What’s New in 2016 Season
Entering the new season, Super GT faced numerous changes, from regulations, driver formation, to sponsorship. Here are the changes in this season.
GT500
Restricted Development on Aerodynamic Kits and Suspensions.
The JAF committee will not allow aero kits and suspension developments for teams who are participating in GT500 class during this season. This will result in no significant difference on the exterior of the race cars performing in GT500 class while compared to the previous season. Tyre and engine developments are still allowed during this season.
Honda NSX Concept-GT Without Hybrid Systems.
Honda has announced through their press release that they will deploy their NSX Concept-GT race car without a hybrid system for this year. As information, the street legal version of the NSX’s latest generation (released under their premium brand, Acura) arrives with this system. The hybrid system in the NSX Concept-GT race car itself has been used by Honda since 2014.
Driver Formation Change in Lexus-based teams.
Some changes in driver formation have been made in Lexus teams. The change occurred after the resignment of Juichi Wakisaka, a senior driver who is now working as a manager in Lexus Team LeMans team and the arrival of a new driver from New Zealand, Nick Cassidy.
Nick Cassidy himself will be paired with Daisuke Ito in Lexus Team TOM’S #36. James Rossiter’s position, which is being replaced by Cassidy has moved to car number #37 under the same team. Andrea Caldarelli, who drove under Lexus Team TOM’S #37, has moved to Lexus Team LeMans #6 alongside Kazuya Oshima. Yuji Kujimoto’s previous position on the team has switched to Lexus Team Bandoh #19 with Yuji Sekiguchi, replacing Juichi Wakisaka, who decided to resign at the beginning of this year. Meanwhile, the driver formation in Lexus Team ZENT Cerumo #38 did not undergo any changes, consisting of Yuji Tachikawa and Hiroaki Ishiura.
New Season, New Sponsors.
The Super GT 2016 season introduces three new main sponsors. The Lexus Team LeMans (#6) which is sponsored by Eneos will race together with WAKO’s, a Japanese chemical company. The Nissan-based Kondo Racing team (#24) will be sponsored by Forum Engineering, replacing last year’s sponsor, pachinko D’station. Race car #36 from Lexus Team TOM’S will also be sponsored by communication brand au, replacing Malaysia’s petrol company, Petronas‘ position.
GT500 Class Team List
Here is the list of teams who are participating in the GT500 class (ordered by race number)
[Race number] – [Team name] – [Car name] – [Driver name]
#1. NISMO – MOTUL AUTECH GT-R (Nissan) – Tsugio Matsuda & Ronnie Quintarelli.
#6. Lexus Team LeMans – WAKO’S 4CR RC F (Lexus) – Kazuya Oshima & Andrea Caldarelli.
#8. Autobacs Racing Team Aguri – ARTA NSX CONCEPT-GT (Honda) – Kosuka Matsuura & Tomoki Nojiri.
#12. Team IMPUL – CALSONIC IMPUL GT-R (Nissan) – Hironobu Yasuda & J.P.L. de Oliveira.
#15. Drago Modulo Honda Racing – Drago Modulo NSX CONCEPT-GT (Honda) – Hideki Mutoh & Oliver Turvey.
#17. Keihin Real Racing – KEIHIN NSX CONCEPT-GT (Honda) – Koudai Tsukakoshi & Takashi Kogure.
#19. Lexus Team WedSport Bandoh – WedSport ADVAN RC F (Lexus) – Yuhi Sekiguchi & Yuji Kunimoto.
#24. Kondo Racing – Forum Engineering ADVAN GT-R (Nissan) – Daiki Sasaki & Masataka Yanagida.
#36. Lexus Team TOM’s – au TOM’s RC F (Lexus) – Daisuke Ito & Nick Cassidy
#37. Lexus Team TOM’s – KeePer TOM’s RC F (Lexus) – James Rossiter & Ryo Hirakawa.
#38. Lexus Team Zent Cerumo – ZENT CERUMO RC F (Lexus) – Yuji Tachikawa & Hiroaki Ishiura.
#39. Lexus Team SARD – DENSO KOBELCO SARD RC F (Lexus) – Heikki Kovalainen & Hiroaki Ishiura.
#46. MOLA – S Road CRAFTSPORTS GT-R (Nissan) – Satoshi Motoyama & Katsumasa Chiyo.
#64. Nakajima Racing – Epson NSX CONCEPT-GT (Honda) – Daisuke Nakajima & Betrand Baguette.
#100. Team Kunimitsu – RAYBRIG NSX CONCEPT-GT (Honda) – Naoki Yamamoto & Takuya Izawa.
GT300
JAF-GT New Technical Regulations
During August 2015, the JAF announced changes in technical regulations for teams who are using race cars developed under the JAF-GT regulations. Following JAF-MC’s regulation which has been active since the beginning of last season, the rule states that the car engine placement has to be the same as the street-legal version. As information, two JAF-GT race cars from last season (Toyota Prius and Honda CR-Z) has a different engine placement compared to the street-legal version.
Even so, the newest version of Toyota Prius GT300 still comes with an engine placed in the middle by taking advantage (loophole) of the regulation. The rule stated that the regulation is effective towards race cars which have been produced in 2016, but the newest version of the Prius has been released at the end of 2015.
New Generations of GT300 Cars.
This year, various GT3 car manufacturers have started to show their newest models. Made to follow FIA’s latest technical regulations, these new models came with some performance upgrades, starting from engine, aerodynamics, braking, and suspensions. Latest safety devices have also been installed in these race cars.
Below is the list of the latest GT3 cars in this year’s Super GT.
Audi R8 LMS ultra GT3 –>Audi R8-LMS GT3.
BMW Z4 GT3 –> BMW M6 GT3.
Ferrari 458 GT3 –> Ferrari 488 GT3.
Lamborghini Gallardo GT3 –> Lamborghini Huracan GT3.
Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG GT3 –> Mercedes-Benz AMG GT3.
Porsche 911 GT3 R (997) ’15 –> Porsche 911 GT3 R (997) ‘16
Sayonara, Love Live!…
Pacific Racing team has decided to end their collaboration with Love Live! anime series after two years. This year, the team will appear with oil company Gulf as a new sponsor. They will also appear with one of the newer GT3 race cars, the Porsche 911 GT3 R (997).
…and Welcome Back, Eva Racing!
The GT300 class is having a reunion with the Eva Racing Team and their trademark Evangelion-themed race cars after “disappearing” for two years. Together with Rn-Sports, Eva Racing is back in Super GT action with the latest GT3 machine from Mercedes-Benz, the AMG GT3. Eva Racing is also currently holding a crowdfunding programme for Evangelion fans who wants to support the team.
GT300 Class Team List
Here is the list of teams who are participating in the GT300 class (ordered by race number)
#0. Gainer – GAINER TANAX GT-R (Nissan) – Andre Couto & Ryuichiro Tomita.
#2. Cars Tokai Dream28 – SYNTIUM Apple LOTUS (Lotus) – Kazuho Takahashi & Hiroki Katoh.
#3. NDDP Racing – B-MAX NDDP GT-R (Nissan) – Kazuki Hoshino & Jann Mardenborough
#4. GoodSmile Racing & TeamUKYO – GOODSMILE HATSUNE MIKU AMG (Mercedes-Benz) – Nobuteru Taniguchi & Tatsuya Kataoka.
#5. Team Mach – Mach Syaken MC86 (Toyota) – Tetsuji Tamanaka & Junichiro Yamashita.
#7. BMW Team Studie – Studie BMW M6 (BMW) – Jorg Mueller & Seiji Ara.
#9. Gulf Racing with PACIFIC – GULF NAC PORSCHE 911 (Porsche) – Ryohei Sakaguchi & Hiroki Yoshida.
#11. Gainer – GAINER TANAX AMG GT3 (Mercedes-Benz) – Katsuyuki Hiranaka & Bjorn Wirdheim.
#18. Team UPGARAGE with Banoh – UPGARAGE BANDOH 86 (Toyota) – Yuhki Nakayama & Shinnosuke Yamada.
#21. Audi Team Hitotsuyama – Hitotsuyama Audi R8 LMS (Audi) – Richard Lyons & Tomonobu Fuiji.
#22. R’Qs MOTOR SPORTS – R’Qs SLS AMG GT3 (Mercedes-Benz) – Hisashi Wada & Masaki Jyonai.
#25. VivaC team Tsuchiya – VivaC 86 MC (Toyota) – Takeshi Tsuchiya & Takamitsu Matsui.
#26. Team Taisan SARD – Audi R8 LMS (Audi) – Shogo Mitsuyama & Yuya Motojima.
#30. apr – TOYOTA PRIUS apr GT (Toyota) – Hiroaki Nagai & Kota Sasaki.
#31. apr – TOYOTA PRIUS apr GT (Toyota) – Koki Saga & Yuichi Nakayama.
#33. Excellence Porsche Team KTR – Excellence Porsche (Porsche) – Naoya Yamano & Jorg Bergmeister.
#48. DIJON Racing – DIJON Racing GT-R (Nissan) – Hiroshi Takamori & Masaki Tanaka.
#50. Arnage Racing – ODYSSEY SLS (Mercedes-Benz) – Hideto Yasuoka & Rintaro Kubo.
#51. LM corsa – JMS LMcorsa 488 GT3 (Ferrari) – Akihiro Tsuzuki & Morio Nitta.
#55. Autobacs Racing Team Aguri – ARTA BMW M6 GT3 (BMW) – Shinichi Takagi & Takashi Kobayashi.
#60. LM corsa – SYNTIUM LMcorsa RC F GT3 (Lexus) – Akira Iida & Hiroki Yoshimoto.
#61. R&D Sport – SUBARU BRZ R&D SPORT (Subaru) – Takuto Iguchi & Hideki Yamauchi.
#63. LAMBORGHINI Team DIRECTION – DIRECTION 108 HURACAN (Lamborghini) – Adrian Zaugg & Naoki Yokomizo.
#65. K2 R&D Leon Racing – LEON CVSTOS AMG-GT (Mercedes-Benz) – Haruki Kurosawa & Naoya Gamou.
#86. Audi Team Braille – Braille Audi R8 LMS (Audi) – Masanobu Kato & Pierre Kaffer.
#87. JLOC – triple a LAMBORGHINI GT3 (Lamborghini) – Shinya Hosokawa & Kimiya Sato.
#88. JLOC – MANEPA LAMBORGHINI GT3 (Lamborghini) – Manabu Orido & Kazuki Hiramine.
#108. Lamborghini Team Direction Shift – DIRECTION 108 HURACAN (Lamborghini) – Kyosuke Mineo & Kei Cozzolino.
#111. Rn-Sports – EVA RT TEST-01 Rn-s AMG GT (Mercedes-Benz) – Masayuki Ueda & Kazuya Tsuruta.
#360. Tomei Sports – RUNUP Group&DOES GT-R (Nissan) – Yusaku Shibata & Atsushi Tanaka.
Note:
Red: JAF-GT
Blue: FIA-GT3
Green: JAF-MC
Continued to page 3: Super GT 2016 Race Schedule
