Fuji 450km SUPER GT – schedule, how to watch, entry list
SUPER GT continues its 2023 season this weekend with a first visit to Fuji Speedway for an action-packed 450km race. Here's how you can follow all the action.
A total of 41 cars, 15 in GT500 and 26 in GT300, are entered for the annual Golden Week classic, the first of five 450km races on this year's schedule.
The tradition of holding a midweek race during Japan's spring vacation dates back to the inaugural season of the All-Japan Touring Car Championship (JGTC), the forerunner of SUPER GT, in 1994. Regularly attracting a race day crowd in excess of 50,000 fans prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, it remains the best attended race on the calendar, boasting a real festival atmosphere.
After a wet start to the season last month at Okayama, the weather forecast this week at Fuji is for a dry race, meaning it could provide us with our first real indication of the pecking order between the three GT500 manufacturers with the use of carbon-neutral fuel (CNF).
Nissan got its campaign off to a winning start in Okayama as its two Michelin-shod NISMO Zs secured a one-two in the tricky conditions, but that means the #23 car of Tsugio Matsuda/Ronnie Quintarelli (42kg) and the #3 machine of Katsumasa Chiyo and Mitsunori Takaboshi (30kg) will be the heaviest on the grid as success ballast comes into play for the first time.
Conversely, a dramatic opener means several highly-fancied runners come to Fuji with little or no ballast. These include both of the TOM'S Toyota GR Supras, with the #36 car of Sho Tsuboi and Ritomo Miyata in particular set to be among the favourites at Fuji, the Team Kunimitsu Honda of Naoki Yamamoto and Tadasuke Makino and the #16 ARTA Honda of Nirei Fukuzumi and Hiroki Otsu.
Attention will also be on the #8 ARTA machine after the two drivers of the car, Tomoki Nojiri and Toshiki Oyu, collided in the most recent Super Formula race at Suzuka. The pair will be hoping to shrug off their 22kg of success ballast after scoring a surprise podium in the opening race.
In the GT300 class, Team UpGarage Honda pair Takashi Kobayashi and Shun Koide will be hard-pressed to repeat their Okayama win laden with the maximum 60kg of success ballast.
On the other hand, reigning champion Joao Paulo de Oliveira and his new Kondo Racing Nissan team-mate Teppei Natori carry just 3kg of ballast, while Subaru's works BRZ goes to one of its strongest circuits ballast-free. The Team LeMans Audi that features ex-Formula 1 driver Roberto Merhi is also on zero ballast and will be eager to replicate the strong pace he showed in pre-season testing.
Several teams have entered third drivers for this race, but the spotlight will be on reigning Formula Regional Japanese champion Miki Koyama in particular as she gets set for her race debut with the Anata Iwest Racing Lexus team.
SUPER GT time schedule for Fuji Round 2
Times are Local/UK time (GMT+1)/EDT/PDT
Wednesday May 3
Free practice (1h45 minutes) – 9.05am/1.05am/8.05pm (Tuesday)/5.05pm (Tuesday)
Qualifying – 3.15pm/7.15am/2.15am/11.15pm (Tuesday)
Thursday May 4
Warm-up – 12pm/4am/11pm (Wednesday)/8pm (Wednesday)
Race (100 laps) – 1.30pm/5.30am/12.30am/9.30pm (Wednesday)
Don't see your timezone listed? Check out our SUPER GT schedule page to see the session times in your local timezone
How can I watch SUPER GT at Fuji?
Motorsport.tv will once again be offering full coverage of both qualifying and the race for every round of the 2023 SUPER GT season (subscription required, available worldwide except Japan).
Commentary will be provided by Jake Sanson and Motorsport.com’s own expert Japanese racing analyst Jamie Klein.
Click here for further information, and to get your subscription now
SUPER GT entry list for Fuji Round 2
GT500 class:
Manufacturer |
Team |
Tyre |
No. |
Drivers |
---|---|---|---|---|
Nissan Z GT500
|
Team Impul |
Bridgestone |
1 |
Bertrand Baguette Kazuki Hiramine |
NDDP Racing |
Michelin |
3 |
Katsumasa Chiyo Mitsunori Takaboshi |
|
NISMO |
Michelin |
23 |
Ronnie Quintarelli Tsugio Matsuda |
|
Kondo Racing |
Yokohama |
24 |
Kohei Hirate Daiki Sasaki |
|
Toyota GR Supra
|
Rookie Racing |
Bridgestone |
14 |
Kazuya Oshima Kenta Yamashita |
Racing Project Bandoh |
Yokohama |
19 |
Yuji Kunimoto Sena Sakaguchi |
|
TOM’S
|
Bridgestone
|
36
|
Sho Tsuboi Ritomo Miyata |
|
37 |
Ukyo Sasahara Giuliano Alesi |
|||
Cerumo |
Bridgestone |
38 |
Hiroaki Ishiura Yuji Tachikawa |
|
SARD |
Bridgestone |
39 |
Yuhi Sekiguchi Yuichi Nakayama |
|
Honda NSX-GT (Type S)
|
ARTA
|
Bridgestone
|
8 |
Tomoki Nojiri Toshiki Oyu |
16 |
Nirei Fukuzumi Hiroki Otsu |
|||
Real Racing |
Bridgestone |
17 |
Koudai Tsukakoshi Nobuharu Matsushita |
|
Nakajima Racing |
Dunlop |
64 |
Takuya Izawa Kakunoshin Ota |
|
Team Kunimitsu |
Bridgestone |
100 |
Naoki Yamamoto Tadasuke Makino |
GT300 class:
No. | Team | Car | Tyre | Drivers |
---|---|---|---|---|
2 | Muta Racing Inging | Toyota GR86 GT | Bridgestone |
Yuui Tsutsumi Hibiki Taira Hiroki Katoh |
4 | Goodsmile Racing & Team Ukyo | Mercedes-AMG GT3 | Yokohama |
Nobuteru Taniguchi Tatsuya Kataoka |
5 | Team Mach | Toyota 86 MC | Yokohama |
Yusuke Tomibayashi Takamitsu Matsui |
6 | Team LeMans | Audi R8 LMS GT3 | Yokohama |
Roberto Merhi Yoshiaki Katayama Seiya Jin |
7 | BMW Team Studie | BMW M4 GT3 | Michelin |
Seiji Ara Masataka Yanagida |
9 |
Pacific Racing |
Mercedes-AMG GT3 | Yokohama |
Ryohei Sakaguchi Liang Jiatong Shintaro Kawabata |
10 | Gainer | Nissan GT-R NISMO GT3 | Dunlop |
Hironobu Yasuda Riki Okusa |
11 | Gainer | Nissan GT-R NISMO GT3 | Dunlop |
Ryuichiro Tomita Keishi Ishikawa Yusuke Shiotsu |
18 | Team UpGarage | Honda NSX GT3 | Yokohama |
Takashi Kobayashi Shun Koide |
20 | Shade Racing | Toyota GR86 GT | Dunlop |
Katsuyuki Hiranaka Eijiro Shimizu Shinnosuke Yamada |
22 | R'Qs Motor Sports | Mercedes-AMG GT3 | Yokohama |
Hisashi Wada Masaki Jyonai Masaki Kano |
25 | Hoppy Team Tsuchiya | Toyota GR Supra GT300 | Yokohama |
Togo Suganami Seita Nonaka |
27 | Yogibo Racing | Honda NSX GT3 | Yokohama |
Reimei Ito Yugo Iwasawa |
30 | apr | Toyota GR86 GT | Yokohama |
Yuta Kamimura Manabu Orido Ryo Ogawa |
31 | apr | Lexus LC500h GT | Bridgestone |
Koki Saga Kazuto Kotaka Yuki Nemuto |
48 | NILZZ Racing | Nissan GT-R NISMO GT3 | Yokohama |
Taiyou Ida Yuki Tanaka Takumi Sanada |
50 | Anest Iwata Racing with Arnage | Lexus RC F GT3 | Yokohama |
Igor Fraga Yuga Furutani Miki Koyama |
52 | Saitama Toyopet Green Brave | Toyota GR Supra GT300 | Bridgestone |
Hiroki Yoshida Kohta Kawaai |
56 | Kondo Racing | Nissan GT-R NISMO GT3 | Yokohama |
JP de Oliveira Teppei Natori |
60 | LM Corsa | Toyota GR Supra GT300 | Dunlop |
Hiroki Yoshimoto Shunsuke Kohno |
61 | R&D Sport | Subaru BRZ | Dunlop |
Takuto Iguchi Hideki Yamauchi |
65 | K2 R&D LEON Racing | Mercedes-AMG GT3 | Bridgestone |
Naoya Gamou Takuro Shinohara |
87 | JLOC | Lamborghini Huracan GT3 | Yokohama |
Kosuke Matsuura Natsu Sakaguchi |
88 | JLOC | Lamborghini Huracan GT3 | Yokohama |
Takashi Kogure Yuya Motojima |
96 | K-tunes Racing | Lexus RC F GT3 | Dunlop |
Morio Nitta Shinichi Takagi |
244 | Max Racing | Toyota GR Supra GT300 | Yokohama |
Kimiya Sato Atsushi Miyake |
360 | Tomei Sports | Nissan GT-R NISMO GT3 | Yokohama |
Takayuki Aoki Atsushi Tanaka Takuya Otaki |
Be part of Motorsport community
Join the conversationShare Or Save This Story
Top Comments
Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.