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Fuji 450km SUPER GT – schedule, how to watch, entry list

A total of 41 cars, 15 in GT500 and 26 in GT300, are entered for the annual Golden Week classic, the first of five 450km races on this year's schedule.

The tradition of holding a midweek race during Japan's spring vacation dates back to the inaugural season of the All-Japan Touring Car Championship (JGTC), the forerunner of SUPER GT, in 1994. Regularly attracting a race day crowd in excess of 50,000 fans prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, it remains the best attended race on the calendar, boasting a real festival atmosphere.

After a wet start to the season last month at Okayama, the weather forecast this week at Fuji is for a dry race, meaning it could provide us with our first real indication of the pecking order between the three GT500 manufacturers with the use of carbon-neutral fuel (CNF).

Nissan got its campaign off to a winning start in Okayama as its two Michelin-shod NISMO Zs secured a one-two in the tricky conditions, but that means the #23 car of Tsugio Matsuda/Ronnie Quintarelli (42kg) and the #3 machine of Katsumasa Chiyo and Mitsunori Takaboshi (30kg) will be the heaviest on the grid as success ballast comes into play for the first time.

Conversely, a dramatic opener means several highly-fancied runners come to Fuji with little or no ballast. These include both of the TOM'S Toyota GR Supras, with the #36 car of Sho Tsuboi and Ritomo Miyata in particular set to be among the favourites at Fuji, the Team Kunimitsu Honda of Naoki Yamamoto and Tadasuke Makino and the #16 ARTA Honda of Nirei Fukuzumi and Hiroki Otsu.

Attention will also be on the #8 ARTA machine after the two drivers of the car, Tomoki Nojiri and Toshiki Oyu, collided in the most recent Super Formula race at Suzuka. The pair will be hoping to shrug off their 22kg of success ballast after scoring a surprise podium in the opening race.

 

In the GT300 class, Team UpGarage Honda pair Takashi Kobayashi and Shun Koide will be hard-pressed to repeat their Okayama win laden with the maximum 60kg of success ballast.

On the other hand, reigning champion Joao Paulo de Oliveira and his new Kondo Racing Nissan team-mate Teppei Natori carry just 3kg of ballast, while Subaru's works BRZ goes to one of its strongest circuits ballast-free. The Team LeMans Audi that features ex-Formula 1 driver Roberto Merhi is also on zero ballast and will be eager to replicate the strong pace he showed in pre-season testing.

Several teams have entered third drivers for this race, but the spotlight will be on reigning Formula Regional Japanese champion Miki Koyama in particular as she gets set for her race debut with the Anata Iwest Racing Lexus team.

SUPER GT time schedule for Fuji Round 2

Times are Local/UK time (GMT+1)/EDT/PDT 

Wednesday May 3

Free practice (1h45 minutes) – 9.05am/1.05am/8.05pm (Tuesday)/5.05pm (Tuesday)

Qualifying – 3.15pm/7.15am/2.15am/11.15pm (Tuesday)

Thursday May 4

Warm-up – 12pm/4am/11pm (Wednesday)/8pm (Wednesday)

Race (100 laps) – 1.30pm/5.30am/12.30am/9.30pm (Wednesday)

Don't see your timezone listed? Check out our SUPER GT schedule page to see the session times in your local timezone

How can I watch SUPER GT at Fuji?

Motorsport.tv will once again be offering full coverage of both qualifying and the race for every round of the 2023 SUPER GT season (subscription required, available worldwide except Japan).

Commentary will be provided by Jake Sanson and Motorsport.com’s own expert Japanese racing analyst Jamie Klein.

Click here for further information, and to get your subscription now

SUPER GT entry list for Fuji Round 2

GT500 class: 

Manufacturer

Team

Tyre

No.

Drivers

Nissan

Z GT500

 

 

 

Team Impul

Bridgestone

1

Belgium Bertrand Baguette

Japan Kazuki Hiramine

NDDP Racing

Michelin

3

Japan Katsumasa Chiyo

Japan Mitsunori Takaboshi

NISMO

Michelin

23

Italy Ronnie Quintarelli

Japan Tsugio Matsuda

Kondo Racing

Yokohama

24

Japan Kohei Hirate

Japan Daiki Sasaki

Toyota

GR Supra

 

 

 

 

 

Rookie Racing

Bridgestone

14

Japan Kazuya Oshima

Japan Kenta Yamashita

Racing Project Bandoh

Yokohama

19

Japan Yuji Kunimoto

Japan Sena Sakaguchi

TOM’S


 

 

Bridgestone

 

36

 

Japan Sho Tsuboi

Japan Ritomo Miyata

37

Japan Ukyo Sasahara

France Giuliano Alesi

Cerumo

Bridgestone

38

Japan Hiroaki Ishiura

Japan Yuji Tachikawa

SARD

Bridgestone

39

Japan Yuhi Sekiguchi

Japan Yuichi Nakayama

Honda

NSX-GT (Type S)

 

 

 

 

ARTA

 

Bridgestone

 

8

Japan Tomoki Nojiri

Japan Toshiki Oyu

16

Japan Nirei Fukuzumi

Japan Hiroki Otsu

Real Racing

Bridgestone

17

Japan Koudai Tsukakoshi

Japan Nobuharu Matsushita

Nakajima Racing

Dunlop

64

Japan Takuya Izawa

Japan Kakunoshin Ota

Team Kunimitsu

Bridgestone

100

Japan Naoki Yamamoto

Japan Tadasuke Makino

GT300 class:

No. Team Car Tyre Drivers
2 Muta Racing Inging Toyota GR86 GT Bridgestone

Japan Yuui Tsutsumi

Japan Hibiki Taira

Japan Hiroki Katoh

4 Goodsmile Racing & Team Ukyo Mercedes-AMG GT3 Yokohama

Japan Nobuteru Taniguchi

Japan Tatsuya Kataoka

5 Team Mach Toyota 86 MC Yokohama

Japan Yusuke Tomibayashi

Japan Takamitsu Matsui

6 Team LeMans Audi R8 LMS GT3 Yokohama

Spain Roberto Merhi

Japan Yoshiaki Katayama

Japan Seiya Jin

7 BMW Team Studie BMW M4 GT3 Michelin

Japan Seiji Ara

Japan Masataka Yanagida

9

Pacific Racing

(withdrawn)

Mercedes-AMG GT3 Yokohama

Japan Ryohei Sakaguchi

China Liang Jiatong

Japan Shintaro Kawabata

10 Gainer Nissan GT-R NISMO GT3 Dunlop

Japan Hironobu Yasuda

Japan Riki Okusa

11 Gainer Nissan GT-R NISMO GT3 Dunlop

Japan Ryuichiro Tomita

Japan Keishi Ishikawa

Japan Yusuke Shiotsu

18 Team UpGarage Honda NSX GT3 Yokohama

Japan Takashi Kobayashi

Japan Shun Koide

20 Shade Racing Toyota GR86 GT Dunlop

Japan Katsuyuki Hiranaka

Japan Eijiro Shimizu

Japan Shinnosuke Yamada

22 R'Qs Motor Sports Mercedes-AMG GT3 Yokohama

Japan Hisashi Wada

Japan Masaki Jyonai

Japan Masaki Kano

25 Hoppy Team Tsuchiya Toyota GR Supra GT300 Yokohama

Japan Togo Suganami

Japan Seita Nonaka

27 Yogibo Racing Honda NSX GT3 Yokohama

Japan Reimei Ito

Japan Yugo Iwasawa

30 apr Toyota GR86 GT Yokohama

Japan Yuta Kamimura

Japan Manabu Orido

Japan Ryo Ogawa

31 apr Lexus LC500h GT Bridgestone

Japan Koki Saga

Japan Kazuto Kotaka

Japan Yuki Nemuto

48 NILZZ Racing Nissan GT-R NISMO GT3 Yokohama

Japan Taiyou Ida

Japan Yuki Tanaka

Japan Takumi Sanada

50 Anest Iwata Racing with Arnage Lexus RC F GT3 Yokohama

Brazil Igor Fraga

Japan Yuga Furutani

Japan Miki Koyama

52 Saitama Toyopet Green Brave Toyota GR Supra GT300 Bridgestone

Japan Hiroki Yoshida

Japan Kohta Kawaai

56 Kondo Racing Nissan GT-R NISMO GT3 Yokohama

Brazil JP de Oliveira

Japan Teppei Natori

60 LM Corsa Toyota GR Supra GT300 Dunlop

Japan Hiroki Yoshimoto

Japan Shunsuke Kohno

61 R&D Sport Subaru BRZ Dunlop

Japan Takuto Iguchi

Japan Hideki Yamauchi

65 K2 R&D LEON Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 Bridgestone

Japan Naoya Gamou

Japan Takuro Shinohara

87 JLOC Lamborghini Huracan GT3 Yokohama

Japan Kosuke Matsuura

Japan Natsu Sakaguchi

88 JLOC Lamborghini Huracan GT3 Yokohama

Japan Takashi Kogure

Japan Yuya Motojima

96 K-tunes Racing Lexus RC F GT3 Dunlop

Japan Morio Nitta

Japan Shinichi Takagi

244 Max Racing  Toyota GR Supra GT300 Yokohama

Japan Kimiya Sato

Japan Atsushi Miyake

360 Tomei Sports Nissan GT-R NISMO GT3 Yokohama

Japan Takayuki Aoki

Japan Atsushi Tanaka

Japan Takuya Otaki

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