A total of 40 cars, 15 in GT500 and 25 in GT300, are entered for the sixth round of the season, slated to begin at 1.30pm local time on Sunday (GMT +9).
After a run of four 450km events, SUPER GT reverts to its traditional 300km event for Sugo, with no three-driver crews. But that doesn’t mean the racing will be any less exciting around a venue renowned for creating drama aplenty.
Honda finally broke its victory duck last time out at Suzuka, as ARTA pair Nirei Fukuzumi and Hiroki Otsu thrust themselves into title contention. However, it means the #16 NSX-GT will carry a nominal 74kg of success ballast this weekend, which means a stage two fuel flow restrictor.
The top two car in the standings, the NDDP Racing Nissan (Katsumasa Chiyo/Mitsunori Takaboshi) and the #36 TOM’S Toyota GR Supra (Sho Tsuboi/Ritomo Miyata) are carrying the maximum stage three restrictor, while three cars – the Rookie Racing Toyota and the Hondas of Team Kunimitsu and Real Racing – have the stage one restrictor.
NISMO pair Ronnie Quintarelli and Tsugio Matsuda sit on 50kg, just below the cut-off for a stage on restrictor, and will be eager to avenge their disqualification from the previous race at Suzuka.
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For some lighter cars on the grid, Sugo represents the final chance to capitalise on this situation before the success ballast is halved for the following race at Autopolis. The #8 ARTA Honda of Tomoki Nojiri and Toshiki Oyu (22kg), which hasn’t score a point since the Okayama opener, falls firmly into this camp.
In the GT300 class, there are now four cars carrying the maximum 100kg success handicap – the Team UpGarage Honda NSX GT3 that won at Suzuka, the Team Studie BMW M4 GT3, the Kondo Racing Nissan GT-R NISMO GT3 and the Inging Toyota GR86 GT that took a weather-assisted victory in Sugo in 2022.
The works Subaru BRZ often goes well at Sugo, but is now carrying 69kg of ballast following a third-place finish at Suzuka, on top of additional 15kg Balance of Performance adjustment for this weekend.
On the other hand, the K-tunes Racing Lexus RC F GT3 that provisionally scored pole last year comes to Sugo still very light on ballast, carrying only 15kg, while the Anest Iwata example is even lighter with only 3kg on board.
SUPER GT time schedule for Sugo Round 6
Times are Local/UK time (GMT+1)/EDT/PDT
Saturday September 16
Free practice (1h45 minutes) – 9.15am/1.15am/8.15pm (Friday)/5.15pm (Friday)
Qualifying – 2.40pm/6.40am/1.40am/10.40pm (Friday)
Sunday September 17
Warm-up – 12pm/4am/11pm (Saturday)/8pm (Saturday)
Race (84 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 Sugo?
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 Jake Sanson 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 Sugo Round 6
GT500 class:
Manufacturer
Team
Tyre
No.
Drivers
Nissan
Z GT500
Team Impul
Bridgestone
1
Bertrand Baguette
Kazuki Hiramine
NDDP Racing
Michelin
3
Katsumasa Chiyo
Mitsunori Takaboshi
NISMO
Michelin
23
Ronnie Quintarelli
Tsugio Matsuda
Kondo Racing
Yokohama
24
Kohei Hirate
Daiki Sasaki
Toyota
GR Supra
Rookie Racing
Bridgestone
14
Kazuya Oshima
Kenta Yamashita
Racing Project Bandoh
Yokohama
19
Yuji Kunimoto
Sena Sakaguchi
TOM’S
Bridgestone
36
Sho Tsuboi
Ritomo Miyata
37
Ukyo Sasahara
Giuliano Alesi
Cerumo
Bridgestone
38
Hiroaki Ishiura
Yuji Tachikawa
SARD
Bridgestone
39
Yuhi Sekiguchi
Yuichi Nakayama
Honda
NSX-GT (Type S)
ARTA
Bridgestone
8
Tomoki Nojiri
Toshiki Oyu
16
Nirei Fukuzumi
Hiroki Otsu
Real Racing
Bridgestone
17
Koudai Tsukakoshi
Nobuharu Matsushita
Nakajima Racing
Dunlop
64
Takuya Izawa
Kakunoshin Ota
Team Kunimitsu
Bridgestone
100
Naoki Yamamoto
Tadasuke Makino
GT300 class:
No.
Team
Car
Tyre
Drivers
2
Muta Racing Inging
Toyota GR86 GT
Bridgestone
Yuui Tsutsumi
Hibiki Taira
4
Goodsmile Racing & Team Ukyo
Mercedes-AMG GT3
Yokohama
Nobuteru Taniguchi
Tatsuya Kataoka
5
Team Mach
Toyota 86 MC
Yokohama
Yusuke Tomibayashi
Takamitsu Matsui
6
Team LeMans
Audi R8 LMS GT3
Yokohama
Roberto Merhi
Yoshiaki Katayama
7
BMW Team Studie
BMW M4 GT3
Michelin
Seiji Ara
Bruno Spengler
9
Pacific Racing
Mercedes-AMG GT3
Yokohama
Ryohei Sakaguchi
Liang Jiatong
10
Gainer
Nissan GT-R NISMO GT3
Dunlop
Hironobu Yasuda
Riki Okusa
11
Gainer
Nissan GT-R NISMO GT3
Dunlop
Ryuichiro Tomita
Keishi Ishikawa
18
Team UpGarage
Honda NSX GT3
Yokohama
Takashi Kobayashi
Shun Koide
20
Shade Racing
Toyota GR86 GT
Dunlop
Katsuyuki Hiranaka
Eijiro Shimizu
22
R’Qs Motor Sports
Mercedes-AMG GT3
Yokohama
Hisashi Wada
Masaki Jyonai
27
Yogibo Racing
Honda NSX GT3
Yokohama
Reimei Ito
Yugo Iwasawa
30
apr
Toyota GR86 GT
Yokohama
Manabu Orido
Hiroaki Nagai
31
apr
Lexus LC500h GT
Bridgestone
Koki Saga
Kazuto Kotaka
48
NILZZ Racing
Nissan GT-R NISMO GT3
Yokohama
Taiyou Ida
Yuki Tanaka
50
Anest Iwata Racing with Arnage
Lexus RC F GT3
Yokohama
Igor Fraga
Yuga Furutani
52
Saitama Toyopet Green Brave
Toyota GR Supra GT300
Bridgestone
Hiroki Yoshida
Kohta Kawaai
56
Kondo Racing
Nissan GT-R NISMO GT3
Yokohama
JP de Oliveira
Teppei Natori
60
LM Corsa
Toyota GR Supra GT300
Dunlop
Hiroki Yoshimoto
Shunsuke Kohno
61
R&D Sport
Subaru BRZ
Dunlop
Takuto Iguchi
Hideki Yamauchi
65
K2 R&D LEON Racing
Mercedes-AMG GT3
Bridgestone
Naoya Gamou
Takuro Shinohara
87
JLOC
Lamborghini Huracan GT3
Yokohama
Kosuke Matsuura
Natsu Sakaguchi
88
JLOC
Lamborghini Huracan GT3
Yokohama
Takashi Kogure
Yuya Motojima
96
K-tunes Racing
Lexus RC F GT3
Dunlop
Morio Nitta
Shinichi Takagi
360
Tomei Sports
Nissan GT-R NISMO GT3
Yokohama
Takayuki Aoki
Takuya Otaki
