Motegi GT 300km Entry List & Preview

Just two races remain in the 2024 Autobacs SUPER GT Series. Mobility Resort Motegi was meant to be the traditional setting for the last race of 2024, but due to Typhoon Shanshan’s effect on the calendar, ‘Round 8′ now becomes the penultimate race before the season-ending Suzuka GT 300km Grand Final in December.

Motegi is where TGR Team au TOM’S won the GT500 Championship for the second time in three years, and where Ritomo Miyata became the fifth Double Champion of Japanese motorsport’s two premier categories – SUPER GT GT500 and Super Formula. This weekend, his co-driver from last year, Sho Tsuboi, is making his own bid at the historic achievement.

Two weeks ago Tsuboi swept the Super Formula double-header at Fuji Speedway to move to the top of the championship table ahead of their season finale at Suzuka, and this week he’s returning to the track where he and Miyata won last year in GT500.

Tsuboi and Kenta Yamashita currently lead the Drivers’ Championship with 53 points in their #36 au TOM’S Toyota GR Supra, two points ahead of the drivers of the #37 Deloitte TOM’S GR Supra (Ukyo Sasahara/Giuliano Alesi) and the #100 Stanley Honda Civic Type R-GT (Naoki Yamamoto/Tadasuke Makino).

Success Weight has been reduced to one kilogramme per point in this penultimate round but these three crews will still have to race with the ‘Stage 1’ fuel flow restrictor, limiting their horsepower versus the other 12 GT500 cars on the grid.

But we can surely expect TOM’S to let their two cars fight fairly and freely this weekend, and for Stanley Team Kunimitsu to try and grab its first win of the season at Yamamoto’s home circuit.

Opportunities await some teams still fighting to keep their championship hopes alive. Out of the Nissan camp, the #3 Niterra Motul Z (Mitsunori Takaboshi/Atsushi Miyake) leads the way, fourth in the standings and seven points behind the leading #36 TOM’S Toyota. The #23 Motul Autech Z (Katsumasa Chiyo/Ronnie Quintarelli) and #12 Marelli Impul Z (Kazuki Hiramine/Bertrand Baguette) are also within 17 points of the top spot, sixth and eighth in the standings.

From Toyota, the #39 Denso Kobelco SARD GR Supra (Yuhi Sekiguchi/Yuichi Nakayama) is back in contention following its stunning victory in the Autopolis 3 Hour Race, sitting seventh in the standings with a 14-point deficit. But so too is the #38 KeePer Cerumo GR Supra (Hiroaki Ishiura/Toshiki Oyu) which is fifth in points and only 12 behind.

Of course, as one of two Honda-owned circuits, Motegi should be seen as a must-win circuit for the Civic Type R-GTs. Only one of their cars sits within even 25 points of the lead, but there will likely be some rooting interest from the other side of the Pacific aimed at the #17 Astemo Civic Type R-GT (Koudai Tsukakoshi/Kakunoshin Ohta) – following the news earlier this week that Ohta will head to Daytona for his first IMSA GTP test.

In GT300, the reduction in Success Weight still leaves the top three cars in the standings at the maximum 50 kg mark. The #88 Venteny Lamborghini Huracán GT3 EVO2 (Takashi Kogure/Yuya Motojima) gained significant ground with its win in Autopolis, as did the second-placed #2 muta Racing Toyota GR86 (Yuui Tsutsumi/Hibiki Taira).

But it’s still the #65 LEON Pyramid Mercedes-AMG GT3 of Naoya Gamou and Takuro Shinohara that leads the way – five points up on Tsutsumi & Taira, 16 ahead of last year’s Motegi winners Kogure & Motojima. Only the #777 D’station Aston Martin Vantage GT3 (Tomonobu Fujii/Charlie Fagg) is within 20 points in fourth place, and the rest of the field is either mathematically eliminated or hanging on by the slimmest of threads.

This includes the defending champions at Saitama Green Brave. Three straight scoreless rounds including their DNS at Sugo have put the #52 Saitama Green Brave GR Supra (Hiroki Yoshida/Seita Nonaka) at the point that they must win from the front row in each of the next two rounds just to even have a chance at defending the title – and even then, they don’t have total control of their destiny.

For some cars like the #31 apr Lexus LC 500h (Kazuto Kotaka/Jin Nakamura), the #61 Subaru BRZ R&D Sport (Takuto Iguchi/Hideki Yamauchi), and the #18 UPGarage Honda NSX GT3 (Takashi Kobayashi/Syun Koide), Motegi represents a chance to finally get a first podium.

For others in the 27-car field, they’re just trying to get their first points of the season – perhaps the reasoning behind two driver line-up changes further down the order.

At apr, Hiroaki Nagai stood down from the #30 Toyota GR86 for one race, letting Manabu Orido and Rikuto Kobayashi form a Pro/Pro line-up. Tomei Sports has given rookie Rin Arakawa another chance to impress alongside Takayuki Aoki in their #360 Nissan GT-R NISMO GT3, instead of Takuya Otaki.

Qualifying is scheduled for Saturday at 2:00 PM JST, with the race going green Sunday at 1:00 PM JST.

Images © GTA