On Monday, the GT Association (GTA) published the entry list for the 2019 Autobacs Super GT Series, including the 29-car entry in the GT300 class.
Monday’s entry list reveal includes this weekend’s latest team and driver announcements, which as of publication sees 25 of the 29 teams having secured their full-time driver lineups for the 2019 season.
Those announcements include Saitama Toyopet GreenBrave’s switch to Bridgestone Potenza tyres in 2019, and a new full-time driver lineup with 35-year-old Hiroki Yoshida, one of the breakout performers in 2018, joining two-time Suzuka 1000km overall winner Shigekazu Wakisaka in their #52 Toyota Mark X MC. They will be one of four teams to field a Mother Chassis car in 2019, which will be equipped with the standard GTA 4.5 litre V8 engine.
2012 GT300 Drivers’ Champions Kyosuke Mineo and Naoki Yokomizo will reunite in the new-look #9 Pacific Mirai Akari NAC Porsche 911 GT3-R, the last of the 991-generation GT3-Rs fielded by Pacific Racing with Good Speed. Along with the full-time driver lineup of Mineo and Yokomizo, 2008 Porsche Carrera Cup Japan champion Akihiro Tsuzuki will become the team’s third driver.
Among the six teams representing Nissan with two new GT-R NISMO GT3s are long time GT300 privateers Tomei Sports and Hong Kong-based newcomers X Works.
In Tomei Sports’ #360 RunUp Rivaux GT-R, 2001 GT300 Champion Takayuki Aoki is listed as the primary co-driver to gentleman driver Atsushi Tanaka. Six-time All-Japan Gymkhana Champion Yusaku Shibata remains with the team as the third driver, though the team has rotated their three drivers frequently through the course of recent years.
X Works is the new identity of the team that has previously competed in other series as Phoenix Racing Asia, and their #33 Tarmac Works GT-R will be driven by 23-year-old Shawn Thong (Thong Fei Wung Shawn) and 42-year-old owner/driver Marchy Lee (Lee Ying Kin Marchy), who both make their series debuts in 2019 – as will the team’s third driver, former F1 test driver Adderly Fong.
Arnage Racing and R’Qs Motor Sports have assembled Am/Am lineups for their respective Mercedes AMG-GT3s.
Masaki Kano returns to Arnage Racing to pilot the #50 AMG GT3 with 27-year-old Ryosei Yamashita, who returns to the series after a year’s hiatus. 24-year-old Yuya Tezuka, who won the 2017 Super Taikyu ST-3 Championship, will become the team’s third driver and make his series debut.
Meanwhile, R’Qs Motor Sports once again calls upon the experience of owner-driver oHisashi Wada and co-driver Masaki Jyonai, both 56, to drive the #22 R’Qs AMG GT3. Wada and Jyonai have each competed in over 100 Super GT events.
With the first of two pre-season tests just three weeks away at Okayama International Circuit, the four teams that are yet to announce their 2019 drivers are as follows: The #35 arto Lexus RC F GT3 of Panther arto Team Thailand, the #5 Dome/Toyota 86 MC of Team Mach, and the #87 and #88 Team JLOC Lamborghini Huracán GT3s.
In a category that’s already seen a massive shakeup with the return of Aston Martin and McLaren, the new Toyota Prius PHV GTs from apr Racing, EVO-spec upgrades for the Honda NSX GT3 and their new customer teams ARTA and Team UPGarage, plus the signings of veterans like João Paulo de Oliveira and Seiji Ara, and young stars like Nirei Fukuzumi and Sacha Fenestraz, there’s still a lot of intrigue as to the final pieces of the GT300 puzzle in 2019.
Images courtesy of Saitama Toyopet GreenBrave, Nissan, and the GT Association (GTA)
