Saitama Green Brave Toyota Withdraws From Motegi

Saitama Green Brave has announced its withdrawal from the final two rounds of the SUPER GT season at Motegi this weekend owing to accident damage incurred to its Toyota GR Supra GT in last month’s Autopolis round.

The Toyota-aligned outfit revealed on Monday in a statement that it had not been able to repair the No. 52 car shared by Hiroki Yoshida and Seita Nonaka since the previous race, where the latter driver spun and hit the barriers at Turn 3.

It marks the second major crash the team has been involved in following Yoshida’s 130R shunt at Suzuka in August.

“In the previous race at Autopolis, we were once again involved in a major incident, in which the car sustained major damage,” read the statement.

“As a team that is based out of a dealership, we prioritize safety above all else and we reached this difficult decision.”

The team also underlined a desire to return to the grid in 2027 with an “even stronger team structure” in its statement.

It brings to a premature end a season highlighted by a win in August’s third round of the season at Fuji, which marked the last time the No. 52 scored points.

After Yoshida’s crash at Suzuka, the car was successfully repaired in time for the following race at Sugo in September, but the team struggled to a 20th-place finish.

The car started the three-hour Autopolis race third in the GT300 class and appeared to be in podium contention until the accident that Nonaka suffered at Turn 3 while locked in battle with the Inging Toyota GR86 GT of Yuui Tsutsumi.

Saitama Green Brave’s withdrawal brings the field down for the twin 250km races at Motegi to 42 cars, with the GT300 class cut to 28 runners.