2021 Super Taikyu kicks off at Motegi this weekend for D'Station Arcing
Thursday, March 18, 2021
With the North America GT racing scene continuing this weekend with the twelve hours of Sebring event for the IMSA Weathertech Sportscar Championship and supporting Michelin Pilot Challenge over in Florida, this weekend also sees the Japanese national Super Taikyu Series start its new 2021 season with their opening five-hour round from the Twin Ring Motegi circuit.
In a new year that also sees the series move on from the Pirelli supplied control tyre of previous years to the all-new Hankook tyre of this season sees the D’Station Racing team again support the series in more ways than one with another two-car entry from their fleet of Aston Martin Racing Vantage race cars.
The #777 AMR Vantage GT3 again headlines for them in the ST-X class of six full season entries as team boss Satoshi Hoshino, Tomonobu Fujii and Tsubasa Kondo hope for better luck in the opening rounds of this season after early misfortune (particularly in the Fuji 24hr opener of last season) cost their championship chances dearly before COVID ultimately brought their delayed season to a premature end at the end of 2020.
They are joined by the #47 AMR Vantage GT4 crew retained from last season of Tatsuya Hoshino, Max Orido, Takuro Shinohara and Kenji Hama who will run their car within the ST-Z class which this year will feature over fifteen cars.
This time around, Motegi will be the first time that the series has raced competitively on the new Hankook tyre and will also be the first time the GT3 crew have tried the new tyre having missed the official tyre test at Fuji Speedway two weeks ago due to isolating after their return form the Gulf and their Asian Le Mans Series endeavours.
Photo credits – D’Station
