This past weekend, the Tokyo Auto Salon was held at the Makuhari Messe convention centre in Chiba. Along with showcasing hundreds of custom cars from Japanese manufacturers and tuners, this event also serves as a venue for teams in the major Japanese racing series to launch their programmes.
Toyota and Subaru made significant programme announcements for domestic and international competition, and during the weekend, several other Japanese programmes were confirmed across SUPER GT, Super Taikyu, and SRO Japan Cup.
Team UPGarage changes to Mercedes-AMG for GT300 programme, backs new Toda Racing Japan Cup entry
With the sunsetting of the Honda NSX GT3 programme, Team UPGarage has made its long-anticipated change to a Mercedes-AMG GT3 EVO for the upcoming SUPER GT GT300 campaign.
However, Makoto Ishida’s team will maintain its previous connections with Honda. Honda Formula Dream Project (HFDP) academy member and reigning FIA F4 Japanese Champion Yuto Nomura will make his sports car racing debut this season – as a full-time driver alongside the returning veteran Takashi Kobayashi, who is now entering his eighth season with Team UPGarage.
19-year-old Nomura will also be moving up the single-seater ladder to Super Formula Lights after taking the F4 title with seven wins in 14 races.
The new #18 UPGarage AMG GT3, first seen as a render in Gran Turismo 7, is a brand-new chassis that will be shipped from Germany to Japan for testing by February.
That’s not all though, as UPGarage is also expanding its GT racing involvement into sponsoring a new SRO Japan Cup entry from long-time Super Formula Lights/All-Japan F3 competitor, Toda Racing!
Toda Racing, which boasts an extensive list of F3/SFL alumni, will run a brand-new Ferrari 296 GT3 in UPGarage’s signature “yellow jacket” livery. Kobayashi will share driving duties with Bronze co-driver (Atsushi) Akita, who steps up to GT3 competition after winning the Ferrari Challenge Japan Trofeo Pirelli Am title and running select Super Taikyu events.
No changes at ARTA
ARTA has also confirmed it will keep its existing driver combinations in GT500: Tomoki Nojiri and Nobuharu Matsushita in the orange #8 Honda Civic Type R-GT, Hiroki Otsu and Ren Sato in the black #16 Honda.
Both teams will also keep their race engineers from last season – Kaito Tsuji on the #8 and Kimitoshi Sugisaki on the #16.
Also during Tokyo Auto Salon, Honda confirmed new GT500 driver Syun Koide, Nissan works driver Atsushi Miyake, and Igor Fraga to seats in Super Formula for 2025. They have since been joined by Juju Noda, who will take up the 22nd and final seat on the Super Formula grid.
Mazda Spirit Racing returns with developmental Mazda3 and Roadster
Mazda Spirit Racing’s presentation at Tokyo Auto Salon confirmed that it will enter two cars in the Super Taikyu ST-Q class.
Both are returning models from last year: The biodiesel-fuelled #55 Mazda3 Bio Concept, and the #12 Roadster CNF (carbon neutral fuel) concept.
Drivers will be confirmed at a later date.
Kataoka finally joins TKRI for Super Taikyu campaign
After years of competing against his own team, Tatsuya Kataoka will finally have the opportunity to drive for TKRI in the 2025 Eneos Super Taikyu Series.
TKRI will once again field the Mercedes-AMG GT3 EVO in the Super Taikyu ST-X class, and Kataoka will be the leading pro driver alongside team mainstay Daisuke Matsunaga (officially competing under the mononym “Daisuke”). Last season, TKRI contended for the ST-X title until the final round, ultimately being defeated by Zhongsheng ROOKIE Racing.
Shunji Okumoto, a former Toyota Gazoo Racing Driver Challenge (TGR-DC) sponsored F4 driver, will also make his GT3 racing debut, joining Daisuke, Kataoka, and former SUPER GT GT300 Champion Yuhki Nakayama.
Takao Kohno and his RS Fine garage will continue to provide service to the programme, out of the same garage which services Goodsmile Racing & Team UKYO in SUPER GT.
Uematsu’s Team Macchina makes Ferrari switch
Also taking delivery of a new Ferrari 296 GT3 is Tadao Uematsu and Team Macchina, who are also returning to the Japan Cup.
Uematsu won the 2022 and 2024 SRO Japan Cup GT3 Am titles, and last year he won the cup as a solo Bronze driver. While specific plans are undecided, Uematsu is considering moving back into a two-driver system with a professional co-driver.
And it’s not just new Ferraris that are making their way onto next year’s Japan Cup grid…
CarGuy entering Ferrari 488 GT3 for new customer
Yes, there will be at least one more run for a Ferrari 488 GT3 EVO in GT World Challenge competition – courtesy of CarGuy Racing!
But instead of CarGuy’s Takeshi Kimura, the #66 Ferrari 488 will be driven by two GT3 newcomers: Takashi Toyoda, who drove ABSSA Motorsport’s Mercedes-AMG GT4 in two races last year, and Kazuki Ota, the 2024 Porsche Sprint Challenge Japan GT4 champion. They’ll compete for the Am title.
In the GT4 ranks, Sunrise Blvd is bringing its Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 back for another Japan Cup campaign, after picking up its first class win at Fuji in June. Drivers will be announced at a later date.
There’s still more time for new entries to be announced before Japan Cup’s season begins in June.
Images © Tokyo Auto Salon Association, GTA, Mazda, Mobilityland Corporation, SRO Motorsports Group
