2023 SUPER GT Preview: Part 2, GT300
The second part of our in-depth 2023 Autobacs SUPER GT Series preview at DSC takes us through the 27-strong field in GT300 – a category that’s three classes in one!
Manufacturer-developed FIA GT3 cars are still the choice for most teams, but GT300 is unique in that they do battle against cars built to the original GTA-GT300 regulations, as well as GT300 Mother Chassis vehicles.
GTA-GT300 cars are extensively modified, pure-bred race cars built around the frame of their original road-going counterparts with their own unique aerodynamics. This is the category which has spawned some of SUPER GT’s most creative designs in recent years.
Still present, albeit as an endangered species, is the Mother Chassis platform, which supplies teams a set of common components – chassis, engine, gearbox, and more – with which to design and engineer their own cars at a reduced cost.
Through the implementation of a unique Balance of Performance, these three varieties of racing vehicles compete on equal terms while still boasting their own unique strengths.
GT300 is also unique in that it doesn’t constrain its teams to field Pro-Am line-ups, so the driver combinations tend to be mostly all-Pro with a mixture of tenured ex-GT500 drivers, young stars with GT500 potential, and those who’ve made a genuine career racing in this ultra-competitive category – which produced eight different winners from eight races last season.
It’s worth noting that the GT300 class will introduce the new carbon-neutral fuel (CNF) supplied by ETS Racing Fuels beginning at the third round of the season, at Suzuka Circuit on 3-4 June.
#2 – muta Racing INGING – Toyota GR86 (Bridgestone): Yuui Tsutsumi/Hibiki Taira (full season), Hiroki Katoh (third driver)
Two seasons ago, INGING Motorsport took over the operations of GT300 mainstay Cars Tokai Dream28. Last year, they were one of three teams that debuted the new Toyota GR86 GT300-spec by constructor apr, and in a wet race at Sportsland Sugo, the GR86 captured its first win in dominant fashion.
Katoh has retired from full-time racing after 23 seasons in SUPER GT. He’s taken over as the new Team Director of muta Racing INGING and will be the third driver for longer-distance races on a reduced schedule.
He’s entrusted the team’s future success to a younger line-up anchored by Tsutsumi, who’s won races in each of his first two full-time seasons, and newcomer Taira, the 2020 FIA F4 Japanese Champion – who steps up to his first full-time GT300 seat as a highly-touted prospect of the Toyota Gazoo Racing Driver Challenge (TGR-DC).
#4 – Goodsmile Racing & Team UKYO – Mercedes-AMG GT3 (Yokohama): Nobuteru Taniguchi/Tatsuya Kataoka
2023 will be the 12th season that perennial SUPER GT fan favourites Goodsmile Racing will field a car for three-time GT300 Champions Taniguchi and Kataoka. The core of the team remains intact from previous years, under the management of F1 alumnus Ukyo Katayama.
At long last, GSR & Team UKYO were able to break a painful five-and-a-half-year winless drought at the Suzuka 450km in August. Despite some misfortunes including an emergency appendectomy for Taniguchi prior to the Sugo round, they finished ninth in the Drivers’ standings and sixth in the Teams’ table.
Even in their advancing age, the beloved drift-to-GT legend Taniguchi and the consummate professional Kataoka are two of the very best drivers in GT300, and this well-drilled unit has maximized the Mercedes-AMG GT3 beyond its limitations. If nothing else, this year’s rendition of the Hatsune Miku racing livery and character design is as sharp as an Itasha car can be, to the delight of Goodsmile Racing’s many fans at home and abroad.
#5 – Team Mach – Dome MC86 (Yokohama): Yusuke Tomibayashi/Takamitsu Matsui
Team Mach was ready to leave the series when their Dome MC86 chassis #0013 was destroyed in a bizarre collision under a Safety Car. But thanks to a deal with fellow privateers Arnage Racing, they’ve decided to stay. Their new MC86, chassis #0014, is now the final first-generation Mother Chassis vehicle competing in SUPER GT.
Tsuchiya Engineering wanted to lend them their 2016 championship-winning car but Team Mach owner Tetsuji Tamanaka refused to risk a similar accident destroying such a precious keepsake, so they instead worked out a compromise to send 2016 GT300 Champion and longtime Tsuchiya driver/employee Matsui to partner second-year, gamer-turned-real racer Tomibayashi.
Unfortunately, the Speed Racer Mach 5-inspired MC86 was plagued with reliability woes and logged by far the lowest mileage in pre-season testing. This is a team and driver combination capable of podiums or even a win when the car is performing at its best – but have they figured out their gremlins in time to start the season, or will these first rounds merely serve as glorified test runs?
#6 – Team LeMans – Audi R8 LMS GT3 (Yokohama): Yoshiaki Katayama/Roberto Merhi (full season), Seiya Jin (third driver)
Team LeMans had a strange 2022 season which saw them dismiss a legitimate legend of Japanese motorsport – Satoshi Motoyama – after one race, to bring in well-travelled F1 alum Roberto Merhi. At the end of the season, they put their Audi R8 up for sale with the hopes of finding a buyer and changing to a different GT3 platform.
So it must have been a surprise to see them near the top of the testing leaderboards last month – in a car they reluctantly kept! Hoping to make the most of what they still have, Team LeMans hired Mattia Oselladore as Chief Engineer this year, hot off his success working with Formula 2 champion Felipe Drugovich at MP Motorsport (and years of service at Prema beforehand).
Merhi did well once he acclimated to SUPER GT, and Katayama took some genuine strides forward in his second year to capture a pair of top-five finishes. Each driver can build upon that foundation for 2023. Young prospect Seiya Jin debuts as the third driver, with some GT4 and single-seater experience plus backing from Audi Japan.
#7 – BMW Team Studie x CRS – BMW M4 GT3 (Michelin): Seiji Ara (full season), Bruno Spengler (select rounds), Masataka Yanagida (third driver)
The combination of the all-new BMW M4 GT3 and Michelin tyres debuted to rave reviews in 2022 as BMW Team Studie x CRS took a commanding first win for the new car at the Suzuka 300km. It was Studie’s first win in the series in nine years, a span of time where they spun off from Goodsmile Racing, left the series for a time, and came back.
Eager to build on this newfound success, Team Director Yasuaki “Bob” Suzuki has assembled another all-world driver rotation led by 2004 Le Mans 24h overall winner Ara for the full season. With Augusto Farfus tackling BMW’s new LMDh project, DTM champion Spengler takes his place in Japan and will run five races this year around his other commitments in Europe.
Adding two-time GT500 and GT300 champion Yanagida as the third driver/Spengler surrogate gives Studie another experienced driver with a winning pedigree. If they can avoid some of the inconsistency that plagued them last season, this team is poised to compete for the GT300 crown.
#9 – Pacific Racing Team – Mercedes-AMG GT3 (Yokohama): Ryohei Sakaguchi/Liang Jiatong (full season), Shintaro Kawabata (third driver)
The racing division of Nakanihon Automobile College (NAC), Pacific Racing Team (no relation to Keith Wiggins’ old outfit of the past!) has been around for over a decade in SUPER GT. They’re starting fresh in 2023 after the end of a two-year tie-up with CarGuy Racing.
Pacific changed manufacturers from Ferrari to Mercedes-AMG as a result and also assembled a new full-season driver line-up. Five-time Super Taikyu champion and GT300 race winner Ryohei Sakaguchi brings his wealth of experience to partner International GT Open standout, Alex Jiatong Liang – who will be the first Chinese national to race in SUPER GT.
Strengthening this line-up for 450km races is two-time GT300 race winner Kawabata, who was Pacific’s third driver in the Summer race at Fuji. There will be a new Itasha livery for Pacific this year as VSPO!, the eSports-focused Virtual YouTuber (VTuber) agency, takes over the title sponsorship vacated by rival agency Hololive.
#10 – Gainer – Nissan GT-R NISMO GT3 (Dunlop): Hironobu Yasuda/Riki Okusa
#11 – Gainer – Nissan GT-R NISMO GT3 (Dunlop): Ryuichiro Tomita/Keishi Ishikawa (full season), Yusuke Shiotsu (third driver)
Gainer, the perennial GT300 front-runner team from Kyoto, continues its work as a Nissan official customer racing team in 2023 – fielding two GT-R NISMO GT3s each using Dunlop (Sumitomo) tyres.
The #10 car has a brand-new livery and a new title sponsor, video game developer Ponos. The biggest change has been on the driver front, with the formation of a dream team between 2008 GT300 Champion Yasuda, and his protegé Okusa, who exceeded all expectations in his rookie year. He won just his second career race, and came one lap away from a GT300 Championship on debut!
The speedy and handsome sophomore should only benefit from sharing the seat with his mentor Yasuda, and the wealth of experience that he brings with him. The #10 crew also struck gold last year with the hiring of former SARD Chief Engineer Narunobu Makino, as they finished second in the Teams’ Championship.
With Yasuda going to the #10 car, multi-time GT300 and GT World Challenge race winner Tomita is the new lead driver in the grey and red #11 Gainer TanaX GT-R which finished fifth in the Teams’ standings. Tomita fought until the last lap to help Okusa secure the championship last season, until the tyres underneath him gave out at the very end.
His new co-driver is Ishikawa, now in his fifth year as a Gainer driver. Ishikawa’s one and only win came back in 2019, and while he’s shown flashes of speed, he’s not had many stand-out drives in recent years – something the 28-year-old is eager to correct. Expect third driver Yusuke Shiotsu, also moving in from the #10 car, to have a more involved role.
#18 – Team UPGarage – Honda NSX GT3 (Yokohama): Takashi Kobayashi/Syun Koide
Team UPGarage became a Honda customer team in 2019, but haven’t won in the series since exchanging their old MC86 for the NSX GT3. 2022 was their best season with Honda, a year that included two podium finishes. With ARTA out of the class, Makoto Ishida’s team will bear greater responsibility – and expectations of success – as Honda’s leading outfit in GT300.
This team leans heavily on the experience of Kobayashi, an experienced competitor with victories in both classes of SUPER GT. His expertise has helped young drivers like Teppei Natori and Kakunoshin Ohta take the next step in their development when they were running at Team UPGarage.
Succeeding Natori and Ohta in the yellow and black NSX is rookie Syun Koide, the reigning FIA F4 Japanese Champion and export of the Honda Formula Dream Project (HFDP). In addition to single-seaters, Koide has also gotten plenty of multi-class racing experience in the Super Taikyu Series.
#20 – SHADE Racing – Toyota GR86 (Dunlop): Katsuyuki Hiranaka/Eijiro Shimizu (full season), Shinnosuke Yamada (third driver)
After building a successful foundation through years of success in the Super Taikyu Series, Hayashi Telempu SHADE Racing made the leap to SUPER GT with the new GR86 GT300 and a system that had the potential to succeed right away. Instead, their first-year struggles just highlighted how hard it is for most teams to succeed out of the gates, even in GT300.
Year two might produce more consistent and fruitful results for the team and its Dunlop-clad GR86, which had a strong pre-season test. Three-time GT300 Championship runner-up Hiranaka returns as the lead driver. The 41-year-old veteran has come close so many times, and would love nothing more than to finally capture his elusive first title.
20-year-old sophomore Shimizu is tipped to take another big step forward in his development, building speed and confidence beyond what’s expected from the youngest full-time runner in the series. Shinnosuke Yamada reprises his role as the third driver.
#22 – R’Qs Motor Sports – Mercedes-AMG GT3 (Yokohama): Hisashi Wada/Masaki Jyonai (full season), Masaki Kano (third driver)
No matter how many setbacks this team suffers, R’Qs Motor Sports won’t quit on their SUPER GT dream. They’re one of the last remaining squads left in GT300 that don’t field a line-up of two professional drivers.
“Wada-Q” and “Guts” Jyonai are about to begin their 29th and 27th SUPER GT seasons respectively, and their 14th as team-mates. But in order to do so, both drivers had to successfully pass the GTA Rookie Test to demonstrate their competence after turning 60 years old last year.
Fellow Am driver Kano comes over after several years with technical partners Arnage Racing to be the third man for 450km rounds. If the R’Qs AMG simply finishes every race this season, it’ll be as big an accomplishment for this team as a race win would be for any other. They’ve not finished in the top ten in a race since 2015.
#25 – Hoppy Team Tsuchiya – Toyota GR Supra (Yokohama): Togo Suganami/Seita Nonaka
Tsuchiya Engineering, the storied and successful privateers, are back for a second season with their home-built GT300 Toyota GR Supra. Even when times have been tough and success has been hard to come by, second-generation engineer and championship-winning driver Takeshi Tsuchiya is determined to inspire future generations of racing engineers and mechanics to forge their own path and continue the legacy of his late father, Haruo.
It was a character-building 2022 season with more setbacks than successes, including construction delays, and a mighty mid-season testing accident at Suzuka. 2023 has already been a challenge after a crash in the pre-season test at Fuji – thankfully, they’ve repaired the car quick enough to start the season on time.
Nonaka, the 2021 FIA F4 Japan champion and TGR-DC prospect, returns for his second season in the Hoppy Supra, hoping for better results than last season. Suganami returns to full-time GT300 action after spending 2022 focusing on Super Formula Lights. He was a race winner and finished third in the 2020 standings during his two-and-a-half years at LEON Racing.
#27 – Yogibo Racing – Honda NSX GT3 (Yokohama): Yugo Iwasawa/Reimei Ito
Yogibo Racing is the newest team in GT300, two years after the bean bag manufacturer first entered racing as a sponsor for Drago Corse, and a year on from the formation of their new team in GT World Challenge Asia.
They’re a fresh entry but inherited several components of ARTA’s now-defunct GT300 programme – namely, a partnership with championship-winning engineering firm Servus Japan, and the same NSX GT3 chassis that won the last race of 2022 at Motegi. Under the management of Misato Haga, the first woman to manage a championship-winning SUPER GT, they’re more than capable of being a regular points scorer.
Two rookie graduates from the Japanese F4 series will get their first opportunity in GT300: Yugo Iwasawa and Reimei Ito, who’ve been friends since their days racing Super FJ cars at Motegi. Ito has a year’s worth of Super Taikyu experience, while Iwasawa is brand-new to multi-class racing. But their talent and chemistry could have them fighting for top-ten finishes in year one.
#30 – apr – Toyota GR86 (Yokohama): Manabu Orido (full season), Yuta Kamimura/Ryo Ogawa (shared third driver), Hiroaki Nagai (declared full season, will miss Round 1)
#31 – apr – Lexus LC500h (Bridgestone): Koki Saga/Kazuto Kotaka (full season), Yuki Nemoto (third driver)
Racing constructor apr has built some of GT300’s most successful and unique racing vehicles – including the MR-S, the midship Corolla Axio, and the V8-hybrid Prius GT. Hiroto Kaneso owns and manages this team which has two entries with their own unique vehicles and tyre suppliers.
Last year apr constructed a new GT300 car based on the latest Toyota GR86, including one for the traditionally Pro-Am number 30 crew. For the first round, two-time GT300 Champion and grassroots racing legend Orido will share the apr GR86 with Yuta Kamimura, who shined in a relief role at Suzuka and drove alongside Orido to a podium finish in the Suzuka 450km – as an all-Pro combination.
After multiple failed attempts to secure a ride over the past seven years, three-time Porsche Carrera Cup Japan champion Ryo Ogawa, son of Toyota racing legend Hitoshi, is finally expected to make his SUPER GT debut as a third driver.
As for gentleman racer Hiroaki Nagai, he is a declared full-season runner – but didn’t drive in either pre-season test and isn’t racing in Okayama.
Of course, one of the big stories of the year is the debut of apr’s new Lexus LC500h, the hybrid-powered GT300 successor to the incredible Prius GTs, powered by the same 5.4 litre 2UR-G V8 engine and the same capacitor-based hybrid system as its forerunner. While its proportions look unflattering at certain angles, pre-season testing results seem to indicate that the new LC500h is a competitive car which has cured many of the chronic issues of the last-generation Prius.
Entrusted as the lead driver of the new LC500h is the veteran Saga, who’s been the lead development driver for apr’s hybrid GT300 cars since the start of the Prius project. Saga was the 2016 GT300 runner-up and led the team to its most recent victory in 2021. After two part-time GT300 seasons, Kotaka begins his second full season in SUPER GT, fresh off his Super Formula Lights championship. He looked mighty quick in testing, and had prior experience driving the last-gen Prius.
Nemoto, who’s been applying his craft in European GT3 competition as a Lamborghini junior driver, will get a chance to showcase what he’s learned as the rookie third driver for 450km races.
#48 – NILZZ Racing – Nissan GT-R NISMO GT3 (Bridgestone): Taiyo Ida/Yuki Tanaka (full season – third driver TBD)
NILZZ Racing are the only other team with an all-Am full-season driver line-up. Taiyo Ida and Yuki Tanaka are steady sure-handed clubman racers who can consistently finish races without major mistakes, and that’ll be their continued goal for every race this season.
If they were to crack the top ten somehow and finish in the points, it’d be a remarkable accomplishment: Their last top ten finish came back in 2016 when the team was called Dijon Racing.
NILZZ tested two candidates for their third driver role: GT300 veteran Yusaku Shibata, and rookie Takumi Sanada. As of publication, the third driver is still TBD. But auto sport Magazine of Japan is saying that the seat will go to Sanada, who has a few years of GT4 and Vita Cup experience and is mentored by veteran racer Jukuchou Sunako.
#50 – Anest Iwata Racing with Arnage – Lexus RC F GT3 (Yokohama): Igor Fraga/Yuga Furutani (full season), Miki Koyama (third driver, Rookie Test pending)
An intriguing new collaboration was formed in the offseason between Arnage Racing and air compressor manufacturer Anest Iwata. With the new backing, the rebranded Anest Iwata Racing with Arnage has formed a brand new system. They sold their old Mother Chassis car to enter a Lexus RC F GT3, piloted by three rookie drivers renowned for successes in single-seaters and eSports.
Multi-time Gran Turismo World Series champion Fraga makes his return to real-world racing for the first time since 2020 when he raced in FIA Formula 3 and won the Toyota Racing Series in New Zealand. He’s joined by the 2021 Formula Regional Japanese Champion Furutani, who has two years of GT4 racing experience under his belt already.
Pending a successful Rookie Test, third driver Miki Koyama will be the first woman to race in SUPER GT since 2012. Koyama already made history when she won last year’s Formula Regional Japan title. Along the pit wall, former Dome Racing Team Director, Tenjiro Amazawa, is the chief engineer.
#52 – Saitama Toyopet GreenBrave – Toyota GR Supra (Bridgestone): Hiroki Yoshida/Kohta Kawaai
One of the most potent teams in GT300 is Saitama Toyopet GreenBrave, the race team backed by service mechanics from the Saitama Toyopet automotive group. This is year four of the combination of drivers Yoshida and Kawaai, and the V8-powered GT300 Toyota GR Supra which Saitama Toyopet introduced to the series.
Yoshida and Kawaai won twice and finished runner-up in the 2020 standings. In 2021, they nearly swept both races at Fuji but suffered punctures late in each, and failed to win a race at all. This past year they returned to the top step of the podium after a pretty comfortable win in Autopolis, good enough for the team to finish fourth in the final standings.
The combination of Yoshida’s experience and attention to detail, Kawaai’s exceptional pace in all situations, their well-rounded car and Bridgestone tyres, makes GreenBrave a favourite for another championship-contending season. Worth noting, they led all GT300 teams in testing mileage.
#56 – Kondo Racing – Nissan GT-R NISMO GT3 (Yokohama): João Paulo de Oliveira/Teppei Natori
The partnership between Kondo Racing and the Nissan Mechanic Challenge programme has created a GT300 powerhouse. Kondo Racing has won two of the last three GT300 titles – none more dramatic than when they took the title on the last lap of the season, long after they suffered a loose wheel and no longer controlled their own fate!
Led by Team Director Masahiko “Matchy” Kondo, Chief Engineer Shinichi Yonebayashi, and the legendary two-time GT300 Champion ace driver J.P. Oliveira, Kondo Racing are ready to “run it back” – but now, they have a new, young driver joining the team in their #56 Nissan GT-R.
2021 Super Formula Lights champion Natori is back in GT300 full-time with the reigning champion team. Originally an HFDP single-seater prospect, Natori aligned himself with Nissan after the manufacturer threw him a career lifeline in Super Taikyu – following the collapse of a deal that would have sent him to Formula 2. The 22-year-old might be Nissan’s new GT500 star of the future.
The wise and battle-tested Oliveira, last year’s most outstanding individual driver in the field, will be a great mentor for his new team-mate – and he’s still as fast and ruthless as ever behind the wheel.
#60 – LM corsa – Toyota GR Supra (Dunlop): Hiroki Yoshimoto/Shunsuke Kohno
LM corsa introduced the new Toyota GR Supra two seasons ago and enjoyed a successful 2021 season with the combination of Yoshimoto and Kohno, who swept both races at Fuji, and finished third in the championship – tying Yoshimoto’s career best from 2012.
In 2022, the team introduced a personalised body kit at the request of the owners, Osaka Toyopet Group. The restyled Syntium GR Supra went through a torrid time as LM corsa struggled to find the right balance with its new aero. Three top-ten finishes with no podiums or victories constituted a great step backwards from the heights of the prior year.
Yoshimoto’s experience is critical to the team and the continued development of the bespoke Supra bodywork, which has had to be altered again to meet new GTA-GT300 vehicle regulations. Kohno has been improving by leaps and bounds since his rookie year in 2020. They’re striving not just to meet, but exceed their past high marks from 2021.
#61 – R&D Sport – Subaru BRZ (Dunlop): Takuto Iguchi/Hideki Yamauchi
The successful and long-standing partnership between Subaru and R&D Sport continues in 2023, anchored by the same successful combination of the second-generation BRZ and 2021 GT300 Champion drivers Iguchi and Yamauchi. This exceptional pair with their perfectly complementary styles are entering their ninth consecutive season together with R&D Sport.
Two years ago, the magic combination of a new car and two outstanding drivers gave Subaru its first taste of SUPER GT championship glory in 25 years. Last year they came close to an unprecedented championship repeat, putting together another strong season with a win in the Fuji 100 Lap Race – before everything went catastrophically wrong in the finale at Motegi.
The beautiful, lightweight BRZ GT300 and its long-serving EJ20 flat-four engine have been optimised for the new season and the coming introduction of carbon-neutral fuel. But its greatest strength is in its supreme cornering capability on Dunlop tyres. The standard hasn’t changed for 2023 – R&D Sport want to regain what they’d spent many years working to attain
#65 – K2 R&D LEON Racing – Mercedes-AMG GT3 (Bridgestone): Naoya Gamou/Takuro Shinohara
K2 R&D LEON Racing have built a reputation as one of GT300’s strongest teams over the past decade. Led by driver turned Team Manager, Haruki Kurosawa, LEON Racing won its first race in 2016, and in 2018, they staged a dramatic final-round comeback to win their first set of GT300 Championships.
Since then they’ve remained a front-running team, led by 2018 Champion driver Gamou, the lead driver who’s still highly regarded as one of GT300’s most consistently excellent performers. But he and LEON Racing are now in the doldrums of a two-year winless drought, and have incrementally slipped down the championship table every year since 2020.
Instead of an extensive retooling effort, Kurosawa is sticking with the partners and people that have made his team such a success. Shinohara is also back for a second season in the LEON AMG. A TCR champion and one-time GT300 race winner, Shinohara was fast in 2022, but craves the results necessary to make a serious run at his first GT300 Championship.
#87 – JLOC – Lamborghini Huracán GT3 (Yokohama): Kosuke Matsuura/Natsu Sakaguchi
#88 – JLOC – Lamborghini Huracán GT3 (Yokohama): Takashi Kogure/Yuya Motojima
JLOC are the only ever-present team in the GT300 field, active in every season since the inaugural 1994 All-Japan GT Championship. They’re entering with their usual two-car entry. Both cars are the previous Huracán GT3 EVO, but JLOC plan to have the new EVO2 ready to race after the summer break.
The duo of Matsuura and Sakaguchi made significant improvements in their second season aboard the Bamboo Airways-sponsored number 87 car. They tripled their points total from two seasons ago, and with the pressure on him to perform or risk losing his seat, Sakaguchi began to look more like the driver that he had been during his time at Team Mach.
Meanwhile, the past IndyCar Rookie of the Year Matsuura continued to serve as a steady veteran leader, and the influence of former Mugen Team Director Junichi Kumakura helped the #87 crew raise their standard. There’s still room for them to improve more in 2023.
As for JLOC’s flagship number 88 Lamborghini, it’s piloted by the fifth-year combination of Kogure, the 2010 GT500 Champion and legendary former Honda GT500 driver, and Motojima – who’s still regarded as one of the best GT300 drivers in the field, yet is somehow still searching for his first win as a SUPER GT driver.
This is another very, very fast combination – in fact the #88 JLOC Huracán was the quickest car during the Okayama test. But fast times in testing are only worth so much when a team doesn’t perform when the season truly begins. Kogure and Motojima will be poised and ready for another opportunity to give JLOC its first win in GT300 since 2019, and their first as a driver duo.
#96 – K-tunes Racing – Lexus RC F GT3 (Dunlop): Morio Nitta/Shinichi Takagi
Every GT300 team wants to start the season with a win in the first race at Okayama – none more so than K-tunes Racing, the racing division of Okayama Toyopet Group.
K-tunes’ Lexus RC F GT3 is one of the older GT3 cars in the field, yet every bit as quick and effective as the newer models. That description can be extended to their driver combination of three-time GT300 Champion and series iron man Nitta, and two-time champion/career pole position co-leader Takagi. Together they are number one and number two on the all-time wins list.
Even in their 50s, both drivers were still capable of the same brilliance that made them the dominant force in GT300 in the 2000s. After a poor home race to start 2022, K-tunes racked up six top-ten finishes in the remaining seven races. Nostalgic SUPER GT fans would absolutely love to see the Nitta and Takagi combination return to the top step of the podium.
#244 – Max Racing – Toyota GR Supra (Yokohama): Kimiya Sato/Atsushi Miyake
Following the sudden and untimely death of team founder Tsuyoshi “Go Max” Oono, the future of Max Racing looked to be in serious peril. Team Director Tetsuya Tanaka’s leadership guided everyone in the team through this difficult period
It’s just a shame that their efforts weren’t rewarded with better results. Nothing was as heartbreaking as their two visits to Suzuka, where Miyake and Sato had a car capable of winning on both occasions – only to be taken out in the Spring race and then crash out due to a mechanical issue in the Summer.
With the hardships of 2022 behind them, Max Racing continues to race in Oono-san’s memory. Sato is out to prove that he can be an important contributor to a winning team. Miyake is astonishingly quick and talented, and he’ll be returning to Max Racing fighting for victories with a point to prove – since he has ambitions of taking the step up to GT500 very soon.
#360 – Tomei Sports – Nissan GT-R NISMO GT3 (Yokohama): Takayuki Aoki/Atsushi Tanaka (full season), Takuya Otaki (third driver)
Other than JLOC, Tomei Sports are the only other GT300 team that competed in the inaugural ’94 season. This current iteration of the team, a partnership with Atsushi Tanaka and RunUp Group, has been racing since 2010.
2001 GT300 Champion Aoki is the team’s massively-experienced pro captain, and in round one, he’ll share the RunUp GT-R with Am driver Tanaka. For the longer races, Takuya Otaki has been named as the third driver.
While Tanaka is declared as a full-season driver, he has had a tendency to step aside and let other pros like Otaki drive in his place. In fact, the duo of Aoki and Otaki produced a snapshot of the team’s ultimate potential, when they took Tomei Sports’ first podium in November 2020 at Motegi.
Images © GTA, except where otherwise listed
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