Breaking news
Super GT Suzuka II
Beche, Walkinshaw set to join Super GT field at Suzuka
Mathias Beche and Sean Walkinshaw are set for their first appearances of the SUPER GT season in next weekend's Suzuka round.
Jamie Klein
Edited: Oct 12, 2020, 11:53 AM
Copy link
Share on Viber
Ex-Rebellion LMP1 racer Beche and Walkinshaw, a regular in SUPER GT's GT300 class in recent seasons, will share the #35 Team Thailand Lexus RC F GT3, becoming the only all-international driver combination in the 45-car field.
Both drivers had to forgo the first five rounds of the season due to Japan's strict COVID-19 travel restrictions, and the team itself also missed the Fuji season-opener entirely.
The #35 Lexus returned to the grid for the second race at Fuji, and since then it has been driven by Japanese pairing Masahiro Sasaki and Yuui Tsutsumi. The pair's best result so far has been a 15th-place finish, which came in the August Suzuka race.
However, recent relaxations in Japan's immigration rules have allowed Beche and Walkinshaw to take up their seats for SUPER GT's second visit of the year to Suzuka. They will also be carrying no success ballast as the #35 Lexus is yet to score a point.
Beche will be making his SUPER GT race debut, but the Swiss driver did take part in the Okayama pre-season test in March alongside Walkinshaw. He also made two appearances in Japan's second-tier Super Taikyu series in an Audi R8 LMS in 2018.
D'station Aston Martin driver Nicki Thiim and Hitotsuyama Audi man Christopher Mies remain absent from the Suzuka entry list, as do JLOC pair Dennis Lind and Andre Couto.
Kei Cozzolino will be back alongside D'station regular Tomonobu Fujii at Suzuka having skipped the most recent race at Fuji, where he was replaced by Takuro Shinohara as he was still serving his two-week quarantine after racing in the Le Mans 24 Hours.
Also back in action at Suzuka is the R'Qs Motor Sports Mercedes-AMG GT3, which skipped this month's Fuji round entirely as a result of accident damage from the previous Motegi race.
That brings the size of the GT300 field back up to 30 cars, for a total grid size of 45.
GT300 Start Action
Photo by: Masahide Kamio
We want your opinion!
What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?
Take our 5 minute survey.
- The Motorsport.com Team
Read and post comments
Read also :
Share Or Save This Story
Copy link
Share on Viber
Previous article Super GT prepares to clamp down on off-season testing
Next article Impul driver Sasaki earns practice ban for Suzuka
Top Comments
There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?
View More & Comment
More from
Jamie Klein
Super Formula Fuji: Ayumu Iwasa wins as Kakunoshin Ohta misses chance to seal title
Super Formula
Super Formula
Fuji II
Super Formula Fuji: Ayumu Iwasa wins as Kakunoshin Ohta misses chance to seal title
Super Formula Fuji: Igor Fraga wins while Kakunoshin Ohta closes on title
Super Formula
Super Formula
Fuji II
Super Formula Fuji: Igor Fraga wins while Kakunoshin Ohta closes on title
More from
Mathias Beche
TDS Racing doubles down on IMSA program with two-car LMP2 return
IMSA
IMSA
TDS Racing doubles down on IMSA program with two-car LMP2 return
Ex-LMP1 driver Beche sees long term future in Super GT
Super GT
Super GT
Ex-LMP1 driver Beche sees long term future in Super GT
Ghiotto, Smith headline eight-man Ginetta test roster
WEC
WEC
Ghiotto, Smith headline eight-man Ginetta test roster
Latest news
Audi hands F3 runner-up Freddie Slater F1 practice debut
Formula 1
F1 Formula 1
United States GP
18 min
Audi hands F3 runner-up Freddie Slater F1 practice debut
On this day: Fernando Alonso wins the world title, Michael Schumacher retires from F1
Formula 1
F1 Formula 1
Brazilian GP
1 h
On this day: Fernando Alonso wins the world title, Michael Schumacher retires from F1
Raul Fernandez still compromised after Indonesia finger injury: “I’m not at 100%”
MotoGP
MGP MotoGP
Australian GP
2 h
Raul Fernandez still compromised after Indonesia finger injury: “I’m not at 100%”
MotoGP can’t simply copy F1’s Drive to Survive success – Chase Carey
MotoGP
MGP MotoGP
Australian GP
3 h
MotoGP can’t simply copy F1’s Drive to Survive success – Chase Carey
Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
You have 2 options:
- Become a subscriber.
- Disable your adblocker.
Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here
Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page
Manage Alerts
Subscribe