Autopolis SUPER GT – schedule, how to watch, entry list

A total of 40 cars, 15 in GT500 and 25 in GT300, are entered for the seventh round of the season, slated to begin at 1.30pm local time on Sunday (GMT +9).

For the first time ever, Autopolis will be hosting a 450km race, making SUPER GT's annual visit to the island of Kyushu a real step into the unknown. Teams will have to find the ideal timing to make two mandatory pitstops over the course of 97 laps at a track known for being tough on tyres.

After a tumultuous race last month at Sugo, NDDP Nissan pair Katsumasa Chiyo and Mitsunori Takaboshi have a narrow two-point lead in the GT500 drivers' standings, but face the considerable disadvantage of being the only drivers in the top class carrying a fuel flow restrictor this weekend with success ballast halved.

That makes this weekend's race a golden opportunity for Chiyo and Takaboshi's nearest rivals, TOM'S Toyota drivers Sho Tsuboi and Ritomo Miyata, to make up ground. But with no fewer than nine crews sitting within 20 points of the leaders, it's anyone's guess as to who will head to next month's Motegi season finale in the best position.

Honda squad Real Racing (Koudai Tsukakoshi/Nobuharu Matsushita) won at Autopolis last year and will be eager to make up for the disqualification that cost them victory at Sugo last time out, while ARTA will be hoping to keep up its winning streak after its #8 car (Tomoki Nojiri/Toshiki Oyu) revitalised its title hopes by picking up the win at Sugo.

 

Particular attention will also be focused on the Team Kunimitsu Honda team as Iori Kimura makes his GT500 debut in place of Naoki Yamamoto, who is out for the remainder of the season following the injuries sustained in his nasty crash in the previous race at Sugo.

In the GT300 class, Toyota outfit Saitama Toyopet takes a 10-point lead into the penultimate round of the season after victory at Sugo, where Hiroki Yoshida and Kohta Kawaai were pipped to the finish by the Team UpGarage Honda after running out of fuel virtually in sight of the chequered flag, only to be awarded the win again when the UpGarage car failed post-race technical inspection.

Yoshida and Kawaai are joined aboard the #52 Toyota GR Supra GT300 this weekend by Toyota junior Seita Nonaka, who has been sidelined since the fire at Fuji in August that brought the Tsuchiya Engineering squad's season to a premature end.

Subaru's hopes of a late title fightback have been boosted by the removal of the extra 15kg of Balance of Performance weight that the works BRZ was handed for Sugo, but Hideki Yamauchi and Takuto Iguchi still face an uphill task to close the 19-point deficit to the championship leaders.

SUPER GT time schedule for Autopolis Round 7

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

Saturday October 14

Free practice (1h45 minutes) – 9.25am/1.25am/8.25pm (Friday)/5.25pm (Friday)

Qualifying – 3pm/7am/2am/11pm (Friday)

Sunday October 15

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

Race (97 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 Autopolis?

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 Autopolis Round 7

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	Tadasuke Makino  Iori Kimura

GT300 class:

No.	Team	Car	Tyre	Drivers
2	Muta Racing Inging	Toyota GR86 GT	Bridgestone	Yuui Tsutsumi  Hibiki Taira  Hiroki Katoh
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  Seiya Jin
7	BMW Team Studie	BMW M4 GT3	Michelin	Seiji Ara  Bruno Spengler
9	Pacific Racing	Mercedes-AMG GT3	Yokohama	Ryohei Sakaguchi  Liang Jiatong  Shintaro Kawabata
10	Gainer	Nissan GT-R NISMO GT3	Dunlop	Hironobu Yasuda  Riki Okusa
11	Gainer	Nissan GT-R NISMO GT3	Dunlop	Ryuichiro Tomita  Keishi Ishikawa  Yusuke Shiotsu
18	Team UpGarage	Honda NSX GT3	Yokohama	Takashi Kobayashi  Shun Koide
20	Shade Racing	Toyota GR86 GT	Dunlop	Katsuyuki Hiranaka  Eijiro Shimizu  Shinnosuke Yamada
22	R'Qs Motor Sports	Mercedes-AMG GT3	Yokohama	Hisashi Wada  Masaki Jyonai  Masaki Kano
27	Yogibo Racing	Honda NSX GT3	Yokohama	Reimei Ito  Yugo Iwasawa
30	apr	Toyota GR86 GT	Yokohama	Manabu Orido  Hiroaki Nagai  Yuta Kamimura
31	apr	Lexus LC500h GT	Bridgestone	Koki Saga  Kazuto Kotaka  Yuki Nemoto
48	NILZZ Racing	Nissan GT-R NISMO GT3	Yokohama	Taiyou Ida  Yuki Tanaka  Takumi Sanada
50	Anest Iwata Racing with Arnage	Lexus RC F GT3	Yokohama	Igor Fraga  Yuga Furutani  Miki Koyama
52	Saitama Toyopet Green Brave	Toyota GR Supra GT300	Bridgestone	Hiroki Yoshida  Kohta Kawaai  Seita Nonaka
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  Haruki Kurosawa
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  Atsushi Tanaka  Takuya Otaki