The current SUPER GT, which began in 1994 as the All-Japan Grand Touring Car Championship (JGTC) is now competed in two classes, GT500 and GT300, with a combined total of more than 40 “monster machine” cars that compete in nose-to-tail and side-by-side battles at points all around the courses. For example, at Fuji Speedway the GT500 machines can reach a maximum speed of 300 km/hr. It is such breathtaking high-speed battles that are one of the great appeals of SUPER GT, but they are also ones that can expose the drivers to high levels of danger.
This is what led SUPER GT during its JGTC era in 2002 to establish a rescue organization named “FRO = First Rescue Operation”. In the cases of crashes or accidents that occur during the races or track running sessions, 3-man units consisting of specialists for handling “drivers,” “fires & rescue” and a “doctor” are mobilized to perform immediate fire extinguishing and rescue activities and lifesaving.
Until now we have introduced the role and activity contents of FRO as it enters its 25th year and the new items FRO will introduce from this season, while in this our final entry we will present the “thoughts” of the Medical Delegate who has talked about FRO and SUPER GT medical care and rescue until now, Mizuki Watanabe (*).
*The top photograph shows Mizuki Watanabe MD: before the start of Round 6 at SUGO in 2025
“I first became involved in racing when I was in high school, thanks to Takeshi Tsuchiya (currently the president of Tsuchiya Engineering, former GT500 and GT300 driver) who was in the class next to mine. I became friend with him and visits to the Tsuchiya Engineering factory. At the time he had started racing I was in college and playing soccer seriously, but I got injured and was hospitalized, and I was so impressed by the doctor who treated me that I decided to study to become a doctor. Partly because I could no longer play soccer well, I quit the university I had been attending and reentered one with a medical department.
After that, I became a doctor specialized in cranial nerve surgery …and it was at the holding of the F1 Japan Grand Prix at Fuji Speedway (2007) that for the first time I worked in the Medical Center. This was thanks to the people I met through Takeshi-san, After that I continued to work at the medical centers at Fuji and Suzuka when I wasn’t working in my specialty, and it was there that Masaaki Bandoh-san (President and CEO of GTA) approached me and that led to my joining FRO in 2014. That continued for about ten years and in 2024 I became a Medical Delegate there. Although at the same time I was a hospital doctor, I have nothing but gratitude to Seirei Hamamatsu General Hospital and my family for understanding my desire to also work at the eight or so SUPER GT race circuits.”
Watanabe MD standing beside Takeshi Tsuchiya at the opening round of the season at Okayama in 2014, the year he joined FRO. Watanabe MD says, “Since I believe that the race scene is “Takeshi’s scene”, and I try to keep from becoming overconfident or arrogant.”
“Currently I am working as a Medical Delegate in the “Race Control Room” during races and track running sessions. The main contents of my job is to watch the action on the track on the Race Control Room monitor in order to send directions to the FRO team about where to go, and when an accident or crash occurs to tell them how to conduct rescues, etc., and also, on the mornings of qualifying day, to use the actual vehicle to conduct “rescue training” in collaboration with the circuit rescue teams at each circuit in order to find possible problems and instruct them in how to repair them.
Besides my work with Race Control, I give instruction aimed at deepening people’s understanding of rescue and medical work, and I also attend driver briefings and ask for cooperation from them, and since I want to build communication by having people meet face-to-face, I go to meet the various teams. By doing this, I think we can get to understand each other. Other than this, I also communicate actively with heads of the doctor teams at each circuit with the aim of helping to make their medical activities more complete and running smoothly.
My predecessors, doctor Kiichi Takahashi, doctor Masaru Miura and doctor Kohji Yamaguchi were instrumental in starting and developing FRO, and I helped further develop its rules and documents to make it more professional and thus improve the levels of competence and authority.
Actual examples of these efforts led to the establishment of chiefs among the drivers, and Rescue & Fire teams, which I assigned to Daisuke Yamawaki (in the lowest level of the photo at the right end) and Kazuyuki Matsumoto (at the same photo’s left end). By giving them these roles, it has enabled them to approach the work with a greater sense of responsibility, and because of their support I myself feel that I have been able to continue doing “the things I want to do” and realizing the things that come to mind.”
Watanabe MD in the race control room at last year’s Round 7 at AUTOPOLIS. With a wireless radio in hand before the start, he stares into the monitor with a serious expression. At this time, he was talking with the FRO team positioned at the very end of the grid confirming last-minute details.
“It has now been ten years since I became a member of FRO, and in this time, I have gone to races at DTM and the 24 Hours of Nürburgring, etc., and I observed how their medical teams operate, due to which I had many opportunities to exchange opinions with the DTM doctors, and in the process I became able to communicate with them. For example, while adopting some of their most outstanding parts of the DTM medical and rescue practices in SUPER GT to a reduced degree, I was also able to make some suggestions to them in the process, and I have established good relationships with them. In this regard, in addition to my main occupation, I feel that I have been very fortunate. And for this very reason, I feel that I have been able work with a sense of responsibility in my own way, while also hoping to be able to contribute to the next generation.
With regard to this “building of the next generation”, I can say that “people who want to be involved in rescue at the circuits” sometimes come to the hospital in Hamamatsu where I work. Among these people, there are some that I recommend to the chief of the doctors working at the circuit closest to the place where they live, to encourage them to first of all get experience at the circuits. I have heard that among the people who came to me is one who worked for two or three years in rescue at Mobility Resort Motegi and his wish has come true, and he is now accompanying a motorcycle racing series.
What’s more, in a slightly different case there is also a doctor named Atsushi Mizutani who is a medical advisor in Super Formula, and in fact he was a classmate of mine in medical school who also majored in cranial nerve surgery, and since his home is near to mine, we have exchanged opinions and share information about SUPER GT and Super Formula medical and rescue operations, which has led us to similar opinions. Since doctor Mizutani and I have both done medical work together for WEC (FIA World Endurance Championship） and WRC （FIA World Rally Championship）, and because I have helped with Super Formula and he has helped with SUPER GT, the fact that as a friend doctor Mizutani is giving medical advice for Super Formula, and for me as well as for the motor sports world, perhaps it can be of some help and produce a synergistic effect, I believe that in the end it may lead to a big result. From here on I hope to continue to polish my skills. And finally, I would like to say that through continued efforts I hope it will lead to motorsports to be truly recognized as a valid “sport”.
A photo taken together with doctor Atsushi Mizutani on the grid at last year’s Round 6 at SUGO. Having known doctor Mizutani (Chief of the emergency department at Hamamatsu Medical Center) since they were in medical school together at university. They work together at the same hospital in Hamamatsu city, and since their houses are also near each other they often have get-together meetings.
Motorsports is a sport that always involves some degree of danger. Racing drivers are always face-to-face with this danger, and any one of them may be involved in a crash. For that very reason, the SUPER GT FRO and the rescue teams at the circuits will continue to work to be prepared for that possibility. Since this is a job that requires always being prepared for that unpredictable possibility of a crash, the greatest hope is that they never have to do such a rescue job. Still, on the mornings when race events are scheduled the rescue teams and the circuit officials conduct “rescue practice”. If the race is run with no problems, we hope that the FRO and all of the staff members involved in the running of the race will come away with a sense of gratitude.
SUPER GT medical delegate doctor Mizuki Watanabe (2nd from the left), born in 1972. Neurosurgeon and Director of the Spine and Spinal Cord Surgery Department at Seirei Hamamatsu General Hospital. In addition to serving as a SUPER GT Medical Delegate, who is also involved in medical assignments for WEC and WRC, etc., and Takeshi Tsuchiya, Director of Tsuchiya Engineering was a high school classmate. From the left of the photo are the FRO Fire and ＆ Rescue Chief Kazuyuki Matsumoto, Deputy Safety Delegate, doctor Yuya Kaida and FRO driver Chief Daisuke Yamawaki.
