Suzuka 450km SUPER GT – schedule, how to watch, entry list

A total of 42 cars, 15 in GT500 and 27 in GT300, are entered for the second of five 450km races on this year’s schedule.

With two races down, Nissan and Toyota have taken a win apiece so far in the GT500 class, leaving Honda as the only manufacturer still searching for a first victory of 2023 at its home circuit.

Nissan has remarkably won the last five races to be held at Suzuka dating back to 2020, so the pressure will be on to keep up that streak. But the success ballast being carried by the points-leading #23 NISMO and the #3 NDDP Racing Z cars, now carrying an extra 50kg and 42kg respectively, means making it six on the trot could be a tall order.

On the other hand, some of the lighter cars in the field will be eyeing an opportunity to make up for a disappointing start to the season. Chief among these is the #16 ARTA Honda NSX-GT of Nirei Fukuzumi and Hiroki Otsu (2kg), who have shown eye-catching speed but have just one point to show for their efforts after another penalty last time out at Fuji.

Similarly, the Kondo Racing Nissan of Kohei Hirate and Daiki Sasaki is ballast-free, while the #37 TOM’S car of Ukyo Sasahara and Giuliano Alesi is the lightest car in the Toyota camp on 10kg. Suzuka is also a happy hunting ground for the only Dunlop squad in GT500, Nakajima Racing, so look for Takuya Izawa and Kakunoshin Ota to make an impact in qualifying.

 

In the GT300 class, the LEON Racing Mercedes of Naoya Gamou and Takuro Shinohara leads the championship on 24 points after finishing fourth last time out at Fuji, while victory for Kondo Racing Nissan pair Joao Paulo de Oliveira and Teppei Natori has put them second overall on 22 points.

With those two cars laden with success ballast, attention will be on some of the lighter cars in the field, including the works R&D Sport Subaru BRZ and the Goodsmile Racing Mercedes. The new apr Lexus LC500h also showed a good turn of pace at Fuji and has been tipped to do well at Suzuka.

One driver who is absent this time is ex-Formula 1 driver Roberto Merhi, who is participating in the clashing Jakarta Formula E round. Taking Merhi’s place aboard the Team LeMans Audi R8 LMS GT3 is Seiya Jin, who is set to make his SUPER GT debut alongside Yoshiaki Katayama.

SUPER GT time schedule for Suzuka Round 3

Times are Local/UK time (GMT+1)/EDT/PDT 

Saturday June 3

Free practice (1h45 minutes) – 9.10am/1.10am/8.10pm (Friday)/5.10pm (Friday)

Qualifying – 3.05pm/7.05am/2.05am/11.05pm (Friday)

Sunday June 4

Warm-up – 12pm/4am/11pm (Saturday)/8pm (Saturday)

Race (77 laps) – 1.30pm/5.30am/12.30am/9.30pm (Saturday)

Don’t see your timezone listed? Check out our SUPER GT schedule page to see the session times in your local timezone

How can I watch SUPER GT at Suzuka?

Motorsport.tv will once again be offering full coverage of both qualifying and the race for every round of the 2023 SUPER GT season (subscription required, available worldwide except Japan).

Commentary will be provided by Scott Woodwiss and Motorsport.com’s own expert Japanese racing analyst Jamie Klein.

Click here for further information, and to get your subscription now

SUPER GT entry list for Suzuka Round 3

GT500 class: