Traditionally, the rules for the Japanese series’ long-distance races have stipulated that, in addition to two pitstops being mandatory, a driver change was also required at each stop.
This in essence meant that the starting driver was also required to do the final stint, with the second driver only taking over at the wheel for the middle phase of the race.
However, the supplementary regulations for this week’s traditional Fuji Golden Week fixture on Wednesday stipulate only that two refuelling stops are necessary, with no requirement to change drivers each time or change tyres.
This opens up the possibility of drivers double-stinting for the first time, although no one driver is allowed to complete more than two-thirds of the race distance.
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For this week’s 100-lap encounter, that means a maximum of 66 laps, and a de facto minimum of 34 laps for two-driver crews.
In the case of three-driver crews, the registered third driver is required to complete a minimum of 11 laps to be eligible for points.
There are no cars with three drivers in GT500, but there are several in the GT300 ranks, including the Team LeMans Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo II (Shintaro Kawabata), the Team Studie BMW M4 GT3 (Tsubasa Kondo), the #11 Gainer Nissan GT-R NISMO GT3 (Yusuke Shiotsu) and the apr Toyota GR86 GT (Hibiki Taira).
As in previous Fuji races, the fuel window is expected to be around 40-44 laps for GT500 cars, with GT300 cars able to go slightly further than that - although one-stop strategies are not allowed. Refuelling during a safety car period will also not count towards a team's required two pitstops.
Teams have seven sets of dry tyres at their disposal, one more than they have for normal 300km races, and eight sets of wets.
Practice for the Fuji 450km begins on Tuesday morning, with qualifying taking place that afternoon ahead of the race on Wednesday.
