In the Autobacs SUPER GT Series, all fifteen GT500 teams and drivers have been secured for the 2023 season. GT300 teams are now finalising their participation plans.
K2 R&D LEON Racing announced their unchanged line-up on Saturday. 2018 GT300 champion Naoya Gamou and Takuro Shinohara will drive the #65 LEON Pyramid Mercedes-AMG GT3 for the second consecutive season. They finished tenth in the GT300 Drivers’ Championship and eighth in the GT300 Teams’ Championship in 2022, with two podium finishes.
Haruki Kurosawa will continue his role as team director, and Bridgestone will continue as the team’s tyre supplier. LEON Racing will try to end a two-year winless run.
On Monday, K-Tunes Racing announced that they too will have an unchanged SUPER GT line-up, a second year of the reunion between three-time GT300 champion and series Iron Man, Morio Nitta, and two-time GT300 champion Shinichi Takagi.
They will drive the #96 Lexus RC F GT3, now one of the oldest GT3 cars on the GT300 grid in its ninth season. Two-time GT500 champion driver Masami Kageyama will continue as team director; Dunlop (Sumitomo) will again supply tyres.
In their first season sharing a car since 2010, Nitta and Takagi finished 16th in the championship standings last season. Their best finish was a fifth place at the Fuji 100 Lap Race in August.
So far, 12 teams and drivers have been confirmed with more still to come. While a few familiar teams could be absent from the 2023 GT300 grid, the series also has a waiting list of teams that are eager to participate should any entries open – so a car count in the high 20s is still very likely!
K-Tunes Racing also announced a multi-class effort in GT World Challenge Asia, entering three rounds in the Japan Cup. Last year they entered a Lexus RC F GT3 in the series finale at their home race in Okayama.
Nitta will drive their Lexus RC F GT3 alongside a second driver to be named later. They will also field a Toyota GR Supra GT4 Evo for drivers Masanori Nogami and Hiromitsu Fujii.
In the Eneos Super Taikyu Series powered by Hankook, defending ST-X (GT3) champions and Fuji 24 Hour race winners HELM Motor Sports will defend their titles with an unchanged system – unveiled at Tokyo Auto Salon earlier this month.
Yuya Hiraki, Reiji Hiraki, and Yutaka Toriba will drive the blue and orange Nissan GT-R NISMO GT3, which will carry the champion’s number one this coming season.
2023年 #スーパー耐久 シリーズの ST-Xクラスに参戦致します。
高い戦闘力と信頼性を兼ね備えた「#NISSAN #NISMO #GTR GT3」を継続使用し、#茨城日産 と #プリンス茨城 のテクニカルスタッフがレースメカニックとして共に連覇を目指して戦っ ていきます。 ご声援よろしくお願い致します！#HELM62 pic.twitter.com/WW3ONNlUsh— HELM MOTORSPORTS (@HELM_MS_62) January 13, 2023
A fourth driver will be announced later, according to the team’s SNS.
Another championship-winning S-Tai outfit, Team Noah, also confirmed their 2023 entry on 19 January.
After two consecutive championships in the depleted ST-TCR category, the team from Fukuoka will move to the ST-Z (GT4) class with the new Toyota GR Supra GT4 Evo.
Drivers have yet to be announced. Ten different drivers took turns driving their Honda Civic TCR in five rounds last season – including recent Rolex 24 debutant Yu Kanamaru.
We’ve also seen confirmation from Birth Racing Project (BRP) that they will continue in ST-Z with the newest model of Porsche 718 Cayman GT4, the RS Clubsport.
The driver lineup will again feature Kenji Suzuki, Takeshi Suehiro, Kohei Fukuda, and Tatsuya Tanigawa – a mid-season acquisition off the back of strong GT World Challenge Asia form. Anna Inotsume also joins the team, marking her first foray into GT4 racing.
BMW pro shop Y’Z ONE will partner with BMW Team Studie for a GT4 entry with the latest M4 GT4 (G82), but have not yet decided whether to enter GT World Challenge Asia, Super Taikyu – or both – this season.
Speaking of new GT4 cars, Nissan’s 2023 motorsports activities announcements also included the confirmation of their first Japanese customer teams for their new Nissan Z GT4 (RZ34).
They include reigning SUPER GT GT500 champions, Team Impul, fielding a car with sponsorship from Naniwa Densou; and Team ZeroOne, who ran the Fairlady Z34 (370Z) in last season’s ST-3 class with the backing of the Nissan Mechanic Challenge training initiative.
