30th March 2023 A guide to Super GT

Super GT is Japan’s most popular grand touring car racing series. There is an impressive array of cars
and world-class drivers from Japan and abroad to match. The series first started in 1983 as the All-
Japan Sports Prototype Championship. The series consisted of Group C and Group A endurance
prototype cars. The series folded in 1992 due to the severe high costs of hosting races.

In 1993, the Japanese Automobile Federation dropped the prototype cars and replaced them with
touring cars using the super touring formula. This gave birth to the All-Japan Grand Touring Car
Championship. The cars had strict horsepower limits as well as success weight being added to the
winning car. This was introduced to make racing very exciting to see and that no one team or one
manufacturer would dominate the series. After the conclusion of the 1995 season, new regulations
were announced to prevent costs from going too high.

In 2004, it was announced that JGTC would visit the Shanghai International Circuit in 2005, making it
a second race outside of Japan, alongside the Sepang International Circuit in Malaysia. There was
also a non-championship race held at the California Speedway in Fontana, making it the first and only
time that JGTC visited USA.

The only problem was that under the international sporting code of the FIA, it would lose its status as
a Japanese championship. Since the championship hosted a race in Malaysia, an additional round in
China and the non-championship race in USA would make it an international championship.

It was renamed to Super GT in 2005 and has carried the name to this day even though the China
round never came to fruition.

There are 2 types of classes of cars. GT500 and GT300. The names are there to signify the maximum
power limit of the cars. 500 horsepower for GT500 cars and 300 horsepower for GT300 cars. As the
years drew on, the cars became more powerful. The GT500 cars now produce 641 horsepower and
the GT300 cars produce horsepower ranging from 394 to 542 horsepower. Changing names was
apparently one task too many and so the GT500 and the GT300 names live on to this day.

The GT300 class is highly anticipated with competitions held between more than 10 world leading
supercar models. It may appear to be a field brimming with GT3 cars that you are probably familiar
with. But this class has got some unique features. The GT300 regulations are split into 3 different
categories. The first is FIA GT3. These are the cars most fans familiar with and are identical to the
ones found in other racing series around the world. The second one is JAF GT300. These regulations
are for teams who don’t want to use GT3 cars. The regulations allow teams to use a car within a
certain set of dimensional restrictions. This class allows you to use any engine from the
manufacture’s’ range in the car. The engine doesn’t have to be made by the manufacturer. The last
category is the mother chassis. The mother chassis class was conceived to prevent the decline of
locally produced entries from specialist manufactures. The cars utilize a dome shaped monocoque
with a 4.5-liter V8 engine.

The GT500 class is the top category of Super GT. As of 2023, there are 3 cars built to utilize to the
2020 GT500 technical regulations. The Nissan Z GT500, the Honda NSX-GT, and the Toyota GR Supra
GT500 are the cars that compete in the GT500 class. These cars are powered by 2-litre 4-cylinder
engines that produce 641 horsepower as discussed earlier. These engines used are not specific as
Toyota, Honda and Nissan build their own engines. When they are on track, you can clearly tell them
apart from the engine note. These cars share similar properties to the touring cars used in DTM. In
2014, Super GT and DTM announced the creation of Class 1, which unified the regulations of both
championships, albeit with a few minor differences. 2023 is the last year the cars compete under the
2020 technical regulations, with new regulation being announced in 2024.

Another unique feature of the championship is the presence of a tire war. Instead of having one tire,
there are 4 tire manufacturers. Bridgestone, Yokohama, Michelin, and Dunlop, with Dunlop supplying
tires to all the classes.

An easy to tell the difference between the 2 cars, there are number panels on the cars. The GT500
cars have white number panels while GT300 cars have yellow number panels.

To bunch up the field, Super GT has got a success ballast system also known as the weight handicap.
Weight penalties are assigned based on how well the cars perform in the preceding race with 2 kg
being to the car for every point scored. This is kept to 100kg for safety reasons although fuel
restrictions will be implemented should this be exceeded. To prevent potential sandbagging, success
ballast is halved in the penultimate round before finally being eradicated in the final round although
this applicable for teams who have competed during the entire season.

The series races on track in Japan. In 2023, Super GT will visit 6 tracks. Okayama International Circuit,
Fuji Speedway, Suzuka International Racing Course, Sportsland Sugo, Autopolis, and Mobility Resort
Motegi. There will be 8 rounds for the championship with Fuji and Suzuka holding 2 races in separate
months. The races have distances from 250 km to 500 km.

Qualifying utilizes a knockout style format. Q1 is 15 minutes long and determines the positions from
14th and lower for GT300 and 9th and below for GT500. Q2 is next which is 12 minutes long and
determines remainder of the grid. Each car has 2 drivers assigned to it. This means that at some
stage during the race, the drivers would be required to do a driver swap. However, a single driver
cannot complete more than two-thirds of a race distance. If doing so, the drivers would be
disqualified from the race, and if the car got disqualified from a position that offers points, they will
be scrapped. Points are allocated for the top 10 finishers in each class. 20 points for the winner, 15
for second, 11 for third, 8 for fourth, and 6 for fifth place. From there on in, it is one point less for the
remaining positions.

There is an abundance of drivers throughout the grid. From former Grand Prix drivers to gentleman
drivers. The grid contains drivers from Japan and abroad. In the GT300 class, you will find more of
the latter. Although you will see different drivers on the grid, they also have a wealth of success
behind in other series these drivers raced in.