Cerumo Co., Ltd. (stylized as CERUMO) is a Japanese racing team headquartered in Oyama, Shizuoka Prefecture. The team competed in Super Formula together with INGING Motorsport, and participated in Super GT GT500 Class. In January 2016, former Bridgestone Scuderia Ferrari engineer Hirohide Hamashima joined the team and became general manager in both the Super GT and Super Formula categories. At the shareholders' meeting in February 2019, founder Masayuki Sato resigned as president, and Hamashima also resigned as general manager. In his place, Haruhisa Urabe will become president and chairman, and Hiroaki Ishiura will become a director. After that Yuji Tachikawa picked as the director.
History The founder, Masayuki Sato, is a famous engineer known as "Bate-san" in the domestic racing world. As Tadashi Sakai's chief mechanic, he was in charge of machines such as the Fuji GC, and in 1981 he took over Sakai Engineering and established Cerumo. The company name is derived from the Italian word for steady. While operating as a maintenance garage, then formed the team in 1991. Since then, he has competed in SUPER GT (formerly All Japan GT Championship JGTC) and Formula Nippon then the current Super Formula.
Super Formula At the end of 2007, Haruhisa Urabe, the owner of INGING, became the new owner, and the integration of INGING and the factory is underway. The team has run with Roberto Streit, Yuji Tachikawa, Takuto Iguchi. In 2011 Project mu joined the team as the main sponsor for the team. Their success was during the Dallara SF14 era where Hiroaki Ishiura and Yuji Kunimoto won the drivers title from 2015 to 2017, with Ishiura won in 2015 & 2017 and Kunimoto in 2016. The team also won constructor champion in 2016 & 2017. Sho Tsuboi replaces Kunimoto in 2019. And he clinched third place in 2020 in which the highest position he achieved in the series to date. Hiroaki Ishiura stepped down from racing in Super Formula, and he worked with Tachikawa. His replacement was Sena Sakaguchi. For 2023, INGING acquired a new title sponsor in finance advisory firm Vertex Partners, with the team now named Vertex Partners Cerumo・INGING. Toshiki Oyu joined Toyota and drive for INGING, replacing Sho Tsuboi who moves to TOM'S.
Super GT GT500 Cerumo has competed in the All Japan GT Championship (JGTC) since 1995 and in SUPER GT since 2005, winning the Driver's Championship three times in 2001, 2005, and 2013 which Yuji Tachikawa won it all, with Hironori Takeuchi, Toranosuke Takagi, and Kohei Hirate each won respectively. Cerumo participating in SUPER GT under the entrant name "TGR Team ZENT Cerumo" from 2020, but already with sponsorship from the pachinko and amusement chain ZENT since 2009. The director was Takeuchi in 2008 and 2009, Takagi from 2010 to 2017, Hirohide Hamashima in 2018, and Tachikawa has been appointed general director since 2019. In 2021, Junichi Murata will remain the general manager of Tachikawa and become the team manager. Kotaro Tanaka will lead the team in 2022, and Junichi Murata will lead the team again from 2023. Tachikawa retired from the series after the 2023 season and he returns to the team as team director. Tachikawa's replacement at Cerumo will be Toshiki Oyu who moves from Honda. Cerumo's long time sponsor ZENT will not be the main sponsor and KeePer will replace it.
Racing results
Complete JGTC results Source: (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap) Year CarTyresClassNo.Drivers 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Pos Pts1995Toyota SupraGT138 Érik ComasSUZFUJSENFUJSUG12th8 1996Toyota SupraGT50037 Érik Comas Hidetoshi Mitsusada Hironori TakeuchiSUZFUJSENFUJSUGMIN2nd68 1997Toyota SupraGT50038 Hironori Takeuchi Katsutomo KaneishiSUZFUJSENFUJMINSUG1st79510 Bertrand Gachot Paul BelmondoSUZFUJSENFUJMINSUG9th11 1998Toyota SupraGT50038 Hironori Takeuchi Takayuki KinoshitaSUZFUJSENFUJMOTMINSUG9th22 1999Toyota SupraGT50032 Masahiko Kondo Takayuki KinoshitaSUZFUJSUGMINFUJOKAMOT 11th 1238 Hironori Takeuchi Yuji TachikawaSUZFUJSUGMINFUJOKAMOT8th31 2000Toyota SupraGT50032 Masahiko Kondo Takayuki KinoshitaMOTFUJSUGFUJOKAMINSUZ 15th 138 Hironori Takeuchi Yuji TachikawaMOTFUJSUGFUJOKAMINSUZ5th48 2001Toyota SupraGT50033 Masahiko Kondo Ukyo Katayama Shigekazu WakisakaOKAFUJSUGFUJMOTSUZMIN3rd5838 Hironori Takeuchi Yuji TachikawaOKAFUJSUGFUJMOTSUZMIN 2002Toyota SupraGT5001 Hironori Takeuchi Yuji TachikawaOKAFUJSUGSEPFUJMOTMINSUZ4th6933 Masahiko Kondo Ukyo Katayama Hayanari ShimodaOKAFUJSUGSEPFUJMOTMINSUZ 2003Toyota SupraGT50038 Hironori Takeuchi Yuji TachikawaOKASUGFUJFUJMOTAUTSUZ7th64 2004Toyota SupraGT50038 Seiji Ara Yuji TachikawaOKASUGSEPTOKMOTAUTSUZ6th45Toyota CelicaGT30052 Hironori Takeuchi Seigo NishizawaOKASUGSEPTOKMOTAUTSUZ13th9 Note: in 1996 and 1997 Cerumo and TOM's entered the Team's Championship together under the Toyota Castrol Team banner.
Complete Super GT Results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap) Year CarTyres Class No. Drivers 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Pos Points 2005 Toyota Supra GT500 38 Toranosuke Takagi Yuji TachikawaOKAFUJSEPSUGMOTFUJAUTSUZ 4th 67Toyota CelicaGT30052 Hironori Takeuchi Katsuyuki HiranakaOKAFUJSEPSUGMOTFUJAUTSUZ12th7 2006 Lexus SC430 GT500 1 Toranosuke Takagi Yuji Tachikawa Ronnie QuintarelliSUZOKAFUJSEPSUGSUZMOTAUTFUJ7th58Toyota CelicaGT30052 Hironori Takeuchi Koki Saga Keita SawaSUZOKAFUJSEPSUGSUZMOTAUTFUJ13th25 2007 Lexus SC430 GT500 38 Toranosuke Takagi Yuji TachikawaSUZ OKAFUJSEPSUGSUZMOTAUTFUJ 7th 61 2008 Lexus SC430 GT500 38 Yuji Tachikawa Richard LyonsSUZOKAFUJSEPSUGSUZMOTAUTFUJ2nd93 2009 Lexus SC430 GT500 38 Yuji Tachikawa Richard LyonsOKASUZFUJSEPSUGSUZFUJAUTMOT9th63 2010 Lexus SC430 GT500 38 Yuji Tachikawa Richard LyonsSUZOKAFUJSEPSUGSUZFUJMOT9th52 2011 Lexus SC430 GT500 38 Yuji Tachikawa Kohei HirateOKAFUJSEPSUGSUZFUJAUTMOT6th68 2012 Lexus SC430 GT500 38 Yuji Tachikawa Kohei HirateOKAFUJSEPSUGSUZFUJAUTMOT2nd95 2013 Lexus SC430 GT500 38 Yuji Tachikawa Kohei HirateOKAFUJSEPSUGSUZFUJAUTMOT1st89 2014 Lexus RC F GT500 1 Yuji Tachikawa Kohei HirateOKAFUJAUTSUGFUJSUZBURMOT 7th 612015Lexus RC FGT50038 Yuji Tachikawa Hiroaki IshiuraOKAFUJCHAFUJSUZSUGAUTMOT5th752016Lexus RC FGT50038 Yuji Tachikawa Hiroaki IshiuraOKAFUJSUGFUJSUZCHAMOTMOT6th72 2017 Lexus LC500 GT500 GT500 38 Yuji Tachikawa Hiroaki IshiuraOKAFUJAUT SUGFUJSUZCHAMOT 4th 81 2018 Lexus LC500 GT500 GT500 38 Yuji Tachikawa Hiroaki IshiuraOKAFUJSUZCHAFUJSUGAUTMOT4th82 2019 Lexus LC500 GT500 GT500 38 Yuji Tachikawa Hiroaki IshiuraOKAFUJSUZBURFUJAUTSUGMOT 4th 65.5 2020 Toyota GR Supra GT500 GT500 14 Kazuya Oshima Sho TsuboiFUJFUJSUZMOTFUJSUZMOTFUJ6th6838 Yuji Tachikawa Hiroaki IshiuraFUJFUJSUZMOTFUJSUZMOTFUJ9th60 2021 Toyota GR Supra GT500 GT500 38 Yuji Tachikawa Hiroaki IshiuraOKAFUJMOTSUZSUGAUTMOTFUJ12th52 2022 Toyota GR Supra GT500 GT500 38 Yuji Tachikawa Hiroaki IshiuraOKAFUJSUZFUJSUZSUGAUTMOT14th29.52023Toyota GR Supra GT500GT50038 Yuji Tachikawa Hiroaki IshiuraOKAFUJSUZFUJSUZSUGAUTMOT 12th 462024Toyota GR Supra GT500GT50038 Hiroaki Ishiura Toshiki OyuOKAFUJSUZFUJSUGAUTMOTSUZ 4th 752025Toyota GR Supra GT500GT50038 Hiroaki Ishiura Toshiki OyuOKAFUJSEPFS1FS2SUZSUGAUTMOT5th75 ‡ Half points awarded as less than 75% of race distance was completed. * Season still in progress.
References
External links in Japanese