Driver Allocation for Fuji Sprint Race Revealed

The entry list for next week’s SUPER GT round at Fuji Speedway has been revealed, clarifying which drivers will contest which element of the new sprint race format.

Published on Monday, the entry features the full 43-car contingent of series regulars, including all 28 GT300 cars, after several lower-division teams were forced to skip the most recent round at Sepang due to restrictions on pit lane space.

Shade Racing’s No. 20 Toyota GR86 GT is also due to return after being restored, having suffered heavy damage in a testing fire at Suzuka in May.

As confirmed earlier this month, the event will be divided into a series of short races, one on Saturday Aug. 2 featuring both classes lasting 35 laps, and the other two taking place on Sunday Aug. 3 with one class running a time, timed to 50 minutes.

All races will be contested by a single driver, with no driver change and no mandatory pit stop, and rules forbid teams from using the same driver on both days. Each race will score half points and will have their own separate qualifying sessions.

While the GT500 class features the same cast of regulars as previous races, the GT300 class sees some notable driver changes, including the return of Joao Paulo de Oliveira at Kondo Racing for the first time since the Okayama season opener.

Goodsmile Racing returns to its regular duo of Tatsuya Kataoka and Nobuteru Taniguchi after the pair skipped Sepang to contest the clashing CrowdStrike 24 Hours of Spa.

Harry King meanwhile is set for his second SUPER GT appearance for the Seven x Seven Racing Porsche squad after his debut at Fuji in May.

King will run in the Sunday race, with Tsubasa Kondo participating in the Saturday race, meaning Kiyoto Fujinami will focus on his role as team director.

Tomei Sports is relying on youngsters Rin Arakawa and Hironobu Shimizu, with regular driver Takayuki Aoki sidelined for the weekend.

A full listing of which drivers will participate in which race can be seen below.

Race 1 (Saturday Aug. 2) — 35 Laps, mixed race

GT500
Sho Tsuboi, Daiki Sasaki, Tomoki Nojiri, Bertrand Baguette, Kazuya Oshima, Hiroki Otsu, Shun Koide, Sena Sakaguchi, Mitsunori Takaboshi, Tsugio Matsuda, Ukyo Sasahara, Toshiki Oyu, Sacha Fenestraz, Takuya Izawa, Tadasuke Makino

GT300
Takashi Kogure, Hibiki Taira, Tatsuya Kataoka, Yusuke Shiotsu, Roberto Merhi, Rikuto Kobayashi, Ryohei Sakaguchi, Ryuichiro Tomita, Takashi Kobayashi, Eijiro Shimizu, Masaki Kanou, Kimiya Sato, Igor Fraga, Manabu Orido, Oliver Rasmussen, Takuro Shinohara, Taiyou Ida, Hiroki Yoshida, Joao Paulo de Oliveira, Shunsuke Kohno, Hideki Yamauchi, Yuya Hiraki, Naoya Gamou, Kosuke Matsuura, Morio Nitta, Rin Arakawa, Tsubasa Kondo, Charlie Fagg

Race 2 (Sunday Aug. 3) — 50 minutes, standalone races

GT500
Kenta Yamashita, Atsushi Miyake, Nobuharu Matsushita, Kazuki Hiramine, Nirei Fukuzumi, Ren Sato, Koudai Tsukakoshi, Yuji Kunimoto, Katsumasa Chiyo, Teppei Natori, Giuliano Alesi, Hiroaki Ishiura, Yuhi Sekiguchi, Riki Okusa, Naoki Yamamoto

GT300
Yuya Motojima, Yuui Tsutsumi, Nobuteru Taniguchi, Iori Kimura, Yoshiaki Katayama, Zak O’Sullivan, Yusuke Tomibayashi, Kazuki Oki, Yuto Nomura, Katsuyuki Hiranaka, Masaki Jyonai, Takamitsu Matsui, Hironobu Yasuda, Hiroaki Nagai, Miki Koyama, Kei Cozzolino, Yusuke Shibaku, Kohei Hirate, Hiroki Yoshimoto, Takuto Iguchi, Reiji Hiraki, Togo Suganami, Natsu Sakaguchi, Shinichi Takagi, Hironobu Shimizu, Harry King, Tomonobu Fujii