SUPER GT releases eight-round 2022 schedule

As expected, the calendar announced on Friday features two races each for Fuji Speedway and Suzuka, as well as a single race apiece for Okayama, Sugo, Autopolis and Motegi.

It means Suzuka returns to hosting two races, as it did in 2020, while Motegi will hold a single event for the first time since 2019.

Okayama will once again hold the opening round on April 16-17, with its date pushed back by a week in comparison to this year's calendar.

Fuji will hold its traditional Golden Week fixture on May 3-4, before hosting a second race at the height of the summer on August 6-7, which fits in as the fourth round of the season following Suzuka's first race in late May.

This means there will be a summer break of more than two months in between the third and fourth rounds of the season.

Suzuka reprises the late August date that was previously reserved for its 1000km event for its second race on August 27-28, while Sugo and Autopolis retain their current September and October slots respectively.

Motegi will then host the season finale in early November, as it did from 2009 until 2019.

While SUPER GT's announcement made no mention of race distances, a provisional calendar released by national federation JAF suggests that the two Fuji races will be run over 500km and 500 miles respectively, as they were in 2018 and '19, with the remaining races staying at 300km.

This is despite GTA chairman Masaaki Bandoh suggesting previously that the standard race distance is set to be increased to 350 or 360km next season in a bid to encourage fuel efficiency.

Bandoh had already made it clear that no attempt would be made to run any overseas races in 2022 due to ongoing travel restrictions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

He floated the prospect of races in Malaysia and Thailand being held in January or February of 2023 should conditions allow.

Provisional 2022 SUPER GT calendar: