The Suzuka 1000km “Deserves To Be Back”–Ratel

With less than a month until the 49th edition of the Suzuka 1000 Kilometres, Stephane Ratel is beaming with pride that not only could he revive Japan’s oldest endurance sports car race from five years of COVID-enforced dormancy, but to do it with a field of competitors that has generated real excitement around next month’s race.

We all know why the race had to be shut down in 2020 (and 2021). But as time passed, it seemed on the surface as if the SRO Intercontinental GT Challenge was going to move forward without Suzuka, and the 1000km (or the Suzuka 10 Hours, as it was during 2018 and 2019) would be just another of sports car racing’s many COVID casualties.

Behind the scenes, Ratel was always eager to get the Suzuka 1000km back on the calendar. It was near and dear to him as the BPR Global GT Series’ very first Asian round in the inaugural 1994 season, back when he was both the promoter of an upstart series that was trying to create something new out of the ruins of Group C’s fallen empire. And 30 years later, seeing the post-COVID miracle of GT World Challenge Asia’s resurgence gave him enough confidence to pitch the idea of reviving the race.

But as he says, Suzuka Circuit owner Honda Mobilityland needed some persuasion to let Ratel move forward with the idea.

“We really had to convince [Honda] Mobilityland to do it. I think the 10 Hours was not an easy exercise, and financially, they were very shy on renewing the agreement,” as Ratel recalled. “We, as SRO, took over most of the promotion in some partnership with Suzuka Circuit.

“When you see the success of GT World Challenge Asia, of SRO Japan Cup, the influx of more and more Chinese teams—even in GT4, with the success of the SRO GT Cup in China. The overall Asian environment made us confident enough to take the risk, and at the end of the day, we’re very pleased with the grid. It’s really beyond our expectations in year one.

“And it’s an event I like very much, because it’s the first international event we had with the BPR (Global GT) Series. We’ve been running there in the mid-90s, the late-90s–it’s a very important event for SRO, and I’m really pleased we put it back on the map.

“We’ve succeeded in the first challenge, which was to get a good grid. And now we have to succeed in the second challenge, which is to get a good crowd.”

That 33-car grid is about 25 per cent more than what Ratel had originally projected for the race in its first year back. But it’s more than just the bulk car count that’s impressive: The 11-car Pro category is loaded with some of sports car racing’s best drivers from WEC, IMSA, SUPER GT, and even a cameo from IndyCar Series star Scott McLaughlin. Premium drivers from abroad can be found throughout the ‘less professional’ Cup categories. Respected teams from the West have joined in, including the late addition of reigning Suzuka Summer Endurance winners Team WRT.

And it should be stressed that all of this happened after the event completely disappeared for five years. It happened without the lucrative ¥100 million prize purses that the Suzuka 10 Hours had as its main incentive to convince foreign teams to put their cars in a crate and send them to Japan. And it happened within a very tricky pinch point of the 2025 racing season: Direct clashes with DTM and the European Le Mans Series, which made several top drivers unavailable; WEC at COTA the week before, IMSA and SUPER GT the week after, and WEC at Fuji the week after that.

That speaks volumes to Suzuka Circuit’s long-standing reputation as a place where every driver wants to race, on the same footing as fellow IGTC staple rounds at Spa, Bathurst, and the Nürburgring, according to Ratel.

“When something doesn’t work, there is always a combination of factors. When something works, there is also a combination of factors. Of course, Suzuka is one of the best tracks in the world. If you ask drivers the track where they want to drive, they always come out with Spa, and Suzuka. It’s really exciting, it’s a very good circuit, very appealing for the drivers,” he says.

He also credits the IGTC, which has had its own struggles getting back to its pre-COVID heyday, with giving manufacturers such as BMW, Porsche, and Mercedes-AMG the incentive to field top teams and bring in top talent to Suzuka, along with the aforementioned growth of SRO’s Asian series. “We have a big reservoir of cars. I think in Fuji, the last race between Japan Cup and GT World Asia, we had, like, 45 GT3 cars. And when you tap into this potential, that really helps to field a grid like this.”

While the traditional 1000 kilometre distance has been restored, another tradition had to make way to make the Suzuka 1000km’s return possible.

Since 1980, the Suzuka 1000km had always been held the third or fourth weekend of August—a calendar slot that was taken from the very short-lived Suzuka 500 Miles of 1978/79. When “Corona-shock” threw Japanese motorsport into disarray, SUPER GT ended up taking over the end-of-August calendar slot that the IGTC had to leave behind, and the Japanese championship still has an agreement with Suzuka Circuit to run races on that date—even as SUPER GT has abandoned endurance races longer than three hours.

This meant that Ratel had to find a new place on the calendar for the 1000km, and he accepted Suzuka Circuit’s mid-September alternative.

“I don’t know why SUPER GT abandoned the 1000 Kilometres, but I think it was more of a cost factor. At some point, the teams in GT500 didn’t see the need to run a long race, because for them, it’s just more cost without bringing more [fans]. They already have full grandstands anyway, and they have the same media coverage. They dropped the 1000-kilometre format and name, so the fact that we could get it was a change for us. But they kept the date at the end of August,” Ratel explained.

“We have just enough time to freight cars in a combination of sea and rail to go from Suzuka to Indianapolis. Some of the cars will do that, which is also good. It’s a good date, and maybe it won’t be as hot as it is at the end of August.”

Of course, there will always be some talk of who’s not at Suzuka this year. Even after an agreement was reached between the SRO and the GTA (SUPER GT’s promoter) to allow SUPER GT teams to use their primary GT300 cars at the Suzuka 1000km, most of the teams you’ll recognise from the current GT300 class (except for Goodsmile Racing) were already racing full-time in the SRO Asia paddock.

“The Japanese teams, I have to say, are careful on budget. They have their budget, and they do the series, and they don’t want to add what could be perceived as a more expensive race with six hours. So that’s one of the reasons,” Ratel says, as to why other SUPER GT teams didn’t join in. Chief among them, reigning GT300 Champion and usual Suzuka 1000km mainstay JLOC, which has elected to skip the race amidst a frustrating title defence.

But rather than dwelling on the absences of several GT300 teams, entire GT3 programmes from the likes of Lamborghini, McLaren, Aston Martin, and Ford—or even a would-be drawing card like Valentino Rossi driving in a BMW—Ratel is more than happy with what he has to offer the fans in an important relaunch of an important, traditional, history-rich event.

“We want to continue growing,” he says. “This event is back on the map, and my dream is to bring it back to its former glory. It was the longest-standing, and for many years, it was the most important endurance race in Asia. We’re not going to compete with Fuji WEC, but I think it deserves to be back.

“The last time we went there for the 10 Hours was just fantastic. The main grandstand was not entirely full, but it was really busy. We had the full Formula One-type podium. It was very, very impressive. Now, I say the challenge is to bring back the crowds. When we raced there in the mid-90s, I mean, wow, it was busy.”

The appreciation of that history has already been expressed in other small gestures: The official event poster for this year’s Suzuka 1000km takes cues from the posters of the 1997 and 1998 FIA GT-led editions. Origine Motorsport’s two cars are running throwback liveries which harken back to Bob Wollek and Henri Pescarolo’s 1981 Italiya/Kremer Porsche 935 K3, the winners of the first Suzuka 1000km open to international teams.

Ratel also acknowledged that the history and heritage of the Suzuka 1000km itself has given it a unique advantage upon its relaunch, versus the difficulties that other IGTC rounds have faced as they’ve attempted to gain traction–specifically, the challenge of building its North American round at Indianapolis, or the Kyalami 9 Hours’ failure to relaunch on a worldwide stage.

“What I’ve found out in motorsport is how difficult it is to start something new. We wouldn’t have 33 cars out of restarting it like this, if it didn’t have the heritage it has,” he admitted. “You speak to teams in sports car racing, GT racing, about the Suzuka 1000km–it’s one of the great events. When we revived the Kyalami 9 Hours, everybody was happy to go, and we had a good grid on year one. Unfortunately, it really got struck by COVID.

“If the Indianapolis 8 Hours had 50 years of history and great champions from the past and everything, I have no doubt it would be a big event. But to start anything new is difficult. It’s not easy to start a new event, build it up, and get a crowd. And after 30 years in Europe, we start having events that have traction. Like Monza, we’ve started having a crowd, but my God, we’ve been in Monza for 30 years! It’s not that easy.”

“Without the big prize fund, there’s only the heritage—and the willingness, the appetite of teams and drivers to go to this event is because of the heritage,” Ratel believes.

“One thing I know in motorsport is that if you build a success, it continues. It’s in the interest of both Mobilityland and the SRO to have a successful event. When we first talked, they were like, ‘Are you sure you’re going to get 20 cars?’ Done! When you surpass your partner’s expectations, it should work.”

The SRO has already confirmed that the Suzuka 1000km will return in 2026 for its 50th edition, as part of an initial agreement with Honda Mobilityland which runs for at least three years, according to Ratel.

That’ll allow for more opportunities to build on the event’s history, some of which Ratel has experienced first-hand as mentioned before, some of which I was eager to ask him about. 30 years ago, in a time when climate controlled race cars and cool suits were a pipe dream, Ratel still has vivid memories of how gruelling the Suzuka 1000km could be in the middle of summer.

“The worst was one year I was in a Venturi 600 (LM), and this car had twin turbos, no cool suit, no air con, torture, torture! I remember every lap, I was like, ‘Am I gonna make it? Am I gonna make another lap?’ I was not old at the time, 30 years old, something like that. I remember that was just the toughest thing I ever experienced in a race car. We were melting; 32 degrees and 95 per cent humidity.

“I mean, it was a sauna. Especially at Suzuka, not an easy ‘Mickey Mouse’ track, that was tough. Compared to when I did it in a Porsche (911 GT2), now that was easy-going! But I mean, it was extreme.”

The memories of getting on the podium in 1995, after Ratel finished second in class behind Team Kunimitsu’s Le Mans-winning Honda NSX GT2, are also still with him. “I have to say it was the most enjoyable. The only big podium I ever had in my life, because we finished second behind the Honda. The track is owned by Honda, the factories are there, and so the crowd was all for Honda. And when Honda won, with this huge crowd, it was cool.”

Regrettably, Kunimitsu Takahashi, the most successful driver in the history of the Suzuka 1000km, is one of several luminaries of the sport who have passed away in the six years since the last Summer Endurance Race.

As Bathurst has done by memorialising Allan Simonsen with a trophy for the fastest qualifier in the 12 Hours, would there be a “Kunimitsu Takahashi Trophy” presented to the winner of the Suzuka 1000km one day? “From the logo to everything – we need to discuss it with Suzuka Circuit, because it’s really a collaboration, but I wouldn’t be against it,” Ratel said.

And as our conversation ended, I asked about the parade of cars through the public roads of Suzuka city that was a hit with the local fans in 2019. There are currently no plans for it on next month’s schedule of events, though Ratel’s reaction suggests that the possibility of it happening again is more than zero!

The SRO and Suzuka Circuit have done their part to bring the Suzuka 1000km back, as it deserves to be. The teams and the talent are there to make this a compelling race on paper. Now it’s up to the promoters to execute an event that will bring a great crowd through the gates, to ensure this race remains an ever-present part of the endurance racing landscape for years to come.

Images © Peter “Pedro” May / Dailysportscar.com, John Brooks, SRO Motorsports Group