SUPER GT wants to reduce GT300-rules cars' cornering speed

The lower division of SUPER GT is unique as it pits FIA GT3 cars against vehicles built around the series' own mother chassis and GT300 rules, creating a three-way divide in the class.

This makes the task of creating a level-playing field incredibly difficult, with championship promoter GTA working alongside Stephane Ratel Organisation (SRO) to balance a wide variety of cars.

As with other GT racing series, BoP has been a major point of debate in SUPER GT, with some suggesting that GT300 cars have enjoyed an unfair advantage over the rest of the grid in recent times.

It follows Subaru becoming the first manufacturer to win a title with a GT300 car in five years in 2021, when it introduced a new generation BRZ model based on the road car of the same name.

The Japanese manufacturer has also proved quick so far over a single lap in 2022, with the refreshed BRZ claiming pole position in both the Okayama season opener as well as last week’s Fuji 450km enduro - although on both occasions it couldn’t turn a favourable grid slot into victory.

• Stream every qualifying session and race of the 2022 SUPER GT season only on Motorsport.tv.

Bandoh said SUPER GT would look at ways to reduce any potential disparities on the grid, targeting a reduction in cornering speeds of GT300-spec cars.

“As for GT3 cars, we will continue to use the BoP set by SRO," he said. "We send them our data, we get an answer based on that, and we use it. 

“Of course, overseas they only use a single tyre [in GT World Challenge], and we have some cars in SUPER GT [like the Nissan GT-R GT3] that don’t race abroad. That can create some disparities. 

“However, SRO’s engineers are looking at it carefully, and we just use the BoP that they supply… so that there’s nothing we can do about it.

“As for our original GT300 cars, rather than straight line speed, we are thinking about how to limit the cornering speeds. We can’t do anything this season, but we can do things like adjust the size of the tyres and make them a little slower in the corners.”

#34 BUSOU raffinee GT-R, #61 SUBARU BRZ R＆D SPORT

Photo by: Masahide Kamio

Bandoh stressed that SUPER GT will continue to assess the performance of cars based on qualifying, as a number of factors skew the true pecking order in the race.

“If we base the BoP on race results, it’s dubious,” he explained. “Results in the race are impacted by things like tyre usage and strategy. But qualifying is just about pure speed. 

“The BoP should be set in response to pure speed, so we’ll use qualifying results as a reference. After four races or so, we’ll re-evaluate the BoP of the GT300 cars for the rest of the season.”

Although Subaru has been unbeaten in qualifying so far in 2022, both the Okayama and Fuji races were won by Nissan GT3 cars.

Kondo Racing opened the season with victory with its sole GT-R NISMO GT3 that took Joao Paulo de Oliveira and Kiyoto Fujinami to the 2020 title, while Ryuichiro Tomita and Riki Okusa took top honours in last week's 450km enduro in Gainer's #10 Nissan.