Suzuka 1000 km

The Suzuka 1000km, also known as the Suzuka Summer Endurance Race, is an annual sports car endurance race that has been held annually at the Suzuka Circuit in Mie Prefecture, Japan since 1966.

Since 2018, the Suzuka 1000km has been included as part of the SRO Intercontinental GT Challenge series. Previously, the race has been run as both a standalone endurance race, and as part of various national and international championships including the Super GT Series, FIA GT Championship, All-Japan Endurance/Sports Prototype Championship, and World Sportscar Championship.

History

Suzuka 1000km (1966–1973, 1980–2017)

The Suzuka 1000km was first held on 26 June 1966. It was one of three long-distance endurance races held annually at Suzuka Circuit during the 1960s, alongside the Suzuka 500km and Suzuka 12 Hours. These three races would form the short-lived Suzuka Circuit Endurance Series which was run from 1967 to 1970.

The race went on hiatus from 1974 until 1979 as a consequence of the 1970s energy crisis, but returned in 1980 as a non-championship endurance race, and was held in the fourth weekend of August for the first time. With the exception of the 1989 race that was delayed to December due to inclement weather, the Suzuka 1000km would continue to take place in the third or fourth weekend of August every year through 2019. Foreign teams entered the race for the first time in 1981 when the event renamed to the International Suzuka 1000km.

From 1983 to 1991, the International Suzuka 1000km was part of the All Japan Endurance Championship (renamed to the All Japan Sports Prototype Championship in 1987). In 1992, the race was added to the FIA World Sportscar Championship calendar, but the series folded after the 1992 season, which meant that the 1993 race would ultimately be run as a non-championship round.

In 1994, the Suzuka 1000km was added to the inaugural BPR Global GT Series calendar. Pokka became the new title sponsor of the race, and the Pokka 1000km continued as a championship round of both the BPR Global GT Series and its successor, the FIA GT Championship, through 1998.

When the race was dropped from the FIA GT calendar in 1999, the Pokka 1000km reverted to a non-championship endurance race. Through 2005, the race was open to GT500 and GT300 cars from the All Japan Grand Touring Car Championship (JGTC), as well as cars from the Super Taikyu Series and the Suzuka Circuit Clubman races.

On 12 August 2005, it was announced that the race would become part of the recently renamed Super GT Series championship, beginning in 2006. Upon its inclusion, the Suzuka 1000km became the longest and most prestigious event on the Super GT calendar during this time period, and also paid the most championship points of any round on the calendar.

Due to the effects of the Great Recession in Japan, the race was shortened to 700 kilometres from 2009 to 2010, and the race was renamed to the Pokka GT Summer Special. A second national crisis, the Great Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami, led to the event being shortened further to 500 kilometres in 2011. The original 1000 kilometre distance and race name was restored from 2012.

Suzuka 10 Hours (2018–2019)

On 4 March 2017, it was announced that the GT Association (GTA) and Stephane Ratel Organisation (SRO) would join forces to promote a new ten-hour summer endurance race for FIA-GT3 and JAF-GT300 (now GTA-GT300) sports cars, known as the Suzuka 10 Hours. The 46th annual Suzuka 1000km, held that year as part of the Super GT Series, would be the last edition of the race run in its original format.

The Suzuka 10 Hours became part of the Intercontinental GT Challenge championship in 2018, replacing the Sepang 12 Hours as the series' Asian round. The reformatted race attracted top teams and drivers from international GT3 racing, as well as teams from Super GT and Super Taikyu, by offering a ¥100,000,000 prize purse with the overall winner receiving ¥30,000,000.

Hiatus and return (2025–present)

The 2020 Suzuka 10 Hours, which had originally been scheduled for 23 August, was one of numerous motorsports events that were cancelled in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic and the travel restrictions enacted in Japan during this time. The race was set to return on 22 August 2021, but with strict travel restrictions still in place during the pandemic, the 2021 race was also cancelled.

In 2022 and 2023, Suzuka's place as the Asian round on the Intercontinental GT Challenge calendar was taken by the Gulf 12 Hours at Yas Marina Circuit.

During the 2024 SRO press conference at Spa-Francorchamps, Stephane Ratel announced that the Suzuka 1000km would return to the Intercontinental GT Challenge in 2025. The return date of 14 September 2025 was officially confirmed by Japan Automobile Federation (JAF). The revived Suzuka 1000 km would allow entries from GT300 teams to use GTA-GT300 cars, after an agreement between SRO and the GT Association (GTA) was reached in late 2024.

Although it would retain the race's original title, the revived Suzuka 1000km would be run as a timed race with a six-hour, 30-minute duration. This was done in consideration of stint length and total drive time requirements, and in order to try and reach the nominal 1,000 km distance.

Winners

Among drivers, Kunimitsu Takahashi holds the all-time record with four overall victories at the Suzuka 1000km. Five other drivers – Daisuke Ito, Ryo Michigami, Sébastien Philippe, Juichi Wakisaka, and Naoki Nagasaka have won the event three times overall.

11 previous winners of the Suzuka 1000km have also won the 24 Hours of Le Mans: Henri Pescarolo, Vern Schuppan, Masanori Sekiya, Stanley Dickens, Yannick Dalmas, Derek Warwick, JJ Lehto, André Lotterer, Benoît Tréluyer, Loïc Duval, and Kazuki Nakajima. In addition, Marcel Tiemann, Bernd Schneider, Frédéric Makowiecki, Maro Engel, Kelvin van der Linde, Dries Vanthoor, Frédéric Vervisch, and Raffaele Marciello have also won the Nürburgring 24 Hours.

Other notable former winners include three-time 24 Hours of Daytona winner Bob Wollek, 1989 Japanese Grand Prix winner Alessandro Nannini, 2015 FIA World Endurance Drivers' Champion and Formula One Grand Prix winner Mark Webber, four-time Super GT GT500 Drivers' Champion Ronnie Quintarelli, all-time GT500 class wins leader Tsugio Matsuda, and 2018 and 2020 Japanese "double champion" Naoki Yamamoto.

In recent years, the Suzuka 1000km has drawn interest from previous Formula One World Champions, many of whom had raced at Suzuka Circuit for years during their F1 careers. 2009 champion Jenson Button made his Super GT debut in the 2017 running of the Suzuka 1000km, and in 2019, two-time world champion Mika Häkkinen returned to compete at the Suzuka 10 Hours.

Porsche has more victories in the race than any manufacturer – eleven in total, spanning from 1967 to 1994. The most successful Japanese marques are Honda and Toyota, who have each won the race eight times overall, just ahead of Nissan with seven victories. Toyota's Lexus luxury brand has also won the race five times representing Toyota in the GT500 class of Super GT, from 2006 to 2017.

List of winners

Records

Multiple overall wins by driver

Overall wins by manufacturer

Event names

• 1966–93, 2025: Suzuka 1000km
• 1994–08: International Pokka 1000km
• 2009–12: Pokka GT Summer Special
• 2013: International Pokka Sapporo 1000km
• 2014–17: International Suzuka 1000km
• 2018: Suzuka 10 Hours
• 2019: SMBC BH Auction Suzuka 10 Hours

Notes

External links