2019 Super GT GT300 Preview: Part 2, FIA GT3

Over the past decade, FIA GT3 category cars have come to be the dominant force in the GT300 class of the Autobacs Super GT Series. Today, they make up 22 out of this year’s 29 GT300 entries, representing some of the most celebrated and successful manufacturers from around the world.

But GT300 is not just another cookie-cutter GT3 competition. There are extra variables involved, including the presence of the less powerful, but more agile and aerodynamic JAF-GT300 and Mother Chassis cars. As well as the open tyre war between Yokohama, Bridgestone, and Dunlop which differentiates Super GT from many other sports car championships running a control tyre formula.

This is the biggest portion of our season preview by number of entries, 22 cars representing 9 manufacturers – so apologies if we’ve missed something as we dive right into this GT3-centric GT300 preview, starting with the back-to-back GT300 Champion manufacturers, Mercedes-AMG, and their four Mercedes-AMG GT3s.

The defending champions are K2 R&D LEON Racing, and their Bridgestone Potenza-clad #65 LEON Pyramid AMG of drivers Haruki Kurosawa and Naoya Gamou, led by team director and chief engineer Tadashi Mizota.

The memories are still vivid of LEON’s come-from-behind championship victory at Motegi last November, as they overcame a 12-point deficit to win the race and the GT300 Championship with it. 42-year-old Kurosawa returns as defending co-champion, his 15-year quest for his first GT300 title now finally fulfilled.

But it’s 29-year-old Gamou who’s been the pacesetter for LEON Racing since he joined the team late in 2014. And he’s expected to do the same this year as the obsidian black LEON AMG looks to defend its titles.

Their main competitors from inside the Mercedes stable are Goodsmile Racing & Team UKYO, by far the most popular team in GT300 thanks to their mascot, Vocaloid character and virtual idol Hatsune Miku. They are the gold standard of crowd-supported privateer teams in sports car racing, backed by thousands of personal sponsors around the world.

The #4 Goodsmile Hatsune Miku AMG, carrying Yokohama tyres, will once again be led by team director Ukyo Katayama and ace driver Nobuteru Taniguchi; a three-time GT300 Champion, drift legend, and car journalist who is by far the most popular GT300 driver on the grid.

Fellow three-time GT300 Champion Tatsuya Kataoka returns for his eighth season alongside Taniguchi – and if the core of NOB, TK, and Ukyo come together to win a fourth championship in nine years for GSR, it’ll likely cement their place as the greatest GT300 team of all-time.

Making up the numbers for Mercedes-AMG are two Pro-Am privateer squads – the #22 of R’Qs Motor Sports, and the #50 of Arnage Racing – who have a technical alliance this season.

56-year-olds Hisashi Wada and Masaki Jyonai will once again represent R’Qs, while Arnage welcome Ryosei Yamashita, a true young amateur driver, to partner their long-time Am driver of several years, Masaki Kano.

Nissan has the most entries in GT300, expanding this off-season to six customer teams. Over 20 percent of the grid in GT300 are Nissan GT-R NISMO GT3s, including five of the 2018 model year GT-Rs, which won in its debut season.

Two of those entries come from the Kyoto-based Gainer team. They’re led by the #11 Gainer TanaX GT-R, with the red centre stripe and carrying Dunlop tyres. Katsuyuki Hiranaka and Hironobu Yasuda drove this car to its maiden victory in Buriram last July.

Yasuda has already won a GT300 Championship of his own in 2008, but Hiranaka, at 37 years old, is still searching for his first title after three runner-up finishes in 2011, 2013, and 2014, all of them during his ten previous seasons with Gainer.

Gainer also has the #10 Gainer TanaX triple a GT-R, running on Yokohama tyres and distinguished by the white centre stripe. Two-time GT300 champion Kazuki Hoshino, who’s mentored the likes of Jann Mardenborough, Lucas Ordoñez, Daiki Sasaki, and Mitsunori Takaboshi in recent years, returns as the veteran lead driver.

24-year-old Keishi Ishikawa is in his third GT300 season with as many teams, joining Gainer for 2019. Ishikawa is a highly-rated former Honda junior driver who now has a competitive team around him, and is expected to be a breakout star in 2019.

But alongside Gainer, two new teams have drastically shaken up the hierarchy at Nissan, the first being Kondo Racing – who are expanding to GT300 this season, and look like a genuinely competitive first-year team!

The core of this team previously won championships in Super Taikyu before stepping up to GT300 this season with the new 2018-spec #56 Realize Corporation Nissan Gakuen GT-R.

Kondo Racing’s car will be prepared by student mechanics from the Nissan Automobile Technical College, as well as several Nissan dealership technicians, taking part in the newly-branded Nissan Mechanic Challenge.

27-year-old Japanese Kazuki Hiramine, a solid, underrated young driver, comes over after four seasons with Team JLOC. He is joined by 19-year-old French rookie, Sacha Fenestraz, an exciting young single-seater prospect who is relocating to Japan after racing last season in the European Formula 3 Series as a Renault Sport Academy junior.

The second new team, from Hong Kong, is X Works Racing. They’ve won many races in several other Asian sports car series, under their previous identity as Phoenix Racing Asia.

Team owner and driver Marchy Lee will partner his young compatriot Shawn Thong as they embark on their rookie seasons in Super GT. Team director Ron Reichert brings his successes across continental Asia to X Works. And the wild purple, green, and orange inspired by the EVA-01 mech from Neon Genesis Evangelion will certainly make their #33 EVA Racing Test-01 X Works GT-R stand out among the pack!

The first full-time Super GT team from Hong Kong may end up giving the established Japanese teams something to think about this season.

Last but not least – the privateer Nissan customer teams, Tomei Sports and NILZZ Racing (formerly Dijon Racing). The cars affectionately nicknamed “Bumblebee” and “Mintzilla” in recent years, but perhaps new nicknames are in order for these new-look teams!

Tomei Sports will run the 2018-spec GT-R for the first time: The black and red #360 RunUp Rivaux GT-R featuring 2001 GT300 Champion Takayuki Aoki, and gentleman driver Atsushi Tanaka.

While NILZZ Racing hopes to give the old 2015-spec GT-R one last ride in 2019, the new-look #48 Shokumou Go&Fun GT-R driven by the All-Am duo of Masaki Tanaka and Taiyou Iida.

Lexus has a stable of three customer RC F GT3s, led by K-Tunes Racing, owned by the Okayama Toyopet dealerships and managed by inaugural GT500 champion Masahiko Kageyama.

52-year-old Morio Nitta enjoyed a career renaissance in 2018, winning two races alongside Yuichi Nakayama. The joint-winningest driver in GT300 history, and Super GT’s most experienced campaigner, returns for another shot at his record fourth GT300 Drivers’ Championship.

Replacing Nakayama is 19-year-old rookie Sena Sakaguchi, a former Honda-backed single seater prospect taking his talents to the Bridgestone-clad #96 K-Tunes RC F. 32 years the junior of Nitta, Sakaguchi has an excellent veteran teammate to help him progress in his first GT300 season.

LM Corsa and the #60 Syntium LM Corsa RC F return this season, the number 60 crew looking for their first victory with the RC F GT3 – the car that former driver and team director Akira Iida helped develop over a difficult two-year stretch from 2015 to 2016.

The drivers remain the same as in 2018: Charismatic veteran lead driver Hiroki Yoshimoto, who’s been with LM Corsa since their first season in 2014, and 19-year-old Toyota Young Driver Program (TDP) top prospect Ritomo Miyata, in his second GT300 season.

But they’ve made a big change in the tyre department, hoping to get more performance out of the Syntium RC F as they switch from Yokohama to Dunlop tyres.

The last of Lexus’ customer teams is Panther Arto Team Thailand, their #35 arto RC F GT3 running on Yokohama tyres. They are one of two full-time teams based outside of Japan, entering their third full season and their second with the RC F GT3.

Joining Thai racing hero Nattapong Horthongkum this season is former Autobacs Racing Team Aguri/BMW driver Sean Walkinshaw, who finished 2nd in the GT300 Championship last season. The addition of the second-generation British driver has understandably raised expectations, as Panther Arto Team Thailand pursue their first top-ten finishes in GT300.

Honda’s NSX GT3 debuted in Japan last season to modest success, and this off-season, they made a major push by bringing in two new customer teams this year. All three teams will run the new NSX GT3 Evo upgrade package introduced for this year.

Last year’s GT300 Championship runners-up Autobacs Racing Team Aguri (ARTA) finally make the switch from their previous BMW M6 GT3 to the Honda NSX GT3 Evo this season, aligning ARTA’s GT500 and GT300 teams with the same manufacturer.

The black/orange gradient, Bridgestone-clad #55 ARTA NSX GT3 will be driven by 48-year-old Shinichi Takagi, the joint record-holder for the most GT300 class victories of all time, but still in search of his first GT300 title since 2002.

His new teammate is 22-year-old rookie Nirei Fukuzumi, one of Honda’s most exciting single-seater prospects, who’s come home to Japan after a difficult 2018 split between Formula 2 and Super Formula. Fukuzumi may not stay in GT300 for long, especially if he and Takagi have a successful first season together in the new ARTA NSX GT3.

The other big acquisition for Honda customer racing is Team UPGarage, who’ve replaced their previous Toyota 86 MC after four seasons, for the new NSX GT3 Evo.

Takashi Kobayashi helped lead the old UPGarage 86 MC to its first win last April at Okayama. In staying with Team UPGarage, the former Honda GT500 driver returns to the Honda family aboard the new-look gold and black #18 UPGarage NSX GT3, running Yokohama tyres.

Like Kobayashi, 39-year-old Kosuke Matsuura has spent time in both GT500 and GT300. Matsuura is back in GT300 this season after a five-year run in GT500 with ARTA and Nakajima Racing, including a victory in the 2017 Suzuka 1000km.

ARTA and UPGarage will look to measure up against second-year Honda GT3 team Modulo Drago Corse, owned and driven by legendary Honda factory driver Ryo Michigami.

The #34 Modulo Kenwood NSX GT3 scored a debut podium finish last October at Autopolis, and Modulo Drago Corse look to improve on that result in a big way come 2019.

Hiroki Otsu returns as Michigami’s young protegé. The 24-year-old GT300 sophomore just missed out on a GT500 drive this year after a great rookie season – but he is expected to make a massive leap forward in his second year alongside the veteran Michigami.

Lamborghini are represented by two Huracán GT3s from Super GT ever-presents Team JLOC, Isao Noritake’s team having taken part in every season from 1994 onwards.

A last-minute deal came together to bring former Honda factory ace and 2010 GT500 Champion Takashi Kogure to the flagship #88 ManePa Huracán GT3. After 15 seasons in GT500 with Honda, 38-year-old Kogure is ready to take on the new challenge of GT300 competition this season.

His new teammate is 27-year-old Yuya Motojima, an impressive and undervalued young up-and-comer who steps up from JLOC’s #87 car for his fourth season in Super GT.

The #87 T-Dash Huracán GT3 thus enters 2019 with a new lineup: 24-year-old Tsubasa Takahashi is promoted from the team’s third and reserve driver to a full-time ride, the first full-season opportunity for the former Honda junior driver.

He has a great veteran teammate alongside him, as Macanese driver André Couto returns to the series for the first time since 2017. Couto has over 100 races’ experience across GT500 and GT300, winning the GT300 title for Gainer and Nissan in 2015.

Audi is down to just one team after Team Taisan closed its doors this off-season. Audi Team Hitotsuyama introduce the new Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo package this year, and they’ve made the switch from Dunlop to Yokohama tyres for 2019.

Hoping to bounce back after two massively frustrating seasons in 2017 and 2018, Ulsterman Richard Lyons, the 2004 GT500 Champion, returns as the Hitotsuyama’s lead driver, alongside his second-year co-pilot Ryuichiro Tomita, one of the great underdog stories in the GT300 class.

And just one Porsche 911 GT3-R will be on the grid this season, from Pacific Racing Team with Good Speed – who have a new mascot and title sponsor in “virtual YouTuber” Mirai Akari.

Veteran drivers Naoki Yokomizo and Kyosuke Mineo, who claimed Porsche’s last race victory and championships back in 2012, are reunited for 2019 in what’s expected to be the last ride for the 991 platform GT3-R.

Last, and certainly not least, two brand-new cars from two manufacturers returning to GT300 after a long absence complete the grid for 2019: Starting first, with D’Station Racing AMR.

D’station Racing is entering the second-generation Aston Martin Vantage GT3 this season as part of a new alliance with the British manufacturer. They’ve already enjoyed success with the new Vantage GT3 in the Pirelli Super Taikyu Series this year, and look to duplicate that in 2019.

Under general manager Kazuhiro Sasaki, the baseball legend turned team principal, D’station Racing have a strong lineup for 2019. Tomonobu Fujii returns from last season, the 38-year-old GT300 stalwart and multiple race winner who’s still in search of an elusive championship after 14 seasons.

Fujii’s new teammate is former Nissan GT500 star, Brazilian João Paulo Lima de Oliveira. After 13 seasons representing Nissan at the highest level, JP is ready to tackle the new challenges of GT300 and finally claim his first sports car racing championship in Japan.

The other new car is the McLaren 720S GT3, and the much-anticipated return of Team Goh Motorsports as McLaren Customer Racing Japan.

As Team Lark McLaren, their new F1 GTRs rocked the GT500 class as they dominated the 1996 season. Eight years later, as Audi Sport Team Goh, they claimed victory in the 24 Hours of Le Mans. After 23 years away from Super GT, McLaren Customer Racing Japan, evoking the memories of their historic ‘96 season with their throwback pink and grey livery, are ready to pick up where they left off nearly a quarter-century ago.

44-year-old Seiji Ara, one of the three drivers from Team Goh’s Le Mans victory, reunites with his old crew in his return to Super GT after a year away. His new teammate, 21-year-old Spanish rookie Álex Palou, is another mightily impressive single-seater prospect making his sports car debut – a prior winner in Japanese F3, GP3, and Formula V8 before coming back to Japan this year for his GT300 and Super Formula debuts.

Led by team director Masaru Okuzawa and experienced chief engineer Hiroyoshi Donuma, McLaren and McLaren Customer Racing Japan are ready to make an immediate statement in their GT300 debuts this season.

These 22 teams show that while GT300 may be the second class in Super GT behind GT500, it is, by no means, second-rate competition!

Testing pictures by Pierre-Laurent Ribault (Twitter/Instagram: @plribault)

Feature image courtesy of the GT Association (GTA)