42 Entries, But One Omission, For Autopolis 3 Hours

Only two races remain in the 2025 Autobacs SUPER GT Series, and the next stop is the annual visit to the western island of Kyūshū, Autopolis International Racing Course is the site of the penultimate round of the season, the Autopolis GT 3 Hour Race on 19 October.

Next Sunday’s race at the technical, undulating, and abrasive circuit near Mount Aso will determine which teams have the right to compete for the GT500 and GT300 titles.

42 cars have entered, with 27 in GT300 joined by the regular 15 GT500 entries.

This being the penultimate race means that Success Weight for all cars has been reduced to just one kilogramme per championship point scored. As such, only two cars will have to carry the ‘Stage 1’ fuel flow restrictor as part of its Success Weight, the top two in the championship: The #1 au TOM’S Toyota GR Supra of Sho Tsuboi and Kenta Yamashita, and the #14 Eneos X Prime GR Supra of Kazuya Oshima and Nirei Fukuzumi.

But that’s not been a hindrance for TGR Team au TOM’S in recent years. Tsuboi has won the penultimate race of the season the last two years (2023 at Autopolis with Ritomo Miyata, 2024 at Motegi with Yamashita) to set up title-clinching victories in the finale.

Another Toyota team, TGR Team SARD, enters this race as its defending champion – and coming off a near-miss with victory. The #39 Denso Kobelco SARD GR Supra of Yuhi Sekiguchi and Sacha Fenestraz finished second at Sportsland Sugo behind race winners Tsugio Matsuda and Teppei Natori in the #24 Realize Corporation Advan Nissan Z.

After a record nine consecutive victories for the Toyota GR Supra, Nissan has now won the last two, while Honda has just two more chances to avoid going winless on the year.

Only one GT500 team will have a third driver entered this weekend: Kazuto Kotaka returns to drive the #19 WedsSport Advan GR Supra with Yuji Kunimoto and Sena Sakaguchi. Kotaka has spent this season split primarily between Super Formula, GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup, and GT World Challenge Asia.

The 27-car GT300 field will be without SHADE Racing for the second time this season. Katsuyuki Hiranaka and Eijiro Shimizu were forced to miss Sepang after the #20 Toyota GR86 sustained heavy fire damage in a GTE (GT Entrants’ Association) test at Suzuka in May.

This time, frame damage on the #20 SHADE GR86 sustained in a massive four-car accident at Sugo has forced the team to miss the Autopolis round (and this week’s GTE-sanctioned test at Mobility Resort Motegi). SHADE Racing said in a press release issued on 30 September that it hopes to return for the final race at Motegi.

12 cars have registered three drivers. While the #65 LEON Pyramid Mercedes-AMG GT3 EVO has a third driver, it’s highly unlikely that 2018 GT300 Champion Haruki Kurosawa will come off the pit wall to drive with championship leaders Naoya Gamou and Togo Suganami.

For the first time since the Fuji Golden Week race, two-time GT300 Champion Kiyoto Fujinami is expected to race, driving the #666 seven x seven Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R with Tsubasa Kondo and Harry King, coming off their first podium of the season.

Other notable third drivers returning to action include tenured vets like Keita Sawa (CarGuy MKS Racing), Masaki Jyonai (R’Qs Motor Sports), and Atsushi Tanaka (Tomei Sports) – plus young and less experienced GT300 drivers, including Kazuhisa Urabe (Hyper Water Racing INGING), Yuta Fujiwara (Pacific Racing Team), Ryo Ogawa (#30 apr Toyota GR86), Yuki Nemoto (#31 apr Lexus LC500h), Daiki Fujiwara (NILZZ Racing), and Reimei Ito (LM corsa).

Ito rejoins the LM corsa team that won last time out at Sugo, the first win for the #60 Syntium LM corsa Lexus LC500. JLOC won last year’s Autopolis 3 Hour Race, but Takashi Kogure and Yuya Motojima are merely trying to get their first win of the year in the #0 Venteny Lamborghini Huracán GT3 EVO2.