On Monday, the GT Association (GTA) published the complete entry list for the opening round of the 2019 Autobacs Super GT Series, the Okayama GT 300km Race on 13/14 April.
There were just three teams in the GT300 class that had yet to announce their 2019 driver lineups: The two Lamborghini Huracán GT3s of Team JLOC, and the Lexus RC F GT3 of Panther arto Team Thailand. Monday’s entry list confirms the driver lineups for those three entries.
Last-minute negotiations have brought longtime Honda factory driver and 2010 GT500 Champion, Takashi Kogure, to JLOC to drive their flagship #88 ManePa Lamborghini Huracán GT3. 38-year-old Kogure was released from Honda after the 2018 season, the last of his nine career wins coming last April at Okayama with Keihin Real Racing.
Kogure will be joined by 27-year-old Yuya Motojima, who moves over from JLOC’s #87 car to the #88. Motojima is entering his fourth Super GT season, the 2015 Porsche Carrera Cup Japan Champion has two career podiums, including a career-best 2nd place finish last October at Autopolis.
Motojima is the only full-time driver Team JLOC retains from 2018, with Kazuki Hiramine moving to Kondo Racing, Kimiya Sato moving to Tsuchiya Engineering, and Marco Mapelli leaving the series to race in the Blancpain GT Series for the FFF Racing Team.
The #87 T-Dash Huracán GT3 will feature a brand-new lineup meshing youth and experience: 24-year-old Tsubasa Takahashi is promoted from the team’s reserve driver to full-time racing duties, joining 2015 GT300 Champion André Couto from Macau.
Takahashi was a prospect of the Honda Formula Dream Project (HFDP) through 2015 and joined Team JLOC in 2017. He appeared in two races in the #87 car last year. 42-year-old Couto returns to the series for the first time since the 2017 Autopolis round, and for his first full-time drive since 2016. Couto has driven 109 races over 15 seasons from 2001 to 2017, including ten seasons with Toyota as a factory GT500 driver (2004-2013). He won the 2015 GT300 title with Gainer alongside co-drivers Katsumasa Chiyo and Ryuichiro Tomita.
Panther arto Team Thailand, entering their third season, have confirmed the acquisition of British driver Sean Walkinshaw to partner the returning Thai driver Nattapong Horthongkum as the full-time driver tandem of their #35 arto Lexus RC F GT3.
Walkinshaw, the 25-year-old son of legendary team owner and racer Tom, won three races in his two-year run with Autobacs Racing Team Aguri (ARTA) in the GT300 class, including three consecutive class victories at Fuji Speedway in their old BMW M6 GT3. He and co-driver Shinichi Takagi finished runner-up in the GT300 championship in 2018. He is expected to help drive Super GT’s only full-time team from Thailand to their first points-paying results in 2019.
They are the final additions to a 29-car GT300 field that will also feature the debuts of the new Aston Martin Vantage GT3, McLaren 720S GT3, and Toyota GR Sport Prius PHV apr GTs; new drivers such as Nirei Fukuzumi, Álex Palou, and Sacha Fenestraz, and new teams such as McLaren Customer Racing Japan, Kondo Racing, and X Works Racing.
