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Two more manufacturer-run entries from Honda and Nissan have been confirmed for the 2023 Fuji Super TEC 24 Hours on 27-28 May. Both cars will compete in the ST-Q class, the Super Taikyu Series’ non-championship category designated for manufacturer-developed special vehicles.
Since the launch of ST-Q in 2021, Super Taikyu has seen the likes of Toyota, Mazda, Subaru, and Nissan enter innovative vehicles using more sustainable fuel sources.
Honda will be the latest Japanese automaker to enter the class, with the Honda Civic Type R CNF-R. It is a specially-developed version of the road-going Civic Type R, which recently captured its first Super Taikyu victory at Suzuka Circuit in March, and now holds the Nürburgring Nördschliefe lap record for a front-wheel drive vehicle.
The CNF-R variant, as its handle suggests, runs on carbon-neutral racing fuel (CNF). It will match up against other CNF cars in ST-Q including the Toyota GR86 from ROOKIE Racing, and the Subaru BRZ from Team SDA Engineering.
Entered under the Team HRC banner, the #271 Civic Type R CNF-R will have at least three Honda factory drivers in its line-up: Hideki Mutoh, Takuya Izawa, and Hiroki Otsu.
Mutoh was part of the Honda R&D Challenge team that won at Suzuka in the Civic Type R – he is best known as a dual-class race winner in SUPER GT, a GT300 Champion in 2013, and a past IndyCar Series and Indianapolis 500 Rookie of the Year winner.
Izawa has spent the last 15 seasons racing in the highest levels of Japanese motorsport: Formula Nippon/Super Formula, and the GT500 class of SUPER GT, where he finished runner-up in the 2009 Drivers’ Championship. And Otsu is the 2021 Super Formula Championship Rookie of the Year, in his fourth season as a Honda GT500 driver in SUPER GT.
Nissan and NISMO announced that they will return to the Fuji 24 Hours with the #230 Nissan Z Racing Concept, which debuted in last year’s race.
This is the car that would serve as the prototype for the new Nissan Z GT4. ST-Q rules would allow the Racing Concept model to run outside of its GT4 homologation. Last year, NISMO entered a version of the Z Racing Concept adapted to run on CNF, alongside a petrol-powered version from Max Racing which ran the remainder of the 2022 season.
Nissan and NISMO have not disclosed if this is a CNF version or has some other innovative fuel source, but they have announced four of its drivers who will test the car on Friday at Fuji Speedway: Two-time GT500 Champions, Kohei Hirate and Tsugio Matsuda, joined by 2022 GT500 runner-up Mitsunori Takaboshi, and multiple GT500 class race winner Daiki Sasaki.
Matsuda recently earned his 24th career GT500 class win in SUPER GT, to extend his all-time record – he is also a two-time Super Formula Champion. Takaboshi and Sasaki each graduated from the Nissan Driver Development Programme (NDDP) through success in single-seaters, while Hirate joined Nissan in 2019 after a long and successful association with Toyota.
These new cars are confirmed to join the #28 ROOKIE Racing Toyota GR86 CNF Concept, #55 Mazda Spirit Racing Mazda2 Bio Concept, and #61 Team SDA Engineering Subaru BRZ CNF Concept for Friday’s one-day official test at Fuji – which also serves as the first official test for Bridgestone since taking over as Super Taikyu’s new tyre supplier under extraordinary circumstances.
ROOKIE Racing’s liquid-hydrogen fuelled Toyota GR Corolla H2 Concept is not entered for the test, instead, the conventional #32 Toyota GR Yaris will take its place as it did at Fuji.
In total, 45 cars will test at Fuji Speedway including three ST-X (GT3) cars and seven ST-Z (GT4) cars, most of which are armed with additional drivers who will make guest appearances in the Fuji 24 Hours.
Images © Honda, Nissan
Author: RJ O’Connell
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New Super Taikyu ST-Q Entries From Honda, Nissan Revealed – dailysportscar.com
