2025 Super GT Series
The 2025 Autobacs Super GT Series is a planned motor racing championship based in Japan for grand touring cars. The series is sanctioned by the Japan Automobile Federation (JAF) and run by the GT Association (GTA). It will be the thirty-third season of the JAF Super GT Championship, which includes the All Japan Grand Touring Car Championship era, and the twenty-first season under the Super GT name. It will be also the forty-third overall season of a national JAF sportscar championship dating back to the All Japan Endurance/Sports Prototype Championship.
TGR Team au TOM'S of Sho Tsuboi and Kenta Yamashita entered the season as the defending champions of the GT500 class. And JLOC Takashi Kogure and Yuya Motojima entered the season as the defending champions of the GT300 class.
Calendar
[edit]The provisional calendar for 2025 was confirmed on 1 August 2024, which consists of eight races.[1] The series will race abroad for the first time since 2019, and they will return to race at Sepang International Circuit for the first time since 2013.[2]
| Round | Circuit | Location | Dates |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Okayama International Circuit
|
Mimasaka, Okayama Prefecture | 12–13 April |
| 2 |  Fuji Speedway
|
Oyama, Shizuoka Prefecture | 3–4 May |
| 3 |  Sepang International Circuit
|
Sepang, Selangor, Malaysia | 27–28 June |
| 4 | Fuji Speedway
|
Oyama, Shizuoka Prefecture | 2–3 August |
| 5 |  Suzuka Circuit
|
Suzuka, Mie Prefecture | 23–24 August |
| 6 |  Sportsland Sugo
|
Murata, Miyagi Prefecture | 20–21 September |
| 7 |  Autopolis
|
Hita, Oita Prefecture | 18–19 October |
| 8 |  Mobility Resort Motegi
|
Motegi, Tochigi Prefecture | 1–2 November |
Regulation changes
[edit]The GTA confirmed several changes for the 2025 Super GT season.[3][4]
After a year of using the aggregate qualifying format, the qualifying system revert back to the knockout format. For GT500 qualifying, 10 cars will advance to Q2 instead of 8 which previously held before. And for the GT300, 9 cars will advance to Q2 from each 2 groups of 14 cars. The qualifying points of rewarding Top 3 cars will be scrapped, and revert back to awarding a single point for pole position in both classes.
There will be changes in the GT300 drivers' and teams’ championship points, as classified Top 15 race finishers able to collect points from previous Top 10 finishers. The winner will be awarded 25 points from previous 20 in which that will be reward for the 2nd place, with 3rd place finisher will get 16 points, then 4th and 5th will get 13 and 11 points respectively, and from 6th to 15th will get 10 points down to 1 point respectively. Also that races over 700km in length or four hours in duration no longer have a fixed points system, instead this will be announced by the series in advance of each round.
Teams are allowed to bring in 4 sets of dry and 6 sets of wet tyres for the 300km races. New: One wet tyre set must be functioning in heavy rain conditions. From Round 2 onwards, GT500 tyre manufacturers who haven't won a race in 2024 may bring in one extra dry set.
During the formation lap, the distance to the car in front should be within 5 car lengths to avoid a spread out start like seen on this photo. And To avoid slow driving to save fuel when driving to the grid, a speed minimum of 80 km/h or more has to be maintained.
For penalties, the seires will apply a time penalty, along with the previous grid penalty and drive-through penalty.
To comply with a new FIA standard, carbon helmets will be mandatory from this season onwards. Helmets will receive GTA stickers. However, there will be a grace period for drivers who can't obtain one for the opening race.
Teams and drivers
[edit]GT500
[edit]
GT300
[edit]
Vehicle changes
[edit]GT300
[edit]- Team UpGarage has acquired Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo to replace Honda NSX GT3 Evo22 which had raced with the team for six seasons.[27][17]
- LM corsa has switched their Toyota GR Supra GT300 which had raced for four seasons, to the Lexus LC 500 GT.[18][21]
Entrant changes
[edit]GT500
[edit]- Honda announced its driver line-ups on 11 December 2024.[7]
- Kakunoshin Ohta has left Real Racing and the series to compete in the IMSA SportsCar Championship's GTP class with Meyer Shank Racing.[28] The team has signed 2024 Super Formula Lights champion Syun Koide, who previously drove for Team UpGarage in the GT300 class for over two seasons.
- Toyota announced its driver line-ups on 25 December 2024.[5]
- au TOM'S has elected to use the GT500 champion's number "1".
- Yuichi Nakayama, who has raced with SARD for six years, leaves the team and the series to focus on the Super Taikyu ST-Q with GR Team Spirit. Sacha Fenestraz returns to the series after a two-year stint in Formula E with Nissan, replacing Nakayama. This move reunites him with Yuhi Sekiguchi for the first time since 2020.
- Nissan announced its line-ups on 17 January 2025.[6]
- Four-time GT500 champion Ronnie Quintarelli retired from the Super GT Series after the 2024 season to take up the role of NISMO ambassador and advisor to the GT500 program.[29] Mitsunori Takaboshi has been promoted to the main NISMO team from NISMO NDDP to replace the retired Quintarelli, reuniting him with Katsumasa Chiyo, with whom he raced in the NDDP for two seasons in 2022 and 2023. Daiki Sasaki has been promoted back to GT500 after spending a year in GT300 with Kondo Racing, taking over Takaboshi's NDDP seat.
- Team Impul sponsor Marelli which sponsored Impul before with previous brand Calsonic for over 43 years ended their association. Tokyo Radiator will be the team main sponsor.[30][31]
GT300
[edit]- Anest Iwata ended its association with Arnage Racing after operated the team for two seasons. Arnage announced that it will not continue to compete in the series after competed the series for over 11 years, however Arnage continue to operate R'Qs Motor Sports.[32] Anest Iwata will operate independently with the help of GAINER.[16] Yuga Furutani left the team after two seasons with the team. Former Nissan GT300 champion Hironobu Yasuda returns to the series after a year away in Super Taikyu ST-Z with Techno First.[15]
- apr have a new lineup for the Lexus car following the departure of both Kazuto Kotaka and Jin Nakamura from the series. Kotaka focuses on Super Formula with TGMGP TGR-DC and also serve as the reserve driver for GT500 Toyota, while Nakamura moves to FRECA with R-ace GP. The team signed Miki Koyama, who previously raced as the fourth driver with R'Qs Motor Sports and drove for apr's Super Taikyu ST-X class. Additionally, Oliver Rasmussen will make his debut in the series after finishing 19th in the WEC's Hypercar class with Jota Sport. The GR86 car switched from Yokohama to Michelin tires. Rikuto Kobayashi left the team to Saitama Green Brave. Manabu Orido returns as the full-time driver after a year served as the team's third driver, with Ryo Ogawa returns to take the third driver role after a year away in Super Taikyu ST-4 with Endless Sports.[5][15][18]
- As Syun Koide moves to GT500 with Real Racing, 2024 F4 Japan champion Yuto Nomura joins Team UpGarage for his Super GT debut.[17]
- Car wash equipment manufacturer Hyper Water replaced muta as INGING Motorsport title sponsor, and the team will compete under the name Hyper Water Racing INGING. The team has also signed former F4 TGR-DC Racing School driver Kazuhisa Urabe as the third driver, while Hiroki Katoh focus on his management role with the team.[8]
- TGR-DC driver Yuki Sano joins SHADE Racing as the third driver for the team after finished fourth in F4 Japanese.[15]
- Togo Suganami left Tsuchiya Engineering as he moves to LEON Racing.[23] Kimiya Sato promoted back to full-time driver after served as the team's third driver for a year.[15]
- Rikuto Kobayashi joins Saitama Green Brave from apr as the team's third driver.[15]
- Porsche will make its Super GT return for the first time since 2021. FCR-Vita & Kyojo Cup team KF Motorsport will make their debut in Super GT for this season as they will backed by Hotel chain Seven x Seven (read as seven times seven), racing under the name Seven x Seven Racing. The team entered a Porsche 911 GT3 R (992) car with Yokohama Tires. Two-time GT500 champion and the team's owner Kiyoto Fujinami joins the team after competed with Team Mach, along with former race winner and Porsche Carrera Cup Japan champion Tsubasa Kondo as he returns to the series after competed in GT World Challenge Asia with Porsche Centre Okazaki.[25]
- GAINER will get technical support from Nissan. Keishi Ishikawa left the team after competed with them for five seasons. Super Taikyu ST-Z driver Kazuki Oki joins the team where previously he served as the third driver for the final round last season.[14]
- With Daiki Sasaki promoted back to GT500 with NISMO NDDP, Two time GT500 champion Kohei Hirate returns to Kondo Racing after came 20th with HELM Motorsports.[14] Kondo also signed GT World Challenge Asia race winner Yu Kanamaru as their third driver and will make his series debut.[11]
- As Kohei Hirate moves to Kondo Racing, HELM Motorsports promoted their third driver and co-owner Reiji Hiraki.[14]
- Tomei Sports saw Takuya Otaki leave the team, and Team owner owner Atsushi Tanaka originally listed to drive for this season, instead he switched his focus to race in SRO Japan Cup.[14] The team promote Rin Arakawa to a full time driver, and F4 Japan race winner Hironobu Shimizu takes the third driver spot.[24]
- PONOS Racing has established itself as a standalone operation after previously operated by GAINER.[19] The team changed their tire supplier from Michelin to Dunlop.[20]
- Reigning Porsche Carrera Cup Japan champion Reimei Ito return to LM corsa as their third driver after appeared in the same role with them for the last round of last season.[21]
- Last season's GT300 runner-up Takuro Shinohara leaves LEON Racing as he moves to Super Taikyu ST-Z with Team ZeroOne. Replacing Shinohara will be Former Tsuchiya driver Togo Suganami, who will reunite with the team for the first time since 2021.[23]
- R'Qs Motor Sports signed Super Taikyu ST-3 driver Yuma Shoji as the fourth driver to replace Miki Koyama who moves to apr.[11]
- Team LeMans rebranded their team as Velorex.[11]
- Team Studie left the series after competed for 5 years since their return for the second time in 2020, as the team focusing to race in GT World Challenge Asia.[11] Seiji Ara leaves the team after raced together with them for 5 years, and Niklas Krütten as well after made his maiden season with Studie, while Bruno Spengler left the team to join Bugatti as their official driver.[33][34]
- MKS Racing which owned by former Yogibo Racing team director, Misato Haga takes over the no. 7 spot previously vacated by Studie.[11] The team will partner up with former Super GT team CarGuy Racing, the team will run as CarGuy MKS Racing. They entered a Ferrari 296 GT3.[13]
- JLOC opted not to use the GT300 champion's number "0" for 2025 season.[11]
- Team Mach saw Kiyoto Fujinami left the team as he moves to his own team, Seven x Seven Racing.[25]
Mid-season changes
[edit]GT300
[edit]- Goodsmile Racing recruited 2013 GT300 champion Yuhki Nakayama and reigning Super Taikyu ST-2 champion Shunji Okumoto for the Sepang round, as both Nobuteru Taniguchi and Tatsuya Kataoka not available in that round due to 24 Hours of Spa commitment.[9][10]
Championship standings
[edit]Drivers' championships
[edit]- Race points
- Scoring system
- For GT500
| Position | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | 5th | 6th | 7th | 8th | 9th | 10th | Pole |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Points | 20 | 15 | 11 | 8 | 6 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 1 |
- For GT300
| Position | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | 5th | 6th | 7th | 8th | 9th | 10th | 11th | 12th | 13th | 14th | 15th | Pole |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Points | 25 | 20 | 16 | 13 | 11 | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 1 |
Teams' championships
[edit]- Race points
- Scoring system
- For GT500
| Position | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | 5th | 6th | 7th | 8th | 9th | 10th |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Points | 20 | 15 | 11 | 8 | 6 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 |
- For GT300
| Position | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | 5th | 6th | 7th | 8th | 9th | 10th | 11th | 12th | 13th | 14th | 15th |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Points | 25 | 20 | 16 | 13 | 11 | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 |
| Class | Lead Lap | -1 Lap | -2 Laps or more | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| GT500 | 3 | 2 | 1 | |
| Lead Lap | -1 Lap | -2 Laps | -3 Laps or more | |
| GT300 | 3 | 2 | 1 | |
Notes
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ Thukral, Rachit (1 August 2024). "Super Formula, SUPER GT to expand outside of Japan in 2025". motorsport.com. Retrieved 1 August 2024.
- ^ Klein, Jamie (1 August 2024). "Sepang Returns as 2025 Calendar Revealed". Sportscar365. John Dagys Media. Retrieved 1 August 2024.
- ^ Klein, Jamie (7 February 2025). "Controversial Aggregate Qualifying System Scrapped". Sportscar365. John Dagys Media. Retrieved 7 February 2025.
- ^ Klein, Jamie (20 February 2025). "GT300 Points System Revised; Qualifying Changes Confirmed". Sportscar365. John Dagys Media. Retrieved 20 February 2025.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v "TOYOTA GAZOO Racing Presents its 2025 motorsport team setups in Japan". Toyota Gazoo Racing. 25 December 2024. Retrieved 25 December 2024.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m "Nissan/NMC announces 2025 Super GT GT500 team lineups". Nismo. 17 January 2025. Retrieved 17 January 2025.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o "Honda 2025 Motorsports Program Overview". Honda. 10 January 2025. Retrieved 10 January 2025.
- ^ a b c d e O'Connell, RJ (21 January 2025). "Toyota Announces GT300 Teams & Drivers". dailysportscar.com. Retrieved 21 January 2025.
- ^ a b c d O'Connell, RJ (14 December 2024). "Goodsmile Racing & Team UKYO Announce Spa 24H & Suzuka 1000km Returns". dailysportscar.com. Retrieved 14 December 2024.
- ^ a b c O'Connell, RJ (10 February 2025). "Japan Catch-Up, 10th February 2025". dailysportscar.com. Retrieved 10 February 2025.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x O'Connell, RJ (17 February 2025). "SUPER GT Reveals 43 Car Capacity Grid For 2025 Season". dailysportscar.com. Retrieved 17 February 2025.
- ^ a b c Klein, Jamie (16 January 2025). "Merhi Targets Title in Second LeMans Ferrari Season". sportscar365.com. John Dagys Media. Retrieved 16 January 2025.
- ^ a b O'Connell, RJ (22 February 2025). "CarGuy, MKS Racing Form New Alliance In SUPER GT". dailysportscar.com. Retrieved 22 February 2025.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p "Nissan/NMC announces 2025 motorsports programs". Nismo. 4 February 2025. Retrieved 4 February 2025.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z Klein, Jamie (21 January 2025). "Rasmussen Lands Lexus GT300 Drive After JOTA Exit". Sportscar365. John Dagys Media. Retrieved 21 January 2025.
- ^ a b Hirano, Ryuji (23 February 2025). "「今年が本当のスタート」体制刷新のANEST IWATA Racingが2025年参戦体制を発表". Auto Sport Web. Retrieved 23 February 2025.
- ^ a b c d e Klein, Jamie (10 January 2025). "Team UpGarage Reveals Switch to Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo". Sportscar365. John Dagys Media. Retrieved 10 January 2025.
- ^ a b c O'Connell, RJ (29 January 2025). "LM Corsa Shakes Down New Lexus LC 500 GT". dailysportscar.com. Retrieved 29 January 2025.
- ^ a b c d Klein, Jamie (6 February 2025). "PONOS Ferrari Makes First Outing on Dunlop Tires". Sportscar365. John Dagys Media. Retrieved 6 February 2025.
- ^ a b O'Connell, RJ (19 February 2025). "PONOS Racing Announces SUPER GT & SRO Programmes". dailysportscar.com. Retrieved 19 February 2025.
- ^ a b c d e f O'Connell, RJ (7 February 2025). "Giancarlo Fisichella To Drive LM Corsa Ferrari At Suzuka 1000KM". dailysportscar.com. Retrieved 7 February 2025.
- ^ a b c Klein, Jamie (10 January 2025). "Subaru Reveals Revamped BRZ for GT300 Effort". sportscar365.com. John Dagys Media. Retrieved 10 January 2025.
- ^ a b c d e Klein, Jamie (8 February 2025). "Suganami Returns to LEON Racing Mercedes-AMG". Sportscar365. John Dagys Media. Retrieved 8 February 2025.
- ^ a b c Hirano, Ryuji (26 February 2025). "RUNUP SPORTSが2025年スーパーGT／ジャパンカップ参戦体制を発表。GT300は清水啓伸が加入". Auto Sport Web. Retrieved 26 February 2025.
- ^ a b c d e Klein, Jamie (31 January 2025). "Porsche to Make GT300 Return With Seven x Seven Racing". Sportscar365. John Dagys Media. Retrieved 31 January 2025.
- ^ a b c Klein, Jamie (9 February 2025). "D'station Retains Fagg for Second Season". Sportscar365. John Dagys Media. Retrieved 10 February 2025.
- ^ Klein, Jamie (5 December 2024). "Team UpGarage Set for Final Race With Honda NSX GT3". Sportscar365. John Dagys Media. Retrieved 5 December 2024.
- ^ Klein, Jamie (11 December 2024). "Ohta Lands Three-Race IMSA Program, Exits SUPER GT". Sportscar365. John Dagys Media. Retrieved 11 December 2024.
- ^ Klein, Jamie (20 November 2024). "Nissan Announces Quintarelli to Retire After Suzuka Finale". Sportscar365. John Dagys Media. Retrieved 20 November 2024.
- ^ Klein, Jamie (23 October 2024). "Marelli Announces End of Impul Title Sponsor Deal". Sportscar365. John Dagys Media. Retrieved 23 October 2024.
- ^ O'Connell, RJ (17 January 2025). "Nissan Announces SUPER GT GT500 Driver Line-Ups". dailysportscar.com. Retrieved 17 January 2025.
- ^ Klein, Jamie (10 December 2024). "Arnage Racing Parts Ways With Anest Iwata". Sportscar365. John Dagys Media. Retrieved 10 December 2024.
- ^ Schwab, Andrea (11 December 2024). "Goodbye, legend! DTM Champion Bruno Spengler leaves BMW M Motorsport after 13 years together". BMW Group. Retrieved 11 December 2024.
- ^ "Passing the torch: Bruno Spengler steps into Pierre-Henri Raphanel's role as Bugatti Pilote Officiel". Bugatti. 3 February 2025. Retrieved 3 February 2025.