42 Cars Set For SUPER GT Sugo 300km Race

Three races remain in the 2022 Autobacs SUPER GT Series, which heads north to the undulating, challenging, and always lively Sportsland SUGO in Miyagi Prefecture on September 17-18.

The GT Association (GTA) have released the provisional entry list for the upcoming Sugo GT 300km Race, which features a total of 42 cars. And, with the series going back to the standard 300km race format, the entry list for all teams looks to be a bit more ‘standard’ when it comes to driver selections.

The only noteworthy changes in GT300 are at Pacific CarGuy Racing, where gentleman driver Takeshi Kimura is back aboard the #9 Pacific Hololive NAC Ferrari 488 GT3 alongside his pro co-driver Kei Cozzolino. Kimura will have a chance to atone for his legendary moment at the end of GT World Challenge Asia Race 2 at this venue just a few short weeks ago. Tomei Sports will roll out their strongest driver pairing for the #360 RunUp Rivaux Nissan GT-R GT3, bringing back Yusaku Shibata to partner Takayuki Aoki. Aoki and Shibata combined for a pair of top ten finishes in the 450km rounds at Fuji Speedway.

So, Hiroaki Nagai has been cleared to return to action aboard the #30 apr Toyota GR86 GT, following his last-minute withdrawal from the Suzuka 450km last week.

As the sixth round of the season, Sugo will also be the round where teams in both GT500 and GT300 have the most Success Ballast on board. The GT500 championship leaders, the #12 Calsonic Impul Nissan Z (Kazuki Hiramine/Bertrand Baguette), are already up to 89 kilograms of Success Ballast. This will be applied as 39kg of physical ballast, and the “Stage 3” fuel flow restrictor which takes their fuel burn rate down from the standard 95 kg/hour to just 88 kg/h.

Hiramine and Baguette lead the GT500 Championship by 10.5 points, and are pursuing Team Impul’s first top-flight title in SUPER GT since 1995. The team snapped a five-year winless drought at this venue last year, but it will be hard for them to Repeat as Sportsland SUGO winners this time out.

The three teams behind Impul in the standings will have the “Stage 2” fuel flow restrictor (90.2 kg/h) applied, plus an additional 34kg of ballast: The #3 CraftSports Motul Z (Katsumasa Chiyo/Mitsunori Takaboshi), the #17 Astemo Honda NSX-GT (Koudai Tsukakoshi/Bertrand Baguette), and the #37 KeePer TOM’s Toyota GR Supra (Sacha Fenestraz/Ritomo Miyata).

Two more teams have the “Stage 1” fuel flow restrictor (92.6kg/h) at this stage, with the #14 Eneos X Prime GR Supra (Kazuya Oshima/Kenta Yamashita) carrying 43kg of ballast, and the #39 Denso Kobelco SARD GR Supra (Yuhi Sekiguchi/Yuichi Nakayama) carrying 37kg. All other teams will burn fuel at the standard rate.

The equation is simpler in GT300: This is the second straight race where the championship-leading #56 Realize/Nissan Mechanic Challenge GT-R (Kiyoto Fujinami/João Paulo de Oliveira) is carrying the maximum 100kg of Success Weight. Currently, they have a seven point lead over the #10 TanaX Gainer GT-R (Ryuichiro Tomita/Riki Okusa), which is on +93kg this weekend.

Despite carrying +89kg, the #61 Subaru BRZ R&D Sport (Takuto Iguchi/Hideki Yamauchi) still has a chance at a strong result. The second-generation BRZ scored its first win here last season, and Yamauchi has won pole position in each of the last three years that SUPER GT has visited the 3,586km circuit.

SUGO always has a reputation for unexpected dramas and thrilling sports car racing, and whether or not one believes in the “Legend of Mamono” – in reference to the demon that supposedly looms over the circuit – this upcoming race should be anything but ordinary.

Entry list current as of 5 September 2022

Images © GTA