki Naoki Yamamoto	Weider Modulo Dome Racing	Honda HSV-010 GT GT500			[46] [47]
	Kazuki Nakajima James Rossiter	Lexus Team Petronas TOM's	Lexus RC F GT500			[48] [49]
	Daisuke Ito James Rossiter	Lexus Team Petronas TOM's	Lexus RC F GT500			[50] [51]
	Yuji Tachikawa Hiroaki Ishiura	Lexus Team ZENT Cerumo	Lexus RC F GT500			[52] [53]
2017	Bertrand Baguette Kosuke Matsuura	Nakajima Racing	Honda NSX-GT GT500			[54] [55]
2018	Maro Engel Raffaele Marciello Tristan Vautier	Mercedes-AMG Team GruppeM Racing	Mercedes-AMG GT3	Intercontinental GT Challenge	1603 km 996 mi (10 hours)	[56]
2019	Kelvin van der Linde Dries Vanthoor Frédéric Vervisch	Audi Sport Team WRT	Audi R8 LMS Evo		1556 km 967 mi (10 hours)	[57]
2020 – 2021	Not held due to the influence of the COVID-19 pandemic

Multiple winners[]

By driver[]

Wins	Driver	Years
4	Kunimitsu Takahashi	1973, 1984, 1985, 1989
3	Naoki Nagasaka	1980, 1982, 1991
	Ryo Michigami	1999, 2003, 2004
	Juichi Wakisaka	2000, 2002, 2007
	Sébastien Philippe	2003, 2004, 2008
	Daisuke Ito	2000, 2004, 2015
2		1966, 1968
		1966, 1969
	Hiroshi Fushida	1968, 1971
		1984, 1985
		1969, 1986
	Geoff Lees	1984, 1987
	Hideki Okada	1986, 1988
	Stanley Dickens	1988, 1989
	Toshio Suzuki	1990, 1993
	Bob Wollek	1981, 1994
	Masanori Sekiya	1987, 1995
	Ray Bellm	1995, 1996
	Katsutomo Kaneishi	1999, 2000
	Shigekazu Wakisaka	2001, 2002
	Ronnie Quintarelli	2005, 2012
	James Rossiter	2014, 2015
	Yuji Tachikawa	2001, 2016
	Hiroaki Ishiura	2009, 2016

By manufacturer[]

Wins	Manufacturer	Years
11	Porsche	1967, 1969, 1971, 1981, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1988, 1989, 1994
8	Toyota	1966, 1968, 1972, 1987, 1991, 2001, 2002, 2005
	Honda	1999, 2000, 2003, 2004, 2010, 2011, 2013, 2017
7	Nissan	1970, 1973, 1990, 1993, 2006, 2008, 2012
5	Lexus	2007, 2009, 2014, 2015, 2016
3	Mercedes-Benz	1997, 1998, 2018
2	McLaren	1995, 1996

Event names[]

• 1966–93: Suzuka 1000km
• 1994–08: International Pokka 1000km
• 2009–12: Pokka GT Summer Special
• 2013–14: International Pokka Sapporo 1000km
• 2015–17: International Suzuka 1000km
• 2018: Suzuka 10 Hours
• 2019–present: SMBC BH Auction Suzuka 10 Hours

References[]

External links[]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to 1000km Suzuka.