Honda shuffles SUPER GT drivers as ARTA adds second car

The Sakura marque will once again enter five of its Type S NSX-GTs in the top GT500 class of Japan’s premier sportscar series next year as it seeks a first title since 2020.

Motorsport.com reported in October that ARTA had taken the decision to part ways with long-time service provider Servus Japan amid a disastrous season in which Tomoki Nojiri and Nirei Fukuzumi finished 12th in the standings.

Now it has been confirmed ARTA will have a second car on the GT500 grid that will be run by Mugen/M-TEC, with both the #8 and #16 entries now running under a single banner on Bridgestone tyres.

Nojiri gets a new teammate in the team’s lead #8 car in the form of Toshiki Oyu, who partnered Ukyo Sasahara in the #16 Mugen entry for the past two years.

Sasahara has officially left Honda and looks set to join the Toyota camp with TOM’S in 2023.

After three seasons alongside Nojiri, Fukuzumi will step up to become the lead driver of the #16 car alongside Hiroki Otsu, who switches to Bridgestone tyres after three seasons with Nakajima Racing.

Kakunoshin Ota has been promoted to the vacant spot in the Nakajima line-up alongside veteran Takuya Izawa in what is now the sole Dunlop-shod car in the GT500 field.

 

It follows an impressive rookie season in the GT300 ranks for Ota with Honda GT3 squad Team UpGarage.

Honda’s remaining two teams, Bridgestone squads Team Kunimitsu and Real Racing, will run with unchanged line-ups for 2023.

Naoki Yamamoto and Tadasuke Makino, who won the 2020 title together, go into a fourth season as teammates at Kunimitsu, while Nobuharu Matsushita and Koudai Tsukakoshi will embark on a second campaign together at Real Racing.

In GT300, there will be a single Honda NSX GT3 fielded by Team UpGarage following the departure of ARTA from SUPER GT's secondary division.

Takashi Kobayashi will continue to lead UpGarage's driver line-up, with newly-crowned Japanese F4 champion Shun Koide taking the place of Ota.

2023 Honda SUPER GT line-up (GT500):