One week after Round 7 at Autopolis, TEAM ENEOS ROOKIE announced on October 26 that it would switch from the Mercedes-AMG GT3 it had been running to date and enter the Toyota GR GT3 concept in this event. The car is competing in this event as a specially approved vehicle and is therefore ineligible for points. The “ENEOS X PRIME GR GT3 concept,” which has now made its appearance four and a half years after its unveiling in January 2022, successfully completed 30 laps in the exclusive practice session that began at 9:30 a.m.
[Round 3 / 8 Motegi] Requirements (BoP for each car)[Additional update on October 29th]
Following the exclusive practice session, TEAM ENEOS ROOKIE held a media session on the “ENEOS X PRIME GR GT3 concept.” Hiroaki Ishiura, who had just finished driving, commented, “When a session starts, you have to leave the pits with the steering wheel turned all the way, and when you actually go through race operations, such as operating the clutch in that situation or carrying out a driver change in a hurry, it really makes you realize once again that various issues can emerge. There were many things that made me glad we decided to race the car while it is still in the ‘concept’ stage. At the same time, I was able to go out on track and immediately run at racing speed, and we were able to properly confirm everything we have worked on up to this point.”
He also spoke about his objectives for the race, “We don’t know yet what our activities will look like from next year onward, but our main goal is to provide feedback that will help make this a better car. I’m sure what we learn here will ultimately be useful to various teams, so that is what I want to focus on first. We’ve also been getting all kinds of comments on social media [laughs], but we want to race with respect for the championship.”
Meanwhile, Takashi Doi, GR GT/GT3 Chief Engineer at Toyota Motor Corporation GAZOO Racing Company, who also attended the media session, commented, “This project is being led by Morizo, and one thing he always tells us is, ‘What’s important is that when you launch a car, that is only the starting point. What matters is how much you can develop it from there.’ That really is very important and essential, but in that sense, I don’t think we have even reached the starting line yet. We still have a long way to go. We don’t have any definite plans for next year and beyond yet, so first of all, we want to conduct thorough testing here, identify the issues and feed what we learn back into the development.”
After the media session, a photo session was held, with many members of the media and other people involved turning their cameras toward the new machine. Be sure to keep an eye on the much-anticipated new “GR GT3” as it makes its SUPER GT debut!
From left: TEAM ENEOS ROOKIE Chief Engineer Toma Onodera, Supervisor Toshiyuki Sekiya, Toyota Motor Corporation GAZOO Racing Company GR GT/GT3 Chief Engineer Takashi Doi, Hiroaki Ishiura, and Tokiya Suzuki.
