Suzuka 450km SUPER GT – schedule, how to watch, entry list
SUPER GT continues its 2023 season this weekend with a trip to the legendary Suzuka Circuit for another thrilling 450km race. Here's how you can follow all the action.
Photo by: Masahide Kamio
A total of 42 cars, 15 in GT500 and 27 in GT300, are entered for the second of five 450km races on this year's schedule.
With two races down, Nissan and Toyota have taken a win apiece so far in the GT500 class, leaving Honda as the only manufacturer still searching for a first victory of 2023 at its home circuit.
Nissan has remarkably won the last five races to be held at Suzuka dating back to 2020, so the pressure will be on to keep up that streak. But the success ballast being carried by the points-leading #23 NISMO and the #3 NDDP Racing Z cars, now carrying an extra 50kg and 42kg respectively, means making it six on the trot could be a tall order.
On the other hand, some of the lighter cars in the field will be eyeing an opportunity to make up for a disappointing start to the season. Chief among these is the #16 ARTA Honda NSX-GT of Nirei Fukuzumi and Hiroki Otsu (2kg), who have shown eye-catching speed but have just one point to show for their efforts after another penalty last time out at Fuji.
Similarly, the Kondo Racing Nissan of Kohei Hirate and Daiki Sasaki is ballast-free, while the #37 TOM'S car of Ukyo Sasahara and Giuliano Alesi is the lightest car in the Toyota camp on 10kg. Suzuka is also a happy hunting ground for the only Dunlop squad in GT500, Nakajima Racing, so look for Takuya Izawa and Kakunoshin Ota to make an impact in qualifying.
In the GT300 class, the LEON Racing Mercedes of Naoya Gamou and Takuro Shinohara leads the championship on 24 points after finishing fourth last time out at Fuji, while victory for Kondo Racing Nissan pair Joao Paulo de Oliveira and Teppei Natori has put them second overall on 22 points.
With those two cars laden with success ballast, attention will be on some of the lighter cars in the field, including the works R&D Sport Subaru BRZ and the Goodsmile Racing Mercedes. The new apr Lexus LC500h also showed a good turn of pace at Fuji and has been tipped to do well at Suzuka.
One driver who is absent this time is ex-Formula 1 driver Roberto Merhi, who is participating in the clashing Jakarta Formula E round. Taking Merhi's place aboard the Team LeMans Audi R8 LMS GT3 is Seiya Jin, who is set to make his SUPER GT debut alongside Yoshiaki Katayama.
SUPER GT time schedule for Suzuka Round 3
Times are Local/UK time (GMT+1)/EDT/PDT
Saturday June 3
Free practice (1h45 minutes) – 9.10am/1.10am/8.10pm (Friday)/5.10pm (Friday)
Qualifying – 3.05pm/7.05am/2.05am/11.05pm (Friday)
Sunday June 4
Warm-up – 12pm/4am/11pm (Saturday)/8pm (Saturday)
Race (77 laps) – 1.30pm/5.30am/12.30am/9.30pm (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 3
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 |
Yoshiaki Katayama Seiya Jin |
7 | BMW Team Studie | BMW M4 GT3 | Michelin |
Seiji Ara Masataka Yanagida |
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 | 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 Hiroaki Nagai |
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 |
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 |
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