2024.03.26

To the Liberal Democratic Party Parliamentary Association for Motorsports, GTA Chairman Bandoh states “The goal is to introduce e-Fuel by 2030”

　On March 26, a general meeting of the Liberal Democratic Party Parliamentary Association for Motorsports was held at the Liberal Democratic Party headquarters (Chiyoda Ward, Tokyo) with representatives of Japan’s major motorsport organizations in attendance. Among them, Chairman Masaaki Bandoh of GTA Co., Ltd., promoter of SUPER GT, gave a presentation on the Association’s activities and measures to achieve its goal of becoming carbon neutral.

 

 

 

 

 

 

　Serving as moderator for the meeting was Head Secretary Sakon Yamamoto, who competed in SUPER GT for two tears from 2005 before moving up to become an F1 driver and later be elected to the National Diet House of Representatives. After an address by the Director of the Parliamentary Association for Motorsports, Keiji Furuya, the attending organizations were introduced.

 

 

 

　Representing SUPER GT, the reigning GT300 class champion, who will be aiming for a second straight title this season, Saitama Green Brave team driver Hiroki Yoshida, spoke about how glad he was to win the championship title last year in SUPER GT, the category he had longed to compete in, and to do it with the staff of a rare team made up of an automobile retailer staff. He went on to express his gratitude to GTA for organizing such a well-known race series that creates a tremendous impact in motorsport. He finished by saying that, under the new regulations adopted from this year to make SUPER GT more environment friendly, he and his colleagues will be doing their best to bring even more excitement and appeal to the competition on the track.

 

 

 

 

　Next up, GTA Chairman Bandoh reported on the measures being taken to make SUPER GT carbon neutral.
　He reported that the number of tire sets that a team could bring to a race in the case of a 300-km race, which had been six sets until 2022, was reduced to five sets in 2023 and will be further reduced to four sets this year. He added that the qualifying format has also been changed in light of this. He explained that under this new format the starting grid for the race will be decided by the combined times of each team’s two drivers using the same single set of tires throughout the qualifying, and what’s more, this same set must be used to start the race. He added that he thought this will make the teams’ response more difficult, but that this format will reduce the number of tires used by 35%, which means a total reduction of 3,600 tires (compared to the number in 2019). He concluded by adding that although the response to the new format has been mixed, it will be used this season with the hope of finding ways to make it better.
　Chairman Bandoh went on to explain the measures being taken this season to make SUPER GT more carbon neutral, saying that a carbon-neutral fuel imported from overseas has been adopted for the GT500 class since last year, while adding that problems with its use in the foreign-made GT3 cars competing in the GT300 class led to a postponement of its adoption in the GT300 class. As for this year, tests conducted during the end of last year have led to the decision to try adopting a 50% carbon-neutral fuel this season.

　As for measures to be taken to provide a roadmap for SUPER GT going forward, Chairman Bandoh explained that they are thinking of having an e-Fuel composed of carbon dioxide and hydrogen manufactured domestically in the future. He said development is now in progress with the aim of adopting the fuel by the year 2030, so that SUPER GT can continue to bring racing with the same dynamic sound while also contributing to the environment.

 

 

 

 

　After the conclusion of the presentations by the participating organizations, there was a question & answer session for representative of related government agencies, including the Japan Sports Agency, the Ministry of Economy、Trade and Industry), the National Police Agency and others.
　In the closing addresses, Secretary-general Junko Mihara, herself a former driver in the predecessor to SUPER GT, the All Japan GT Championship, spoke about the various measures GTA has undertaken, expressing her gratitude for the efforts being initiated based on a variety of new ideas and saying that she looks forward to supporting them in the future.

 

 

 

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