Entries Secured For SUPER GT Motegi Grand Final

Two weeks remain until a captivating finale in the 2022 Autobacs SUPER GT Series. The GT Association (GTA) released the entry list for the upcoming Motegi GT 300km Race “Grand Final”, on 5-6 November, with 42 cars set to take part in the eighth and final round of the season.

It is the first time that SUPER GT’s season finale will be held at the rechristened Mobility Resort Motegi since 2019. The last two seasons, whose calendars have been impacted by the novel coronavirus pandemic, have concluded at Fuji Speedway.

The top three teams in the GT500 Drivers’ Championship enter this Grand Final at Motegi covered by just four points, and with Success Ballast no longer in play, it will be a true winner-take-all battle between these teams, and their drivers, who are all in search of their first GT500 championships.

The #3 CraftSports Motul Z of Katsumasa Chiyo and Mitsunori Takaboshi has won twice this season, and are trying to secure a first title for the NISMO-run NDDP Racing team. The #12 Calsonic Impul Z of Kazuki Hiramine and Bertrand Baguette enter this race trying to end a 27-year championship drought for Team Impul and the world-famous Calsonic Nissan.

Both are hoping to give the new Nissan Z GT500 a championship title in its debut season, and a first for Nissan in SUPER GT’s premier class since 2015.

Honda’s leading title challenger, the #17 Astemo NSX-GT of Koudai Tsukakoshi and Nobuharu Matsushita, are in search of Astemo Real Racing’s first title in their 16th season in SUPER GT. Mobility Resort Motegi is one of two “home tracks” for Honda, in fact, it is the closest to where the Honda NSX-GTs are constructed and developed at HRD Sakura. With that advantage, Honda have won the last four races at Motegi.

There are also three longshot contenders: The #100 Raybrig NSX-GT (Naoki Yamamoto/Tadasuke Makino) needs to win to have any chance at overturning a 17 point deficit in the championship table. Toyota’s two remaining title contenders also have near impossible odds – the #37 KeePer TOM’s GR Supra (Sacha Fenestraz/Ritomo Miyata), and the #14 Eneos X Prime GR Supra (Kazuya Oshima/Kenta Yamashita).

For the other nine teams in the GT500 field, it will simply be a chance to end their seasons on a high note with a victory or podium finish.

It’s a similar story in GT300, where the category’s two most recent champions occupy first and second in the standings, separated by just two and a half points.

Champions in 2020 and runners-up in 2021, the #56 Realize/Nissan Mechanic Challenge GT-R GT3 of Kiyoto Fujinami and João Paulo de Oliveira has stayed near the top of the table since winning the first race of the season at Okayama.

Kondo Racing and the Nissan Mechanic Challenge programme have been one of the strongest GT300 outfits since their debut three years ago.

For Subaru, R&D Sport, Takuto Iguchi, and Hideki Yamauchi, they have the chance to become the first GT300 team and drivers to repeat as champions. Their second-generation #61 Subaru BRZ has once again been strong despite some BoP adjustments intended to slow down the original construction GTA-GT300 vehicles after a dominant 2021.

Either of these teams can clinch the title if they win the race.

The #10 TanaX Gainer GT-R has also had a strong season, and rookie driver Riki Okusa has been a revelation this season. He can become the second rookie to win the GT300 Championship in four years, if he wins the race with the #56 Realize GT-R finishing third or lower.

Ryuichiro Tomita, who returns after missing the previous race in Autopolis due to GT World Challenge commitments, will hope to give his co-driver a fighting chance at the title – as well as the chance to secure the Teams’ Championship for Gainer.

The #52 Saitama Toyopet GreenBrave GR Supra (Hiroki Yoshida/Kohta Kawaai) needs to finish second or better, for Kawaai to have a chance at his first GT300 title. Two more longshots are the #11 Gainer TanaX GT-R (Hironobu Yasuda/Keishi Ishikawa), and the #65 LEON Pyramid Mercedes-AMG GT3, both of whom are in must-win mode.

On the GT300 side, the field of 27 cars benefits from the returns of the aforementioned Tomita, and BMW Team Studie’s Augusto Farfus. Young amateur racer Ryosei Yamashita is back for his second start in the #50 Arnage Racing MC86.

And Tomei Sports have recruited Teppei Natori to join them, in their #360 RunUp Rivaux GT-R alongside Takayuki Aoki.

Natori, a former member of the Honda Formula Dream Project (HFDP), raced full-time for Team UPGarage last season and won the pole for the November 2021 race at Motegi – in a year where he became Super Formula Lights champion. Since a deal to move up to Formula 2 fell through, Natori has aligned himself with Nissan, racing in Super Taikyu.

As in GT500, most teams will run without any Success Weight. Only Hoppy Team Tsuchiya and Max Racing will have a miniscule 2kg of Success Weight, because they each missed one round earlier this season.

Images © GTA