SUPER GT Reveals 43 Car Capacity Grid For 2025 Season

The GT Association (GTA) has published the provisional entry list for the 2025 Autobacs SUPER GT Series, featuring a capacity grid of 43 cars headlined by 15 GT500 class entries, and an expanded GT300 grid with 28 confirmed entries.

As has been revealed by the big three Japanese automakers some time ago, GT500 is comprised of six Toyota GR Supra GT500s, five Honda Civic Type R-GTs, and four Nissan Z NISMO GT500s.

Also, like last season, 12 teams will be supplied with Bridgestone Potenza tyres. Two teams (TGR Team WedsSport Bandoh and Kondo Racing) will run on Yokohama Advan tyres, and one team, Modulo Nakajima Racing, will run on Dunlop Direzza tyres.

Driver moves in GT500 include Sacha Fenestraz returning to Japan with TGR Team SARD, a GT500 promotion for Honda prodigy Syun (“Shun”) Koide at Astemo Real Racing, and moves inside Nissan including Mitsunori Takaboshi moving into the flagship #23 NISMO Z, with Daiki Sasaki returning to GT500 at NISMO NDDP.

GT300’s 28 entries are the most in the series since 2022. The field features 13 unique models from ten OEMs, from either the FIA GT3 or GTA-GT300 rulesets.

Porsche returns to the GT300 grid via the debuting seven x seven Racing, but BMW M Team Studie x CRS has dropped off the entry list, and for the moment it appears that the new M4 GT3 EVO will not be represented on the grid this year.

Studie AG CEO Yasuaki Suzuki has confirmed in his blog that the team has withdrawn from SUPER GT and will race in GT World Challenge Asia instead.

However, the #7 previously used by Studie will now be carried by a new team, MKS Racing. Details of this team including car, drivers, and tyre partners will be revealed later, but this new team will be led by former Direxiv, MOLA, and Yogibo Racing manager Misato Haga.

Ten years after the GT300 Mother Chassis made its full-time SUPER GT debut, Team Mach will keep the last remaining Toyota 86 MC on the grid for 2025. The Dome-constructed MC86, chassis number M101-0014, will return after two difficult seasons. Drivers will be announced at a later date. NILZZ Racing has also not yet confirmed drivers for the #48 Nissan GT-R NISMO GT3.

Yoshiaki Katayama and Roberto Merhi Muntan are confirmed to drive the #6 Uni-Robo Bluegrass Ferrari 296 GT3 for Team LeMans, which is now entering under its new label, Velorex. It will be their fourth season together.

A pair of Mercedes-AMG privateers have confirmed their drivers for 2025: Pacific Racing Team retains the trio of Ryohei Sakaguchi, Yusuke Tomibayashi, and Yuta Fujiwara for the upcoming season – and welcomes in Bandai Namco Games’ simulation/rhythm game series The Idolmaster as the primary sponsor of the #9 car.

R’Qs Motor Sports is back with the #22 car featuring soon-to-be 63-year-olds, Hisashi Wada and Masaki Jyonai, along with returning reinforcement Masaki Kano. 31-year-old Yuma Shoji is also set to make his GT300 debut, bringing previous experience in Super Taikyu ST-3, Formula 4, and Toyota GR86/BRZ Race with him.

PONOS Racing will be back with its #45 Ferrari 296 GT3, driven by the returning duo of Kei Cozzolino and Lilou Wadoux.

Along with João Paulo de Oliveira and Kohei Hirate, Yu Kanamaru will also drive the #56 Realize/Nissan Mechanic Challenge GT-R for Kondo Racing, it has been revealed. Kanamaru gave Nissan its first win in GT World Challenge Asia since 2018 when he won at Suzuka for Team 5Zigen.

JLOC will not exercise its right to run the GT300 Champion’s #0 plate and will instead run its two Lamborghini Huracán GT3 EVO2s with the traditional numbers 88 and 87.

2024 GT300 Champions Takashi Kogure and Yuya Motojima will return to drive the title-winning #88 Venteny Lamborghini GT3, while Kosuke Matsuura and Natsu Sakaguchi stay aboard the #87 Lamborghini.

Yokohama will supply tyres to 15 GT300 teams this season. Michelin will supply two cars, Bridgestone will supply four, and Dunlop is expected to have six teams in its GT300 portfolio (including PONOS Racing). These numbers are expected to change when further details of MKS Racing’s entry are revealed.

The first official pre-season test takes place at Okayama International Raceway on 15/16 March, followed by the second pre-season test at Fuji Speedway on 29/30 March.

Images © GTA