# Tsuchiya Engineering

Tsuchiya Engineering is a team located in Fujisawa, Kanagawa, founded by Haruo Tsuchiya, and now ran by his son, Takeshi.

## Origins

Haruo Tsuchiya used to work at TOMEI Automotive, before leaving in 1971 to create his own shop and team.
The team initially competed in local touring car races, before entering JTC, where it won the Division-3 title twice, in 1989 and 1990.
Tsuchiya later entered JGTC, and not long after, in 1998, they set a record-breaking season. A partnership with Team Taisan and with drivers Shingo Tachi and Keiichi Suzuki earned them 5 wins out of 6 races.
In 1999, they partnered with A'PEX and had 3 drivers throughout the season, one of which, Morio Nitta (who had entered in all the races) won the title, giving Tsuchiya back to back titles in GT300.
They entered in GT500 in 2000, but they couldn't build on their massive success in GT300, only achieving a win, in the season opener of 2005.
The team folded in 2008 due to the economic recession.

## Return to Super GT

Haruo's son Takeshi, founded team SAMURAI in 2010, with his father as manager.
In 2015, Tsuchiya Engineering made their official return to GT300, where they won the championship in 2016 with Takeshi Tsuchiya and Takamitsu Matsui at the wheel.
The team continued their strong form of results after 2016, but in 2020 the team switched to the Porsche 911 and began to struggle with results, leading them to ditch the Porsche after 2 disappointing seasons, switching to a self-built Toyota GR Supra.
Despite the car change, the struggles didn't stop as the team failed to score points in the first 3 races of the season and pulled out of the 4th round at Fuji following a testing crash at Suzuka.
In 2023, at the 4th round of the season at Fuji, both Tsuchiya-ran cars caught fire, leading to both cars withdrawing from the following event and the rest of the season.
As of November 2023, Takeshi was still hoping to return to GT300, having started a fundraiser known as the "Hopico Revival Project" in order to help the small team return to racing.
The team is set to return to GT300 competition for the 2024 season with 2016 champion Takamitsu Matsui and Togo Suganami, with a rebuilt version of "Hopico".

### Partnership with Max Racing

Before the 2020 Super GT season it was announced that Tsuchiya Engineering would support newcomers Max Racing, by servicing their car. The partnership lasted until the Fuji GT 450km Race in 2023, where both cars caught fire and Max Racing ceased operations.

## Race Results
### Complete JGTC results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)
| Year | Car | Tyres | Class | No. | Drivers | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | Pos | Pts |
| 1997 | Toyota MR2 | Y | GT300 | 25 | Takeshi Tsuchiya Masaoki Nagashima | SUZ 3 | FUJ Ret | SEN 1 | FUJ 5 | MIN | SUG 3 | | | 3rd | 52 |
| 1998 | Toyota MR2 | Y | GT300 | 25 | Keiichi Suzuki Shingo Tachi | SUZ 1 | FUJ C | SEN 1 | FUJ 1 | MOT 6 | MIN 1 | SUG 1 | | 1st | 106 |
| 1999 | Toyota MR2 | Y | GT300 | 25 | Morio Nitta Yasushi Kikuchi Shinichi Takagi | SUZ 8 | FUJ 1 | SUG 2 | MIN 2 | FUJ 5 | OKA 8 | MOT Ret | | 1st | 73 |
| 2000 | Toyota Supra | Y | GT500 | 25 | Manabu Orido Mitsuhiro Kinoshita | MOT 13 | FUJ 10 | SUG 14 | FUJ 8 | OKA 8 | MIN 7 | SUZ 13 | | 13th | 11 |
| 2001 | Toyota Supra | Y | GT500 | 25 | Manabu Orido Seiji Ara | OKA 9 | FUJ 11 | SUG 11 | FUJ DNS | MOT 7 | SUZ 7 | MIN 10 | | 12th | 11 |
| 2002 | Toyota Supra | Y | GT500 | 25 | Shinichi Yamaji Seiji Ara Geoff Lees | OKA 6 | FUJ 13 | SUG 11 | SEP Ret | FUJ 4 | MOT 9 | MIN 5 | SUZ 7 | 10th | 32 |
| 2003 | Toyota Supra | Y | GT500 | 25 | Jérémie Dufour Seiji Ara Hideki Noda | OKA 10 | FUJ Ret | SUG 3 | FUJ 13 | FUJ 17 | MOT 3 | AUT 12 | SUZ Ret | 10th | 26 |
| 2004 | Toyota Supra | Y | GT500 | 25 | Manabu Orido Dominik Schwager | OKA 14 | SUG 2 | SEP Ret | TOK 13 | MOT 12 | AUT 3 | SUZ 10 | | 10th | 31 |

### Complete Super GT Results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)
| Year | Car | Tyres | Class | No. | Drivers | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | Pos | Points |
| 2005 | Toyota Supra | Y | GT500 | 25 | Manabu Orido Dominik Schwager Hideki Noda | OKA 1 | FUJ 14 | SEP 15 | SUG 9 | MOT 15 | FUJ NC | AUT Ret | SUZ 14 | | 10th | 26 |
| 2006 | Toyota Supra | Y | GT500 | 25 | Takeshi Tsuchiya Manabu Orido Hideki Noda | SUZ 8 | OKA 9 | FUJ 6 | SEP 10 | SUG 12 | SUZ Ret | MOT 12 | AUT 15 | FUJ 9 | 14th | 13 |
| 2007 | Lexus SC430 | Y | GT500 | 25 | Takeshi Tsuchiya Manabu Orido | SUZ 9 | OKA 6 | FUJ Ret | SEP 5 | SUG 8 | SUZ Ret | MOT 8 | AUT 10 | FUJ 12 | 14th | 38 |
| 2008 | Lexus SC430 | Y | GT500 | 25 | Takeshi Tsuchiya Hiroaki Ishiura | SUZ 11 | OKA 11 | FUJ 8 | SEP 4 | SUG 4 | SUZ 14 | MOT 10 | AUT 12 | FUJ 8 | 14th | 44 |
| 2010 | Porsche 997 GT3-RSR | Y | GT300 | 25 | Takeshi Tsuchiya Akihiro Tsuzuki Yoshio Tsuzuki | SUZ | OKA | FUJ 17 | SEP | SUG 16 | SUZ Ret | FUJ C | MOT 18 | | NC | 0 |
| 2011 | Porsche 997 GT3-RSR | Y | GT300 | 25 | Takeshi Tsuchiya Akihiro Tsuzuki | OKA 3 | FUJ Ret | SEP Ret | SUG 4 | SUZ 9 | FUJ 5 | AUT 5 | MOT 19 | | 9th | 49 |
| 2015 | Toyota 86 MC GT300 | Y | GT300 | 25 | Takeshi Tsuchiya Takamitsu Matsui Tatsuya Tanigawa | OKA 6 | FUJ Ret | CHA 7 | FUJ 5 | SUZ 23 | SUG 1 | AUT Ret | MOT 12 | | 9th | 51 |
| 2016 | Toyota 86 MC GT300 | Y | GT300 | 25 | Takeshi Tsuchiya Takamitsu Matsui Kenta Yamashita | OKA 6 | FUJ 3 | SUG 2 | FUJ 13 | SUZ 22 | CHA 1 | MOT 7 | MOT 1 | | 1st | 97 |
| 2017 | Toyota 86 MC GT300 | Y | GT300 | 25 | Takamitsu Matsui Kenta Yamashita Tsubasa Kondō | OKA 4 | FUJ 15 | AUT 1 | SUG 3 | FUJ 29 | SUZ 18 | CHA 15 | MOT 5 | | 6th | 65 |
| 2018 | Toyota 86 MC GT300 | Y | GT300 | 25 | Takamitsu Matsui Sho Tsuboi Tsubasa Kondō Takeshi Tsuchiya | OKA 3 | FUJ Ret | SUZ 2 | CHA 19 | FUJ 5 | SUG 24 | AUT 24 | MOT 8 | | 8th | 52 |
| 2019 | Toyota 86 MC GT300 | Y | GT300 | 25 | Takamitsu Matsui Kimiya Sato | OKA Ret | FUJ 18 | SUZ 5 | BUR 4 | FUJ 26 | AUT 16 | SUG 27 | MOT 18 | | 18th | 29 |
| 2020 | Porsche 911 GT3 R | Y | GT300 | 25 | Takamitsu Matsui Kimiya Sato | FUJ 19 | FUJ 20 | SUZ 14 | MOT 8 | FUJ 11 | SUZ 9 | MOT 6 | FUJ 14 | | 15th | 33 |
| 2020 | Lexus RC F GT3 | Y | GT300 | 244 | Atsushi Miyake Rintaro Kubo | FUJ 16 | FUJ 13 | SUZ 20 | MOT 26 | FUJ 19 | SUZ WD | MOT 15 | FUJ 24 | | 26th | 19 |
| 2021 | Porsche 911 GT3 R | Y | GT300 | 25 | Takamitsu Matsui Kimiya Sato | OKA 7 | FUJ 13 | MOT 6 | SUZ 23 | SUG 19 | AUT 10 | MOT 5 | FUJ 6 | | 12th | 45 |
| 2021 | Toyota GR Supra GT300 | Y | GT300 | 244 | Atsushi Miyake Yuui Tsutsumi | OKA 5 | FUJ 11 | MOT 4 | SUZ 1 | SUG 9 | AUT 17 | MOT 7 | FUJ 7 | | 4th | 68 |
| 2022 | Toyota GR Supra GT300 | Y | GT300 | 25 | Takamitsu Matsui Seita Nonaka | OKA 22 | FUJ 11 | SUZ Ret | FUJ | SUZ 15 | SUG 10 | AUT 16 | MOT Ret | | 34th | 1 |
| 2022 | Toyota GR Supra GT300 | Y | GT300 | 244 | Atsushi Miyake Kimiya Sato | OKA | FUJ 19 | SUZ 22 | FUJ Ret | SUZ Ret | SUG 14 | AUT 10 | MOT 17 | | 35th | 1 |
| 2023 | Toyota GR Supra GT300 | Y | GT300 | 25 | Seita Nonaka Togo Suganami | OKA 17 | FUJ 10 | SUZ 11 | FUJ Ret | SUZ | SUG | AUT | MOT | | 27th | 10 |
| 2023 | Toyota GR Supra GT300 | Y | GT300 | 244 | Atsushi Miyake Kimiya Sato | OKA 3 | FUJ 16 | SUZ 16 | FUJ Ret | SUZ | SUG | AUT | MOT | | 20th | 19 |
| 2024 | Toyota GR Supra GT300 | Y | GT300 | 25 | Takamitsu Matsui Togo Suganami Kimiya Sato | OKA 14 | FUJ 23 | SUZ 18 | FUJ Ret | SUG Ret | AUT 11 | MOT Ret | SUZ 15 | | 22nd | 12 |
$^‡$ Half points awarded as less than 75% of race distance was completed. * Season still in progress.