「SUPER GT Online Charity Auction 2」
A total of 20,250,000 JPY was donated to the Nippon Foundation
Letter of appreciation was presented to the GTA Chairman Masaaki Bando by JST Nippon Foundation President Yohei Sasakawa
GTA Association, (2-14-2 Nishi-Gotanda, Shinagawa-ku, Tokyo, CEO: Masaaki Bando), the promoter of Japan's leading racing series, "SUPER GT," and BH AUCTION (2-11-1 Nagatacho, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo, CEO: Shinji Takei), an auction house for rare and collectible cars, are pleased to announce that they have donated a total of 2,025,650 JPY to the Nippon Foundation and received a letter of appreciation from Mr. Yohei Sasakawa, President of the Nippon Foundation.
This donation was made from the successful bids (total amount of 2,407,350 JPY, with zero unsuccessful bids) for a total of 246 lots sold in the "SUPER GT Online Charity Auction 2," a charity auction held online from February 27 to 28, 2021. In this charity auction, consignors were able to decide the percentage of the donation. However, most of the successful bids were donated, resulting in a total donation of 2,025,650 JPY.
This is the second time GT Association and BH AUCTION together organized the "SUPER GT Online Charity Auction". The first charity auction was held on August 1-2, 2020. A total of 236 items were sold, bringing the total amount of successful bids to 27,200,000 JPY. Out of this amount, 2,665,574 JPY, excluding the miscellaneous fees for credit card payments and bank transfers, was donated to the Nippon Foundation on October 22, 2020.
Yohei Sasakawa, President of the Nippon Foundation, met with Masaaki Bando, Chairman of GT Association, and Shinji Takei, CEO of BH AUCTION, at the Nippon Foundation Building (1-2-2 Akasaka, Minato-ku, Tokyo) on April 19, and handed them each a letter of appreciation.
At this press conference, President Sasakawa said with gratitude, "I am deeply impressed and moved by this amount of donation received again from motorsports participants and fans with love and passion for motorsports. I believe this is a very rare occurrence in the world of sports, and we hope that similar momentum will grow in all different kinds of sports. We will use this warm support to help those in need in our society."
Comments from GT Association Chairman Bando
"Thanks to everyone, we were able to support again the healthcare workers who are fighting the COVID-19 for everyone. Again my deep appreciation to everyone who took part in this auction. The charity auction took more time than expected, however as a result, my heart is full of the fact that we were able to support as many people as possible with this pandemic. Again I am grateful for everyone's cooperation. My deep appreciation from the bottom of my heart."
A charity auction organized to support healthcare workers engaged in measures to prevent the spread of COVID-19. A total of 246 lots of motorsports-related items donated by the entrants and drivers of Japan's leading racing series, SUPER GT, as well as other related parties were auctioned online by fans. The second charity auction was held for two days from February 27 to 28, 2021.
In response to the success of the first charity auction, this year's auction had charity consignments from overseas automobile manufacturers, etc. The highest hammer price throughout the auction was made on Lot.344, "Kazuki Nakajima 2019 SUPER GT / GT500 Helmet". (1,215,500 JPY)
A specialized APP was made available to allow bidders to participate from their homes and other locations, like every other effort that was made to prevent the spread of COVID-19.