Super GT Autopolis
Three Toyota crews take penalties for engine changes
Three Toyota GT500 cars have had to take fresh engines for this weekend's Autopolis SUPER GT round, and will therefore receive stop-and-go penalties during Sunday's race.
Jamie Klein Kenichiro Ebii
Edited: Oct 23, 2021, 9:56 AM
Copy link
Share on Viber
Only two of the six GR Supras made it to the finish in last month's Sugo race, with the #19 Racing Project Bandoh, #38 Cerumo and #14 Rookie Racing cars all retiring due to mechanical issues, while the #37 TOM'S car was eliminated late on following contact with the #39 SARD Supra.
Motorsport.com reported last week that the #37 and #38 Toyotas were set to take fresh engines for Autopolis following those problems, and a bulletin released on Friday evening confirmed both cars, as well as the #14 Supra, indeed have taken their third power units of the season.
SUPER GT rules dictate GT500 crews can only use two engines per season, and Toyota had already introduced a second engine for all six of its cars at Sugo.
It means all three crews - Ryo Hirakawa/Sacha Fenestraz (#37), Yuji Tachikawa/Hiroaki Ishiura (#38) and Kazuya Oshima/Kenta Yamashita (#14) - will have to serve five-second stop-and-go penalties during the race.
The #19 Bandoh machine's Sugo retirement was caused by a fuel leak, but the #38 and #14 cars both suffered turbo failure as a result of debris getting stuck in the air intake system.
Takahiro Sasaki, boss of TCD's engine department, said this issue affected all six Supras to some extent and that steps have been taken to prevent a repeat of the problems at Autopolis.
"There was more debris than we anticipated [at Sugo] and this meant the air filters got clogged, and this caused problems with the turbo and engine," Sasaki told Motorsport.com's Japanese edition. "This affected all Supras.
"Given that we ran at Sugo without issues in the Lexus LC and RC F era, it seems the issue is on the bodywork side, so [Kazumoto] Yuasa [TCD head of car development] has taken countermeasures."
As well as the three Toyotas, also facing a stop-and-go penalty in Sunday's race is the #360 Tomei Sports Nissan GT-R NISMO GT3, which has had to take a fresh chassis for Autopolis. The team was disqualified from the last race at Sugo for ignoring a pitstop infraction penalty.
Motorsport.tv is showing the entire 2021 SUPER GT season live, including this weekend's Autopolis race. Available worldwide except Japan. Click here for more information.
We want your opinion!
What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?
Take our 5 minute survey.
- The Motorsport.com Team
Read and post comments
Read also :
Share Or Save This Story
Copy link
Share on Viber
Previous article BoP changes behind hybrid Prius’s loss of SUPER GT form
Next article Autopolis SUPER GT: Mugen Honda claims pole by 0.007s
Top Comments
There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?
View More & Comment
More from
Jamie Klein
Super Formula Fuji: Ayumu Iwasa wins as Kakunoshin Ohta misses chance to seal title
Super Formula
Super Formula
Fuji II
1 mo
Super Formula Fuji: Ayumu Iwasa wins as Kakunoshin Ohta misses chance to seal title
Super Formula Fuji: Igor Fraga wins while Kakunoshin Ohta closes on title
Super Formula
Super Formula
Fuji II
1 mo
Super Formula Fuji: Igor Fraga wins while Kakunoshin Ohta closes on title
More from
TOM'S
Sho Tsuboi calls for Super Formula engine overhaul as Toyota “can’t properly compete with Honda”
Super Formula
Super Formula
Sugo
2 mo
Sho Tsuboi calls for Super Formula engine overhaul as Toyota “can’t properly compete with Honda”
Super Formula champion Sho Tsuboi targets “dream” F1 test through Toyota’s Haas link
Formula 1
Formula 1
Austrian GP
Jun 24, 2025
Super Formula champion Sho Tsuboi targets “dream” F1 test through Toyota’s Haas link
Super Formula Fuji: Tsuboi snatches points lead with back-to-back wins
Super Formula
Super Formula
Fuji II
Oct 13, 2024
Super Formula Fuji: Tsuboi snatches points lead with back-to-back wins
Latest news
TV ratings released for NASCAR Cup season finale
NASCAR Cup
NAS NASCAR Cup
Homestead-Miami
1 h
TV ratings released for NASCAR Cup season finale
Chase Elliott's car chief leaves Hendrick for NASCAR Truck crew chief role
NASCAR Truck
NSTR NASCAR Truck
Homestead
2 h
Chase Elliott's car chief leaves Hendrick for NASCAR Truck crew chief role
“I was getting beat up” – How Daniel Ricciardo burned out on ‘humiliating’ F1 return
Formula 1
F1 Formula 1 6 h
“I was getting beat up” – How Daniel Ricciardo burned out on ‘humiliating’ F1 return
Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
You have 2 options:
- Become a subscriber.
- Disable your adblocker.
Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here
Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page
Manage Alerts
Subscribe