Rain, hail and thunder: The Japanese SUPER GT series kicked off its 2023 season with a thrilling and wild race at Okayama. Ahead of the season opener, GTA chairman Masaaki Bandoh invited the press to talk about the future GT500 regulations, which could see another collaboration with Germany, the new carbon-neutral fuel, a renewed interest in overseas races and more.
Sunday’s SUPER GT season opener at Okayama was certainly a race for the ages, with heavy rain turning the 300km round into a very difficult affair for all 42 teams. In the end, the race had to get red flagged due to the worsening conditions and ended after reaching the maximum race time. But unlike 2019, where similar scenes occurred, full championship points were awarded after reaching 75% of the required race distance. Triumphant in GT500 was the NISMO duo of Tsugio Matsuda / Ronnie Quintarelli in the Motul Autech Z – their first victory since Round 3 at Suzuka in 2021. In GT300, Team UpGarage (UpGarage NSX GT3) repeated their so far only win in the class from five years ago with a sensational come-from-behind victory. Takashi Kobayashi and rookie Syun Koide, who now won in his debut race, originally started from P18 and made their way to the front with a strong performance in the rain and a perfect strategy call.
GTA confirms delay of new GT500 regulations until 2025. Potential future collaboration with Germany’s ADAC and Europe for the next-generation car in 2028 / 2029?
Last year, SUPER GT boss and GTA chairman Masaaki Bandoh hinted at a potential delay for the updated GT500 regulations by a year from 2024 to 2025. On Sunday in Okayama, he confirmed said delay, meaning that the currently used monocoque will be in use for one more extra year. Originally, the GTA planned to change the monocoque every three years. As Bandoh explained, all monocoques currently in use will be checked for their rigidity and other potential issues at the end of 2023. A new monocoque based on the current Class 1 plus alpha regulations (editor’s note: the official name in Japan due to some marginal changes compared to the 2020 DTM monocoque) will be introduced in 2025, but without any major design changes. However, the current aerodynamical freeze is set to be lifted for 2024, giving Toyota, Nissan and Honda the freedom to replace their current base models or make changes underneath the so-called design line, albeit with the current chassis. In January this year, Honda has already announced to replace the Honda NSX-GT with the new Honda Civic Type R-GT. As for future aerodynamical freezes, Bandoh explained that they will have to consider the costs for making both the cars faster and maintaining them and will hold talks with the involved manufacturers about it.
Bandoh added that for the four-year timeframe from 2025 until 2028 at the latest, they plan on introducing environmentally features to the cars, albeit in consultation with the cost issues involved. For this, the GTA needs to consult with the German side regarding the standardized parts. The original plan, as Bandoh explained, was to introduce such parts in cooperation with DTM. With the costs for said parts rising, they need to further consult with the manufacturers to determine the best choice for the future. Said future could involve another collaboration with Europe. For example, in the recent months, Masaaki Bandoh was meeting with representatives of the DMSB, the German national motorsport fedaration. At Sunday’s press conference, he also mentioned discussing the next generation of GT500 cars with the ADAC, which took over DTM at the end of last year. Bandoh: “The ADAC is thinking about a class above GT3 and we would like to start our discussions from here.” He added that it’s important to start such discussions and that various possibilities can be considered for the future. However, first of all it’s important for all manufacturers to come together: “If we can’t get everyone involved to get together at one table, nothing can be started. What kind of discussions we will have in the future will be discussed only after this is realized”, Masaaki Bandoh explained.
GT300 carbon-neutral fuel test at Suzuka set for May. Introduction still planned for Round 3 in June
Unlike the GT500 class, the introduction of the new carbon-neutral ETC Racing Fuel has been delayed for the GT300 class following various issues at the first official pre-season test at Okayama last month. For the GT500 cars, various adjustments had been made at the bench level, like adjusting the ignition timing as well as reviewing the oil mixture to address the problem of dilution. This weekend, staff from carbon-neutral fuel (CNF) partner Halterman Carless came to Okayama to coordinate with Nissan, Honda and Toyota. As Bandoh explained, various efforts will be necessary in the future and the GTA will continue to make efforts such as bringing the octane number closer to the JIS (editor’s note: Japanese Industrial Standard) standard. However, as Bandoh explained, completely conforming to the JIS standard, dilution problems would occur, so they plan on to go step by step to keep the octane numbers close to the JIS standard. The first impressions of the synthetic fuel were overall positive and Bandoh mentioned that they’re very careful in using it since they wouldn’t want to break the engines of the private teams. There also has been comments about it being slightly different, especially the smell, compared to the first official pre-season test. Bandoh described the CNF’s smell as sweeter than the high-octane gasoline sold on the market.
Said test for the GT300 teams will take place on May 8 and 9 at Suzuka Circuit and will be sponsored by SUPER GT’s Entrant Association. Previously, tests have been made with the new Toyota GR86 GT, Toyota GR Supra GT and Subaru BRZ for the cars based on the GTA-GT300 regulations. However, for the FIA-GT3 cars, customer support by the manufacturers is required and it was tough to get such efforts done in such a short amount of time. He explained that various adjustments to the engines like adjusting the viscosity of the engine oil, increasing the oil catch tank and dilution of the engine oil have to be made.
Renewed interest from promoters for overseas rounds in Shanghai, Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand
Could SUPER GT finally have an overseas round again in the near future? GTA chairman Masaaki Bandoh commented on the question of a Japanese journalist, that there has been renewed interest from various promoters in Malaysia, Buriram in Thailand, where the last fly-away round was held in 2019, and Indonesia. In addition, last week they have received a request from Shanghai for either a championship or non-championship round next year. However, despite the worst part of the pandemic being over and travelling becoming easier and safer again, the high logistics costs for transporting about 60 containers still remain a major difficulty, Bandoh explained. Since there are already eight championship rounds in Japan, the schedule would have to be made with this in mind as well. A night race (editor’s note: the first in series history) was planned to take place in Malaysia in 2020 but had to get postponed indefinitely because of the pandemic. Bandoh explains: “Unless the logistics issues are resolved, it will be difficult to hold an overseas race.”
A return to normalcy and the pre-pandemic conditions of 2019
Following the pandemic, normalcy is returning to the race circuit as well, with fans getting access to the paddock again and lining up for the pit walks, similar to how things were in 2019. Asked about the GTA’s infection prevention measurements this year, Masaaki Bandoh explained that unless the government dictates any rules in the future, they’re not thinking of setting any restrictions. Instead, they want everyone coming to the circuit to make their own decision, for example if they want to wear a mask or not. In short: Everything is planned to return to the situation before the pandemic in 2019. While talking about this, Masaaki Bandoh explained that, if possible, he never wants to see such lonely scenes again, where the fans were not able to come to the stands or paddock. He’s glad that things are returning to normalcy again and he’s thankful that they managed to get through the pandemic thanks to the help of the sponsors and everyone involved.
No changes to the TV situation in Japan: Partnership with J SPORTS continues
Super Formula has introduced their own official streaming platform called SFgo this year. In addition to the broadcasts on J SPORTS, they also signed a contract with the especially among young adults very popular internet TV platform ABEMA TV. It’s said that over 140,000 viewers across all platforms were watching the Fuji season opener. Asked if the GTA is planning something similar, Masaaki Bandoh praised the initiative by the JRP (editor’s note: Japan Race Promotion, the governing body of Super Formula), but explained that no similar initiatives are currently planned by the GTA, as they have an exclusive contract with J SPORTS in Japan (editor’s note: Motorsport TV is the exclusive broadcasting partner outside of Japan). He also confirmed that there has been no approach by ABEMA. Bandoh added that the GTA wants to focus on increasing the number of fans coming to the circuit. The “Grooview Multi” (editor’s note: basically, a circuit-only app to stream the TV feed to mobile devices, so that fans at the track can fully follow the race even if there are no monitors) initiative, which started last year, is an extension of that idea. Bandoh: “We want to increase the satisfaction of the people coming to the circuit. Going forward, we would also like to utilize various media and touch points to promote understanding of motorsports and increase awareness of SUPER GT”.
Lastly, Masaaki Bandoh thanked AUTOBACS SEVEN Co., Ltd. chairman Kiomi Kobayashi for being the title sponsor of SUPER GT for 25 years since 1998 now. Takako Yajima, CEO of SPARK JAPAN, also attended the press conference to announce a new partnership with SUPER GT to produce 1:43 replica models of all cars participating in the 2023 season.
Copyright Photos: GT Association (GTA)
