Tsuchiya Engineering

Tsuchiya Engineering
Founded	1971
Base	Fujisawa, Kanagawa, Japan
Team principal(s)	Takeshi Tsuchiya
Founder(s)	Haruo Tsuchiya
Current series	Super GT
Former series	Japanese Formula 3 Championship ; Japan Formula 4 ; Super Taikyu
Current drivers	Togo Suganami ; Takamitsu Matsui ; Kimiya Sato ;
Teams'; Championships	JGTC :; 1998 ; 1999 ; Super GT ; 2016
Drivers'; Championships	JGTC :; 1998: Keiichi Suzuki & Shingo Tachi ; 1999: Morio Nitta ; Super GT :; 2016: Takeshi Tsuchiya & Takamitsu Matsui
Website	http://tsuchiya25.com

Last updated December 19, 2024

Tsuchiya Engineering is a team located in Fujisawa, Kanagawa, founded by Haruo Tsuchiya, and now ran by his son, Takeshi.^[1]

Origins

Haruo Tsuchiya used to work at TOMEI Automotive, before leaving in 1971 to create his own shop and team.

The team initially competed in local touring car races, before entering JTC, where it won the Division-3 title twice, in 1989 and 1990.

Tsuchiya later entered JGTC, and not long after, in 1998, they set a record-breaking season. A partnership with Team Taisan and with drivers Shingo Tachi and Keiichi Suzuki earned them 5 wins out of 6 races.

In 1999, they partnered with A'PEX and had 3 drivers throughout the season, one of which, Morio Nitta (who had entered in all the races) won the title, giving Tsuchiya back to back titles in GT300.

They entered in GT500 in 2000, but they couldn't build on their massive success in GT300, only achieving a win, in the season opener of 2005.

The team folded in 2008 due to the economic recession.

Return to Super GT

Haruo's son Takeshi, founded team SAMURAI in 2010, with his father as manager.

In 2015, Tsuchiya Engineering made their official return to GT300, where they won the championship in 2016 with Takeshi Tsuchiya and Takamitsu Matsui at the wheel.

The team continued their strong form of results after 2016, but in 2020 the team switched to the Porsche 911 ^[2]^[3] and began to struggle with results, leading them to ditch the Porsche after 2 disappointing seasons, switching to a self-built Toyota GR Supra.^[4]^[5]

Despite the car change, the struggles didn't stop as the team failed to score points in the first 3 races of the season and pulled out of the 4th round at Fuji following a testing crash at Suzuka.^[6]

In 2023, at the 4th round of the season at Fuji, both Tsuchiya-ran cars caught fire, leading to both cars withdrawing from the following event and the rest of the season.^[7]

As of November 2023, Takeshi was still hoping to return to GT300, having started a fundraiser known as the "Hopico Revival Project" in order to help the small team return to racing.^[8]

The team is set to return to GT300 competition for the 2024 season with 2016 champion Takamitsu Matsui and Togo Suganami, with a rebuilt version of "Hopico".^[9]

Partnership with Max Racing

Before the 2020 Super GT season it was announced that Tsuchiya Engineering would support newcomers Max Racing, by servicing their car.^[10] The partnership lasted until the Fuji GT 450km Race in 2023, where both cars caught fire and Max Racing ceased operations.^[11]

Race Results

Complete JGTC results^[12]

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year	Car	Tyres	Class	No.	Drivers	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	Pos	Pts
1997	Toyota MR2	Y	GT300	25	Takeshi Tsuchiya Masaoki Nagashima	SUZ 3	FUJ Ret	SEN 1	FUJ 5	MIN	SUG 3			3rd	52
1998	Toyota MR2	Y	GT300	25	Keiichi Suzuki Shingo Tachi	SUZ 1	FUJ C	SEN 1	FUJ 1	MOT 6	MIN 1	SUG 1		1st	106
1999	Toyota MR2	Y	GT300	25	Morio Nitta Yasushi Kikuchi Shinichi Takagi	SUZ 8	FUJ 1	SUG 2	MIN 2	FUJ 5	OKA 8	MOT Ret		1st	73
2000	Toyota Supra	Y	GT500	25	Manabu Orido Mitsuhiro Kinoshita	MOT 13	FUJ 10	SUG 14	FUJ 8	OKA 8	MIN 7	SUZ 13		13th	11
2001	Toyota Supra	Y	GT500	25	Manabu Orido Seiji Ara	OKA 9	FUJ 11	SUG 11	FUJ DNS	MOT 7	SUZ 7	MIN 10		12th	11
2002	Toyota Supra	Y	GT500	25	Shinichi Yamaji Seiji Ara Geoff Lees	OKA 6	FUJ 13	SUG 11	SEP Ret	FUJ 4	MOT 9	MIN 5	SUZ 7	10th	32
2003	Toyota Supra	Y	GT500	25	Jérémie Dufour Seiji Ara Hideki Noda	OKA 10	FUJ Ret	SUG 3	FUJ 13	FUJ 17	MOT 3	AUT 12	SUZ Ret	10th	26
2004	Toyota Supra	Y	GT500	25	Manabu Orido Dominik Schwager	OKA 14	SUG 2	SEP Ret	TOK 13	MOT 12	AUT 3	SUZ 10		10th	31

Complete Super GT Results^[12]^[13]

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year	Car	Tyres	Class	No.	Drivers	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	Pos	Points
2005	Toyota Supra	Y	GT500	25	Manabu Orido Dominik Schwager Hideki Noda	OKA 1	FUJ 14	SEP 15	SUG 9	MOT 15	FUJ NC	AUT Ret	SUZ 14		10th	26
2006	Toyota Supra	Y	GT500	25	Takeshi Tsuchiya Manabu Orido Hideki Noda	SUZ 8	OKA 9	FUJ 6	SEP 10	SUG 12	SUZ Ret	MOT 12	AUT 15	FUJ 9	14th	13
2007	Lexus SC430	Y	GT500	25	Takeshi Tsuchiya Manabu Orido	SUZ 9	OKA 6	FUJ Ret	SEP 5	SUG 8	SUZ Ret	MOT 8	AUT 10	FUJ 12	14th	38
2008	Lexus SC430	Y	GT500	25	Takeshi Tsuchiya Hiroaki Ishiura	SUZ 11	OKA 11	FUJ 8	SEP 4	SUG 4	SUZ 14	MOT 10	AUT 12	FUJ 8	14th	44
2010	Porsche 997 GT3-RSR	Y	GT300	25	Takeshi Tsuchiya Akihiro Tsuzuki Yoshio Tsuzuki	SUZ	OKA	FUJ 17	SEP	SUG 16	SUZ Ret	FUJ C	MOT 18		NC	0
2011	Porsche 997 GT3-RSR	Y	GT300	25	Takeshi Tsuchiya Akihiro Tsuzuki	OKA 3	FUJ Ret	SEP Ret	SUG 4	SUZ 9	FUJ 5	AUT 5	MOT 19		9th	49
2015	Toyota 86 MC GT300	Y	GT300	25	Takeshi Tsuchiya Takamitsu Matsui Tatsuya Tanigawa	OKA 6	FUJ Ret	CHA 7	FUJ 5	SUZ 23	SUG 1	AUT Ret	MOT 12		9th	51
2016	Toyota 86 MC GT300	Y	GT300	25	Takeshi Tsuchiya Takamitsu Matsui Kenta Yamashita	OKA 6	FUJ 3	SUG 2	FUJ 13	SUZ 22	CHA 1	MOT 7	MOT 1		1st	97
2017	Toyota 86 MC GT300	Y	GT300	25	Takamitsu Matsui Kenta Yamashita Tsubasa Kondō	OKA 4	FUJ 15	AUT 1	SUG 3	FUJ 29	SUZ 18	CHA 15	MOT 5		6th	65
2018	Toyota 86 MC GT300	Y	GT300	25	Takamitsu Matsui Sho Tsuboi Tsubasa Kondō Takeshi Tsuchiya	OKA 3	FUJ Ret	SUZ 2	CHA 19	FUJ 5	SUG 24	AUT 24	MOT 8		8th	52
2019	Toyota 86 MC GT300	Y	GT300	25	Takamitsu Matsui Kimiya Sato	OKA Ret	FUJ 18	SUZ 5	BUR 4	FUJ 26	AUT 16	SUG 27	MOT 18		18th	29
2020	Porsche 911 GT3 R	Y	GT300	25	Takamitsu Matsui Kimiya Sato	FUJ 19	FUJ 20	SUZ 14	MOT 8	FUJ 11	SUZ 9	MOT 6	FUJ 14		15th	33
2020	Lexus RC F GT3	Y	GT300	244	Atsushi Miyake Rintaro Kubo	FUJ 16	FUJ 13	SUZ 20	MOT 26	FUJ 19	SUZ WD	MOT 15	FUJ 24		26th	19
2021	Porsche 911 GT3 R	Y	GT300	25	Takamitsu Matsui Kimiya Sato	OKA 7	FUJ 13	MOT 6	SUZ 23	SUG 19	AUT 10	MOT 5	FUJ 6		12th	45
2021	Toyota GR Supra GT300	Y	GT300	244	Atsushi Miyake Yuui Tsutsumi	OKA 5	FUJ 11	MOT 4	SUZ 1	SUG 9	AUT 17	MOT 7	FUJ 7		4th	68
2022	Toyota GR Supra GT300	Y	GT300	25	Takamitsu Matsui Seita Nonaka	OKA 22	FUJ 11	SUZ Ret	FUJ	SUZ 15	SUG 10	AUT 16	MOT Ret		34th	1
2022	Toyota GR Supra GT300	Y	GT300	244	Atsushi Miyake Kimiya Sato	OKA	FUJ 19	SUZ 22	FUJ Ret	SUZ Ret	SUG 14	AUT 10	MOT 17		35th	1
2023	Toyota GR Supra GT300	Y	GT300	25	Seita Nonaka Togo Suganami	OKA 17	FUJ 10	SUZ 11	FUJ Ret	SUZ	SUG	AUT	MOT		27th	10
2023	Toyota GR Supra GT300	Y	GT300	244	Atsushi Miyake Kimiya Sato	OKA 3	FUJ 16	SUZ 16	FUJ Ret	SUZ	SUG	AUT	MOT		20th	19
2024	Toyota GR Supra GT300	Y	GT300	25	Takamitsu Matsui Togo Suganami Kimiya Sato	OKA 14	FUJ 23	SUZ 18	FUJ Ret	SUG Ret	AUT 11	MOT Ret	SUZ 15		22nd	12

^‡ Half points awarded as less than 75% of race distance was completed. * Season still in progress.

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References

↑ "Haruo Tsuchiya: 1945-2021". 13 April 2021. Retrieved 23 December 2023.
↑ "Tsuchiya Super GT squad switches to Porsche". 5 December 2019. Retrieved 7 January 2024.
↑ "Porsche Switch For Tsuchiya Engineering". 6 December 2019. Retrieved 7 January 2024.
↑ "Tsuchiya considering ditching Porsche after just two seasons". 23 September 2021. Retrieved 7 January 2024.
↑ "Tsuchiya to switch to Toyota Supra GT300 for 2022". 25 November 2021. Retrieved 7 January 2024.
↑ "Tsuchiya, Drago Corse teams to miss Fuji SUPER GT round". 1 August 2022. Retrieved 7 January 2024.
↑ "Hoppy Team Tsuchiya, Max Racing Out Of Suzuka 450km". 14 August 2023. Retrieved 23 December 2023.
↑ "Tsuchiya Engineering, Racing To Race Again". 3 November 2023. Retrieved 23 December 2023.
↑ "Toyota Gazoo Racing Announces 2024 GT300 & Super Taikyu Programmes". 10 January 2024. Retrieved 10 January 2024.
↑ "Tsuchiya to support new Lexus Super GT team". 8 February 2020. Retrieved 7 January 2024.
↑ "Max Racing Withdraws From SUPER GT, Ceases Operations". 23 August 2023. Retrieved 7 January 2024.
1 2 "World Sports Racing Prototypes - All Japan Grand Touring Championship". www.wsrp.cz. Retrieved 2022-08-24.
↑ Magazine, Speedsport. "Super GT & All Japan GT: Overview of seasons". www.speedsport-magazine.com. Retrieved 2023-05-24.

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[1] "Haruo Tsuchiya: 1945-2021". 13 April 2021. Retrieved 23 December 2023.

[2] "Tsuchiya Super GT squad switches to Porsche". 5 December 2019. Retrieved 7 January 2024.

[3] "Porsche Switch For Tsuchiya Engineering". 6 December 2019. Retrieved 7 January 2024.

[4] "Tsuchiya considering ditching Porsche after just two seasons". 23 September 2021. Retrieved 7 January 2024.

[5] "Tsuchiya to switch to Toyota Supra GT300 for 2022". 25 November 2021. Retrieved 7 January 2024.

[6] "Tsuchiya, Drago Corse teams to miss Fuji SUPER GT round". 1 August 2022. Retrieved 7 January 2024.

[7] "Hoppy Team Tsuchiya, Max Racing Out Of Suzuka 450km". 14 August 2023. Retrieved 23 December 2023.

[8] "Tsuchiya Engineering, Racing To Race Again". 3 November 2023. Retrieved 23 December 2023.

[9] "Toyota Gazoo Racing Announces 2024 GT300 & Super Taikyu Programmes". 10 January 2024. Retrieved 10 January 2024.

[10] "Tsuchiya to support new Lexus Super GT team". 8 February 2020. Retrieved 7 January 2024.

[11] "Max Racing Withdraws From SUPER GT, Ceases Operations". 23 August 2023. Retrieved 7 January 2024.

[:0-12] 1 2 "World Sports Racing Prototypes - All Japan Grand Touring Championship". www.wsrp.cz. Retrieved 2022-08-24.

[13] Magazine, Speedsport. "Super GT & All Japan GT: Overview of seasons". www.speedsport-magazine.com. Retrieved 2023-05-24.

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