Tsuchiya Engineering

Origins and first stint in Super GT (1971–2008)

Haruo Tsuchiya (1945-2021), a former motocross rider, worked at TOMEI Automotive from 1968 to 1971 to create his own shop and team.^[1] The team initially competed in local touring car races, before entering JTC, where it won the Division-3 title twice, in 1989 and 1990.^[2] Tsuchiya entered JGTC in 1997 with a Toyota MR2 and won its first title in 1998, after winning five out of six races with Shingo Tachi and Keiichi Suzuki behind the wheel.^[3] The following year, the team partnered with A'PEX and scored a lone win at Fuji and two more podiums to secure the drivers' title with Morio Nitta, as well as taking their second consecutive teams' title.^[4]

Entering GT500 in 2000, the team fielded a Toyota Supra until 2006, before fielding a Lexus SC430 for the following two years.^[5] In their nine-year stint in the category, the team scored five podiums, including their only win at Okayama in 2005.^[6] At the end of the 2008 season, the team suspended its motorsport activities in 2009 due to the economic recession and the reduction of manufacturer support.^[7][2]

Team Samurai and Return to Super GT (2010–present)

Haruo's son Takeshi, founded 25 Racing/Team Samurai in 2010, with his father as manager.^[2][8] Across the next four years, the team competed in Super GT until 2011, before then competing in Porsche Carrera Cup Japan, Super Taikyu and JAF Formula 4.^[9] In 2015, Tsuchiya Engineering made their return to GT300 competition, with Takeshi Tsuchiya and Takamitsu Matsui driving a Toyota 86 MC GT300.^[10] In the team's first full season since 2011, the Tsuchiya-Matsui pairing won at Sportsland SUGO and qualified on pole at Buriram to end the season ninth in points.^[11] Retaining both Tsuchiya and Matsui for 2016, the pair scored wins at Buriram and Motegi to secure their third drivers' and teams' titles.^[12] Ten days after the season-finale, Haruo was diagnosed with oral cancer, and as a result Takeshi retired from full-time racing to take over the running of the team.^[2]

For the team's title defence, Matsui remained for a third consecutive season as Kenta Yamashita replaced Tsuchiya as the team's second driver.^[13] In their only season together, the Matsui-Yamashita pair won at Autopolis and finished third at Sportsland SUGO to secure sixth in the teams' standings.^[14] Matsui remained with the team as the sole full-time driver for the 2017 season, finishing third at Okayama and second at Suzuka alongside Sho Tsuboi as the team ended the year eighth in points.^[15][16] In 2019, Matsui remained with the team as he was joined by Kimiya Sato, as they scored a best result of fourth at Buriram and qualified on pole three times to end the year 18th in points.^[17]

Ahead of 2020, the team switched to a Porsche 911,^[18][19] fielding it until 2021, scoring a best result of fifth at Motegi in the latter year, before the team switched to a self-built Toyota GR Supra.^[20][21] In their first year with the Supra, the team scored a single points finish at Sportsland SUGO, by finishing tenth, to end the year 34th in the teams' standings in a season in which they missed the second Fuji round following a testing crash at Suzuka.^[22]

In 2023, at the fourth round of the season at Fuji, both Tsuchiya-ran cars caught fire, leading to both cars withdrawing from the following event and the rest of the season.^[23] Tsuchiya then started a fundraiser known as the "Hopico Revival Project" in order to help the team return to racing.^[24] The team returned to GT300 competition in the following year with Takamitsu Matsui and Togo Suganami, with a rebuilt version of "Hopico".^[25]

Partnership with Max Racing (2020–2023)

Before the 2020 Super GT season it was announced that Tsuchiya Engineering would support series newcomers Max Racing, by servicing their car.^[26] The partnership lasted until the 2023 Fuji GT 450km Race, where both cars caught fire and Max Racing ceased operations with immediate effect.^[27] In their three-year partnership, Max Racing scored a lone win at Suzuka in 2021 and scored a best points finish of fourth the same year.^[28]

Complete JGTC results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

More information Year, Car ...

Year[29]	Car	Tyres	Class	No.	Drivers	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	Pos	Pts
1997	Toyota MR2	Y	GT300	25	Takeshi Tsuchiya Masaoki Nagashima	SUZ 3	FUJ Ret	SEN 1	FUJ 5	MIN	SUG 3			3rd	52
1998	Toyota MR2	Y	GT300	25	Keiichi Suzuki Shingo Tachi	SUZ 1	FUJ C	SEN 1	FUJ 1	MOT 6	MIN 1	SUG 1		1st	106
1999	Toyota MR2	Y	GT300	25	Morio Nitta Yasushi Kikuchi Shinichi Takagi	SUZ 8	FUJ 1	SUG 2	MIN 2	FUJ 5	OKA 8	MOT Ret		1st	73
2000	Toyota Supra	Y	GT500	25	Manabu Orido Mitsuhiro Kinoshita	MOT 13	FUJ 10	SUG 14	FUJ 8	OKA 8	MIN 7	SUZ 13		13th	11
2001	Toyota Supra	Y	GT500	25	Manabu Orido Seiji Ara	OKA 9	FUJ 11	SUG 11	FUJ DNS	MOT 7	SUZ 7	MIN 10		12th	11
2002	Toyota Supra	Y	GT500	25	Shinichi Yamaji Seiji Ara Geoff Lees	OKA 6	FUJ 13	SUG 11	SEP Ret	FUJ 4	MOT 9	MIN 5	SUZ 7	10th	32
2003	Toyota Supra	Y	GT500	25	Jérémie Dufour Seiji Ara Hideki Noda	OKA 10	FUJ Ret	SUG 3	FUJ 13	FUJ 17	MOT 3	AUT 12	SUZ Ret	10th	26
2004	Toyota Supra	Y	GT500	25	Manabu Orido Dominik Schwager	OKA 14	SUG 2	SEP Ret	TOK 13	MOT 12	AUT 3	SUZ 10		10th	31

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Complete Super GT Results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

More information Year, Car ...

Year[29][30]	Car	Tyres	Class	No.	Drivers	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	Pos	Points
2005	Toyota Supra	Y	GT500	25	Manabu Orido Dominik Schwager Hideki Noda	OKA 1	FUJ 14	SEP 15	SUG 9	MOT 15	FUJ NC	AUT Ret	SUZ 14		10th	26
2006	Toyota Supra	Y	GT500	25	Takeshi Tsuchiya Manabu Orido Hideki Noda	SUZ 8	OKA 9	FUJ 6	SEP 10	SUG 12	SUZ Ret	MOT 12	AUT 15	FUJ 9	14th	13
2007	Lexus SC430	Y	GT500	25	Takeshi Tsuchiya Manabu Orido	SUZ 9	OKA 6	FUJ Ret	SEP 5	SUG 8	SUZ Ret	MOT 8	AUT 10	FUJ 12	14th	38
2008	Lexus SC430	Y	GT500	25	Takeshi Tsuchiya Hiroaki Ishiura	SUZ 11	OKA 11	FUJ 8	SEP 4	SUG 4	SUZ 14	MOT 10	AUT 12	FUJ 8	14th	44
2010	Porsche 997 GT3-RSR	Y	GT300	25	Takeshi Tsuchiya Akihiro Tsuzuki Yoshio Tsuzuki	SUZ	OKA	FUJ 17	SEP	SUG 16	SUZ Ret	FUJ C	MOT 18		NC	0
2011	Porsche 997 GT3-RSR	Y	GT300	25	Takeshi Tsuchiya Akihiro Tsuzuki	OKA 3	FUJ Ret	SEP Ret	SUG 4	SUZ 9	FUJ 5	AUT 5	MOT 19		9th	49
2015	Toyota 86 MC GT300	Y	GT300	25	Takeshi Tsuchiya Takamitsu Matsui Tatsuya Tanigawa	OKA 6	FUJ Ret	CHA 7	FUJ 5	SUZ 23	SUG 1	AUT Ret	MOT 12		9th	51
2016	Toyota 86 MC GT300	Y	GT300	25	Takeshi Tsuchiya Takamitsu Matsui Kenta Yamashita	OKA 6	FUJ 3	SUG 2	FUJ 13	SUZ 22	CHA 1	MOT 7	MOT 1		1st	97
2017	Toyota 86 MC GT300	Y	GT300	25	Takamitsu Matsui Kenta Yamashita Tsubasa Kondo	OKA 4	FUJ 15	AUT 1	SUG 3	FUJ 29	SUZ 18	CHA 15	MOT 5		6th	65
2018	Toyota 86 MC GT300	Y	GT300	25	Takamitsu Matsui Sho Tsuboi Tsubasa Kondo Takeshi Tsuchiya	OKA 3	FUJ Ret	SUZ 2	CHA 19	FUJ 5	SUG 24	AUT 24	MOT 8		8th	52
2019	Toyota 86 MC GT300	Y	GT300	25	Takamitsu Matsui Kimiya Sato	OKA Ret	FUJ 18	SUZ 5	BUR 4	FUJ 26	AUT 16	SUG 27	MOT 18		18th	29
2020	Porsche 911 GT3 R	Y	GT300	25	Takamitsu Matsui Kimiya Sato	FUJ 19	FUJ 20	SUZ 14	MOT 8	FUJ 11	SUZ 9	MOT 6	FUJ 14		15th	33
	Lexus RC F GT3	Y	GT300	244	Atsushi Miyake Rintaro Kubo	FUJ 16	FUJ 13	SUZ 20	MOT 26	FUJ 19	SUZ WD	MOT 15	FUJ 24		26th	19
2021	Porsche 911 GT3 R	Y	GT300	25	Takamitsu Matsui Kimiya Sato	OKA 7	FUJ 13	MOT 6	SUZ 23	SUG 19	AUT 10	MOT 5	FUJ 6		12th	45
	Toyota GR Supra GT300	Y	GT300	244	Atsushi Miyake Yuui Tsutsumi	OKA 5	FUJ 11	MOT 4	SUZ 1	SUG 9	AUT 17	MOT 7	FUJ 7		4th	68
2022	Toyota GR Supra GT300	Y	GT300	25	Takamitsu Matsui Seita Nonaka	OKA 22	FUJ 11	SUZ Ret	FUJ	SUZ 15	SUG 10	AUT 16	MOT Ret		34th	1
		Y	GT300	244	Atsushi Miyake Kimiya Sato	OKA	FUJ 19	SUZ 22	FUJ Ret	SUZ Ret	SUG 14	AUT 10	MOT 17		35th	1
2023	Toyota GR Supra GT300	Y	GT300	25	Seita Nonaka Togo Suganami	OKA 17	FUJ 10	SUZ 11	FUJ Ret	SUZ	SUG	AUT	MOT		27th	10
		Y	GT300	244	Atsushi Miyake Kimiya Sato	OKA 3	FUJ 16	SUZ 16	FUJ Ret	SUZ	SUG	AUT	MOT		20th	19
2024	Toyota GR Supra GT300	Y	GT300	25	Takamitsu Matsui Togo Suganami Kimiya Sato	OKA 14	FUJ 23	SUZ 18	FUJ Ret	SUG Ret	AUT 11	MOT Ret	SUZ 15		22nd	12
2025	Toyota GR Supra GT300	Y	GT300	25	Takamitsu Matsui Kimiya Sato	OKA 15	FUJ 22	SEP	FS1 25	FS2 23	SUZ 20	SUG 20	AUT 15	MOT DNS	25th	15

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^‡ Half points awarded as less than 75% of race distance was completed. * Season still in progress.