42 Cars Entered For 2023 SUPER GT Series

The GT Association (GTA) released the full-season entry list for the 2023 Autobacs SUPER GT Series today. In total, 42 cars have entered, consisting of 15 cars in the premier GT500 class, and 27 cars in the GT300 class.

Toyota, Honda, and Nissan have already confirmed their lineups months in advance of today’s entry list announcement.

A fleet of four Nissan Z GT500s will retain the same driver line-ups as last season. Defending GT500 Drivers Champions, Kazuki Hiramine and Bertrand Baguette, will defend their championships at Team Impul driving the newly-rechristened #1 Marelli Impul Z, while Katsumasa Chiyo and Mitsunori Takaboshi will have new sponsorship from the former NGK, soon to become Niterra, for NDDP Racing.

Honda enter five cars, in the final year of service for the second-generation NSX-GT. ARTA and M-TEC will together field two cars under the ARTA banner, the #8 ARTA Mugen NSX-GT for Tomoki Nojiri and Toshiki Oyu, and the #16 for Nirei Fukuzumi and Hiroki Otsu. Kakunoshin Ohta will be the only GT500 rookie stepping up from GT300, partnering Takuya Izawa at Modulo Nakajima Racing.

Six Toyota GR Supra GT500s have entered, including the #36 au TOM’s GR Supra for Sho Tsuboi and Ritomo Miyata, and the #37 Deloitte TOM’s GR Supra for Toyota Gazoo Racing newcomer Ukyo Sasahara alongside Giuliano Alesi.

Bridgestone will supply tyres to ten GT500 teams including the two cars from ARTA. Michelin will continue a long-standing exclusive partnership with NISMO, supplying tyres to the flagship #23 Motul Autech Z of Tsugio Matsuda and Ronnie Quintarelli and their sister team NDDP Racing. Yokohama will continue to be represented by longtime clients TGR Team WedsSport Bandoh and Kondo Racing, while Modulo Nakajima Racing will be the sole GT500 client for Dunlop (Sumitomo Rubber) in 2023.

The GT300 class features multiple returning and new partnerships, headlined by the defending class champions Kondo Racing. They’ve  welcomed 22-year-old sophomore Teppei Natori, a Super Formula Lights champion and previous GT300 pole winner, as the new co-driver to two-time champion João Paulo de Oliveira.

Fellow Nissan customer team Gainer have swapped drivers, placing Hironobu Yasuda and his protegé Riki Okusa together in the new-look #10 Ponos Gainer GT-R, and Ryuichiro Tomita has gone to the #11 Gainer TanaX GT-R alongside Keishi Ishikawa. NILZZ Racing have yet to announce their drivers for 2023.

An all-new GT300 original hybrid vehicle, the Lexus LC500h GT, will debut as the new flagship model for apr – the #31 driven by Koki Saga and the returning Kazuto Kotaka. apr will also field the #30 Toyota GR86 for Hiroaki Nagai and Manabu Orido.

Team UPGarage have promoted 2022 FIA F4 Japanese Champion Syun Koide to a full-time GT300 ride in their Honda NSX GT3, and Yogibo Racing have taken over the vacated ARTA GT300 entry with an all-rookie line-up of fellow F4 graduates Yugo Iwasawa and Reimei Ito in their Yokohama-clad #27 NSX.

FIA Formula 3 alumnus Igor Fraga and Formula Regional Japanese Champion Yuga Furutani comprise another all-rookie line-up in the new look Anest Iwata Racing with Arnage team, fielding a Lexus RC F GT3 for the first time.

Arnage Racing’s former Dome MC86 has been sold to Team Mach and will be the only GT300 Mother Chassis on the grid this season. Team Mach have added past GT300 champion Takamitsu Matsui to their line-up, while Togo Suganami takes his place at Hoppy Team Tsuchiya with their self-constructed Toyota GR Supra.

Seiji Ara will anchor the lineup within the subtly renamed BMW Team Studie x CRS. BMW works racer Bruno Spengler, nominated as Ara’s primary co-driver, will appear in the first round at Okayama and then the final four rounds.

Within the past two weeks, there were confirmations from several other Toyota GT300 squads.

LM Corsa retain Hiroki Yoshimoto and Shunsuke Kohno in their #60 Syntium LM corsa GR Supra, which will feature a reprofiled aero package.

SHADE Racing return for their second season, their #20 Toyota GR86 will be driven by team co-owner Katsuyuki Hiranaka and young Eijiro Shimizu.

Despite concerns over the long-term future of Max Racing since the passing of founder Tsuyoshi “Go Max” Oono, team director Tetsuya Tanaka and drivers Kimiya Sato and Atsushi Miyake return to the grid with their #244 Hachi-Ichi GR Supra.

And Hiroki Katoh, a two-time GT300 championship runner-up, has stepped away from full-time SUPER GT driving after 24 seasons to be the new team director at muta Racing INGING.

2020 FIA F4 Champion Hibiki Taira takes his place for his first full season in GT300, alongside Yuui Tsutsumi in the #2 muta GR86.

Today’s entry list release confirms unchanged systems for JLOC’s two cars: The #87 Bamboo Airways Lamborghini of Kosuke Matsuura and Natsu Sakaguchi, and the team’s flagship #88 driven by Takashi Kogure and Yuya Motojima, with a new title sponsor to be announced. JLOC stated their intentions to use the new Huracán GT3 EVO2 model last year – this awaits confirmation.

R’Qs Motor Sports return with the #22 Mercedes-AMG GT3 for Hisashi Wada and Masaki Jyonai, the oldest driver combination in the series.

Team LeMans announced that they will retain Yoshiaki Katayama and ex-F1 driver Roberto Merhi. They are all but confirmed to continue fielding the Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo II after an unsuccessful attempt to sell the car this off-season.

Finally, Pacific Racing Team will continue despite losing CarGuy Racing as a partner and Cover Corporation (parent company of Hololive Production) as a title sponsor. They have yet to announce their drivers or car – but it will be the number 9 with tyres supplied by Yokohama.

Yokohama will supply tyres to 16 GT300 cars. Dunlop will supply six teams – the Subaru factory R&D Sport team, both cars at Gainer, K-Tunes Racing, LM Corsa, and SHADE Racing. Bridgestone’s three clients are Saitama Toyopet GreenBrave, muta Racing INGING, and the new #31 apr LC500h GT. Michelin’s sole client is BMW Team Studie x CRS.

Images © GTA