The SUPER GT controversial new aggregate qualifying system will be trialled during the first official pre-season test at Okayama International Circuit on Saturday 16 March. That afternoon’s Session 2 will be dedicated exclusively towards practising the new two-stage aggregate format that will be used in 2024.
An official timetable published by Okayama International Circuit revealed one key detail specific to GT300 qualifying. When the initial announcement of the new qualifying format was made in February, many were alarmed at a provision which read: “A special rule is set for the GT300 class to increase the chance for all drivers to change their position in the qualifying standing, thus creating a new aspect of entertainment.”
It’s now become clear that this refers to the practice of splitting the GT300 field into two groups during Q1, which has been done at every SUPER GT event since 2020 to ease on-track congestion.
GT300 Q1 will have two group phases with the cars in “Group A” and “Group B” based on the most recent GT300 Teams’ Championship standings, and a lottery drawing in advance to determine which group goes first. After both groups have run in Q1, the combined times across both groups will be used to determine the Q2 groupings, marked as “Lower 17” and “Upper 16” on the timetable.
Cars that finished ninth or lower in their respective groups will run in “Group 2”, followed by the top eight cars in their respective groups in “Group 1”.
As per the GTA’s official bulletin posted on 12 March, the combined times of the top 12 cars from Q2 Group 1 will determine positions 1-12 on the GT300 grid. Positions 13-20 will consist of the four slowest combined times from Q2 Group 1 and the four fastest combined times from Q2 Group 2. The remaining positions will be determined by the lowest-ranked cars that finished fifth or lower in Q2 Group 2.
On February 22, the GTA confirmed that all Q2 sessions will be shortened to eight (8) minutes. Q1 sessions will stay at ten (10) minutes.
In addition, any car can replace up to one damaged tyre after qualifying without incurring a pit lane start penalty. Any team that changes two or more tyres after qualifying must do so from their pit stall and start from the pit lane.
40 cars are scheduled to take part in the official pre-season test at Okayama on 16/17 March, which consists of two sessions on each day.
The significant changes are in GT300, where 25 out of the 27 announced entries will take part. The two missing cars are Gainer’s new #11 Nissan Fairlady Z GT300-GT, which has yet to be revealed, and the #25 Hoppy Schatz Toyota GR Supra, which is undergoing the final stages of its rebuild at the Tsuchiya Engineering garage in Fujisawa. JLOC’s two cars will be present but only one, the #88 car, is listed as the current EVO2 spec.
PONOS Racing driver Lilou Wadoux, who is expected to be at Sebring that weekend, will not take part; Yuki Nemoto (apr #31) and Hiroki Katoh (muta Racing INGING) are also missing from the entry list.
Two-time GT300 Champion Kiyoto Fujinami and former Gainer driver Yusuke Shiotsu will return the #5 Dome MC86 for Team Mach, following a GT Entrants’ Association (GTE) sanctioned test at Fuji in February.
An official press release from Yokohama regarding its 2024 motorsports activities has already confirmed Fujinami as Team Mach’s lead driver for 2024. It’ll mark his return to the team for the first time since 2018 – and also his return to SUPER GT after being exiled from the series last year.
At NILZZ Racing, GT300 veteran and gymkhana/time attack star Yusaku Shibata is listed as the team’s second driver for the test. The third driver is rookie Takashi Ito, the 2022 Super Taikyu Series ST-3 Class champion, who will sample a Nissan GT-R NISMO GT3 for the first time.
Four graduates of the FIA F4 Japanese Championship will also receive their first GT300 tests. Honda Formula Dream Project (HFDP) academy driver Yusuke Mitsui will join Team UPGarage in the #18 Honda NSX GT3 Evo22 after finishing second in the 2022 championship and third in 2023.
Former Toyota Gazoo Racing Driver Challenge (TGR-DC) scholarship driver Shunji Okumoto will drive the #61 Subaru BRZ for R&D Sport, while 2021 F4 runner-up and fellow TGR-DC alumni Rin Arakawa will drive Tomei Sports’ #360 Nissan GT-R. 18-year-old Yuta Fujiwara, who is also a champion in drifting, will drive the #9 Mercedes-AMG GT3 for Pacific Racing Team.
Also entered is Tomei Sports’ longtime ‘Bronze’ driver Atsushi Tanaka, and K2 R&D LEON Racing team director and 2018 GT300 Champion Haruki Kurosawa. Tanaka is set to run the full GT World Challenge Asia Japan Cup with Tomei Sports, while Kurosawa made two appearances as a third driver for LEON Racing last year.
Feature image © GTA
