A total of 42 cars, 15 in GT500 and 27 in GT300, are entered for Sunday’s 450km (100 lap) race.
With three races down and five to go, it’s TOM’S Toyota pair Ritomo Miyata and Sho Tsuboi that hold the lead of the standings in GT500, having won on the championship’s previous visit to Fuji in May. They backed that up with a strong run to second last time out at Suzuka.
However, Miyata and Tsuboi face a tough challenge to make it three podium finishes on the bounce as they will be laden with a nominal 72kg of success ballast, making them the only crew in the GT500 field to carry the stage two fuel flow restrictor.
NDDP Nissan drivers Katsumasa Chiyo and Mitsunori Takaboshi sit second in the championship, seven points behind the leaders, and will be saddled by a stage one fuel flow restrictor (58kg).
Conversely, many other cars arrive at Fuji still running light on ballast after a disappointing start to the year.
One of the favourites for victory will be the Kondo Racing Nissan of Daiki Sasaki and Kohei Hirate (6kg), who scored pole at Suzuka only to be penalised for a rare fuel tank infraction. Yokohama finally ended its seven-year win drought that weekend courtesy of the Racing Project Bandoh Toyota team, so there are no doubts that the tyres are up to the job.
Likewise, the two ARTA Mugen NSX-GTs are still relatively light, and could offer Honda the best chance of opening its win account for 2023. Particular attention will be paid to the #8 car of Tomoki Nojiri and Toshiki Oyu (22kg), which has Iori Kimura registered as a third driver in case Oyu cannot race due to the collarbone injury he sustained last month.
Toyota veteran Yuji Tachikawa will also be keen to score a strong result alongside Cerumo team-mate Hiroaki Ishiura on his final visit to Fuji, having announced his retirement last week.
In the GT300 class, both the Kondo Racing Nissan GT-R NISMO GT3 (Joao Paulo de Oliveira/Teppei Natori) and Inging Toyota GR86 GT (Hibiki Taira/Yuui Tsutsumi/Hiroki Katoh), which jointly-lead the points, arrive at Fuji laden with 90kg of success ballast.
The complexion of the battle between the GT3s and lighter JAF-GT300 cars will be changed by a new rule that dictates that mandatory pitstops can only be made from lap five onwards. The podium at Suzuka was filled by cars that made their first stops within the first two laps.
A new GT3 car arrives on the grid in the form of the Lamborghini Huracan GT3 Evo2, which will be driven by JLOC pairing Takashi Kogure and Yuya Motojima this weekend after a successful shakedown last week.
SUPER GT time schedule for Fuji Round 4
Times are Local/UK time (GMT+1)/EDT/PDT
Saturday August 5
Free practice (1h45 minutes) – 9am/1am/8pm (Friday)/5pm (Friday)
Qualifying – 3.20pm/7.20am/2.20am/11.20pm (Friday)
Sunday August 6
Warm-up – 12.15pm/4.15am/11.15pm (Saturday)/8.1pm (Saturday)
Race (100 laps) – 1.45pm/5.45am/12.45am/9.45pm (Saturday)
Don’t see your timezone listed? Check out our SUPER GT schedule page to see the session times in your local timezone
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Commentary will be provided by Jake Sanson 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 Fuji Round 4
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
Iori Kimura
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
Roberto Merhi
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
Manabu Orido
Hiroaki Nagai
Ryo Ogawa
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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