Super GT
Super GT is a sports car racing series that began in 1993. Launched as the Zen Nihon GT Senshuken, generally referred to as the All Japan Grand Touring Car Championship, the series was renamed to Super GT in 2005. It is the top level of sports car racing in Japan.
The series is sanctioned by the Japan Automobile Federation and run by the GT Association. Autobacs has been the title sponsor of the series and its predecessor since 1998.
History
The JGTC years (1993–2004)
The JGTC was established in 1993 by the Japan Automobile Federation via its subsidiary company the GTA, replacing the defunct All Japan Sports Prototype Championship for Group C cars and the Japanese Touring Car Championship for Group A touring cars, which instead would adopt the supertouring formula. Seeking to prevent the spiraling budgets and one-team/make domination of both series, JGTC imposed strict limits on power, and heavy weight penalties on race winners, in an openly stated objective to keep on-track action close with an emphasis on keeping fans happy.Super GT (2005–present)
The JGTC had planned to hold a race during the 2005 season at the Shanghai International Circuit in China, in addition to the existing overseas round at Sepang in Malaysia. However, holding the series in more than two countries would have meant the JGTC would lose its status as a "national championship" under the International Sporting Code of the FIA, and therefore could not keep "Japanese Championship" in its name. The series would instead be classified as an "international championship" by the FIA, and would therefore require direct authorization from it, rather than the JAF.Initially, JAF announced JGTC would be renamed "Super GT World Challenge" with the goals of "challenge to the world", and "challenge to entertainment"; however, FIA prevented JAF from using it due to confusion of the suffix with "World Championship" and a dispute with Sports Car Club of America, which ran Speed World Challenge since 1990. On December 10, 2004, it was announced that new name of JGTC was confirmed as "Super GT". However, despite the name change and several attempts at holding a second overseas race, Super GT has continued to only hold one overseas race per year; in theory, it could regain its status as a national championship and return to JAF jurisdiction.
In 2014, Super GT and the German touring car series DTM announced the creation of Class 1, which would unify GT500's and DTM's technical regulations, allowing manufacturers to race in both series with a single specification of car. After some delays, technical regulations were fully aligned in 2020, with the GT500 category fully adopting Class One specifications. By 2021 however, DTM switched to a Group GT3 series due to massive manufacturer exodus. Super GT maintained the current technical regulations for GT500, though the "Class 1" moniker would no longer be used.
Races
Super GT races take place on well-known Japanese race tracks such as Fuji Speedway, Suzuka Circuit, and Mobility Resort Motegi. The series also races at Autopolis in the Kyushu region, Okayama International Circuit in the Chugoku region, and Sportsland Sugo in the Tohoku region. Races are typically single events between 250 and 300 kilometres' distance, with one compulsory pit stop in the middle of the race for driver changes and refuelling. In 2022, the series introduced a new longer-distance format for select races, held over 450 kilometres with two compulsory pit stops.The series had already expanded internationally by the time it was rebranded in 2005. Sepang International Circuit in Malaysia hosted a championship round every year until 2014, when it was replaced by a new event at Chang International Circuit in Buriram, Thailand. Additional overseas races were planned to be held at Shanghai Circuit in 2005, and Yeongam International Circuit in 2013, but both events were cancelled. Buriram and Sepang were both on the 2020 provisional calendar, but both races were cancelled due to the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. 2025 saw the return of Sepang.
The International Suzuka 1000km endurance race in late August was the longest and most prestigious event on the Super GT calendar, from 2006 when it was added as a championship round, until 2017, the final year of the event in its 1000 km format. The Suzuka 1000 km was replaced with the Intercontinental GT Challenge Suzuka 10 Hours in 2018. That year, Super GT revived the Fuji GT 500 Mile Race as the series' new endurance round. It ran from 2018 to 2019, but was not renewed from 2020 onwards.
The Golden Week race at Fuji Speedway, held annually on May 4, is also considered to be the series' most prestigious event. Held during a major public holiday season, it regularly draws the largest crowds of any Super GT race, with a two-day attendance of 91,000 spectators in 2019. It was the first event of the first official JGTC season in 1994, and has been a permanent fixture of the series' calendar with the exception of 2004, when the circuit was closed for renovations, and 2020, due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. Traditionally, this event has been run as the Fuji GT 500 km Race, but in 2022, the event was shortened to 450 km.
Due to the effects of the 2009 energy crisis in Japan, the Fuji 500 km and Suzuka 1000 km race distances were shortened. The 2011 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami and its effects resulted in a further reduction in all race distances for the season, before standard distances were restored in 2012.
Non-championship rounds have been run sporadically during Super GT's history. The Fuji Sprint Cup was held from 2010 to 2013, consisting of two sprint races per class. The first annual Super GT x DTM Dream Race was held in November 2019, consisting of two sprint races for GT500 and DTM cars, supported by the auto sport Web Sprint Cup, two sprint races for select GT300 teams as well as one-off GT3 entries from other Japanese events.
Cars
The cars are divided into two classes: GT500 and GT300. The names of the categories derive from their traditional maximum horsepower limit – in the early years of the series, GT500 cars would have no more than 500 horsepower, GT300 cars would max out at around 300 hp. However, the current generation of GT500 engines produce in excess of 650 horsepower. Meanwhile, in present-day GT300, the horsepower range varies from around 400 to just over 550 horsepower; however, GT300 cars have far less downforce than their GT500 counterparts.In both groups, the car number is assigned to the team, in which each team is allowed to choose whichever number they want as long as the number isn't already used by any other team. The number assigned to each team is permanent, and may only change hands when the team exits the series. The number 1 is reserved for the defending GT500 champion, and the number 0 is reserved for the reigning GT300 champion.
For easy identification, headlight covers, windshield decals, and number panels are white on GT500 cars, and yellow on GT300 cars.
GT500
The top class in Super GT, GT500, is composed entirely of manufacturer-supported teams, representing the three biggest Japanese automobile manufacturers: Toyota, Honda, and Nissan.Since 2014, GT500 cars have been powered by single-turbocharged, inline four-cylinder engines with two liters of displacement and producing over 650 horsepower. The cars are silhouette racing cars with purpose-built carbon fibre monocoques. The advancements in aerodynamics and horsepower, combined with an ongoing tyre war driving even higher speeds, have made the GT500 class the fastest form of production-based sports car racing today. The pace of a current GT500 car is roughly equivalent to that of the fastest non-hybrid Le Mans Prototypes.
For many years, the Nissan Skyline GT-R, the Toyota Supra, and the Honda NSX represented their respective brands in GT500. Today, the three cars competing in GT500 are the Nissan Z, the revived Toyota GR Supra, and the Honda Prelude. Other models, such as the Nissan Fairlady Z, Lexus SC 430, Lexus RC F, Lexus LC 500, Nissan GT-R, Honda NSX, and the Honda Civic Type R have been used, as well as the Honda HSV-010 GT, a prototype car developed specifically for Super GT with its planned road-going variant having been cancelled.
In the earlier years of the GT500 category, a number of foreign manufacturers entered cars in the series, with varying success. The Porsche 911 GT2 and the BMW-powered McLaren F1 GTR are, to date, the only foreign cars to win the GT500 championship, when the former won the teams' title in 1995 and the latter won both titles in 1996. A longtail version of the F1 GTR would later score a race victory in 2001. The Ferrari F40, Porsche 911 Turbo, and Porsche 962. The last foreign-built car to enter the series was the Aston Martin DBR9, which fared poorly in its brief run in 2009 - illustrating the overwhelming advantage in raw pace that the GT500 class cars had over the FIA GT1 category cars that dominated the landscape in Europe; Team Goh, who entered the 1996 F1 GTRs, planned to enter a Maserati MC12 in 2006, but withdrew during testing for similar reasons.
In 2012, the GT500 regulations was changed in order to provide provisions for four-door vehicles, although none was run until Honda announced that the Civic Type R will replace the outgoing NSX in 2024. In 2010, front-engine, rear-wheel drive layout became the only permitted layout in the class, prompting Honda to initially replace the first generation-based NSX GT with the HSV-010. In 2014, Honda was granted a waiver to allow the NSX-Concept GT and NSX-GT to run with a midship engine to match the road car's engine position; the waiver expired at the end of 2019 season with the implementation of Class 1 technical regulations, after which Honda was required to redesign the NSX-GT to accommodate a front-engine layout.
New GT500 cars were introduced in 2014 in preparation for the future Class 1 Touring Cars, including the first car in the class to utilize a KERS-assisted hybrid powertrain, the Honda NSX Concept-GT. Common aerodynamic regulations with the DTM were adopted, as was Class 1's turbocharged four-cylinder engine specification. Furthermore, the 2014 rules overhaul also increased the cars' downforce by 30%, while lowering costs. Aerodynamic development above a "design line" wrapping around the fenders, bumpers, and doorsills was restricted. Over sixty common parts were introduced, including the brakes, diffuser, and rear wing.
In response to increasing cornering speeds, another aerodynamic overhaul was introduced in 2017, lowering downforce by 25%. Furthermore, KERS units were banned, although the only manufacturer to utilize such systems, Honda, had already discontinued their usage in 2016. In 2020, Class 1 technical regulations were fully implemented, with the manufacturers introducing new cars to comply with the new rules. Aerodynamic development was further restricted, and a standardized ECU and suspension were introduced.