This guide is also available in Bahasa Indonesia.
The Super GT racing championship had already begun its first leg of the race few weeks ago. As one of the biggest racing championship in Japan (aside from Super Formula and Super Taikyu), Super GT offers a competitive high-speed racing action between different race cars from the Grand Touring category. With the arrival of the new season, some changes and modifications are to be expected in this championship. Below you’ll find information on what is Super GT and what to expect this season.
A Brief History
Super GT is one of Japan’s most popular racing championships, held by the Japan Automobile Federation (JAF). First held in 1993 (under the name All-Japan Grand Touring Championship until 2004), the championship pits race cars from Grand Touring (GT) category, modified and developed further compared to most GT race cars in other championships.
Super GT uses a long-distance endurance race format. The shortest distance is 250km with a normal racing duration of 1.5-2 hours while the longest is 1000km with a typical racing duration of 5-6 hours. Each car consists of 2 drivers (3 drivers in case of long-distance races), which take turns driving throughout the race.
Just like any other endurance races such as FIA World Endurance Championship, Super GT also adapts multi-class racing format, where there are two different kinds of classes battling it out on the race track: GT500 and GT300. Both classes race at the same time, which means drivers will need to keep their pace while watching themselves against other drivers to avoid incidents or accidents on the track.
The Two Classes: GT500 and GT300
GT500 is the main class in Super GT, which features three of the most prominent car manufacturers in Japan: Honda, Nissan, and Lexus (Toyota’s premium line of brand). Since 2014, the GT500 class has adopted new technical regulations made by ITR, the organiser of Germany’s Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters (DTM). The regulation requires each car to use components decided by the organiser (such as chassis and aero kits) to hold back on car development costs. Each car is also required to use a 2.0 litre 4-cylinder turbo engine, which is claimed to be able to pump out 550 horsepower.
GT300 is the supporting class in Super GT, which features race cars with lower horsepower compared to the GT500 class. Most of the teams in this class are privately-owned teams with smaller operational skills. Even so, the GT300 class offers a more varied race cars than the GT500. Aside from Japanese manufacturers, this class also features European manufacturers (such as Lotus, Audi, Porsche, and Lamborghini). The GT300 class also allows three kinds of car regulations to participate in this class: JAF-GT, FIA-GT3, and the Mother Chassis (JAF-MC), allowing more choices to be made for each team to compete in their own skills.
The Champions of 2015 Season
Many different teams from different classes fought competitively during the 2015 season of Super GT. Even though there aren’t any teams with an outstanding performance, there are teams who performed consistently throughout the entire season, leading them to victory. Here are the list of the victors during last year’s Super GT season:
GT500
Final driver standings.
- Tsugio Matsuda & Ronnie Quintarelli (NISMO/MOTUL AUTECH GT-R #1) – 79 points.
- Hironobu Yasuda & J.P.L de Oliveira (Team IMPUL/CALSONIC IMPUL GT-R #12) – 74 points.
- Naoki Yamamoto & Takuya Izawa (Team KUNIMITSU/RAYBRIG NSX CONCEPT-GT #100) – 60 points.
Final team standings.
- NISMO (MOTUL AUTECH GT-R #1) – 100 points.
- Team IMPUL (CALSONIC IMPUL GT-R #12) – 96 points.
- Team KUNIMITSU (RAYBRIG NSX CONCEPT-GT #100) – 76 points.
GT300
Final driver standings.
- Andre Couto (GAINER/GAINER TANAX GT-R #10) – 94 points.
- Katsumasa Chiyo (GAINER/GAINER TANAX GT-R #10) – 74 points.
- Koki Saga & Yuichi Nakayama (apr/TOYOTA PRIUS apr GT #31) – 69 points.
Final team standings.
- GAINER (GAINER TANAX GT-R #10) – 116 points.
- apr (TOYOTA PRIUS apr GT #31) – 93 points.
- NDDP RACING (B-MAX NDDP GT-R #3) – 75 points.
Continued to page 2: What’s New in 2016 Season
