Fuji has been a Toyota stronghold for the past couple of seasons, with the Shizuoka Prefecture track's kilometre-long main straight playing to the strengths of the slippery, low-drag GR Supra GT500.
However, that could all change this time round with the introduction of the new Nissan Z and Honda's updated Type S-based NSX-GT, as well as the changes Toyota has made to the Supra since last year.
Toyota got its campaign off to a winning start last month at Okayama, with the #14 Rookie Racing car of Kenta Yamashita and Kazuya Oshima taking the spoils, but Honda and Nissan each managed to get a car on the podium as well, a clear sign of a the fantastic three-way battle to come in GT500.
Yamashita and Oshima will be hard-pressed to repeat their Okayama win however as they are saddled with the maximum 42kg of success ballast, with each point earned worth 2kg of extra weight.
Among those hoping to capitalise on having low success ballast will be the #36 TOM'S crew (Sho Tsuboi/Giuliano Alesi, 10kg), the Impul Nissan squad (Bertrand Baguette/Kazuki Hiramine, 8kg), and Honda outfits ARTA (Tomoki Nojiri/Nirei Fukuzumi, 2kg) and Real Racing (Koudai Tsukakoshi/Nobuharu Matsushita, 4kg), which won last year's Fuji Golden Week race.
Strategy will also play an important role, with each car having to make two pitstops instead of the normal single stop.
In the GT300 class, every point so far is worth 3kg of ballast, meaning the Kondo Racing Nissan GT-R NISMO GT3 that won at Okayama (Joao Paulo de Oliveira/Kiyoto Fujinami) is saddled with 60kg of ballast.
Toyota's GR Supra GT300 traditionally goes well around Fuji, with the LM Corsa team (Hiroki Yoshimoto/Shunsuke Kohno) keen to add to its pair of victories at the track last year. Another car to keep an eye on is the Team LeMans Audi R8 GT3 LMS Evo II, as ex-Formula 1 racer Roberto Merhi makes his debut.
Max Racing also makes its return after sitting out the Okayama opener, bringing the field up to 28 cars in GT300 and 43 in total.
SUPER GT time schedule for Fuji, Round 2
Times are Local/UK time (GMT+1)/EDT/PDT
Tuesday May 3
Free practice (1h45 minutes) – 9.00am/1.00am/8.00pm (Monday)/5.00pm (Monday)
Qualifying – 3pm/7am/2am/11pm (Monday)
Wednesday May 4
Warm-up – 1.10pm/5.10am/12.10am/9.10pm (Tuesday)
Race (100 laps) – 2.30pm/6.30am/1.30am/10.30pm (Tuesday)
How can I watch SUPER GT at Fuji?
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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 Fuji, Round 2
GT500 class:
| Manufacturer | Team | Tyre | No. | Drivers |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nissan Z GT500
| NDDP Racing | Michelin | 3 |
|
| Team Impul | Bridgestone | 12 |
| |
| NISMO | Michelin | 23 |
| |
| Kondo Racing | Yokohama | 24 |
| |
| Toyota GR Supra
| Rookie Racing | Bridgestone | 14 |
|
| Racing Project Bandoh | Yokohama | 19 |
| |
| TOM’S
| Bridgestone
| 36
|
| |
| 37 |
| |||
| Cerumo | Bridgestone | 38 |
| |
| SARD | Bridgestone | 39 |
| |
| Honda NSX-GT (Type S)
| ARTA | Bridgestone | 8 |
|
| Team Mugen | Dunlop | 16 |
| |
| Real Racing | Bridgestone | 17 |
| |
| Nakajima Racing | Dunlop | 64 |
| |
| Team Kunimitsu | Bridgestone | 100 |
|
Bertrand Baguette
Ronnie Quintarelli
Giuliano AlesiGT300 class:
| No. | Team | Car | Tyre | Drivers |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2 | Inging | Toyota GR86 GT | B |
|
| 4 | Goodsmile Racing | Mercedes-AMG GT3 | Y |
|
| 5 | Team Mach | Toyota 86 MC | Y |
|
| 6 | Team LeMans | Audi R8 LMS GT3 | Y |
|
| 7 | BMW Team Studie | BMW M4 GT3 | M |
|
| 9 | Pacific CarGuy Racing | Ferrari 488 GT3 | Y |
|
| 10 | Gainer | Nissan GT-R NISMO GT3 | D |
|
| 11 | Gainer | Nissan GT-R NISMO GT3 | D |
|
| 18 | Team UpGarage | Honda NSX GT3 | Y |
|
| 20 | Shade Racing | Toyota GR86 GT | D |
|
| 22 | R'Qs Motor Sports | Mercedes-AMG GT3 | Y |
|
| 25 | Team Tsuchiya | Toyota GR Supra GT300 | Y |
|
| 30 | apr | Toyota GR86 GT | Y |
|
| 31 | apr | Toyota Prius PHV GR Sport | B |
|
| 34 | Busou Drago Corse | Nissan GT-R NISMO GT3 | D |
|
| 48 | NILZZ Racing | Nissan GT-R NISMO GT3 | Y
|
|
| 50 | Arnage Racing | Toyota 86 MC | Y |
|
| 52 | Saitama Toyopet GB | Toyota GR Supra GT300 | B |
|
| 55 | ARTA | Honda NSX GT3 | B |
|
| 56 | Kondo Racing | Nissan GT-R NISMO GT3 | Y |
|
| 60 | LM Corsa | Toyota GR Supra GT300 | D |
|
| 61 | Subaru/R&D Sport | Subaru BRZ | D |
|
| 65 | LEON Racing | Mercedes-AMG GT3 | B |
|
| 87 | JLOC | Lamborghini Huracan GT3 | Y |
|
| 88 | JLOC | Lamborghini Huracan GT3 | Y |
|
| 96 | K-tunes Racing | Lexus RC F GT3 | D |
|
| 244 | Max Racing | Toyota GR Supra GT300 | Y |
|
| 360 | Tomei Sports | Nissan GT-R NISMO GT3 | Y |
|
Roberto Merhi
Shintaro Kawabata
Augusto FarfusCurrent SUPER GT championship standings
GT500 class:
| Pos. | Team/Car | Drivers | Points | Ballast |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Rookie Racing Toyota |
 Kazuya Oshima Kenta Yamashita | 21 | 42kg |
| 2 | Kunimitsu Honda
|
Naoki Yamamoto Tadasuke Makino | 15 | 30kg |
| 3 | NISMO Nissan |
| 11 | 22kg |
| 4 | Cerumo Toyota |
Yuji Tachikawa Hiroaki Ishiura | 8 | 16kg |
| 5 | NDDP Nissan |
Katsumasa Chiyo Mitsunori Takaboshi | 6 | 12kg |
| 6 | TOM'S Toyota |
| 5 | 10kg |
| 7 | Impul Nissan |
| 4 | 8kg |
| 8 | SARD Toyota |
Yuhi Sekiguchi Yuichi Nakayama | 3 | 6kg |
| 9 | Real Racing Honda |
Koudai Tsukakoshi Nobuharu Matsushita | 2 | 4kg |
| 10 | ARTA Honda |
Tomoki Nojiri Nirei Fukuzumi | 1 | 2kg |
GT300 class:
| Pos. | Team/Car | Drivers | Points | Ballast |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kondo Racing Nissan |
Kiyoto Fujinami
| 20 | 60kg |
| 2 | UpGarage Honda |
Takashi Kobayashi Kakunoshin Ota | 15 | 45kg |
| 3 | LEON Mercedes |
Naoya Gamou Takuro Shinohara | 11 | 33kg |
| 4 | Pacific CarGuy Ferrari |
Kei Cozzolino Naoki Yokomizo | 8 | 24kg |
| 5 | LeMans Audi |
Satoshi Motoyama Yoshiaki Katayama | 6 | 18kg |
| 6 | Gainer Nissan |
Ryuichiro Tomita Riki Okusa | 5 | 15kg |
| 7 | Goodsmile Mercedes |
Nobuteru Taniguchi Tatsuya Kataoka | 4 | 12kg |
| 8 | JLOC Lamborghini |
Kosuke Matsuura Natsu Sakaguchi | 3 | 9kg |
| 9 | Subaru |
Takuto Iguchi Hideki Yamauchi | 3 | 9kg |
| 10 | Gainer Nissan |
Hironobu Yasuda Keishi Ishikawa | 1 | 3kg |
