One of the genuine giants of Japanese motorsport is preparing to call quits on his top-line racing career. Italy-born Ronnie Quintarelli, who transformed the concept of a gaijin driver in the Far East, will race his farewell Super GT event in next month’s postponed season-finale at Suzuka.
For for two decades, he has been an essential fixture of the country’s main racing series, creating a lengthy association with Nissan that won him a spot among the all-time greats. Not only was he speedy on the racing track, but tremendously popular among fans and the Nissan administration - to the extent that you might be mistaken for assuming he is Japanese himself. His exit from Super GT is more than simply a veteran declaring his retirement - it’s the end of an era.
When Quintarelli first set foot on Japanese land to take part in a one-off karting race in Suzuka in 1996, he couldn’t have envisioned that the nation would become his home in the future. But a hint from compatriot Paolo Montin about the motorsport scene in Japan in the early 2000s propelled him in this direction, ultimately laying the basis to his career.
The first single-seater he drove in Japan was a Toyota-powered Dallara F302, entered by Inging in the 2003 Japanese Formula 3 season. Although he had previous F3 experience, a part-season in 2001 for the Opel Team KMS outfit that had won the previous year's German title with Giorgio Pantano, Quintarelli required time to find his feet in F3 vehicles. He finished no higher than second during the year but was a full product in 2004, beating Brazil’s Joao Paulo de Oliveira to claim his maiden title.
That cleared the door for a spot in what was then known as Formula Nippon (now Super Formula) with Kondo Racing, as well as a one-off Super GT campaign with Toyota’s SARD in 2005. He won his first big GT race in that year's Suzuka 1000km and over the ensuing seasons continued to race in Formula Nippon, where Quintarelli would reconnect with Inging, while also making infrequent outings in Super GT with Toyota-affiliated teams.
At the end of 2007, after he broke his Nippon duck with victory at Aida, Nissan came calling and offered him a full-season ride in the GT500 class for the next year. Quintarelli put pen to paper without any hesitation and it turned out to be the finest move of his career.
Already a race winner in his first season with the company, Quintarelli proceeded to advance up the order during the following years. His choice to abandon racing in Formula Nippon, where Inging utilized Toyota engines, and focus on Super GT after 2008 would be amply rewarded.
From seventh with Hasemi Motorsport in 2009, he progressed to fifth with Team Impul in 2010 then won the first of his record four titles in 2011. That year, Nissan was seeking to enter four cars in the category and the team picked to aid with the expansion was GT300 runner MOLA. Quintarelli had previous knowledge using Michelin tires that MOLA was running that year and was put at the team alongside Masataka Yanagida, the 2003 GT500 winner.
With five podiums in eight races, in a series where success ballast makes consistency exceedingly hard to attain, Quintarelli and Yanagida romped to the title as MOLA upset the established order. A second title followed in 2012, this time with Quintarelli and Yanagida winning two wins on their way to the trophy.
These back-to-back victories won him a move to NISMO, where went on to establish a ‘dream team’ alongside two-time Formula Nippon winner Tsugio Matsuda. Having originally teamed forces at Impul in 2010, the two were reunited when NISMO replaced Yanagida for 2014.
The commencement of their new relationship coincided with the advent of new Class One rules that converted GT500 vehicles into rocket ships, and Nissan had a winner on its hands after sacrificing the previous season in order to construct a new car. With the extra benefit of Michelin tyres, Quintarelli and Matsuda were simply untouchable in the #23 Nissan GT-R, claiming two titles on the trot in 2014 and 2015.
Quintarelli and Matsuda remained a formidable combination over the following eight years, coming close to adding another title to their individual tallies in 2017 and 2019 but finally losing out to tougher challenge from Lexus. The changeover to the new Nissan Z for 2022 should have been Quintarelli’s best opportunity for a record-extending fifth victory, but Kazuki Hiramine and Bertrand Baguette stole the show in their Bridgestone-shod Impul vehicle.
But as titles were hard to come by, Quintarelli was still showing no signs of slowing down in the 2020s, even as age started to sneak up on his team-mate Matsuda. Doing the heavy work in the flagship #23 Nissan Z, Quintarelli helped the team gain victory in the 2023 season opening at Okayama and demonstrate he had still had what it takes to succeed at the highest level.
Unfortunately, the ideal team that he was such a huge part of crumbled at the conclusion of last year, with Michelin announcing its retirement from Super GT while Matsuda was moved across to Kondo Racing. Quintarelli went on in 2024 with a non-exclusive Bridgestone partnership and Katsumasa Chiyo as his new team-mate, thus far collecting two podiums in an otherwise challenging campaign.
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After another race at Suzuka, the place of his first motor race in Japan, his career will come full circle when he bows out of Super GT. With a record four titles and tally of 18 GT500 wins that is third only to Matsuda and Yuki Tachikawa, he will depart the category as one of its most successful and likable drivers.
He surely rates similarly with other international drivers who earned their reputation in Japan this century. A straight comparison with the likes of Andre Lotterer, Loic Duval, Benoit Treluyer and Nick Cassidy is difficult, given they won both Super GT and Formula Nippon/Super Formula, but Quintarelli’s run in the single-seater championship delivered just a single triumph across four seasons. But his endurance in GT cars - he turned 45 this year - gets him some extra credit.
What possibly differentiates Quintarelli from some other foreign-born drivers is the way he has submerged himself in Japanese society. Now residing in Yokohama with his Japanese wife and two kids, the Italian has grown so competent in the Japanese language that he works as a commentator for Super Formula on local TV.
Another frequent Japanese attribute that he displayed during his career is commitment to his company, having kept with Nissan ever since it first gave him a contract in 2008. It meant departing Formula Nippon - where Nissan has no presence - in his 20s when at his physical prime, as any contract with a Honda and Toyota team would have compelled him to switch allegiance in Super GT too.
Apart from Nissan, Quintarelli also remained committed to Michelin, which has been vital to his performance throughout Super GT's fierce tire battle. When the French manufacturer joined the competition in 2009, it was determined to make a mark after retiring from Formula 1 two years previously. Quintarelli worked as its development driver and those many hours of private testing helped Michelin become the only manufacturer to routinely take against Bridgestone in the previous 15 years.
But nothing says more about Quintarelli's dedication to Japan than turning down a chance to compete in F1 in 2007. Having previously completed a brief run at Silverstone with Midland, the renamed Spyker team summoned him when it needed a replacement driver from the 11th round in Hungary. But with there being frequent clashes between F1 and Super Formula, Quintarelli elected not to upset his then-team Inging and remained in Japan.
What Quintarelli did in his career is outstanding, but it’s his efforts outside of the track that really earns him the designation of a sports great. After the terrible Tohoku earthquake and tsunami in 2011, he stayed in Japan to participate to the relief operations in the region. His charity contributions were honored by his native country, which awarded the Official of the Order of the Italian Star in Tokyo in 2016.
The same year, when Italy was rocked by a series of earthquakes, he again stepped in to aid support the people afflicted by the natural calamity.
So when Quintarelli climbs out of the famed ‘red car’ following his 137th Super GT start at Suzuka 300 next month, Super GT will be bidding farewell to a spectacular driver - and above all a terrific guy. His career may be coming to a close, but his legacy will be felt for years to come.
