An updated entry list with all drivers for the 49th Suzuka 1000km has been released today, featuring a total of 33 cars representing eight manufacturers, divided into five classes.
Defending Suzuka Summer Endurance Race winners Team WRT headline the short list of four cars that have been added since the provisional entry list was revealed last month. WRT will bring two BMW M4 GT3 EVOs, featuring IGTC Drivers’ Championship leader Augusto Farfus in the #31, and past Suzuka 10 Hours winners Kelvin van der Linde and Raffaele Marciello in the #32.
Also added to the field are two more entries from Japanese teams.
Defending SRO Japan Cup GT3 Champion team K-tunes Racing enters its #98 Ferrari 296 GT3 for 2024 champion drivers Daisuke Yamawaki and Shinichi Takagi, joined by second-generation racer Sean Walkinshaw. The team from Okayama, Japan, boosts Ferrari’s representation to five cars.
Nissan, the only Japanese manufacturer in the field, also gains an entry via Runup Sports, which brings the #360 GT-R NISMO GT3 over from the Japan Cup. Joining regulars Masaaki Nishikawa and Atsushi Tanaka is Takuya Otaki, a former Honda Formula Dream Project (HFDP) academy driver and SUPER GT GT300 podium finisher.
Another change is that the #93 Herberth Motorsport Porsche has been replaced by the #10 Absolute Racing Porsche, to be driven by reigning IGTC Independent Cup champion Antares Au. Au will be joined by six-time Le Mans 24 Hours class winner Richard Lietz and reigning Porsche Carrera Cup North America champion Loek Hartog.
Absolute Racing’s second 911 GT3 R replaces the withdrawn #19 Lamborghini Huracán GT3 EVO2.
In the 11-car Pro class, Porsche’s throwback-liveried Pro cars entered by Phantom Global Racing, Absolute Racing, and Origine Motorsport, will be joined by EBM Giga Racing’s #61 car, driven by Harry King, Sven Müller, and Bronze-graded Adrian D’Silva.
Mercedes-AMG’s two official Performance Teams have revealed their drivers for the race, and put forth two strong lineups – even with some of the brand’s Performance Drivers unavailable due to DTM commitments.
The 2018 Suzuka 10 Hours winning squad, Mercedes-AMG Team GMR (GruppeM Racing), will have Mikaël Grenier, Maxime Martin, and Luca Stolz behind the wheel of the #888 Mercedes-AMG GT3 EVO. In the same year that GMR took overall victory at Suzuka, Grenier and Stolz won the Pro-Am Cup for SunEnergy1 Racing (now 75 Express).
Mercedes-AMG Team Craft-Bamboo Racing’s #77 car will be driven by Maximillian Götz, Ralf Aron – and on loan from Honda, Super Formula race winner and IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship rookie Kakunoshin Ohta. Ohta has driven for Craft-Bamboo Racing in the Super Taikyu Series since last year.
The Pro class field is rounded out by perennial fan-favourite Goodsmile Racing (#00 Mercedes-AMG GT3), Johor Motorsports Racing’s #2 Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R, and Team Handwork Challenge‘s Nissan, which has changed numbers from #84 to #30.
All five registered Independent Cup drivers are in the field. Along with the aforementioned Au, Bohn, and D’Silva, Kenny Habul and Jonathan Hui will be in the field.
Habul, a two-time Suzuka 10 Hours class winner, will be in his 75 Express Mercedes-AMG (with 2019 Pro-Am winner Dominik Baumann and Yannick Mettler); Hui will drive the #28 Craft-Bamboo Racing Mercedes-AMG (which also features British standout Ben Barnicoat).
The Bronze class, which allows for a maximum of one Bronze, one Silver, and one Gold or Platinum graded driver, features 12 cars, the most of any category in the field.
The Pro-Am Cup (minimum two Bronze drivers) has six cars, the Silver Cup (maximum three Silver drivers) has three cars – including Audi Sport Asia Team Phantom’s sole R8 LMS GT3 EVO II – and the Am Cup (all Bronze drivers) has just one entry from AMAC Motorsport.
Of the 99 drivers in the field, nearly two-thirds of them will be racing in the Suzuka 1000km for the very first time. Of those who have raced before during the IGTC, SUPER GT, or any other era of the event, there are three previous overall winners: Van der Linde, Marciello, and two-time winner Shigekazu Wakisaka – who’s sharing the #60 LM corsa Ferrari with 14-year Formula 1 veteran Giancarlo Fisichella.
Team 5Zigen is also expected to have a driver change in the Silver Cup #500 Nissan – Hiromasa “Hirobon” Kitano’s entry has been replaced with a ‘TBC’.
On the other hand, with Absolute Racing withdrawing its Huracan GT3 EVO2, Lamborghini has dropped off the entry list entirely. JLOC Owner Isao Noritake said in a recent manufacturer-published column that, “if possible, we will also participate in the Suzuka 1000km race,” but his team will not enter a car in the Suzuka 1000km for the first time since 2004.
The 24 Hours of Spa-winning manufacturer will not be present at Suzuka, along with the likes of Lexus, Aston Martin, and McLaren.
In addition, the schedule for the SRO Japan Cup support races has also been set.
Qualifying will take place on Friday, 12 September, before Night Practice for the 1000km. Race 1 will start Saturday, 13 September, at 1:55 PM JST (local time), and Race 2 starts Sunday at 9:00 AM JST, leading into the Suzuka 1000km itself, starting at 12:50 PM JST.
Feature image © SRO Motorsports Group
