On Saturday, GT Association (GTA) Chairman Masaaki Bandoh made two significant announcements for the upcoming 2020 Autobacs Super GT Series, at a press conference held before qualifying at Twin Ring Motegi circuit.
The first concerns the series’ international rounds in Southeast Asia, at Chang International Circuit in Thailand and Sepang International Circuit in Malaysia, with the dates for each announced.
Despite doubts that the series would return to Thailand in 2020, Chairman Bandoh announced that an agreement in principle had been reached with local race organisers, and the series will return to the circuit in Buriram next summer on 4-5 July 2020. It will be the seventh successive year that Super GT races at Chang International Circuit, which has become a fan favourite in the world motorcycle racing realm – but has failed to maintain a steady attendance since debuting on the Super GT calendar in 2014.
“We continued negotiations with Chang International Circuit, and this Monday, we travelled to Thailand and reached an agreement with the circuit,” said Chairman Bandoh.
Two weeks later, Super GT will make its return to Sepang International Circuit for the first time since 2013 in the first-ever night-time race in series history, with the race meeting scheduled for Friday 17 July through Saturday 18 July 2020.
There will be a nearly two-month break between the night race at Sepang and the following round at Sportsland Sugo on 13 September 2020, as the series will avoid clashes with the 2020 Summer Olympics and Paralympics in Tokyo.
The second major announcement from Chairman Bandoh was that in 2020, the series will introduce the Full Course Yellow (FCY) protocol for all rounds next season, introducing a new measure for the series to safely neutralize a race.
The prospective introduction of the FCY has been a major talking point for the series in recent years, as Super GT prohibits cars from pitting under the Safety Car as of 2016. This rule, also introduced under safety grounds following a farcical traffic jam in the pits at the 2015 Sugo 300km, has caused several races to swing dramatically when a Safety Car is called during the middle of a pit window.
“We know that there will be a significant cost to introduce FCY into Super GT next season,” Chairman Bandoh explained, “but I hope that it will make the racing even more interesting.”
As of yet, there has been no announcement as to whether or not the current Safety Car pit restrictions will be lifted, or what pitwork will be permissible during a FCY intervention.
Super GT will use Bicester-based EM Motorsports’ bespoke FCY system.
