Ten big questions ahead of the new Super GT season

Can Toyota’s new Supra match the success of the Lexus LC?

The most obvious change in the GT500 class in 2020 is that the Lexus brand is no longer, with Toyota returning to the series in its own right for the first time since 2005. That means the return of the legendary Supra name and a certain pressure to live up to the legacy of the iconic original, but it’s the record of the recently retired Lexus LC500 that provides the real benchmark for Toyota to aspire to with its new machine.

When the last rules cycle began in 2017, the LC proved the class of the field, winning five of that year’s eight races and going on to win more than half the races it entered (14 wins from 24 starts), also coming within three points of a clean sweep of drivers’ titles. The real strengths of the old car were its sheer consistency and its ability to carry success ballast ‘well’, traits Toyota will be hoping the all-new GR Supra shares.

#36 au TOM'S GR Supra

Photo by: GTA

While Nissan and Honda also have new cars to coincide with the move to ‘full fat’ Class One regulations, Toyota has the only genuinely fresh design of the three GT500 marques, which affords certain design advantages. The new GR Supra has been rapid from the word go and has earned plaudits for its rear stability and easiness to drive. And although it was shaded by Honda in official testing, the margins have generally been extremely thin.

It’s impossible to be certain who was running what power modes at the Fuji test, but it was clear that Toyota was the class of the field in a straight line, its teams often topping 300km/h even at times when they weren’t pushing for laptime and dominating the stop-start first sector. During the GT500-only running, Sacha Fenestraz also set the quickest time in the technical third sector and came within just 0.034s of the pace overall.

Toyota maintains the numeric advantage that it had in the Lexus era, with six cars (compared to five Hondas and four Nissans), and five cars on Bridgestone tyres. And there seems to be an air of confidence in the Toyota camp that the GR Supra has untapped potential and will ultimately emerge as the car to beat as the 2020 campaign unfolds.

#38 ZENT GR Supra

Photo by: Masahide Kamio

Will Toyota’s ‘new’ team be able to take over where Team LeMans left off?

The other significant change in GT500 is that last year’s winning team isn’t on the grid anymore. Team LeMans, which triumphed last year with Kazuya Oshima and Kenta Yamashita, was unceremoniously dumped from Toyota’s GT500 roster in the off-season – the result of simmering tensions between the Japanese manufacturer and the team’s ownership, specifically Okayama circuit owner Yoshinori Katayama (also the father of F3 racer Yoshiaki).

In the reigning champion outfit’s place comes a new ‘team’ for 2020, confusingly carrying WAKO’S sponsorship and a near-identical blue-and-pink livery to the one Team LeMans used last year. Its official name is ‘Rookie Racing’, named in honour of Toyota head honcho Akio Toyoda’s former pet dog, but in reality, it’s a second car entered by Team Cerumo, which has been morphing into something of a quasi-Toyota factory team lately.

#14 WAKO'S 4CR GR Supra

Photo by: GTA

Having absorbed a number of the former Team LeMans crew, including chief engineer Kazuya Abe, the #14 side of the Cerumo garage is in many ways a continuation of that effort. Ex-Formula 1 racer Toranosuke Takagi, SUPER GT champion in 2005 with Cerumo, serves as team director, while Oshima stays on the driving squad, now paired with Sho Tsuboi.

Although performing on the same level as Yamashita is certainly no small ask, 25-year-old Tsuboi showed flashes of his potential in the Yokohama-shod Bandoh Lexus last year and also did a solid job in his first year of Super Formula with Cerumo. Now with the chance to race on Bridgestones and benchmark himself against Toyota’s established aces, he and Oshima should form a formidable duo capable of a title challenge.

Can ‘super-sub’ Yamashita provide some relief for SARD?

With 2009 Formula 1 champion Jenson Button having left SUPER GT after two seasons with Honda, the series’ most recognisable name for overseas audiences arguably is SARD Toyota man Heikki Kovalainen, now the only driver in the field with a grand prix start to his name. Sadly, the season will be getting away without the Finn present this weekend, because Japan’s strict immigration rules post-COVID-19 meant he could not enter the country.

Luckily for Toyota and the SARD squad, Kovalainen’s replacement this weekend is no stranger to success. Having originally dropped out of SUPER GT entirely to focus on the FIA World Endurance Championship and Super Formula, Yamashita will share the #39 GR Supra with Yuichi Nakayama for the season opener, and most likely the second round as well.

#39 DENSO KOBELCO SARD GR Supra

Photo by: GTA

Since Kovalainen and Kohei Hirate took title honours in 2016, there’s been little to shout about for SARD, the team having taken one win in each of the last three seasons but otherwise suffering from inconsistent form. Kovalainen demanded change within the team last year, and sure enough for 2020 several new key personnel have been installed, most notably team director Juichi Wakisaka – who oversaw Team LeMans’ title success last year.

Yamashita, driving the GR Supra for the first time, was an encouraging fourth-fastest for SARD in the Fuji test last month, although he felt that the team is still behind Toyota’s two multi-car squads, Cerumo and TOM’S. You could argue that represents SARD’s natural place in the pecking order, but having the reigning champion bringing his speed and knowledge to bear, even if it’s only temporarily, certainly can’t do its prospects any harm.

Is Honda’s new NSX really as strong as it looked in testing?

For years, Honda has had the distinction of using the only mid-engined car in the GT500 ranks, but the new rules this year have changed that. For the first time since 2013, Honda is fielding a front-engined car in SUPER GT, having reworked its hitherto midship NSX-GT in accordance with the new rules. And the change seems to have done it no harm at all.

The common tub SUPER GT’s top class has used since 2014 was not particularly conducive to a mid-engined car, so what may have been lost in terms of a more favourable weight distribution will have been gained in terms of having a simpler car for the engineers to hone. Naoki Yamamoto, who was heavily involved in the development of the new car, said earlier this year that the characteristics of the new car were much the same as the old.

The old NSX-GT was often the fastest car over a lap in the previous rules cycle (2017-19), scoring half the poles on offer in that time, and it looks as if that advantage will carry over into the new ruleset based on the evidence from testing. After setting the pace in Okayama with Real Racing and Bertrand Baguette, it was the turn of Team Kunimitsu and Tadasuke Makino to top the times after the COVID-19 pause at Fuji.

#17 Real Racing Honda NSX-GT: Bertrand Baguette, Koudai Tsukakoshi

Photo by: Masahide Kamio

#100 RAYBRIG NSX-GT

Photo by: GTA

What was even more interesting than the laptimes themselves at Fuji was the fact that Honda set the pace without ever coming close to topping the top speed charts. Makino’s quickest time came on a lap where he tripped the speed trap at 291.1km/h (181.4mph), a full 8km/h slower than Fenestraz in the best of the GR Supras. That suggests that either Honda was being conservative with its power modes – or that it has such an advantage in the corners that any straight-line speed deficit is negated.

It’s for that reason that Toyota man Nick Cassidy labelled Honda’s performance in the test “scary”, the new front aero brought to Fuji further evidence of how hard the Sakura-based marque is pushing to hit the ground running with its reworked contender. With three Bridgestone-shod NSX-GTs all with driver line-ups from the top drawer, it would be a surprise not to see at least one of them in contention for the title come November.

#8 ARTA NSX-GT

Photo by: GTA

Will Tadasuke Makino be able to fill the shoes of Jenson Button?

When it came to finding a replacement for Button at Team Kunimitsu for 2020, Honda had no shortage of good options. So it’s a big vote of confidence in ex-Formula 2 racer Makino’s abilities that he got the nod to join Naoki Yamamoto aboard the #100 NSX-GT for 2020.

A bit like Tsuboi, we didn’t see much of Makino in his first full season of GT500 competition last year because of the fact he was stuck on a less competitive tyre, in this case Dunlop with Nakajima Racing. But he still delivered one of the drives of the season at Sugo when it was wet, helping Nakajima to second place and reminding onlookers why at one stage he was regarded as being Honda’s best hope for a future home-grown Formula 1 star.

Tadasuke Makino, #100 RAYBRIG NSX-GT

Photo by: Masahide Kamio

Unsurprisingly, Makino seems to be relishing the switch to Bridgestones, underlining his own pace (as well as that of the Honda generally) with the fastest time in Fuji testing. While Button came on a lot in his second year of SUPER GT action, it’s probably fair to say that having Makino aboard will probably make the #100 car more of a consistent threat this year, especially in qualifying – which was something of a weakness for Kunimitsu in comparison to the other two Bridgestone-shod Honda teams, Real Racing and ARTA, last year.

Makino joining Kunimitsu also creates an interesting dynamic, as for the first time Yamamoto, 32, is paired with a younger teammate. After a slightly chastening 2019 campaign, which wasn’t helped by the distractions of preparing his Toro Rosso Formula 1 run, Yamamoto has something of a point to prove this year, and it will be fascinating to see how he responds to the challenge of having a fast and hungry teammate like Makino.

Can Nissan still be a force with the GT-R?

Anyone who started watching SUPER GT in the last three years might find it hard to believe that Nissan is the series’ most successful manufacturer with 11 drivers’ championships to its credit (one more than Toyota/Lexus). Indeed, it’s now been five years since the Yokohama-based manufacturer won the title, which marks its longest-ever losing streak.

Nissan scored just three victories, one per year, since the introduction of the previous-gen GT-R, despite having been the dominant force of the 2014-16 era. This is because the new rules for 2017 which mandated a reduction in downforce of around 25 percent severely compromised a GT-R aero concept that was heavily dependent on an oversized rear diffuser. The new rules are therefore a chance for Nissan to correct those wrongs.

The bad news for those hoping for a Nissan revival in 2020 is that the new GT-R appears to be a firm third in the competitive pecking order. The good news is that it looks like a pretty close third, closer than the timesheets from the Fuji test would suggest, and certainly close enough that Nissan's four entries should be in the mix by the time the ballast rules kick in.

#23 MOTUL AUTECH GT-R

Photo by: Masahide Kamio

#12 Calsonic IMPUL GT-R

Photo by: Masahide Kamio

#3 CRAFTSPORTS MOTUL GT-R

Photo by: Masahide Kamio

Alarm bells were sounded by reliability problems at Fuji for three of the four GT-Rs - the NDDP/B-Max car, the Kondo Racing car and the Team Impul machine, which were traced back to propeller shaft problems. It's understood that Nissan’s updated NR20B engine was suffering from vibration issues more than most, and it emerged that at certain rev ranges it would simply break the prop. However, an update was introduced to cure the problem, which the NISMO car already had in Fuji, and in last week’s Suzuka test there were no issues.

Traditionally, the works NISMO machine of Ronnie Quintarelli and Tsugio Matsuda is the flag-bearer for Nissan, and this season is likely to be no different. While Quintarelli doesn’t think the ‘red car’ will be ready to win the opener, he’s targeting top honours for round two, once Nissan and Michelin can perfect the set-up for their new contender. Given he and Matsuda’s awesome record around Fuji, who would bet against them being up there?

Can Bridgestone's tyre war dominance be challenged?

It’s easy to forget that SUPER GT features no fewer than four different tyre manufacturers given the recent dominance of Bridgestone. For the last two years, Bridgestone-shod cars have won every race in the GT500 class bar one, with Michelin picking up a solitary win both years, while Dunlop has gone winless since the 2017 Suzuka 1000km and Yokohama is coming up on the fourth anniversary of its last win in the top division.

So, will 2020 provide any relief for Bridgestone’s rivals? While Michelin’s fortunes are very much intertwined with those of Nissan, given the French marque doesn’t supply anybody else, Yokohama has a car in each of the Toyota, Nissan and Honda camps, with Bandoh (Toyota), Kondo (Nissan) and Mugen (Honda) all using its products. And there’s good reason to be optimistic of a first Yokohama victory since 2016.

#24 REALIZE CORPORATION ADVAN GT-R

Photo by: GTA

The new common suspension components introduced as a result of the wholesale move to Class One regulations have played into Yokohama’s hands, with the previous advantage of the more flexible Bridgestone in high-speed corners now negated somewhat. Indeed, in last week’s private Suzuka test, it was the Kondo Nissan that was quickest of all (albeit not every car was present), while in the Fuji test the Mugen Honda was fastest in the third sector.

And as for Dunlop? At the Suzuka test, the Nakajima Racing Honda, the only car using the British firm’s rubber, was second-fastest. Maybe it’s best not to bet the farm on a repeat of the team’s 1000km victory just yet, but it’s nonetheless an encouraging sign.

#64 Modulo NSX-GT

Photo by: Masahide Kamio

How will a bumper crop of GT500 newcomers fare?

All three GT500 manufacturers are bedding in new talent this year, but with three newcomers in its five cars Honda has the most aggressive youth policy. At the forefront of this is Nirei Fukuzumi, who replaces Takuya Izawa to partner Tomoki Nojiri at ARTA after helping the team to GT300 title success last year. The 23-year-old set the pace on the second day at Fuji, and so can be expected to be at the forefront on his top-class debut, despite his misgivings.

Nirei Fukuzumi, #8 ARTA NSX-GT

Photo by: Masahide Kamio

Then there is also Hiroki Otsu, who joins Izawa at Nakajima Racing after two seasons spent alongside Ryo Michigami in Drago Corse's Honda NSX GT3, a spell that yielded two podiums. And the third and final Honda newcomer is Ukyo Sasahara, making his SUPER GT debut for Team Mugen after years racing single-seaters across Europe and Asia. Last year he made his first steps into sportscars by winning the Porsche Carrera Cup Japan title, and Mugen boss Shinji Nakano has already spoken very highly of his new signing.

Over at Toyota, Sacha Fenestraz replaces Kazuki Nakajima in the #36 TOM’S Toyota. The young Frenchman, adapted to the cut-and-thrust of the GT300 ranks with aplomb last year in Kondo’s Nissan GT3 car, and he looks set for a seamless transition into the top class with a strong showing in testing. A full-blown title assault alongside Yuhi Sekiguchi might be a lot to ask for in year one (although Button notably achieved the feat in 2018), but a first race win must be on the radar for the 20-year-old, even if he says publicly he has no goals for the year.

Sacha Fenestraz, #36 au TOM'S GR Supra

Photo by: Masahide Kamio

The other Toyota newcomer is Ritomo Miyata, who takes Tsuboi’s place alongside Yuji Kunimoto in the Yokohama-shod Bandoh GR Supra. He’s spent two years in the GT300 ranks with the LM Corsa Lexus team, scoring a first victory at Autopolis last year, and made his GT500 debut last year at Fuji in the #36 TOM’S car, when Nakajima was away on WEC duty – performing respectably until the engine let him down in the latter stages of the race.

Finally, there’s Kazuki Hiramine, chosen by Nissan to replace James Rossiter at Team Impul this year alongside Daiki Sasaki. At 28, he’s something of a slow burner, having campaigned Lamborghini machinery in the GT300 ranks for several years before partnering Fenestraz in Kondo’s Nissan GT3 car last year. His performances earned him an outing in the GT500 car during the Yokohama marque's Fuji shootout in December, and he impressed enough on that occasion to earn his Impul berth at the expense of the experienced Rossiter.

Who’s looking strongest in a stacked GT300 field?

A 30-car field would be enough to make most rival series organisers green with envy, but in SUPER GT that’s just the size of the field in GT300 (albeit one car, the Panther arto Team Thailand Lexus, is absent for the Fuji opener due to travel restrictions), making for a massive 45-car grid in total. Not surprisingly, there’s a huge amount of variety on display in the junior class, no fewer than 12 different brands represented and a total of 14 models across three rulesets: JAF GT300, ‘Mother Chassis’ and FIA GT3.

In the Fuji test, cars from all three rulesets made it into the top five overall, with the top 15 cars split by less than half a second, but leading the way was the factory-entered R&D Sport Subaru BRZ, courtesy of Hideki Yamauchi. Next up was the Drago Corse Honda NSX GT3, with Japan-domiciled Aussie racer Jake Parsons at the wheel, followed by a pair of 2020-spec Mercedes-AMG GT3s from Goodsmile Racing and LEON Racing – respectively the champion teams in the class in 2017 and 2018 with the previous-generation car.

#61 SUBARU BRZ R&D SPORT

Photo by: GTA

#34 Modulo KENWOOD NSX GT3

Photo by: GTA

#4 Goodsmile-Hatsune Miku AMG

Photo by: GTA

Also showing well at Fuji was the Gainer Nissan GT-R NISMO GT3, second-fastest on day two in the hands of former Nissan GT500 man Hironobu Yasuda, Saitama Toyopet’s brand-new GT300-spec GR Supra and the best of the Mother Chassis cars, the Toyota 86 MC run by Inging Motorsports – Cerumo’s partner squad in Super Formula. And you’d be wise not to count out the ARTA NSX; veteran Shinichi Takagi, who won last year’s title with Fukuzumi, is paired this year by another promising Honda-backed youngster, Toshiki Oyu.

One other thing worth noting about the GT300 battle this year is that the success handicaps are now worth 3kg per point scored. Such is the depth of the field that the winning car in the first race is almost bound to be well outside of the points in the second while carrying 60kg of ballast, so expect to see some pretty wild fluctuations in form – and the champions to be the ones that manage to assemble the most consistent campaign.

Start practice

Photo by: Masahide Kamio

Which GT300 teams will suffer most from COVID-19 restrictions?

 While Heikki Kovalainen is the only driver in the GT500 class to have fallen foul of Japan’s stringent COVID-19 travel restrictions, a more significant number of GT300 drivers won’t be on the grid at Fuji, including a number of factory-contracted aces.

The most notable of these is Aston Martin GTE regular Nicki Thiim, who had been drafted in to bolster the D’station Racing squad after a disappointing first season running the Vantage GT3 last year. Fellow WEC racer and sometime Formula Nippon driver Kei Cozzolino will substitute for the Danish driver for the opener. Then there’s the Hitotsuyama Audi team, whose Audi R8 LMS was fastest of all in the Okayama test back in March courtesy of Christopher Mies. But, like D’station, the team will have to do without its new star, with Shintaro Kawabata being partnered for the time being by GT300 returnee Tsubasa Kondo.

#9 PACIFIC NAC D'station Vantage

Photo by: GTA

#21 Hitotsuyama Audi R8 LMS

Photo by: Masahide Kamio

#88 JLOC Lamborghini Huracan GT3: Takashi Kogure, André Couto

Photo by: Masahide Kamio

Worst-affected of all however is Lamborghini squad JLOC, which is having to do without both Dennis Lind and Andre Couto this weekend. WEC regular Tom Dillmann also made a cameo appearance for the team in the Okayama test but local drivers Tsubasa Takahashi and Shinnosuke Yamada will be filling the two vacated seats in Fuji.

Not only will some teams be missing drivers this weekend, a handful will also be missing engineering support staff who are unable to travel from Europe. Among the other teams running European GT3 cars are Team Studie, back after two years out with a BMW M6 GT3 and with Le Mans 24 Hours winner Seiji Ara on its driving strength, and Team Tsuchiya, which has jettisoned its Toyota 86 MC for a Porsche 911 GT3 R. All the above teams, naturally, will be hoping for a speedy relaxation of Japan’s immigration rules.

USEFUL INFORMATION

2020 SUPER GT calendar

Date	Venue
July 18-19	Fuji Speedway*
August 8-9	Fuji Speedway*
August 22-23	Suzuka Circuit*
September 12-13	Twin Ring Motegi*
October 3-4	Fuji Speedway
October 24-25	Suzuka Circuit
November 7-8	Twin Ring Motegi
November 28-29	Fuji Speedway

*Races with no spectators

Fuji time schedule

All times are Japan Standard Time (GMT +9)

Saturday July 18
Free practice               16:00-17:30
GT300-only practice   17:30-17:40
GT500-only practice   17:40-17:50

Sunday July 19
GT300 Q1, Group A    9:30-9:40
GT300 Q1, Group B    9:48-9:58
GT500 Q1                     10:03-10:13
GT300 Q2                     10:23-10:33
GT500 Q2                     10:41-10:51
Warm-up                      13:40-14:00
Race                              15:00 (66 laps, latest finish 17:30)

Fuji entry list - GT500

Fuji entry list - GT300

Qualifying groups for GT300

The fastest eight cars from each group will progress to Q2