GT300 Grid Complete as Kimura Joins Team Mach

Ex-Honda driver Iori Kimura has landed the final available seat on this year’s SUPER GT grid at Team Mach alongside Yusuke Shiotsu.

Team Mach became the final GT300 team to reveal its plans for the upcoming season on Monday, following last weekend’s Okayama official test, confirming Kimura as its second driver alongside Shiotsu aboard the No. 5 Toyota 86 Mother Chassis.

The 25-year-old joins the team off the back of losing his status as a factory Honda driver last winter and replaces Kiyoto Fujinami, who has left the team after a single season in favor of the Seven x Seven Racing outfit that he founded.

Team principal Tetsuji Tamanaka commented: “I’m very happy that we are able to participate in SUPER GT as Team Mach again this year.

“Together with our new addition Iori Kimura and Yusuke Shiotsu, who is going into his second year, I want to create a team that is stronger than ever before.

“With the help of Sanyu Shoji [parent company of title sponsor Air Buster] and GTNET, who have supported us until now, we will give it everything in pursuit of our big goal of a first victory in the series.”

Kimura last raced full-time in SUPER GT in 2022 as part of the now-defunct ARTA Honda GT300 outfit, winning the final race of the season at Motegi with Hideki Mutoh.

He then became Honda’s GT500 reserve driver for 2023 and made two outings for Team Kunimitsu at the end of the year after Naoki Yamamoto sustained injuries in a crash at Sugo, but failed to make an impression on the Sakura marque.

Title success that year in Super Formula Lights earned him a shot in Super Formula with the B-Max Racing team for 2024, but he was dropped in favor of Shun Koide at the end of the year, marking the end of his tenure as a Honda driver.

Kimura made his first outing for Team Mach in last weekend’s Okayama test, sharing duties with Shiotsu and Super Taikyu racer Aruga Tomita.

Team Mach goes into 2025 searching for its first points finish since Reiji Hiraki and Yusuke Tomibayashi finished second at Suzuka in 2022.

It is the last team on the grid with a car built to the Mother Chassis rules, which require the use of a standard Dome tub and GTA-supplied Nissan V8 engine.

Full 43-Car Grid Set for Fuji Test

An entry list for next week’s final test of the pre-season at Fuji Speedway was released on Monday, featuring all 43 cars set to participate this year.

Saitama Green Brave and last-minute entrant MKS Racing are both set to be present after missing the Okayama test, with the latter team’s drivers Zak O’Sullivan and Rikuto Kobayashi joined by Takeshi Kimura in the No. 7 Ferrari 296 GT3.

Harry King has been registered as a third driver for Porsche outfit Seven x Seven together with the team’s full-season pairing of Fujinami and Tsubasa Kondo.

Lilou Wadoux returns to the PONOS Racing Ferrari team after missing the Okayama test due to her IMSA Michelin Endurance Cup commitments, while Charlie Fagg is a notable absentee in the lineup of the D’station Racing Aston Martin.

Tomonobu Fujii, who explained to Sportscar365 that Fagg has sufficient experience of Fuji to not need to make the trip, will handle testing duties solo.