Designed by famed Dutch circuit designer John Hugenholtz, Suzuka Circuit opened in 1962 as a test circuit especially for Honda Motor Company.

It took 25 years before the 5.8 kilometre track featured on the Formula One calendar, but since then it has become a popular circuit, in particular as numerous titles have been decided at the venue.

The original layout was faster and more flowing than the present-day configuration. A chicane was added at the final corner in 1983, with the aim of reducing speeds along the start/finish straight.

In time for the arrival of F1, the Degner curve was tightened into two corners in quick succession, whilst improvements were made to the various run-off areas of the unique figure-of-eight circuit.

The final chicane was reprofiled in 1991, and again in 2003. In the interim, the Dunlop bend at the end of the first sequence of flowing corners was slightly tightened to accommodate additional runoff areas in 2001.

In the 1980s and 1990s the circuit was a regular fixture in the Japanese Touring Car Championship, and in 1996 it also hosted the last-ever races of the short-lived International Touring Car Championship.

International tin-tops returned in 2011 for a four-year run with the WTCC, before WTCR made visits in 2018 and 2019 before the COVID pandemic put paid to the series visiting Asia.