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	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 Masataka Yanagida
9	Pacific Racing (withdrawn)	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	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	Yuta Kamimura  Manabu Orido  Ryo Ogawa
31	apr	Lexus LC500h GT	Bridgestone	Koki Saga  Kazuto Kotaka  Yuki Nemuto
48	NILZZ Racing	Nissan GT-R NISMO GT3	Yokohama	Taiyou Ida  Yuki Tanaka  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
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	Toyota GR Supra GT300	Yokohama	Kimiya Sato  Atsushi Miyake
360	Tomei Sports	Nissan GT-R NISMO GT3	Yokohama	Takayuki Aoki  Atsushi Tanaka  Takuya Otaki