2024 Fuji GT 3 Hour Race Entry List Published

The GT Association (GTA) has released the provisional entry list for the Fuji GT 3 Hours Race, the annual SUPER GT Golden Week classic – which takes place Friday and Saturday, 3-4 May.

It is the first SUPER GT championship race ever to run in a timed format, and all 42 of the series’ full-time entries are expected to take part. This includes the #11 Gainer Tanax Nissan Fairlady Z GT300, which withdrew from the opening round at Okayama due to delays in production and a complete lack of testing time. Ryuichiro Tomita and Keishi Ishikawa won the last race at Fuji Speedway in August.

Of the 27 GT300 teams, 12 of them have registered three drivers for the race. That list includes some accomplished veterans – two-time GT300 Champion Manabu Orido (#30 apr Toyota GR86) and 2018 GT300 Champion Haruki Kurosawa (#65 LEON Pyramid Mercedes-AMG GT3), plus 2012 DTM Champion Bruno Spengler (#7 Studie BMW M4 GT3), all returning to action next weekend.

There are also a few drivers making their series debuts at Fuji. One of them is Charlie Fagg, the reigning International GT Open champion, driving the #777 D’station Aston Martin Vantage GT3. The 24-year-old British racer previously drove for D’station Racing in the 2022 FIA World Endurance Championship and 2023 Asian Le Mans Series.

He’ll debut alongside Honda Formula Dream Project (HFDP) training driver Yusuke Mitsui (#18 UPGarage Honda NSX GT3), former TGR-DC scholarship driver Rin Arakawa (#360 RunUp Rivaux Nissan GT-R NISMO GT3), and fellow Japanese F4 graduate Yuta Fujiwara (#9 Pacific VSpo NAC AMG) who are also listed as third drivers.

Masaki Jyonai (R’Qs Motor Sports), Kimiya Sato (Hoppy Team Tsuchiya), Yuki Nemoto (apr #31), Takumi Sanada (NILZZ Racing) and Reiji Hiraki (HELM Motorsports) round out the list of endurance drivers in GT300.

TGR Team au TOM’S won last year’s 450km Fuji Golden Week race and can make history this year. The #36 au TOM’S Toyota GR Supra and lead driver Sho Tsuboi became the first team/driver combination to win three consecutive GT500 races when they won at Okayama – and can become the first in any category to win four in a row. But it won’t be an easy task, with the #36 au GR Supra of Tsuboi and Kenta Yamashita carrying 46 kilogrammes of Success Weight.

The #39 Denso Kobelco SARD GR Supra (Yuhi Sekiguchi/Yuichi Nakayama) is on +34kg, and the #100 Stanley Honda Civic Type R-GT (Naoki Yamamoto/Tadasuke Makino) is on +24kg after their podium finishes in Okayama.

In GT300, the Balance of Performance (BoP) for Fuji sees the Nissan GT-R NISMO GT3s receiving a significant 30kg weight break since the Okayama round. The GTA-GT300 Toyota GR86, Toyota GR Supra and Lexus LC 500h also received small weight breaks as did the Ferrari 296 GT3 and Mercedes-AMG GT3.

The Subaru BRZ, Aston Martin Vantage, BMW M4, Lexus RC F GT3 and both versions of the Lamborghini Huracán GT3 EVO received minor BoP weight increases since Okayama. Seven GT3 models received small to moderate horsepower increases: The Aston Martin, BMW, both Lamborghinis, Mercedes, Nissan – and the Honda NSX GT3.

Okayama winners Yuui Tsutsumi and Hibiki Taira will enter the weekend carrying +44kg of Success Weight in their #2 muta Racing GR86, 2kg per point scored in the Drivers’ Championship.

Feature image © GTA