On the weekend of the much-anticipated Super GT x DTM Dream Race in Fuji Speedway, a dozen FIA GT3, JAF-GT300, and JAF Mother Chassis cars will take part in the inaugural auto sport Web Sprint Cup.
The event consists of two 50-minute sprint races on Saturday and Sunday, 23-24 November, with a qualifying session on Saturday morning to determine the grid for the first race. It is open to entries outside of the GT300 class of Super GT – of which, only seven of the 29 full-season entries from GT300 are taking part in the event, making up a slight majority of the 12-car field.
And it’s a much-welcome sight to see two of the fan-favourite cars from this year’s Suzuka 10 Hours taking part once again: The Planex SmaCam McLaren 720S GT3, and the BH Auction Callaway Chevrolet Corvette C7 GT3-R!
The number 11 Planex SmaCam McLaren – now registered to Hanashima Racing – won’t have the services of two-time Formula 1 World Champion Mika Hakkinen this time out. But historic grand prix specialist Katsuaki Kubota will return to drive the car as he did at Suzuka.
His co-driver will be 20-year-old Kazuto Kotaka, a Toyota Young Driver Programme (TDP) racer who finished 5th in the 2019 All-Japan Formula 3 Championship – despite missing six races due to his indefinite ban from racing at Okayama International Circuit. Kotaka also drove for apr Racing in the Fuji 500km and Fuji 500 Miles.
The yellow and black number 37 BH Auction Corvette will be piloted by Shinji Takei, whose company is a prominent sponsor of the Fuji Dream Race.
Takei will also have a new co-driver for the occasion: 24-year-old Ukyo Sasahara, who is going to be an ultra-hot property for the upcoming 2020 season. Sasahara won both the Porsche Carrera Cup Japan (PCCJ) Championship, and the FIA Formula 3 Asian Championship this year. In the inaugural FIA Motorsport Games, he and Hiroshi Hamaguchi secured the gold medal for Team Japan in the rain-shortened GT race.
GT300 stalwarts and fan-favourites apr Racing will bring both of their hybrid-powered Toyota GR Sport Prius PHV apr GTs: The flourescent yellow number 30 for Hiroaki Nagai and two-time GT300 Drivers’ Champion Manabu Orido, and the candy apple red number 31 for Koki Saga and 2013 GT300 Champion Yuhki Nakayama.
It was a tough year as neither of the two front-engined Prii scored a top-ten finish, but the asWeb Sprint Cup represents a chance to end the year on a high note.
There will also be two of the Mother Chassis vehicles entered, including the farewell race for Tsuchiya Engineering’s number 25 Hoppy Toyota 86 MC, driven by Takamitsu Matsui and Kimiya Sato.
After the season finale at Okayama, Tsuchiya Engineering’s deputy team director Takeshi Tsuchiya announced that the asWeb Sprint Cup will be their last race fielding the Toyota 86 MC, which made its debut in 2015. The Dome-built 86 MC won the 2016 GT300 Championship with Tsuchiya and Matsui driving it, and from 2015 to 2019, the Tsuchiya Engineering 86 MC racked up four race victories (including the first Mother Chassis race win), eleven pole positions, and nine podium finishes.
Meanwhile, Tsuchiya himself will also be racing in the event in a different car: The number 244 Max Racing Lexus RC F GT3, from the Pirelli Super Taikyu Series. Team owner and gentleman racer Go Max (Go Hayato) will return to the cockpit for the first time this year to co-drive the car.
The other Mother Chassis entry is the number 52 Saitama Toyopet GreenBrave Toyota Mark X MC, coming off of its most successful season to date. This is expected to be veteran driver Shigekazu Wakisaka’s last start with the team. Co-driver Hiroki Yoshida will drive alongside him as he did throughout a brilliant 2019 season that saw the GreenBrave Mark X MC score two podiums and win pole position for the Fuji 500 Miles.
This will also be the last race for this particular car, as the GT Association (GTA) plan to revamp the Mother Chassis platform for 2020 – plus, Toyota have phased the Mark X sport sedan out of production.
LM Corsa will field the number 60 Syntium Lexus RC F, for its regular driver lineup of veteran Hiroki Yoshimoto – the latest Super GT driver to start 100 or more championship and non-championship races – and 20-year-old TDP top prospect Ritomo Miyata, the runner-up in All-Japan F3 who is expected to jump to GT500 full-time in 2020.
Yoshimoto and Miyata captured an incredible come-from-behind victory in the Autopolis GT 300km Race, the first for LM Corsa since on-boarding with the Lexus RC F GT3 project back in 2015.
There is also a second LM Corsa entry, a Ferrari 488 GTE (example pictured above is LM Corsa’s 2016 Ferrari 488 GT3 run in conjunction with INGING Motorsport). The number 70 Ferrari will be driven by 24-year-old Shunsuke Kohno, an All-Japan F3 driver and understudy at Goodsmile Racing & Team UKYO – and 24-year-old Togo Suganami, who made his Super GT debut this September replacing Haruki Kurosawa at K2 R&D LEON Racing.
Tomei Sports’ number 360 RunUp Rivaux Nissan GT-R NISMO GT3 is entered, with 2001 GT300 Champion Takayuki Aoki partnering gentleman driver Atsushi Tanaka.
Aoki and Yusaku Shibata drove this car to a tenth-place finish in the Motegi GT 250km Race, the first points-scoring finish for a Tomei Sports-entered car since 1994. Shibata will not take in the event, as he’ll be racing in Shanghai in the Asian Le Mans Series’ opening round for Team JLOC.
Two more privateer Nissan GT-R GT3s will enter the race from NILZZ Racing Factory, representing their Super GT programme, and their Super Taikyu programme with MP Racing.
The #48 Shokumou Go&Fun GT-R will have its regular driver all-Am driver lineup of Masaki Tanaka and Taiyou Iida. The yellow #9 MP Racing GT-R will feature another all-Am lineup, with Joe Shindo and Keiichi Inoue.
With the exception of the #31 Toyota Prius and #52 GreenBrave Mark X on Bridgestone tyres, and the #60 LM Corsa RC F on Dunlop tyres, the rest of the field will run on Yokohama tyres.
Race start times will be announced in the coming days.
Photos by Pedro and Pierre-Laurent Ribault
Additional images courtesy of Toyota and INGING Motorsport
