Sugo SUPER GT – schedule, how to watch, entry list

A total of 40 cars, 15 in GT500 and 25 in GT300, are entered for the sixth round of the season, slated to begin at 1.30pm local time on Sunday (GMT +9).

After a run of four 450km events, SUPER GT reverts to its traditional 300km format for Sugo, with no three-driver crews. But that doesn't mean the racing will be any less exciting around a venue renowned for creating drama aplenty.

Honda finally broke its victory duck last time out at Suzuka, as ARTA pair Nirei Fukuzumi and Hiroki Otsu thrust themselves into title contention. However, it means the #16 NSX-GT will carry a nominal 74kg of success ballast this weekend, meaning a stage two fuel flow restrictor.

The top two cars in the standings, the NDDP Racing Nissan (Katsumasa Chiyo/Mitsunori Takaboshi) and the #36 TOM'S Toyota GR Supra (Sho Tsuboi/Ritomo Miyata) are carrying the maximum stage three restrictor, while three cars - the Rookie Racing Toyota and the Hondas of Team Kunimitsu and Real Racing - have the stage one restrictor.

 

NISMO pair Ronnie Quintarelli and Tsugio Matsuda sit on 50kg, just below the cut-off for a stage one restrictor, and will be eager to avenge their disqualification from the previous race at Suzuka.

For some lighter cars on the grid, Sugo represents the final chance to capitalise on this situation before the success ballast is halved for the following race at Autopolis. The #8 ARTA Honda of Tomoki Nojiri and Toshiki Oyu (22kg), which hasn't score a point since the Okayama opener, falls firmly into this camp.

In the GT300 class, there are now four cars carrying the maximum 100kg success handicap - the Team UpGarage Honda NSX GT3 that won at Suzuka, the Team Studie BMW M4 GT3, the Kondo Racing Nissan GT-R NISMO GT3 and the Inging Toyota GR86 GT that took a weather-assisted victory in Sugo in 2022.

The works Subaru BRZ often goes well at Sugo, but is now carrying 69kg of ballast following a third-place finish at Suzuka, on top of additional 15kg Balance of Performance adjustment for this weekend.

On the other hand, the K-tunes Racing Lexus RC F GT3 that provisionally scored pole last year comes to Sugo still very light on ballast, carrying only 15kg, while the Anest Iwata example is even lighter with only 3kg on board.

SUPER GT time schedule for Sugo Round 6

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

Saturday September 16

Free practice (1h45 minutes) – 9.15am/1.15am/8.15pm (Friday)/5.15pm (Friday)

Qualifying – 2.40pm/6.40am/1.40am/10.40pm (Friday)

Sunday September 17

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

Race (84 laps) – 1.30pm/5.30am/12.30am/9.30pm (Saturday)

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 Sugo?

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 Sugo Round 6

GT500 class: 

Manufacturer	Team	Tyre	No.	Drivers
Nissan Z GT500	Team Impul	Bridgestone	1	Bertrand Baguette  Kazuki Hiramine
	NDDP Racing	Michelin	3	Katsumasa Chiyo  Mitsunori Takaboshi
	NISMO	Michelin	23	Ronnie Quintarelli  Tsugio Matsuda
	Kondo Racing	Yokohama	24	Kohei Hirate  Daiki Sasaki
Toyota GR Supra	Rookie Racing	Bridgestone	14	Kazuya Oshima  Kenta Yamashita
	Racing Project Bandoh	Yokohama	19	Yuji Kunimoto  Sena Sakaguchi
	TOM’S	Bridgestone	36	Sho Tsuboi  Ritomo Miyata
			37	Ukyo Sasahara  Giuliano Alesi
	Cerumo	Bridgestone	38	Hiroaki Ishiura  Yuji Tachikawa
	SARD	Bridgestone	39	Yuhi Sekiguchi  Yuichi Nakayama
Honda NSX-GT (Type S)	ARTA	Bridgestone	8	Tomoki Nojiri  Toshiki Oyu
			16	Nirei Fukuzumi  Hiroki Otsu
	Real Racing	Bridgestone	17	Koudai Tsukakoshi  Nobuharu Matsushita
	Nakajima Racing	Dunlop	64	Takuya Izawa  Kakunoshin Ota
	Team Kunimitsu	Bridgestone	100	Naoki Yamamoto  Tadasuke Makino

GT300 class:

No.	Team	Car	Tyre	Drivers
2	Muta Racing Inging	Toyota GR86 GT	Bridgestone	Yuui Tsutsumi  Hibiki Taira
4	Goodsmile Racing & Team Ukyo	Mercedes-AMG GT3	Yokohama	Nobuteru Taniguchi  Tatsuya Kataoka
5	Team Mach	Toyota 86 MC	Yokohama	Yusuke Tomibayashi  Takamitsu Matsui
6	Team LeMans	Audi R8 LMS GT3	Yokohama	Roberto Merhi  Yoshiaki Katayama
7	BMW Team Studie	BMW M4 GT3	Michelin	Seiji Ara  Bruno Spengler
9	Pacific Racing	Mercedes-AMG GT3	Yokohama	Ryohei Sakaguchi  Liang Jiatong
10	Gainer	Nissan GT-R NISMO GT3	Dunlop	Hironobu Yasuda  Riki Okusa
11	Gainer	Nissan GT-R NISMO GT3	Dunlop	Ryuichiro Tomita  Keishi Ishikawa
18	Team UpGarage	Honda NSX GT3	Yokohama	Takashi Kobayashi  Shun Koide
20	Shade Racing	Toyota GR86 GT	Dunlop	Katsuyuki Hiranaka  Eijiro Shimizu
22	R'Qs Motor Sports	Mercedes-AMG GT3	Yokohama	Hisashi Wada  Masaki Jyonai
27	Yogibo Racing	Honda NSX GT3	Yokohama	Reimei Ito  Yugo Iwasawa
30	apr	Toyota GR86 GT	Yokohama	Manabu Orido  Hiroaki Nagai
31	apr	Lexus LC500h GT	Bridgestone	Koki Saga  Kazuto Kotaka
48	NILZZ Racing	Nissan GT-R NISMO GT3	Yokohama	Taiyou Ida  Yuki Tanaka
50	Anest Iwata Racing with Arnage	Lexus RC F GT3	Yokohama	Igor Fraga  Yuga Furutani
52	Saitama Toyopet Green Brave	Toyota GR Supra GT300	Bridgestone	Hiroki Yoshida  Kohta Kawaai
56	Kondo Racing	Nissan GT-R NISMO GT3	Yokohama	JP de Oliveira  Teppei Natori
60	LM Corsa	Toyota GR Supra GT300	Dunlop	Hiroki Yoshimoto  Shunsuke Kohno
61	R&D Sport	Subaru BRZ	Dunlop	Takuto Iguchi  Hideki Yamauchi
65	K2 R&D LEON Racing	Mercedes-AMG GT3	Bridgestone	Naoya Gamou  Takuro Shinohara
87	JLOC	Lamborghini Huracan GT3	Yokohama	Kosuke Matsuura  Natsu Sakaguchi
88	JLOC	Lamborghini Huracan GT3	Yokohama	Takashi Kogure  Yuya Motojima
96	K-tunes Racing	Lexus RC F GT3	Dunlop	Morio Nitta  Shinichi Takagi
360	Tomei Sports	Nissan GT-R NISMO GT3	Yokohama	Takayuki Aoki  Takuya Otaki