Familiar Faces Set For SUPER GT Returns At Fuji Speedway
The GT Association (GTA) published the entry list for the upcoming Autobacs SUPER GT Series official pre-season test at Fuji Speedway, which takes place on 25-26 March.
Noteworthy on the GT500 side is that TGR Team Eneos ROOKIE driver Kenta Yamashita and Modulo Nakajima Racing driver Kakunoshin Ohta are both expected to return to the cockpit of their respective vehicles in two weeks’ time.
Both drivers suffered major accidents during private manufacturer tests this winter. Yamashita suffered a fractured vertebra after his crash at Suzuka in January, while Ohta was withheld from the Okayama test as a precaution when he crashed at Suzuka the week before.
| Class | No. | Vehicle/Registered Name | Drivers | Entrant | Tyres |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GT500 | 1 | Nissan Z GT500 Marelli Impul Z | Kazuki Hiramine Bertrand Baguette | Team Impul | Bridgestone |
| GT500 | 3 | Nissan Z GT500 Niterra Motul Z | Katsumasa Chiyo Mitsunori Takaboshi | NDDP Racing | Michelin |
| GT500 | 8 | Honda NSX-GT ARTA Mugen NSX-GT | Tomoki Nojiri Toshiki Oyu | ARTA | Bridgestone |
| GT500 | 14 | Toyota GR Supra GT500 Eneos X Prime GR Supra | Kazuya Oshima Kenta Yamashita | TGR Team Eneos ROOKIE | Bridgestone |
| GT500 | 16 | Honda NSX-GT ARTA Mugen NSX-GT | Nirei Fukuzumi Hiroki Otsu | ARTA | Bridgestone |
| GT500 | 17 | Honda NSX-GT Astemo NSX-GT | Koudai Tsukakoshi Nobuharu Matsushita | Astemo Real Racing | Bridgestone |
| GT500 | 19 | Toyota GR Supra GT500 WedsSport Advan GR Supra | Yuji Kunimoto Sena Sakaguchi | TGR Team WedsSport Bandoh | Yokohama |
| GT500 | 23 | Nissan Z GT500 Motul Autech Z | Tsugio Matsuda Ronnie Quintarelli | NISMO | Michelin |
| GT500 | 24 | Nissan Z GT500 Realize Corporation Advan Z | Daiki Sasaki Kohei Hirate | Kondo Racing | Yokohama |
| GT500 | 36 | Toyota GR Supra GT500 au TOM's GR Supra | Sho Tsuboi Ritomo Miyata | TGR Team au TOM's | Bridgestone |
| GT500 | 37 | Toyota GR Supra GT500 Deloitte TOM's GR Supra | Ukyo Sasahara Giuliano Alesi | TGR Team Deloitte TOM's | Bridgestone |
| GT500 | 38 | Toyota GR Supra GT500 ZENT Cerumo GR Supra | Yuji Tachikawa Hiroaki Ishiura | TGR Team ZENT Cerumo | Bridgestone |
| GT500 | 39 | Toyota GR Supra GT500 Denso Kobelco SARD GR Supra | Yuhi Sekiguchi Yuichi Nakayama | TGR Team SARD | Bridgestone |
| GT500 | 64 | Honda NSX-GT Modulo NSX-GT | Takuya Izawa Kakunoshin Ohta | Modulo Nakajima Racing | Dunlop |
| GT500 | 100 | Honda NSX-GT Stanley NSX-GT | Naoki Yamamoto Tadasuke Makino | Team Kunimitsu | Bridgestone |
The entry list in GT300 has all 27 cars participating, and 12 of them have registered three drivers.
A great surprise comes from R&D Sport, who’ve brought back 2005 GT300 Drivers’ Champion, Kota Sasaki, to drive their #61 Subaru BRZ R&D Sport! Sasaki drove full-time for R&D Sport from 2009 to 2014, overseeing the birth and rise of the Subaru works GT300 team to prominence.
A nine-time race winner, Sasaki still holds joint possession of the most career GT300 pole positions (13) and the outright record for most GT300 poles in a season (five, in 2013). He last drove in SUPER GT in 2020, but has been active in Super Taikyu – and most recently represented Subaru in the Nürburgring 24 Hour race last year.
Two-time GT300 championship runner-up, Hiroki Katoh, will make his first testing appearance as the third driver for muta Racing INGING in their #2 Toyota GR86. Katoh became muta Racing INGING’s Team Director this off-season, and stepped away from full-time driving in favour of a third driver role with Yuui Tsutsumi and Hibiki Taira now running the full season.
BMW Team Studie x CRS have made a planned change of drivers, replacing Bruno Spengler with two-time GT300 Drivers’ Champion, Masataka Yanagida. Yanagida, Studie’s third driver, will replace Spengler for three races this season due to the Canadian’s commitments in Italian GT.
There is also a new face making his SUPER GT testing debut, Takumi Sanada, driving the #48 Shokumou/K’s Frontier Nissan GT-R NISMO GT3 for NILZZ Racing. Sanada, who turns 27 later this month, started racing GT4s in 2020. This will be his first drive in a GT3 car.
All other driver line-ups remain the same, including apr’s all-pro trio of Manabu Orido, Yuta Kamimura, and Ryo Ogawa driving their #30 Toyota GR86.
Seiya Jin (Team LeMans), Yusuke Shiotsu (Gainer #11), Shinnosuke Yamada (SHADE Racing), Masaki Kano (R’Qs Motor Sports), Yuki Nemoto (apr #31), Miki Koyama (Anest Iwata Racing with Arnage), and Takuya Otaki (Tomei Sports) will reprise their third driver roles from Okayama. Shintaro Kawabata, a late scratch in Okayama from the #9 Pacific VSPO NAC Mercedes-AMG GT3, has also been added back to the entry list for Fuji.
| Class | No. | Vehicle/Registered Name | Drivers | Entrant | Tyres |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GT300 | 2 | Toyota GR86 GT300 muta Racing GR86 GT | Yuui Tsutsumi Hibiki Taira Hiroki Katoh | muta Racing INGING | Bridgestone |
| GT300 | 4 | Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo Goodsmile Hatsune Miku AMG | Nobuteru Taniguchi Tatsuya Kataoka | Goodsmile Racing & TeamUKYO | Yokohama |
| GT300 | 5 | Dome MC86 Mach Syaken Air Buster MC86 Mach Go | Yusuke Tomibayashi Takamitsu Matsui | Team Mach | Yokohama |
| GT300 | 6 | Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo II Dobot Audi R8 LMS | Yoshiaki Katayama Roberto Merhi Muntan Seiya Jin | Team LeMans | Yokohama |
| GT300 | 7 | BMW M4 GT3 Studie BMW M4 | Seiji Ara Masataka Yanagida | BMW Team Studie x CRS | Michelin |
| GT300 | 9 | Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo Pacific VSpo NAC AMG | Ryohei Sakaguchi Liang Jiatong Shintaro Kawabata | Pacific Racing Team | Yokohama |
| GT300 | 10 | Nissan GT-R NISMO GT3 Ponos Gainer GT-R | Hironobu Yasuda Riki Okusa | Gainer | Dunlop |
| GT300 | 11 | Nissan GT-R NISMO GT3 Gainer TanaX GT-R | Ryuichiro Tomita Keishi Ishikawa Yusuke Shiotsu | Gainer | Dunlop |
| GT300 | 18 | Honda NSX GT3 Evo UPGarage NSX GT3 | Takashi Kobayashi Syun Koide | Team UPGarage | Yokohama |
| GT300 | 20 | Toyota GR86 GT300 SHADE Racing GR86 GT | Katsuyuki Hiranaka Eijiro Shimizu Shinnosuke Yamada | SHADE Racing | Dunlop |
| GT300 | 22 | Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo R'Qs AMG GT3 | Hisashi Wada Masaki Jyonai Masaki Kano | R'Qs Motor Sports | Yokohama |
| GT300 | 25 | Toyota GR Supra GT300 Hoppy Schatz GR Supra | Seita Nonaka Togo Suganami | Hoppy Team Tsuchiya | Yokohama |
| GT300 | 27 | Honda NSX GT3 Evo Yogibo NSX GT3 | Yugo Iwasawa Reimei Ito | Yogibo Racing | Yokohama |
| GT300 | 30 | Toyota GR86 GT300 apr GR86 GT | Manabu Orido Yuta Kamimura Ryo Ogawa | apr | Yokohama |
| GT300 | 31 | Lexus LC500h GT300 apr LC500h GT | Koki Saga Kazuto Kotaka Yuki Nemoto | apr | Bridgestone |
| GT300 | 48 | Nissan GT-R NISMO GT3 Shokumou K's Frontier GT-R | Taiyo Ida Yuki Tanaka Takumi Sanada | NILZZ Racing | Yokohama |
| GT300 | 50 | Lexus RC F GT3 Anest Iwata Racing RC F GT3 | Igor Omura Fraga Yuga Furutani Miki Koyama | Anest Iwata Racing with Arnage | Yokohama |
| GT300 | 52 | Toyota GR Supra GT300 Saitama Toyopet GB GR Supra GT | Hiroki Yoshida Kohta Kawaai | Saitama Toyopet GreenBrave | Bridgestone |
| GT300 | 56 | Nissan GT-R NISMO GT3 Realize Nissan Mechanic Challenge GT-R | João Paulo de Oliveira Teppei Natori | Kondo Racing | Yokohama |
| GT300 | 60 | Toyota GR Supra GT300 Syntium LMcorsa GR Supra GT | Hiroki Yoshimoto Shunsuke Kohno | LM corsa | Dunlop |
| GT300 | 61 | Subaru BRZ GT300 Subaru BRZ R&D Sport | Takuto Iguchi Hideki Yamauchi Kota Sasaki | R&D Sport | Dunlop |
| GT300 | 65 | Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo LEON Pyramid AMG | Naoya Gamou Takuro Shinohara | K2 R&D LEON Racing | Bridgestone |
| GT300 | 87 | Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Bamboo Airways Lamborghini GT3 | Kosuke Matsuura Natsu Sakaguchi | JLOC | Yokohama |
| GT300 | 88 | Lamborghini Huracán GT3 JLOC Lamborghini GT3 | Takashi Kogure Yuya Motojima | JLOC | Yokohama |
| GT300 | 96 | Lexus RC F GT3 K-tunes RC F GT3 | Morio Nitta Shinichi Takagi | K-tunes Racing | Dunlop |
| GT300 | 244 | Toyota GR Supra GT300 Hachi-Ichi GR Supra GT | Kimiya Sato Atsushi Miyake | Max Racing | Yokohama |
| GT300 | 360 | Nissan GT-R NISMO GT3 RunUp Rivaux GT-R | Takayuki Aoki Atsushi Tanaka Takuya Otaki | Tomei Sports | Yokohama |
Images © GTA
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