The Latest Breaking News from Teppei Natori

All three GT500 manufacturers are set to be in action at the Miyagi Prefecture track on Tuesday and Wednesday with a single test car each.

The Autopolis race saw the top four positions in both qualifying and the race monopolised by so-called JAF GT300 cars (officially GTA-GT300), as Saitama Toyopet Toyota GR Supra pair Hiroki Yoshida and Kohta Kawaai scored their second win in succession to all but clinch this year's title.

Both the #16 ARTA Honda of Nirei Fukuzumi and Hiroki Otsu and #100 Team Kunimitsu car of Naoki Yamamoto and Tadasuke Makino had 40 seconds added to their race times for illegally refuelling and changing tyres at the same time.

The #3 Nissan Z of Katsumasa Chiyo and Mitsunori Takaboshi was ahead on the road at the time of Matsuda's huge crash on lap 59 of 77 by virtue of not yet having completed its second refuelling stop.

The first two rounds of the 2023 season could not have been any more different: after a hectic weather-affected Okayama opener halted by red flags no fewer than three times, the traditional Golden Week race at Fuji was a comparatively sedate affair, with sunny skies and nary a caution period.

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.

SUPER GT veteran de Oliveira opened his GT300 class title defence with an eventful run to 10th place on board the #56 Nissan GT-R NISMO GT3 he shares with new team-mate Teppei Natori.

Fujinami was part of the Kondo Racing squad that won the title in SUPER GT’s lower class in both 2020 and 2022 alongside Joao Paulo de Oliveira.

Kondo Racing driver de Oliveira has been at the forefront of the GT300 class since he joined the team in 2020, winning that year’s title alongside Kiyoto Fujinami, finishing runner-up the following season and then prevailing in a nail-biting climax to the 2022 campaign.