During the GTA pre-race press conference held before Sunday’s SUPER GT Autopolis GT 3 Hour Race, GTA Chairman Masaaki Bandoh confirmed some changes for the rescheduled fifth round of the season at Suzuka Circuit, which had been postponed to the end of the year due to Typhoon Shanshan.
Originally scheduled for 31 August/1 September as a 350-kilometre race, the final round at Suzuka, which will take place on 7/8 December, has been shortened to a standard 300-kilometre sprint.
Factors that led to this decision included the earlier sunset times in December, along with safety concerns about the surface temperature dropping significantly in the late afternoon.
“In December (2023), a manufacturer’s test was held at Suzuka, and the track surface temperature at Suzuka was 13°C at its lowest point. But after 3:30 PM, the temperature suddenly dropped,” remarked GTA Chairman Masaaki Bandoh.
“In order to finish the race before 3:30 PM at the best possible time, we will start the race as early as possible. It will be 300 kilometres instead of 350 kilometres, and that will make the race last an hour and 40 to 50 minutes. The race will be held at a time when the temperature and track surface temperature are as high as possible.”
The race is scheduled to start Sunday 8 December at 12:40 PM and, in the event of a red flag, a curfew time of 3:30 PM has been established.
Due to the cold temperatures in late autumn, there had been some discussion from teams and drivers about whether or not the series would use tyre warmers as a special case. But Chairman Bandoh confirmed that tyre warmers will not be used – as several GT300 teams do not own tyre warmers.
However, teams will still be able to bring five sets of dry-weather tyres per weekend, as opposed to four sets in all other 300km races – including the Motegi GT 300km Race which takes place in two weeks.
Qualifying has also been extended by five minutes per session – 15 minutes for all sessions, except for GT300 Q1, which is now 25 minutes. GT500 sessions will also take place before GT300, due to the longer warm-up period for GT500 tyres.
One unintended consequence in the shortened distance is that some GT300 teams will no longer be able to run with three drivers, leading to a number of drivers’ seasons ending prematurely. For instance, LM corsa intended to use the Suzuka 350km as an opportunity for Reimei Ito, the 2024 Porsche Carrera Cup Japan champion-elect, to make his series return. Unless either Hiroki Yoshimoto or Shunsuke Kohno stands down, that opportunity will not happen.
Feature image © GTA
