 | |
| Founded | 2013 |
|---|---|
| Base | Gotemba, Shizuoka Prefecture |
| Team principal(s) | Motoharu Kurosawa Haruki Kurosawa |
| Founder(s) | Daisuke Endo |
| Current series | Super GT |
| Current drivers |
|
| Teams' Championships | 2018 Super GT |
| Drivers' Championships | 2018 Super GT |
LEON Racing is a Japanese racing team that competes in the GT300 class of Super GT.
In 2012, LEON Racing first participated in the GT300 class of SUPER GT jointly with Hironori Takeuchi's SHIFT Team. The team manager was Motoharu Kurosawa, and the car was the Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG. The team competed under the banner of Green Tec & LEON with SHIFT. The drivers were Takeuchi himself, and Haruki Kurosawa who is the manager's son, along with Akihiko Nakatani as the third driver for Round 5. LEON Racing ended their partnership with SHIFT following the 2012 season. The team joined forces with by K2 R&D Co. Ltd., and fielded the number 62 Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG GT3 for Haruki Kurosawa and Masanobu Kato. In 2014, the car number was changed to 65 and the main driver remained Haruki Kurosawa, while the second driver was changed in quick succession to Kyosuke Mineo (Rounds 1–2), Tsubasa Kurosawa (Rounds 2–7), and Naoya Gamou (Round 8). The team achieved a podium finish in the 4th race in SUGO. In 2015, the director changed from Motoharu Kurosawa to Daisuke Endo. Haruki Kurosawa retained the seat, and the second driver became Naoya Gamou. [1] Both finished on the podium in 2nd place at the second race at Fuji Speedway.
The team switched from Yokohama to Bridgestone tyres in 2017. [2] Both Kurosawa & Gamou took pole position in the opening race and placed 2nd in the race. At the 6th race, the Suzuka 1000 km, they made a trick of pitting on the first lap, which turned out to be a good idea, and excellent pace allowed them to overtake Tsuchiya Engineering's VivaC 86 MC to win the race and take the top spot in the points rankings once again. However, in the next race in Thailand, the team made the mistake of lowering the jack while changing tires during pit work, and GOODSMILE RACING & Team UKYO, allowing the latter to lead by a large margin. In the final race, two front wheels were changed, and in the final stages Gamou caught ARTA's no-stopping car and took the lead, winning the race, but GOODSMILE RACING & Team UKYO finished in 3rd place, so they unfortunately missed out on the title. They finished 2nd in the championship, the highest in team history that time. In 2018, the team entered the final race in 2nd place in the standings, but there was a 12-point difference from car No. 55 in first place in the rankings. The conditions were tough, with the difference in points between 3rd place and lower, depending on the winning position and the No. 55 car. However, in qualifying, car No. 55 sank to 10th place, while it took 2nd place. In the race, they had trouble with car No. 0 right after the start, which caused them to drop in the rankings, but they were helped by the troubles of car No. 88, which was running in the lead, and were able to take the lead by staying in front of car No. 0 through a strategy of not changing tires. They overcame cars No. 31 and No. 0, which were also competing for the title, to take their first win of the season, while car No. 55 finished in 8th place, making them both the team's first to win the double titles of Driver's Champion and Team Champion.
For 2019, the team originally keep their same winning line up, but Togo Suganami replaced Kurosawa for the last two rounds of the season. [3] From the 2020 season, the team race in the new AMG GT3 EVO. The team keept Gamou, and made Suganami the second driver. [4] Takuro Shinohara transferred from Audi Team Hitotsuyama to K2 R&D LEON Racing, taking the place of Togo Suganami. [5] Team director, Haruki Kurosawa, entered the fifth round at Suzuka as the team's third driver. It marked Kurosawa's first Super GT appearance as a driver since the 2019 Fuji GT 500 Mile Race.
Nobuteru Taniguchi is a Japanese racing driver and drifting driver who currently competes in the Super GT racing series. Taniguchi is commonly nicknamed "NOB" or "The Pimp" as a reference to his S15 Silvia which he is best known for.
Motoharu Kurosawa, nicknamed "Gan-san", is a retired professional Japanese racing driver. He is the patriarch of a racing family; his three sons, Takuya, Haruki, and Tsubasa, are all racing drivers.
The 2011 Autobacs Super GT Series was the nineteenth season of the Japan Automobile Federation Super GT Championship including the All Japan Grand Touring Car Championship (JGTC) era and the seventh season as the Super GT series. It also marked the twenty-ninth season of a JAF-sanctioned sports car racing championship dating back to the All Japan Sports Prototype Championship. It is a series for Grand Touring race cars divided into two categories: GT500 and GT300. The season began on May 1 and ended on November 13, 2011 after 8 races and 1 non-championship race. The season was due to start on April 2, but the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami caused its postponement.
The 2012 Autobacs Super GT Series was the twentieth season of the Japan Automobile Federation Super GT Championship including the All Japan Grand Touring Car Championship (JGTC) era and the eighth season as the Super GT series. It also marked the thirtieth season of a JAF-sanctioned sports car racing championship dating back to the All Japan Sports Prototype Championship. The season began on April 1 and ended on November 18, 2012, after eight championship races and a non-championship race.
The 2013 Autobacs Super GT Series was the twenty-first season of the Japan Automobile Federation Super GT Championship including the All Japan Grand Touring Car Championship (JGTC) era, and the ninth season under the name Super GT. It marked the thirty-first season overall of a Japanese professional sportscar championship dating back to the All Japan Sports Prototype Championship. It was the final year of the GT500 regulations introduced in 2010 as the 2014 season would see unified technical regulations with the Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters. The season began on April 7 and ended on November 17, 2013 after 8 regular races and 1 non championship event.
The 2014 Autobacs Super GT Series was the twenty-second season of the Japan Automobile Federation Super GT Championship including the All Japan Grand Touring Car Championship (JGTC) era, and the tenth season under the name Super GT. It marked the thirty-second season overall of a Japanese professional sportscar championship dating back to the All Japan Sports Prototype Championship. It was the first year of new GT500 regulations as the 2014 season saw unified technical regulations with the Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters. The season began on April 6 and ended on November 16, after 8 races.
The 2015 Autobacs Super GT Series was the twenty-third season of the Japan Automobile Federation Super GT Championship including the All Japan Grand Touring Car Championship (JGTC) era, and the eleventh season under the name Super GT. It marked the thirty-third season overall of a Japanese professional sportscar championship dating back to the All Japan Sports Prototype Championship. The season began on April 5 and ended on November 15, after 8 races.
The 2016 Autobacs Super GT Series was the twenty-fourth season of the Japan Automobile Federation Super GT Championship including the All Japan Grand Touring Car Championship (JGTC) era, and the twelfth season under the name Super GT. It was the thirty-fourth overall season of a national JAF sportscar championship dating back to the All Japan Sports Prototype Championship. The season began on April 10 and ended on November 13, after 8 races.
The 2017 Autobacs Super GT Series was the twenty-fifth season of the Japan Automobile Federation Super GT Championship including the All Japan Grand Touring Car Championship (JGTC) era, and the thirteenth season under the name Super GT. It was the thirty-fifth overall season of a national JAF sportscar championship dating back to the All Japan Sports Prototype Championship. The season began on April 9 and ended on November 12, after 8 races.
The 2018 Autobacs Super GT Series was the twenty-sixth season of the Japan Automobile Federation Super GT Championship including the All Japan Grand Touring Car Championship (JGTC) era and the fourteenth season the series has competed under the Super GT name. It was the thirty-sixth overall season of a national JAF sportscar championship dating back to the All Japan Sports Prototype Championship. The season began on April 8 and ended on November 11, after 8 races.
The 2017 Okayama GT 300km was the first round of the 2017 Super GT Series. It was held at the Okayama International Circuit in Mimasaka, Okayama Prefecture, Japan. Ryō Hirakawa and Nick Cassidy won the GT500 category whilst Nobuteru Taniguchi and Tatsuya Kataoka won the GT300 category.
The 2019 Super GT Series was a motor racing championship based in Japan for grand touring cars. The series is sanctioned by the Japan Automobile Federation (JAF) and run by the GT Association (GTA). It was the twenty-seventh season of the Japan Automobile Federation Super GT Championship which includes the All Japan Grand Touring Car Championship (JGTC) era and the fifteenth season the series has competed under the Super GT name. It was the thirty-seventh overall season of a national JAF sportscar championship dating back to the All Japan Sports Prototype Championship. The season began on April 14 and ended on November 24, after 8 championship races & 2 non-championship races.
The 2020 Super GT Series was motor racing championship based in Japan for grand touring cars. The series is sanctioned by the Japan Automobile Federation (JAF) and run by the GT Association (GTA). It was the twenty-eighth season of the Japan Automobile Federation Super GT Championship which includes the All Japan Grand Touring Car Championship (JGTC) era and the sixteenth season the series to compete under the Super GT name. It was the thirty-eighth overall season of a JAF national sportscar championship dating back to the All Japan Sports Prototype Championship.
Takuro Shinohara is a Japanese racing driver from Yokohama. He won the TCR Japan Saturday and Sunday Series in 2020, racing for Audi Team Hitotsuyama. Currently he is racing with K2 Leon Racing alongside Naoya Gamou.
Naoya Gamou is a Japanese professional racing driver who currently competes in Super GT for K2 R&D LEON Racing alongside Takuro Shinohara. He was champion of the 2018 season in the GT300 class.
The 2022 Super GT Series was a motor racing championship based in Japan for grand touring cars, sanctioned by the Japan Automobile Federation (JAF) and run by the GT Association (GTA). It was the thirtieth season of the JAF Super GT Championship which includes the All Japan Grand Touring Car Championship era, and the eighteenth season under the Super GT name. It was also the fortieth overall season of a national JAF sportscar championship dating back to the All Japan Endurance/Sports Prototype Championship.
The 2023 Super GT Series was a motor racing championship based in Japan for grand touring cars, sanctioned by the Japan Automobile Federation (JAF) and ran by the GT Association (GTA). It was the thirty-first season of the JAF Super GT Championship, which included the All Japan Grand Touring Car Championship era, and the nineteenth season under the Super GT name. It was also the forty-first overall season of a national JAF sportscar championship dating back to the All Japan Endurance/Sports Prototype Championship.
The 2024 Super GT Series is a motor racing championship based in Japan for grand touring cars. The series is sanctioned by the Japan Automobile Federation (JAF) and run by the GT Association (GTA). It is the thirty-second season of the JAF Super GT Championship, which includes the All Japan Grand Touring Car Championship era, and the twentieth season under the Super GT name. It is also the forty-second overall season of a national JAF sportscar championship dating back to the All Japan Endurance/Sports Prototype Championship.
Togo Suganami is a racing driver from Japan who currently competes in Super GT.
GAINER Co, Ltd. is a Japanese racing team that competes in Super GT.