Shade Racing in Doubt for Sepang After Suzuka Test Fire

Photo: Toyota

Shade Racing’s participation in next month’s Sepang SUPER GT round looks to be in doubt after its Toyota GR86 GT was heavily damaged in a fire on the opening day of this week’s GT Entrants’ Test at Suzuka.

The No. 20 Toyota was one of 13 GT300 machines in action at the Mie Prefecture venue on Tuesday, with the Michelin, Bridgestone and Dunlop-shod teams having their own test after the Yokohama contingent did so at Suzuka last week.

However, during the afternoon session, while Katsuyuki Hiranaka was at the wheel, the Shade car stopped at the outside of Spoon Curve and was consumed by flames.

Hiranaka appeared to be unharmed as he was spotted attempting to tackle the blaze himself with a fire extinguisher after exiting the cockpit.

A brief statement posted by the team on social media read: “We have received many messages of concern regarding the vehicle fire that occurred during today’s test, and we are sorry to have made people worry.

“Please be assured that Hiranaka, who was driving at the time the trouble occurred, was uninjured. Additionally, we have decided to withdraw from tomorrow’s session.”

While the cause of the fire and the extent of the damage to the No. 20 Toyota remains unclear, Fuji Speedway-based Shade now faces a huge task repairing the car in time to be ready for next month’s third round of the season at Sepang.

Although the Malaysian race is still a month away, the deadline for cars to be prepared for shipping by boat is understood to be around 10 days away, although the option of air-freighting also exists if this cut-off is missed by the team.

In the event that Shade cannot participate at Sepang, it would open the door for one of the so-called B-seeded GT300 teams to race in its place.

As things stand, 10 of the regular 28 GT300 competitors are set to miss SUPER GT’s first overseas race since 2019 due to tight restrictions on pit lane space.

The seven B-seeded teams are apr (No. 30), Anest Iwata Racing, Team Mach, Pacific Racing, NILZZ Racing, R’Qs Motor Sports and Tsuchiya Engineering.