SUPER GT Planning Switch to One-Make Tires in 2027

SUPER GT looks set to switch to one-make tires for the 2027 season in a move that would bring an end to the Japanese championship’s long-standing tire war.

Sportscar365 understands that plans for the move have already been drawn up by championship organizer GTA for the GT500 and GT300 classes to be supplied by a single company each after one more year of open tire competition next season.

It would mark a radical change of direction for SUPER GT, which has featured a tire war since its inception as the JGTC in the 1990s and is one of the last holdouts in top-level motorsport worldwide not to have gone down the spec tire route.

Should such plans go ahead, it would leave the Nürburgring Endurance Series as the only major sports car championship globally to still have tire competition.

Currently, Bridgestone, Yokohama and Dunlop are engaged in a three-way battle in GT500, with all three companies also involved in GT300 along with Michelin.

All four manufacturers are understood to have been invited last month by the GTA to apply for the GT500 and GT300 supply tenders, which have an initial term of three years.

Manufacturers were free to apply for both tenders, meaning that the possibility of a single brand ultimately supplying both classes cannot be ruled out.

A final decision on the manufacturer(s) that will supply tires in 2027 is set to be made this month, with an announcement likely to be made before the end of the year.

Contacted for comment by Sportscar365, a GTA spokesperson declined to comment.

The potential end to tire competition comes amid a period of dominance in GT500 for Bridgestone, which supplies 12 of the 15 cars in the top class, and was on a run of 18 consecutive victories before its streak was ended by Yokohama last month at Sugo.

Bridgestone’s grip on the top class was significantly strengthened when it acquired the two works NISMO Nissan entries upon Michelin quitting GT500 at the end of 2023.

Yokohama has supplied only two GT500 teams since 2021, Toyota squad Racing Project Bandoh and Nissan outfit Kondo Racing, while Dunlop has had only a single car in the top class, the Nakajima Racing Honda, since 2023.

Earlier in the year, speculation had surrounded the future of Yokohama’s participation in GT500, but it now appears the firm will continue until the start of the one-make tire era.

Yokohama is the dominant tire brand in GT300 with 16 of the 28 cars in class, with Dunlop supplying six, Bridgestone four and Michelin two.

Despite the numerical superiority of Yokohama, the balance of competition in the lower class has been much closer in recent years, with Yokohama, Bridgestone and Dunlop having all won races so far this season.