The 2024 AUTOBACS SUPER GT series awards ceremony “SUPER GT HEROES 2024” was held at a hotel in Tokyo on the night of December 19th and following the ceremonies this season’s champions in the GT500 and GT300 classes and FIA-F4 championship receive their awards. In this Part 2 we report primarily on the proceedings of the various award presentations. *Click here to see the SUPER GT HEROES Part 1 “Ceremony” report
【JAF Awards】
In this 2024 season, due to the postponement of Round 5 at SUZUKA until December due to Typhoon #10 to make it the final round of the season, SUPER GT-related awards could not be included in the JAPAN AUTOMOBILE FEDERATION（ＪＡＦ）awards ceremony held at the end of November. For this reason, special provisions were made to have time for the JAF awards be presented at the SUPER GT HEROES ceremony. Appearing on the stage for these awards were the GT500 class winners in the Drivers championship, the No. 36 team driver pair of Sho Tsuboi/Kenta Yamashita and the team championship winners, the No. 36 TGR TEAM au TOM’S team represented by Team Manager Daisuke Ito took to the stage, along with the GT300 class Drivers champions of the No. 88 team, Takashi Kogure and Yuya Motojima and the No. 88 JLOC team champions represented by Team Manager Isao Noritake. They were then followed by the 2nd and 3rd place finishers. Also appearing on stage were champions and the top finishers (2nd to 6th place) of the Champions Class and the Independent Class of the FIA-F4 championship. Making the presentations of the trophies, placards and presents to the champions were Managing Director Masao Notsu of JAF and GTA President and CEO Masaaki Bandoh.
【FIA MOTORSPORT GAMES】
Prior to the FIA-F4 championship awards, there was an introduction of Tosei Moriyama（HELM MOTORSPORTS） who had participated in the F4 Cup division of the FIA MOTORSPORT GAMES 2024 in Spain in October of 2024. It was shown how he had competed under difficult conditions in which he was riding on a machine and tires that are not used in Japan on a course that he had never run on before but still managed to finish 6th out of 21 contestants. Moriyama was then presented with commemorative gifts by Executive Officer Kenji Kamitanaka of OSAKA TOYOPET Corporation and President Yoshiki Ohno of PETROPLAN Co., Ltd., two companies that have contributed to the overseas participation of FIA-F4 drivers, and by Bandoh of GTA.
【FIA-F4 Championship 2024 Season Awards】
Next, the FIA-F4 championship awards ceremony was held. Now in its 10th year as a series operated by GTA, from this 2024 season it was competed by cars with a “2nd generation” package combining a MCS4-24 chassis developed for improved safety by Toray Carbon Magic Co., Ltd. and new TIOM’s made TMA43 engine. The class divisions have also been changed to two classes including the Champion class for young drivers aiming to be top drivers in the future and the Independent class mainly for older “Gentleman drivers.” And this season 14 races were held as support races at seven SUPER GT rounds. The winner of the Champion class Drivers title was Yuto Nomura of car No. 50, while 2nd and 3rd places in the ranking went to Ryota Horachi in car No. 51 and Kotaro Shimbara in car No. 16, while the first champion of the Independent class was DRAGON in the No. 30 car and 2nd and 3rd places went to Nobuhiro Imada in car No. 44 and Makio Saito in car No. 96 (not present this day) appeared on stage for their awards. These winners were presented with their trophies from Bandoh of GTA and FIA-F4 series sponsors, OSAKA TOYOPET Corporation and DUNLOP TYRE JAPAN, Ltd., and as a GTA award they receive a placard and a gift of Ise lobster from the Shizuoka Prefecture Minamiizu Fisheries Association.
In addition, as the title winner Nomura received a scholarship (10 million yen) to be paid to the team he moves up to next season.
To the winners of the team category title in the Champion class, the entrant representative Taichi Sugiyama of HFDP with B-Max Racing received the Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism Minister's Cup from Chief Tomonobu Sugisaki of the Road Transport Bureau, Ministry of Land、Infrastructure and Transport. Also, the champion of the Champion class, Yuto Nomura, and the champion of the Independent class, DRAGON, were presented with the Toray Carbon Magic Award (prize money and a special carbon carrier case) from Representative Director President Akiyoshi Oku of Toray Carbon Magic Co., Ltd. In addition, both teams were presented with award placards and gifts of Ise lobster by Bandoh of GTA as GTA awards.
【SUPER GT 2024 Teams Awards】
Then the award presentations moved on to the SUPER GT category. The first to go up on stage was Team Manager Daisuke Ito of the top team in the GT500 class Team standing, the No. 36 TGR TEAM au TOM’S team and Team Manager Isao Noritake of the top ranked team in the GT300 class, the No. 88 JLOC, both to be presented with AUTOBACS Prize presented by Special Advisor Kiomi Kobayashi of AUTOBACS SEVEN Co., Ltd. Also, the 2nd and 3rd ranked teams in the GT500 class, namely the No. 100 TEAM KUNIMITSU team represented by Team Manager Kazuhiro Kojima and the No. 3 NISMO NDDP represented by Team Manager Jiro Shimada, followed by the 3rd ranked No. 65 K2 R&D LEON RACING represented by Team Manager Haruki Kurosawa and the No. 2 muta Racing INGING represented by Team Manager Hiroki Katoh, each of which received the AUTOBACS trophy.
The top team in the GT300 class competing in the GT300 regulation Mother Chassis model, namely the No. 2 muta Racing INGING, represented by Team Manager Hiroki Katoh was then presented an award by Chief Tomonobu Sugisaki of the Ministry of Land、Infrastructure and Transport. And then JLOC Team Manager Isao Noritake of the 2024 Season Champion team was presented the “GTA PRIZE” by Bandoh of GTA.
Next, Team Manager Daisuke Ito of the GT500 class Team Champion winners, the No. 36 TGR TEAM au TOM'S team, was presented with the glittering large Economy, Trade and Industry Minister CUP trophy by the Assistant Vice-Minister, Minister's Secretariat Kazunari Tanaka of the Manufacturing Industries Bureau, Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry.
In the SUPER GT category “ZF Award - Best Mechanic Prize” is given to the mechanic chosen as having given the best performance by a mechanic for each round of the series. Also, a “ZF Award of The Year” is awarded by to the ZF Friedrichshafen AG company that supplies standardized parts for the GT500 cars to the Mechanics & Engineers determined to have given the best performance of the season. This time, the “ZF Award - Best Mechanic Prize” was awarded to the mechanics of this year’s GT300 class Champions, the No. 88 JLOC, which is one of the Lamborghini teams that have continued to compete in SUPER GT since its inaugural year 1994 as the All-Japan GT Championship. This year, the No. 88 team won the GT300 class championship title with an amazing record of wins in three consecutive rounds and four wins out of eight overall. The award was presented by Representative Director and President Naosumi Tada of ZF Japan Co., Ltd. to Chief Mechanic Yutaka Adachi, representing the JLOC mechanics.
【SUPER GT 2024 Drivers Awards】
The awards ceremony neared its conclusion with the Drivers awards. The first awards went to the top three driver pairs in the GT500 class, the No. 36 drivers Sho Tsuboi and Kenta Yamashita, the No. 100 pair of Naoki Yamamoto and Tadasuke Makino and the No. 3 pair of Mitsunori Takaboshi and Atsushi Miyake, then came the awards for top three driver pairs in the GT300 class, the No. 88 drivers Takashi Kogure and Yuya Motojima, the No. 65 drivers Naoya Gamou and Takuro Shinohara and the No. 2 pair of Yuui Tsutsumi and Hibiki Taira. They all took to the stage to receive the AUTOBACS Trophy from Special Advisor Kiomi Kobayashi of AUTOBACS SEVEN Co., Ltd.
Then the champions of the two classes were awarded the “CVSTOS Prize” by CEO Toshiya Kawai of WORLD COMMERCE CORPORATION, including a high-quality “Challenge Chronograph 2” CVSTOS watch engraved with the drivers’ names as the “2024 SUPER GT Champion Watch.” This was followed by the presentation of the “GTA PRIZE” by the Bandoh of GTA, to the GT300 class champion drivers Takashi Kogure and Yuya Motojima and the GT500 class champion drivers Sho Tsuboi and Kenta Yamashita. The prize took the form of a 3D crystal form engraved with the names of their respective cars, the No. 88 VENTENY Lamborghini GT3 and the No. 36 au TOM'S GR Supra, as well as a gift of Ise lobster.
【SUPER GT Driver & Entrant Representative Speech】
After the SUPER GT awards, the representative of the season’s participating teams (Entrants) took to the stage. As representative and chairman of the GT Entrant Association, the apr Team Manager Hiroto Kaneso addressed the audience. There is the old saying, “Ishi no ue ni mo san nen” (literally: three years on a rock). It means that if you sit on a rock for three years, it will warm and be transformed into something good, and as you all know, the JLOC representative Isao Noritake has been working for 30 years to get this championship title. This just goes to show how difficult it is to win in SUPER GT. And it is not just a matter of the team but also things like the tire maker and parts makers, etc., there are a lot of forces involved to win success. So, I am sure that SUPER GT is going to continue for another 30 years. I hope all of you of the younger generation gathered here will create the next 30 years of its history. Next year, all of us Entrants are going to be working hard to build on this history, so let’s all work together to make it an exciting year.” In this way, Kaneso talked about the meaning of the SUPER GT challenge and his hopes for next season.
Next to go on stage were the participating drivers. As representative of the participating drivers, the champions of the two classes then addressed the crowd.
As the GT300 class champion for the first time and also having been the third driver crowned champion in both classes, Kogure spoke: “I am honored to be able to speak today as the 2024 champion of the GT300 class. I have been on this team for six years now, but with the conditions until last year it seemed unlikely that we could win the championship. But in those conditions, we continued to work to improve one step at a time, and finally in the last round of last year’s series we were able to get a win. We came into this season with that momentum going, and I feel that we were able to win this championship as a result of the outstanding work by everyone on the team. I am full of thanks for everyone on the team and the sponsors. Next year I am going to try to do my best as a driver to help make SUPER GT as exciting as possible.” In these words, Kogure described the hard times in the past and his gratitude for this title win. Next Motojima spoke: “I worked really hard every day to win this series championship. To tell the truth, I wasn’t confident that I had the ability to become a champion until the final round of the series, but with the support of our representative Noritake-san and everyone on the team and my teammate Kogure-san and the people at Yokohama Tires we were able to win the championship, and I am very grateful for it all. Let me say thank you one more time.” In these words Motojima expressed his thanks for winning the title.
Then the GT500 class champions for the second year in a row were next to speak. Tsuboi, the winner of a second straight GT500 championship and his third overall spoke first: “Winning a second straight title and my third overall has made this a very good year. I am very glad to have won like this in SUPER GT, which features such strong and fast drivers, and I want to continue to perform like this. I hope that, along with the GT300 class drivers, we will continue to raise our value as drivers even higher so that we will continue make this a series that will be featured this way.” In these words, Tsuboi spoke of this season and his hopes for the future. As for Yamashita, who has won two title himself, he said: “When I joined the No. 36 team and for Tsuboi-san and the team there were hopes of a second consecutive title, at first I thought it could be done, there were things that were going wrong and day by day I felt the pressure growing on me. At the time, we had won the opening round but until the final round we had never once led in the point standings, so I feel I owe this title to Tsuboi-san, the team and everyone else involved. I think that next season I will be able to race more easily, but since a third straight title will be at stake, that will bring pressure again, but I will be working with all the other drivers to make SUPER GT as exciting as we can.” With these words, Yamashita expressed his thoughts about and thanks for this season.
This year Ronnie Quintarelli （No. 23 MOTUL AUTECH Z, the driver who has won four GT500 class championship titles, the most in its history, announced that he will retire from his activities as a SUPER GT driver as of the final round of this season at SUZUKA. As a driver who has brought so much excitement to SUPER GT since he began racing in it in 2008, Quintarelli was presented with a commemorative crystal trophy by Bandoh of GTA. Quintarelli addressed the crowd: “There have been no end of surprises for me (since I announced my retirement), and I never thought that on this final day I would have Mr. Bandoh presenting me with a bouquet of flowers. So, I haven’t given any thought to what I wanted to say in my speech here. Just now I spoke with（Matsuda）Tsugio-san and we recalled that we stood together on this stage the first time the HEROES event was held in 2015. The memory is still clear in my mind as if it were yesterday. Nine years have passed since then, and I would have liked to have won a 5th and a 6th title, but the younger drivers and the other cars have just become too strong…. Last year I felt that I had still gotten more mature. But in the end, I decided to make this last race at Suzuka my final one. From the SUPER GT fans and the other drivers, I have received words (on gratitude and appreciation), which have made it the most wonderful year for me. I want to extend my thanks to everyone that has helped me along. Next year I don’t think I will be here as a driver, but I hope I will meet you all again in another capacity.” In this way Quinterelli spoke about his memories in SUPER GT and expressed his appreciation to everyone involved.
【Ending】
In this way, the “SUPER GT HEROES 2024” came to an end along with the 2024 season. At the end, Bandoh of GTA spoke once again with words of appreciation for this season and the outlook for the future. “I want to thank everyone for his year 2024. This year has brought many exciting events in Japan’s motor sports world, in addition to the pinnacle domestic race series, SUPER GT, Super Formula and Super Taikyu series, four world championship events including the F1 Japan Grand Prix, Formula E, WEC and WRC races have been held. And at the final round of the season at SUZUKA, an announcement was made of the "Philosophy of SUPER GT”(*) I would like to say a few words in explanation of them. One of these ideals is our “Mission”: the mission SUPER GT strives to accomplish is to contribute in some way to the automobile industry that is one of Japan’s main industries. We hope that many people can use the tool of SUPER GT and by further increasing the value of SUPER GT by producing contents companies can actively invest in. This is our objective.
We want to make SUPER GT a motorsport event that is supported by the fans and that children look up to, and we it to continue to be that way. As a promoter, we believe our mission is to continue to communicate to as many people as possible the excitement and interest that motor sports can inspire. Also, since motor sports are competitions that depend on automobiles, we believe we must continue to conduct events that promote traffic safety. What’s more, we also must promote consciousness of increasing use of carbon-neutral fuels. Also, in addition to actively engage in our race promotion, we also want to work with the automobile makers to further develop automotive technology. I believe these are the important tasks before us. These are things we must continue to do.
The SUPER GT that all of the people gathered here have helped to make also needs to be environmentally conscious and a SUPER GT that answers the needs of the times. And it must be our aim to continue to strive to communicate to as many people as possible the interest, the awesomeness and the thrills of the inspiring motor sport that it is.” With these words Bandoh of GTA spoke of the essence of SUPER GT as his way of bringing the SUPER GT HEROES 2024 event to a close.
* Download the Philosophy of SUPER GT
Click here to see the SUPER GT HEROES Part 1 report
