SUPER GT Fuji 350km Entry List & Preview

After a two-month break, the Autobacs SUPER GT Series resumes this weekend at Fuji Speedway, the site of the Fuji GT 350km Race and round four of the 2024 season.

This 77-lap race at Fuji is the beginning of SUPER GT’s “mid-summer triple” that will take the series to Suzuka Circuit on 1 September and then to Sportsland Sugo on 22 September. And, as is usually the case, it’s the hardest stretch of the season: Top teams in the championship table will be at their heaviest when it comes to Success Weight, giving teams further down the order a golden opportunity to claw back the deficit in the standings if they choose to take it.

That’s the case in GT500, where the two TGR Team TOM’S cars and NISMO NDDP sit 1-2-3 in the standings after each team has won one out of the first three races. The #36 au TOM’S Toyota GR Supra of Sho Tsuboi and Kenta Yamashita followed up the win in the opening round at Okayama with two top-five finishes to go to the top of the championship table.

But the au TOM’s GR Supra will also have to carry the ‘Level 2’ fuel-flow restrictor as part of their Success Weight, taking their fuel burn rate from the standard 95 kilogrammes per hour to 90.2 kg/h and thus reducing the power potential at the circuit with the highest top speeds on the calendar. Tsuboi and Yamashita will also have 40kg of ballast weight on board.

Likewise, the #3 Niterra Motul Nissan Z (Mitsunori Takaboshi/Atsushi Miyake) and #37 Deloitte TOM’s GR Supra (Ukyo Sasahara/Giuliano Alesi) will be carrying the ‘Level 1’ fuel-flow restrictor (92.6 kg/h) and ballast weight of 43 and 37 kg respectively.

The new Honda Civic Type R-GT hasn’t won so far this season, but has been on the podium in every race and won the pole for the Fuji 3 Hours in May. The Honda camp has been close to the top step of the podium at every round and Fuji represents another great opportunity for the Civic to get that first win.

GT300 turns up with its full entry list of 27 teams. Ten of them have registered a third driver if needed – though, the race format suggests that there will only be one pit stop and driver change for most teams.

D’station Racing won the last round at Suzuka and has committed to the lineup of Tomonobu Fujii and Charlie Fagg for the remainder of 2024. Marco Sørensen’s services will now be exclusively devoted to D’station’s FIA World Endurance Championship campaign.

Miki Koyama will make her second appearance in the #22 R’Qs Motor Sports Mercedes-AMG GT3, driving alongside Hisashi Wada. This comes as Koyama has continued to gain sports car experience in Super Taikyu and Lamborghini Super Trofeo Asia.

Finally, NILZZ Racing will welcome Takashi Ito for his series debut, driving the #48 Nissan GT-R NISMO GT3 alongside Taiyo Ida and Takumi Sanada. Ito, 29, is the two-time and reigning Super Taikyu Series ST-3 Class champion and has raced single-seaters as high up the ladder as Formula Regional. He completed his rookie exam during the official pre-season test at Fuji in March.

Before the Suzuka 3 Hours, SUPER GT confirmed that it would reduce the maximum Success Weight limit in GT300 from 80 to 50kg. Three teams are now at that threshold – including the championship-leading #2 muta Racing Toyota GR86 (Yuui Tsutsumi/Hibiki Taira), and the second-ranked #88 JLOC Lamborghini Huracán GT3 EVO2 (Takashi Kogure/Yuya Motojima) which is 17 points behind.

It’s led to fears that Tsutsumi and Taira will now cruise to the title, but of course anything can – and usually does – happen in SUPER GT!

Balance of Performance changes since Fuji include minor weight increases for the Toyota GR86, GR Supra, and Lexus LC 500h; a moderate weight increase for the Lamborghini Huracán GT3 EVO2, and a power reduction for the #11 Gainer Tanax Nissan Fairlady Z – which will try to complete its first race without any major issues.

And today, JLOC has confirmed the arrival of its second EVO2 model – meaning the #87 Metalive S Lamborghini (Kosuke Matsuura/Natsu Sakaguchi) will be up to the same spec as its sister car!

Feature image © GTA