Porsche Center Okazaki Expands to Second Car

Porsche Center Okazaki has announced it will expand to a second car for the upcoming Fanatec GT World Challenge Asia Powered by AWS season.

The Japanese team announced last Friday a new partnership with NK Racing that will see both of the team’s Porsche 911 GT3 Rs united under a single banner, with both the No. 18 and No. 25 cars tackling the full six-round series starting at Sepang next month.

Reigning Japan Cup champions Hiroaki Nagai and Yuta Kamimura will continue as a duo in the No. 18 car, while Tsubasa Kondo and Kiyoshi Uchiyama stay on in the No. 25 car.

Nagai and Kamimura scored two overall podiums last year, peaking with a second-place finish at Mobility Resort Motegi, while Kondo and Uchiyama registered a best finish of eighth at Fuji Speedway.

Also entering the full Fanatec GT Asia season is 5Zigen, which entered only the Japan Cup rounds of the series last year with its Nissan GT-R NISMO GT3.

However, there is a change in the driver lineup for the No. 500 Nissan, as ‘Hirobon’ will now be partnered by Yu Kanamaru instead of Shintaro Kawabata as previously.

‘Hirobon’ and Kawabata scored a best finish of second last year at Suzuka but were forced to skip the Motegi round due to crash damage.

Several More Japan Cup Entries Confirmed

A number of teams have firmed up plans to enter the Japan Cup, which shares the bill with three Fanatec GT Asia weekends plus an extra standalone race at Sportsland Sugo.

K-tunes Racing has announced a three-car entry with a Lexus RC F GT3, the same model it campaigns in SUPER GT, a Ferrari 296 GT3 and a Toyota GR Supra GT4.

Both of the Okayama Toyopet-owned team’s SUPER GT regulars, Morio Nitta and Shinichi Takagi, are part of the line-up, with Nitta remaining paired up with Kazunori Suenaga in the Lexus and Takagi sharing the Ferrari with Daisuke Yamawaki.

Nissan outfit RUNUP Sports, which competes in SUPER GT under the Tomei Sports name, meanwhile continues with a solo GT-R for the all-Am pairing of Atsushi Tanaka and Masaaki Nishikawa.

Elsewhere, Bingo Racing announced last month that its Callaway Corvette C7 GT3-R will be driven in the opening round of the Japan Cup at Sugo in June by SUPER GT and Super Formula racer Ukyo Sasahara, as well as team regular Shinji Takei.

Sasahara is only available for the opener due to scheduling clashes, with his replacement for the other races to be announced later.