This weekend, GT World Challenge Asia and SRO Japan Cup will welcome a record entry list across both series as they head to the historic Fuji Speedway.
It’s the first stop of what is now known as the SRO GT PowerTour, three events in Japan that will feature both the Pan-Asian GT3 series and the Japanese domestic GT3 & GT4 mixed series.
A total of 49 GT3 and GT4 cars have entered this weekend representing 11 different makes, and teams flying the flag for nine nations.
33 of these cars are entered in GT World Challenge Asia, where through four races, Origine Motorsport’s Lu Wei leads the GT3 Drivers’ Championship with two wins in the first four rounds.
Lu, who previously finished on the GTE Am podium in his one and only Le Mans start in 2019, won Race 2 at Sepang alongside Laurin Heinrich, and Race 2 in Buriram with Patrick Pilet.
Pilet, who took part in this year’s Le Mans 24H, returns as Lu’s co-driver at Fuji this weekend in the purple #4 Porsche 911 GT3 R.
Audi customer teams have split the other two races in Malaysia and Thailand. Cheng Congfu and Adderly Fong won in Sepang and are second in the Drivers’ standings aboard the #36 FAW Audi Sport Asia Racing Team R8. At Buriram, Huang Ruohan and Markus Winkelhock won in the #40 Absolute Racing Audi, bouncing back after a tough opening weekend.
Noteworthy international talents on the grid include Pilet, Winkelhock, Alessio Picariello (#1 Absolute Racing Porsche), Edoardo Liberati (#6 VSR Lamborghini), Jaxon Evans (#13 Phantom Global Racing Porsche), Jules Gounon (#22 Climax Racing Mercedes-AMG), Maro Engel (#30 Craft-Bamboo Racing Mercedes), Marco Mapelli (#63 VSR Lamborghini), Joel Eriksson (#93 AAS Phantom Global Porsche), and Luca Stolz (#888 Triple Eight JMR Mercedes).
Two Japanese drivers are also returning home after competing at Le Mans – Hiroshi Hamaguchi and Satoshi Hoshino. Hamaguchi will drive the #19 Spirit of FFF Racing Team Audi, and Hoshino – retired from Le Mans but not done racing completely, will partner his usual running mate Tomonobu Fujii in the #777 D’station Racing Aston Martin.
Fujii is three weeks removed from giving the new Aston Martin Vantage GT3 its first worldwide victory at Suzuka in the SUPER GT Suzuka 3 Hours. And he’s not the only noteworthy current or former SUPER GT driver in the field apart from series alumni Picariello, Gounon and Mapelli.
Two-time GT300 Champion Kiyoto Fujinami will return to the series for the first time since 2022, to drive the #16 Porsche Center Okazaki 911 alongside reigning Japan Cup Champion Hiroaki Nagai, a gentleman driver mainstay in GT300. Liang Jiatong, who raced in GT300 last season, is now racing full-time in the #77 Harmony Racing Ferrari.
Current apr driver Yuki Nemoto and former GT300 driver Akira Mizutani drive the #563 ANR with VSR Lamborghini. GT300 race winners Tsubasa Kondo and Shigekazu Wakisaka are also present – Kondo in the #25 Porsche Center Okazaki (with Kiyoshi Uchiyama) and Wakisaka in the #60 LM corsa Ferrari (with Kei Nakanishi, who replaces Ryo Ogawa).
In the second round of SRO Japan Cup as a standalone series, there are eight GT3s and eight GT4s.
Bingo Racing’s Transformers-liveried #9 Callaway Corvette C7 GT3-R showed that there’s still potential in the platform deemed obsolete elsewhere, after Shinji Takei and Ukyo Sasahara swept both races in Sportsland Sugo to kick off the four-race series.
But with Sasahara unable to take part as Super Formula races in Sugo, Porsche Carrera Cup Japan alumni Motoki Takami will replace him, and the #9 Bingo Corvette will drop to the Am class.
Entering as a one-off entry is multi-time Super Taikyu Series ST-X (GT3) champion team GTNET MotorSports, featuring the father-son duo of 2001 GT300 Champion Noboyuki Oyagi, and his son Ryuichiro, driving the #81 Nissan GT-R NISMO GT3.
Makoto Haga is the only GTC class entry in his #83 Gama 83 Racing Porsche 911 GT3 Cup car.
GT4 gains the #84 McLaren 570S GT4 entered by JMR, a new team led by Tomonobu Fujii – featuring newcomers Yasutaka Ando and Osamu Kondo.
And, due to scheduling conflicts with Super Formula Lights (also racing in Sugo), Seita Nonaka’s place at TGR Team Indonesia will be taken up by another TGR-DC training driver, Kazuhisa Urabe, who will drive the #39 Toyota GR Supra GT4.
Private testing begins Thursday, followed by practice sessions on Friday. Qualifying for both series takes place Saturday morning, with a pair of one-hour races to be held on Saturday afternoon and Sunday. The Formula Beat (formerly JAF Formula 4) and Super FJ single-seater championships will support the weekend’s action.
All four races will air live on the SRO GT World YouTube channel.
Images © SRO Motorsports Group Asia
