Just mere hours of what could be described as a nailbiting thriller of a Super GT race at Motegi, chairman Masaaki Bandoh shared a supplemantary explanation to the GTA’s efforts to introduce carbon-neutral fuel in 2023, highlighting it is a cooperative effort with the Japanese automobile industry to promote and show the strength of one of Japan’s key industries.
The penultimate round Super GT round of the 2021 season at Motegi was a dramatic thriller until the last second, when the leading Calsonic Impul GT-R (Kazuki Hiramine / Nobuharu Matsushita) ran out of fuel on the very last lap. Instead, the ARTA NSX-GT (Tomoki Nojiri / Nirei Fukuzumi) picked up its second victory of the season. With the championship leading Stanley NSX-GT (Naoki Yamamoto / Tadasuke Makino), which struggled all weekend long as the only car equipped with the stage one fuel flow restrcitor, having its first scoreless finish this year, the championship battle in the GT500 class will come down to the wire at the Fuji Speedway finale on November 27-28, as Naoki Yamamoto’s lead shrunk down to a mere five points, with the ARTA duo jumping from eight to second in the standings now.
This also means that Tomoki Nojiri has now the chance to crown himself as only the fifth driver to win both the Super GT and Super Formula championships in the same year, an achievement Naoki Yamamoto achieved for the second time in his career last year. In total, six teams will have mathematical chances to win the 2021 title in GT500. In GT300, the Hitotsuyama Audi R8 LMS of Shintaro Kawabata / Takuro Shinohara picked up its first win of the season after a strong performance and smart strategy. It’s the maiden victory for the 2020 TCR Japan Series double champion Shinohara. A total of five teams still have mathematical chances to win the GT300 championship, which is currently lead with only six points by the Subaru BRZ R&D Sport duo Takuto Iguchi / Hideki Yamauichi.
Carbon-neutral fuel is a new challenge for the Japanese automobile manufacturers and motorsport. The GTA wants to avoid emitting carbon dioxide at the production stage
GTA chairman Masaaki Bandoh provided a supplementary explanation to the announcement from two weeks ago that Super GT will introduce carbon-neutral fuel with the beginning of the 2023 season. Just one day after Bandoh’s confirmation, the JRP announced their Super Formula Next 50 project, making the introduction of carbon-neutral fuel one of the pillars of their strategy going forward as well. Bandoh explained that they’ll continue their talks with the JRP, saying that they’ll procure it jointly as Super Formula is set to use the same fuel. Toyota and Honda already completed bench tests and the next step will be to test it with actual cars. The GTA will be in charge of controlling the supply and be responsible to deliver it to each race. Masaaki Bandoh added that they’re currently in the process of checking potential suppliers. The idea is that both Super GT and Super Formula will be using the same supplier.
Other championships such as WEC, BTCC as well as the SRO categories announced their plans to introduce “e-fuel”. As chairman Bandoh explained, carbon dioxide will be emitted when burning such fuel. However, the goal is to avoid emitting carbon dioxide at the production stage. So, instead of just adding 10% ethanol to gasoline like in a conventional way, the GTA doesn’t want to use fossil fuel to the remaining part outside the 10% of bioethanol. Instead, the “gasoline part” will be derived from plants, which aren’t grains humans can eat, and garbage. That’s the whole reason why the GTA went with the term “carbon-neutral fuel” instead of “e-fuel”, as Masaaki Bandoh thinks that it’s too difficult to define what “e-fuel” really is. He added that in the future, the GTA wants to initiate synthetic fuel made with carbon dioxide itself as well as hydrogen with renewable energy and call that “e-fuel”. However, right now they’re not looking at a definition or rationale.
Due to the required recycling, the price of said carbon-neutral fuel will be quite high. The current price is about 1000 Yen per liter, which doesn’t include the transportation costs, taxes etc. yet. A 300km race weekend requires roughly 25,000 liters, Masaaki Bandoh explained. Adding the (official) tests, they’re looking at an estimate of 300,000 liters per year. Japan’s three leading automobile manufacturers Toyota, Honda and Nissan are currently working together to develop this new carbon-neutral fuel. In fact, the GTA is asking the three manufacturers to import the fuel at ridiculous costs to research the rubber bands and ignition systems, Bandoh revealed.
Masaaki Bandoh was eager to point out that this initiative was driven by Japan’s automobile industry, one of the leading industries of the country, and isn’t something that is being promoted by the government or fuel industry. Instead, it’s an initiative where the automobile and motorsport industry are working together. Unfortunately, it’s not yet possible to produce said carbon-neutral fuel in Japan. However, Masaaki Bandoh hopes that if their efforts are successful, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI), the Petroleum Association of Japan (PAJ), other national governments as well as the fuel industry will pay more attention to them and eventually take action. The goal is for said carbon-neutral fuel to be eventually produced in Japan by providing enough data as a proof of concept. For this reason, the specifications will be made closer to the JIS standard (editor’s note: JIS stands for Japan Industrial Standard, or Nihon Sangyō Kikaku, and are the standards used for industrial activities in Japan, coordinated by the Japanese Industrial Standard Committee), as the GTA plans to introduce carbon-neutral fuel in both GT500 and GT300.
Every step taken is important to eliminate the emission of carbon dioxide and achieve carbon neutrality. By putting their efforts into the mentioned developments, Masaaki Bandoh hopes that the Japanese motorsport industry can play a pivotal role for the automobile industry by becoming a tool to promote sales and be part of the marketing strategy. If this happens, he believes that more manufacturers will be happy to be involved in motorsport.
No changes planned to the COVID-19 related restrictions for the Fuji finale
Unlike other parts of the world, where the infection numbers are on a massive rise again (editor’s note: Seriously, we’re living in a nightmare we can’t wake up from here in Germany. We’re at over 30,000 new infections daily again…) Japan is seeing a much more relaxed situation right now. Even though the Japanese government lifted various measures starting November, the GTA wants to continue with their current system for the season finale at Fuji Speedway on November 27-28, requiring a preliminary negative PCR test and an antigen test when entering the gate for all staff members inside the paddock. Chairman Masaaki Bandoh explained that first and foremost they need to fulfill their responsibility when organizing Super GT events. The GTA is currently in talks with Fuji Speedway’s organizers to determine the maximum number of allowed spectators. In cooperation with the car and tyre manufacturers, the GTA has conducted around 1,600 to 1,800 PCR tests per race weekend, which was quite costly. As Bandoh explained, it requires a lot of manpower to label and send the tests back to the laboratory. Additionally, members of the GTA are in charge of temperature checks at the circuit gates.
However, even in such a situation, Masaaki Bandoh revealed that there are some people who don’t follow the prescribed procedures, such as the antigen testing, properly. He thinks that those people should get their passes cancelled. Otherwise, the high level of awareness can’t be maintained. Bandoh always said that they will take the appropriate measures to raise the awareness of motorsport. In order to achieve this, they need to make sure they’re taking the proper steps to assert their rights. As for 2022, the GTA is currently looking into concepts how to respond to the future developments of the pandemic.
As for Motegi, about 10,000 tickets got sold the normal way. In addition, the GTA provided 1,000 tickets sold exclusively to spectators who have been vaccinated twice and provided a negative PCR test. This was done at the request of the Japan Sports Agency in order to conduct a study what kind of impact this would have on an event if vaccinated people would meet potentially non-vaccinated people. Said spectators are receiving a certificate when leaving the stands, for example to grab something to eat at a food stand, where they would get in contact with potentially non-vaccinated people. While Masaaki Bandoh understands the intention of the Japan Sports Agency, he’s questioning the idea behind this certification. Because unlike a soccer stadium, where it’s possible to divide the spectators, a racing circuit is a large outdoor venue. There’s no place where spectators only with a negative certificate can go. For the Fuji finale, the GTA is planning to sell tickets for unreserved seats as a new mitigation measure.
Copyright photos: GTA