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

A total of 40 cars, 15 in GT500 and 25 in GT300, are entered for Sunday's 77-lap race, slated to begin slightly later than usual at 2.45pm local time (GMT +9).

With four races down, it's Nissan and NDDP Racing pair Katsumasa Chiyo and Mitsunori Takaboshi that lead the standings after a wet-weather masterclass last time out at Fuji. But TOM'S Toyota pair Sho Tsuboi and Ritomo Miyata are just five points back.

However, both squads will be carrying the maximum stage three fuel flow restrictor, meaning that, barring more inclement weather, it's unlikely either team will be in the fight for victory this weekend.

Instead, all eyes will be on Honda as it aims to take a belated first victory of the season, and end a losing streak at its home circuit dating back to 2018. There's extra significance as this weekend mark's the final visit to Suzuka for the current NSX-GT, before it is replaced by the new Civic Type R-GT next year.

Both ARTA Hondas arrive at Suzuka still relatively light on success ballast, carrying an extra 32kg (#16, Nirei Fukuzumi/Hiroki Otsu) and 22kg (#8, Tomoki Nojiri/Toshiki Oyu) respectively, but Real Racing (Nobuharu Matsushita/Koudai Tsukakoshi) always goes well at its home track and can't be discounted despite a 42kg handicap.

 

Also not to be forgotten is the Nakajima Racing Honda (Takuya Izawa/Kakunoshin Ota, 32kg), whose Dunlop tyres always suit the high-speed Suzuka layout as well as the expected hot conditions.

Nissan's hopes of keeping its unbroken streak of Suzuka wins dating back to 2020 alive are likely to rest on Kondo Racing pair Daiki Sasaki and Kohei Hirate (10kg), who scored pole on SUPER GT's first visit to the track of the year only to be sent to the back of the grid for a technical infraction.

In the GT300 class, the top two cars in the championship will be carrying the maximum 100kg of success ballast - the Team Studie BMW M4 GT3, in which Bruno Spengler makes his return to the series alongside Seiji Ara, and the Kondo Racing Nissan GT-R NISMO GT3 of Joao Paulo de Oliveira and Teppei Natori.

The favourite for victory has to be the Goodsmile Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3, which looked good for the win at Fuji until an uncharacteristic error by Nobuteru Taniguchi handed the initiative to the #11 Gainer Nissan. Taniguchi and Tetsuya Kataoka will carry just 9kg of success ballast.

Others that will be aiming to take advantage of their light handicaps are the works Subaru squad (33kg), the JLOC outfit with its new Lamborghini Huracan GT3 Evo2 (24kg), and the apr Toyota GR86 GT (18kg).

SUPER GT time schedule for Suzuka Round 5

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

Saturday August 26

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

Qualifying – 3.10pm/7.10am/2.10am/11.10pm (Friday)

Sunday August 27

Warm-up – 13.15pm/5.15am/12.15am/9.15pm (Saturday)

Race (77 laps) – 2.45pm/6.45am/1.45am/10.45pm (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 Suzuka?

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 Scott Woodwiss 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 Suzuka Round 5

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  Hiroki Katoh
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  Seiya Jin
7	BMW Team Studie	BMW M4 GT3	Michelin	Seiji Ara  Bruno Spengler
9	Pacific Racing	Mercedes-AMG GT3	Yokohama	Ryohei Sakaguchi  Liang Jiatong  Shintaro Kawabata
10	Gainer	Nissan GT-R NISMO GT3	Dunlop	Hironobu Yasuda  Riki Okusa
11	Gainer	Nissan GT-R NISMO GT3	Dunlop	Ryuichiro Tomita  Keishi Ishikawa  Yusuke Shiotsu
18	Team UpGarage	Honda NSX GT3	Yokohama	Takashi Kobayashi  Shun Koide
20	Shade Racing	Toyota GR86 GT	Dunlop	Katsuyuki Hiranaka  Eijiro Shimizu  Shinnosuke Yamada
22	R'Qs Motor Sports	Mercedes-AMG GT3	Yokohama	Hisashi Wada  Masaki Jyonai  Masaki Kano
25	Hoppy Team Tsuchiya (withdrawn)	Toyota GR Supra GT300	Yokohama	Togo Suganami  Seita Nonaka
27	Yogibo Racing	Honda NSX GT3	Yokohama	Reimei Ito  Yugo Iwasawa
30	apr	Toyota GR86 GT	Yokohama	Manabu Orido  Hiroaki Nagai  Yuta Kamimura
31	apr	Lexus LC500h GT	Bridgestone	Koki Saga  Kazuto Kotaka  Yuki Nemuto
48	NILZZ Racing	Nissan GT-R NISMO GT3	Yokohama	Taiyou Ida  Masaya Kohno  Takumi Sanada
50	Anest Iwata Racing with Arnage	Lexus RC F GT3	Yokohama	Igor Fraga  Yuga Furutani  Miki Koyama
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  Haruki Kurosawa
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
244	Max Racing  (withdrawn)	Toyota GR Supra GT300	Yokohama	Kimiya Sato  Atsushi Miyake
360	Tomei Sports	Nissan GT-R NISMO GT3	Yokohama	Takayuki Aoki  Atsushi Tanaka  Takuya Otaki