Super GT

Max Racing to miss SUPER GT opener after team owner death

Max Racing will sit out the opening round of the 2022 SUPER GT season at Okayama following the death of team owner Tsuyoshi Oono at the start of this month.

Kenichiro Ebii

Edited: Mar 26, 2022, 6:05 AM

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#244 Takanoko no Yu GR Supra GT

The passing of Oono, also known by his pseudonym 'Go Max', at the age of 50 at the start of this month prompted Max Racing, which competes in the lower GT300 class with a Toyota GR Supra, to skip both of this month's official tests at Okayama and Fuji Speedway.

Motorsport.com has learned that it has now been decided that the team will not take part in the first round of the new season at Okayama on April 16-17.

Discussions are ongoing between SUPER GT organisers and the family of Oono regarding the continued participation of the team in the series, with a return from the second round at Fuji in early May still a possibility.

Max Racing had been preparing for its third season in SUPER GT and its second using the GR Supra, having won its first race with driver pairing Atsushi Miyake and Yuui Tsutsumi at Suzuka last year.

Miyake, who also races in Super Formula for Team Goh, was due to share the new-look #244 machine with Kimiya Sato this year, with Sato moving across from sister team Tsuchiya Engineering.

Tsuchiya has effectively run the Max Racing operation since its entry into SUPER GT in 2020 with a Lexus RC F GT3.

After missing the Okayama test, Tsuchiya's newly-constructed GR Supra made its public debut on Saturday at Fuji Speedway, with Sato registered as a third driver alongside Takamitsu Matsui and Seita Nonaka.

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