The final pieces of the Autobacs SUPER GT Series’ GT300 class of 2023 appear to be in place, as the GT Association (GTA) has published the entry list for the upcoming official pre-season test at Okayama International Circuit.
All 42 of the series’ entrants will take part in the first of two official pre-season tests, taking place on 11-12 March.
GT500 private manufacturer tests have been ongoing for several weeks. The Honda NSX-GT, in its final season, has been setting top times including an unofficial course record at Okayama set by Astemo Real Racing’s Koudai Tsukakoshi on 8 February at 1’16.263.
There will be one more private test for Honda, Nissan, and Toyota on 2-3 March at Suzuka Circuit – and then an informal “preseason match” held the following two days as part of the Suzuka Circuit Fan Thanks Day event. However, the official pre-season test at Okayama will be the first time that all 15 GT500 teams and drivers will be present together.
Meanwhile, in GT300, the last missing pieces of the entry list have finally been filled in.
Pacific Racing Team have announced a completely revamped programme after parting ways with CarGuy Racing. The privateer team operated out of Nakanihon Automotive College in Gifu Prefecture, have switched to a Mercedes-AMG GT3. They’ve also signed a new title sponsorship deal with VSpo, the third-largest VTuber (virtual YouTuber) talent agency in Japan backed by parent company Brave Group.
GT300 veteran Ryohei Sakaguchi joins the team as their lead driver, while 30-year-old Liang Jiatong from China makes his series debut as Sakaguchi’s full-season team-mate. This is Sakaguchi’s second stint with Pacific Racing Team, after driving for them from 2015-16. The 48-year-old driver scored his first SUPER GT win at Motegi in July 2021.
Liang, an International GT Open race winner and Lamborghini Super Trofeo champion, spent last season in the China Endurance Championship with Harmony Racing – and claimed a double victory in the 2022 Macau Grand Prix domestic GT races. He’ll become the first driver from the People’s Republic of China to race in SUPER GT.
Multiple GT300 race winner Shintaro Kawabata will join the team as their third driver, with the potential of running all five of the series’ 450 kilometre semi-endurance races.
This also ensures that neither Ferrari nor Porsche will be present on the 2023 GT300 grid with their newest customer cars.
Team LeMans will keep their Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo II for the upcoming season, after failing to find a suitable buyer for the car this off-season.
As previously confirmed, Yoshiaki Katayama and Roberto Merhi will return to the team. Super Taikyu Series driver Seiya Jin will test at Okayama as a third driver, in preparation to make his series debut later this season.
NILZZ Racing had not announced their driver line-up for 2023 last week, but the reveal of the Okayama entry list test confirms that gentleman drivers Taiyo Ida and Yuki Tanaka will drive their #48 Nissan GT-R NISMO GT3 this season. Yusaku Shibata will be the team’s third driver for at least the upcoming Okayama test.
Recently confirmed as a third driver at R’Qs Motor Sports is former Arnage Racing driver Masaki Kano, who will accompany Hisashi Wada and Masaki Jyonai in another all-Am line-up.
In total, ten GT300 teams have registered a third driver for the upcoming test – the others include Yusuke Shiotsu (#11 Gainer GT-R), Shinnosuke Yamada (#20 SHADE Racing GR86), Ryo Ogawa (#30 apr GR86), Yuki Nemoto (#31 apr LC500h), Miki Koyama (#50 Anest Iwata RC F), and Takuya Otaki (#360 RunUp GT-R).
Though he may be an accomplished driver outside of SUPER GT, Bruno Spengler (BMW Team Studie x CRS) will headline the list of 11 GT300 drivers that will undergo the GTA Rookie Test. He’ll be joining Syun Koide (Team UPGarage), Yugo Iwasawa and Reimei Ito (Yogibo Racing), Igor Fraga and Yuga Furutani (Anest Iwata Racing with Arnage), plus the aforementioned Liang, Jin, Ogawa, Nemoto, and Koyama. Each of them will need to complete 12 consecutive and competitive laps without incident in order to qualify for a racing license.
| Class | No. | Vehicle/Registered Name | Drivers | Entrant | Tyres |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GT500 | 1 | Nissan Z GT500 Marelli Impul Z |
Kazuki Hiramine Bertrand Baguette |
Team Impul | Bridgestone |
| GT500 | 3 | Nissan Z GT500 Niterra Motul Z |
Katsumasa Chiyo Mitsunori Takaboshi |
NDDP Racing | Michelin |
| GT500 | 8 | Honda NSX-GT ARTA Mugen NSX-GT |
Tomoki Nojiri Toshiki Oyu |
ARTA | Bridgestone |
| GT500 | 14 | Toyota GR Supra GT500 Eneos X Prime GR Supra |
Kazuya Oshima Kenta Yamashita |
TGR Team Eneos ROOKIE | Bridgestone |
| GT500 | 16 | Honda NSX-GT ARTA Mugen NSX-GT |
Nirei Fukuzumi Hiroki Otsu |
ARTA | Bridgestone |
| GT500 | 17 | Honda NSX-GT Astemo NSX-GT |
Koudai Tsukakoshi Nobuharu Matsushita |
Astemo Real Racing | Bridgestone |
| GT500 | 19 | Toyota GR Supra GT500 WedsSport Advan GR Supra |
Yuji Kunimoto Sena Sakaguchi |
TGR Team WedsSport Bandoh | Yokohama |
| GT500 | 23 | Nissan Z GT500 Motul Autech Z |
Tsugio Matsuda Ronnie Quintarelli |
NISMO | Michelin |
| GT500 | 24 | Nissan Z GT500 Realize Corporation Advan Z |
Daiki Sasaki Kohei Hirate |
Kondo Racing | Yokohama |
| GT500 | 36 | Toyota GR Supra GT500 au TOM's GR Supra |
Sho Tsuboi Ritomo Miyata |
TGR Team au TOM's | Bridgestone |
| GT500 | 37 | Toyota GR Supra GT500 Deloitte TOM's GR Supra |
Ukyo Sasahara Giuliano Alesi |
TGR Team Deloitte TOM's | Bridgestone |
| GT500 | 38 | Toyota GR Supra GT500 ZENT Cerumo GR Supra |
Yuji Tachikawa Hiroaki Ishiura |
TGR Team ZENT Cerumo | Bridgestone |
| GT500 | 39 | Toyota GR Supra GT500 Denso Kobelco SARD GR Supra |
Yuhi Sekiguchi Yuichi Nakayama |
TGR Team SARD | Bridgestone |
| GT500 | 64 | Honda NSX-GT Modulo NSX-GT |
Takuya Izawa Kakunoshin Ohta |
Modulo Nakajima Racing | Dunlop |
| GT500 | 100 | Honda NSX-GT Stanley NSX-GT |
Naoki Yamamoto Tadasuke Makino |
Team Kunimitsu | Bridgestone |
| Class | No. | Vehicle/Registered Name | Drivers | Entrant | Tyres |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GT300 | 2 | Toyota GR86 GT300 muta Racing GR86 GT |
Yuui Tsutsumi Hibiki Taira |
muta Racing INGING | Bridgestone |
| GT300 | 4 | Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo Goodsmile Hatsune Miku AMG |
Nobuteru Taniguchi Tatsuya Kataoka |
Goodsmile Racing & TeamUKYO | Yokohama |
| GT300 | 5 | Dome MC86 Mach Syaken Air Buster MC86 Mach Go |
Yusuke Tomibayashi Takamitsu Matsui |
Team Mach | Yokohama |
| GT300 | 6 | Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo II Dobot Audi R8 LMS |
Yoshiaki Katayama Roberto Merhi Muntan Seiya Jin |
Team LeMans | Yokohama |
| GT300 | 7 | BMW M4 GT3 Studie BMW M4 |
Seiji Ara Bruno Spengler |
BMW Team Studie x CRS | Michelin |
| GT300 | 9 | Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo TBN |
Ryohei Sakaguchi Liang Jiatong Shintaro Kawabata |
Pacific Racing Team | Yokohama |
| GT300 | 10 | Nissan GT-R NISMO GT3 Ponos Gainer GT-R |
Hironobu Yasuda Riki Okusa |
Gainer | Dunlop |
| GT300 | 11 | Nissan GT-R NISMO GT3 Gainer TanaX GT-R |
Ryuichiro Tomita Keishi Ishikawa Yusuke Shiotsu |
Gainer | Dunlop |
| GT300 | 18 | Honda NSX GT3 Evo UPGarage NSX GT3 |
Takashi Kobayashi Syun Koide |
Team UPGarage | Yokohama |
| GT300 | 20 | Toyota GR86 GT300 SHADE Racing GR86 GT |
Katsuyuki Hiranaka Eijiro Shimizu Shinnosuke Yamada |
SHADE Racing | Dunlop |
| GT300 | 22 | Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo R'Qs AMG GT3 |
Hisashi Wada Masaki Jyonai Masaki Kano |
R'Qs Motor Sports | Yokohama |
| GT300 | 25 | Toyota GR Supra GT300 Hoppy Schatz GR Supra |
Seita Nonaka Togo Suganami |
Hoppy Team Tsuchiya | Yokohama |
| GT300 | 27 | Honda NSX GT3 Evo Yogibo NSX GT3 |
Yugo Iwasawa Reimei Ito |
Yogibo Racing | Yokohama |
| GT300 | 30 | Toyota GR86 GT300 apr GR86 GT |
Hiroaki Nagai Manabu Orido Ryo Ogawa |
apr | Yokohama |
| GT300 | 31 | Lexus LC500h GT300 apr LC500h GT |
Koki Saga Kazuto Kotaka Yuki Nemoto |
apr | Bridgestone |
| GT300 | 48 | Nissan GT-R NISMO GT3 Shokumou K's Frontier GT-R |
Taiyo Ida Yuki Tanaka Yusaku Shibata |
NILZZ Racing | Yokohama |
| GT300 | 50 | Lexus RC F GT3 Anest Iwata Racing RC F GT3 |
Igor Omura Fraga Yuga Furutani Miki Koyama |
Anest Iwata Racing with Arnage | Yokohama |
| GT300 | 52 | Toyota GR Supra GT300 Saitama Toyopet GB GR Supra GT |
Hiroki Yoshida Kohta Kawaai |
Saitama Toyopet GreenBrave | Bridgestone |
| GT300 | 56 | Nissan GT-R NISMO GT3 Realize Nissan Mechanic Challenge GT-R |
João Paulo de Oliveira Teppei Natori |
Kondo Racing | Yokohama |
| GT300 | 60 | Toyota GR Supra GT300 Syntium LMcorsa GR Supra GT |
Hiroki Yoshimoto Shunsuke Kohno |
LM corsa | Dunlop |
| GT300 | 61 | Subaru BRZ GT300 Subaru BRZ R&D Sport |
Takuto Iguchi Hideki Yamauchi |
R&D Sport | Dunlop |
| GT300 | 65 | Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo LEON Pyramid AMG |
Naoya Gamou Takuro Shinohara |
K2 R&D LEON Racing | Bridgestone |
| GT300 | 87 | Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Bamboo Airways Lamborghini GT3 |
Kosuke Matsuura Natsu Sakaguchi |
JLOC | Yokohama |
| GT300 | 88 | Lamborghini Huracán GT3 TBN |
Takashi Kogure Yuya Motojima |
JLOC | Yokohama |
| GT300 | 96 | Lexus RC F GT3 K-tunes RC F GT3 |
Morio Nitta Shinichi Takagi |
K-tunes Racing | Dunlop |
| GT300 | 244 | Toyota GR Supra GT300 Hachi-Ichi GR Supra GT |
Kimiya Sato Atsushi Miyake |
Max Racing | Yokohama |
| GT300 | 360 | Nissan GT-R NISMO GT3 RunUp Rivaux GT-R |
Takayuki Aoki Atsushi Tanaka Takuya Otaki |
Tomei Sports | Yokohama |
Images © GTA
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Final Pieces of GT300 Grid Assembled as Series Announces Okayama Test Entry List - Dailysportscar
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