The 2023 Autobacs Super GT Series was a motor racing championship based in Japan for grand touring cars, sanctioned by the Japan Automobile Federation (JAF) and ran by the GT Association (GTA). It was the thirty-first season of the JAF Super GT Championship, which included the All Japan Grand Touring Car Championship era, and the nineteenth season under the Super GT name. It was also the forty-first overall season of a national JAF sportscar championship dating back to the All Japan Endurance/Sports Prototype Championship.
Team Impul and drivers Kazuki Hiramine and Bertrand Baguette entered the season as the defending GT500 champions, while Kondo Racing and driver João Paulo de Oliveira entered the season as the defending GT300 champions. This was the final season for three-time GT500 champion, Yuji Tachikawa, who announced his retirement at the end of the season.
TGR Team au TOM'S won the championship in the GT500 class after having won the previous title in the 2021 season, with Sho Tsuboi and Ritomo Miyata won the Drivers' Championship. In the GT300 class, Saitama Toyopet GreenBrave, Hiroki Yoshida and Kohta Kawaai won the Teams' and Drivers' Championship. Both class championships were won by Toyota teams driving the respective GT500 and GT300 versions of the Toyota GR Supra.
Calendar A confirmed eight round provisional 2023 calendar was announced on 8 August 2022. On 28 December 2022, the dates of Sugo and Autopolis rounds were changed. On 20 February 2023, distances and formats for all rounds were confirmed. Both races at Fuji Speedway and Suzuka Circuit, plus the penultimate round at Autopolis, would be 450 kilometre races requiring at least two green flag pit stops for refuelling. Also, the first and final rounds of the championship will no longer require teams to change tyres on their compulsory pit stops.
Round Race Circuit Location Dates Map1Okayama GT 300km Race Okayama International CircuitMimasaka-shi, Okayama-ken15–16 April2Fujimaki Group Fuji GT 450km Race Fuji SpeedwayOyama-chō, Shizuoka-ken3–4 May3Suzuka GT 450km Race Suzuka CircuitSuzuka-shi, Mie-ken3–4 June4Fuji GT 450km Race Fuji Speedway Oyama-chō, Shizuoka-ken5–6 August5Suzuka GT 450km Race Suzuka CircuitSuzuka-shi, Mie-ken26–27 August6Sugo GT 300km Race Sportsland Sugo Murata-machi, Miyagi-ken16–17 September7Autopolis GT 450km Race AutopolisHita-shi, Ōita-ken14–15 October8Motegi GT 300km Race Mobility Resort MotegiMotegi-machi, Tochigi-ken4–5 November
Regulation changes GTA chairman Masaaki Bandoh outlined the series' environmental initiative plans in November 2022, known as the "Super GT Green Project 2030". The series aims to reduce carbon emissions by 50 percent by 2030. As part of this initiative, Super GT made the following regulation changes for 2023:
Super GT debuted a new, 100 percent sustainable carbon-neutral fuel manufactured by ETS Racing Fuels, a division of Haltermann Carless GmbH. The new ETS Renewablaze GTA R100 racing fuel was introduced to GT500 for the first round of the championship. The GT300 class will continue to use petroleum fuel for the season after feedback gathered in testing. The number of tyre sets available to teams per race weekend has been limited to five sets of dry tyres and six sets of wet tyres for 300 kilometre race meetings, one set fewer for each than in 2022. The number of tyre sets available for 450km races would be determined on a case-by-case basis. Ultimately, there would be six sets of dry tyres and seven sets of wet tyres available at all five 450km races, one set fewer for each than in 2022.
Teams and drivers On 20 February, 2023, the GTA released the series entry list, featuring 15 entries in the GT500 class and 27 entries in the GT300 class. All teams compete under a Japanese license.
GT500 TeamMakeCarEngineDriversTyreRounds Team Impul Nissan Nissan Z GT500 Nissan NR4S21 2.0 L Turbo I4 1 Kazuki Hiramine All Bertrand Baguette NDDP Racing Nissan Nissan Z GT500 Nissan NR4S21 2.0 L Turbo I4 3 Katsumasa Chiyo All Mitsunori Takaboshi NISMO 23 Tsugio Matsuda All Ronnie QuintarelliARTA Honda Honda NSX-GT Honda HR-420E 2.0 L Turbo I4 8 Tomoki Nojiri All Toshiki Oyu Iori Kimura 4 16 Nirei Fukuzumi All Hiroki Otsu TGR Team ENEOS ROOKIE Toyota GR Toyota GR Supra GT500 Toyota RI4AG 2.0 L Turbo I4 14 Kazuya Oshima All Kenta Yamashita Astemo REAL Racing Honda Honda NSX-GT Honda HR-420E 2.0 L Turbo I4 17 Koudai Tsukakoshi All Nobuharu Matsushita TGR Team WedsSport Bandoh Toyota GR Toyota GR Supra GT500 Toyota RI4AG 2.0 L Turbo I4 19 Yuji Kunimoto All Sena Sakaguchi Kondo Racing Nissan Nissan Z GT500 Nissan NR4S21 2.0 L Turbo I4 24 Daiki Sasaki All Kohei Hirate TGR Team au TOM'S Toyota GR Toyota GR Supra GT500 Toyota RI4AG 2.0 L Turbo I4 36 Sho Tsuboi All Ritomo Miyata TGR Team Deloitte TOM'S 37 Ukyo Sasahara All Giuliano Alesi TGR Team ZENT Cerumo Toyota GR Toyota GR Supra GT500 Toyota RI4AG 2.0 L Turbo I4 38 Yuji Tachikawa All Hiroaki Ishiura TGR Team SARD Toyota GR Toyota GR Supra GT500 Toyota RI4AG 2.0 L Turbo I4 39 Yuhi Sekiguchi All Yuichi Nakayama Modulo Nakajima Racing Honda Honda NSX-GT Honda HR-420E 2.0 L Turbo I4 64 Takuya Izawa All Kakunoshin Ohta Team Kunimitsu Honda Honda NSX-GT Honda HR-420E 2.0 L Turbo I4 100 Tadasuke Makino All Naoki Yamamoto 1–6 Iori Kimura 7–8
GT300
Team Make Car Engine Drivers Tyre Rounds muta Racing INGING Toyota GR Toyota GR86 GT300 Toyota 2UR-GSE 5.4 L V8 2 Yuui Tsutsumi All Hibiki Taira Hiroki Katoh 2–5, 7 Goodsmile Racing & Team UKYO Mercedes-AMG Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo Mercedes-AMG M159 6.2 L V8 4 Nobuteru Taniguchi All Tatsuya Kataoka Team Mach Toyota Toyota 86 MC GT300 GTA V8 4.5 L V8 5 Yusuke Tomibayashi All Takamitsu Matsui Team LeMans Audi Audi R8 LMS Evo II Audi DAR 5.2 L V10 6 Yoshiaki Katayama All Roberto Merhi Muntan 1–2, 4–8 Seiya Jin 2–5, 7 BMW M Team Studie × CRS BMW M BMW M4 GT3 BMW P58 3.0 L Twin Turbo I6 7 Seiji Ara All Bruno Spengler 1, 5–8 Masataka Yanagida 2–4 Pacific Racing Team Mercedes-AMG Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo Mercedes-AMG M159 6.2 L V8 9 Ryohei Sakaguchi All Liang Jiatong Shintaro Kawabata 2–5, 7 GAINER Nissan Nissan GT-R Nismo GT3 Nissan VR38DETT 3.8 L Twin Turbo V6 10 Hironobu Yasuda All Riki Okusa 11 Ryuichiro Tomita All Keishi Ishikawa Yusuke Shiotsu 2–5, 7 Team UpGarage Honda Honda NSX GT3 Evo22 Honda JNC1 3.5 L Twin Turbo V6 18 Takashi Kobayashi All Syun Koide Yogibo Racing 27 Yugo Iwasawa All Reimei Ito SHADE Racing Toyota GR Toyota GR86 GT300 Toyota 2UR-GSE 5.4 L V8 20 Katsuyuki Hiranaka All Eijiro Shimizu Shinnosuke Yamada 2–5, 7 R'Qs Motor SportsAnest Iwata Racing with Arnage Mercedes-AMG Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo Mercedes-AMG M159 6.2 L V8 22 Hisashi Wada All Masaki Jyonai Masaki Kano 2–5, 7 Lexus Lexus RC F GT3 Lexus 2UR-GSE 5.4 L V8 50 Igor Omura Fraga All Yuga Furutani Miki Koyama 2–5, 7 Hoppy Team Tsuchiya Toyota Toyota GR Supra GT300 Toyota 2UR-GSE 5.4 L V8 25 Togo Suganami 1–4 Seita Nonaka Max Racing 244 Kimiya Sato 1–4 Atsushi Miyake apr Toyota GR Toyota GR86 GT300 Toyota 2UR-GSE 5.4 L V8 30 Manabu Orido All Yuta Kamimura 1, 3, 5, 7 Hiroaki Nagai 2–8 Ryo Ogawa 2, 4 Lexus Lexus LC 500h GT300 Lexus 2UR-GSE 5.4 L Hybrid V8 31 Kazuto Kotaka All Koki Saga 1–7 Yuki Nemoto 2–5, 7–8 NILZZ Racing Nissan Nissan GT-R Nismo GT3 Nissan VR38DETT 3.8 L Twin Turbo V6 48 Taiyo Ida All Yuki Tanaka 1, 6–8 Takumi Sanada 2–5, 7 Masaya Kono 2–3, 5 Saitama Toyopet GreenBrave Toyota GR Toyota GR Supra GT300 Toyota 2UR-GSE 5.4 L V8 52 Hiroki Yoshida All Kohta Kawaai Seita Nonaka 7 Kondo Racing Nissan Nissan GT-R Nismo GT3 Nissan VR38DETT 3.8 L Twin Turbo V6 56 João Paulo de Oliveira All Teppei Natori LM corsa Toyota GR Toyota GR Supra GT300 Toyota 2UR-GSE 5.4 L V8 60 Hiroki Yoshimoto All Shunsuke Kohno R&D Sport Subaru Subaru BRZ GT300 (ZD8) Subaru EJ20 2.0 L Turbo F4 61 Takuto Iguchi All Hideki Yamauchi K2 R&D LEON Racing Mercedes-AMG Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo Mercedes-AMG M159 6.2 L V8 65 Naoya Gamou All Takuro Shinohara Haruki Kurosawa 5, 7 JLOC Lamborghini Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo Lamborghini DGF 5.2 L V10 87 Kosuke Matsuura All Natsu Sakaguchi Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo 2 88 Takashi Kogure All Yuya Motojima K-tunes Racing Lexus Lexus RC F GT3 Lexus 2UR-GSE 5.4 L V8 96 Morio Nitta All Shinichi Takagi Tomei Sports Nissan Nissan GT-R Nismo GT3 Nissan VR38DETT 3.8 L Twin Turbo V6 360 Takayuki Aoki All Atsushi Tanaka 1–5, 7 Takuya Otaki 2–7 Yusaku Shibata 8
Vehicle changes
GT300 apr replaced their Toyota GR Sport Prius PHV with a new hybrid GT300 car, the Lexus LC500h GT. The Prius had served as apr's flagship car since 2012. After selling their Toyota 86 Mother Chassis to Team Mach in the off-season, Anest Iwata Racing with Arnage (see Entrant changes below) changed to the Lexus RC F GT3. Pacific Racing Team replaced their Ferrari 488 GT3 Evo with a Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo.
Entrant changes GT500 Toyota: Toyota Gazoo Racing announced their GT500 class driver line-ups on 25 November 2022. TOM'S saw Sacha Fenestraz left the series to compete in Formula E with Nissan. TOM's drivers Ritomo Miyata and Giuliano Alesi exchanged cars, with Miyata going to the number 36 team and Alesi going to the number 37 with new sponsorship from Deloitte. Alesi would share the car with former Honda driver Ukyo Sasahara, who officially joined Toyota on 12 January 2023. Honda: Honda Racing announced their GT500 class driver line-ups on 12 December 2022. Mugen Motorsports (M-TEC) and ARTA formed a strategic alliance, competing with two ARTA Mugen-branded cars under the ARTA entrant name. Toshiki Oyu moves over to the number 8 ARTA Mugen car to partner Tomoki Nojiri. In exchange, Nirei Fukuzumi moved to the number 16 car to partner Hiroki Otsu, who joined ARTA after three seasons at Nakajima Racing. Kakunoshin Ohta who raced with Team UpGarage GT300 stepped up to take Otsu's place at Nakajima Racing, alongside Takuya Izawa. Nissan: Nissan announced their GT500 class driver line-ups on 27 January 2023. Team Impul carried the GT500 champions number 1 plate. Kazuki Hoshino the son of team founder Kazuyoshi Hoshino, became the new Team Director. Four years after the merger between Impul's longtime title sponsor Calsonic and Magneti Marelli, the Marelli brand replaced Calsonic on the blue Impul Nissan Z, now entered as the "Marelli Impul Z". NDDP Racing signed spark plug manufacturer Niterra as their new main sponsor, to replace specialty dealer CraftSports.
GT300 Team UpGarage recruited Reigning F4 Japan Champion Syun Koide following Ohta's promotion to the GT500 class. After forming a two-car GT500 programme with M-TEC, ARTA ceased their GT300 operation. 2016 GT300 champion Takamitsu Matsui transferred from Hoppy Team Tsuchiya to Team Mach, replacing Reiji Hiraki who switch to his HELM Motorsports in Super Taikyu ST-X class. 2013 GT300 champion Yuhki Nakayama left apr as he switch to Super Taikyu ST-X class with TKRI. Reigning Super Formula Lights champion Kazuto Kotaka replaced Nakayama in the number 31 apr team, with GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup driver Yuki Nemoto signed as the third driver for long-distance rounds. Yuta Kamimura and reigning Porsche Carrera Cup Japan champion Ryo Ogawa would share the role of third driver in the number 30 apr GR86 GT. Augusto Farfus left Team Studie as he switch to IMSA SportsCar GTP class. His replacement was another BMW factory driver and 2012 DTM champion Bruno Spengler. Two-time GT500 and GT300 champion Masataka Yanagida was signed to be the third driver and replaced Spengler in the event of calendar clashes. The entrant name was changed from BMW Team Studie x CSL (Customer Racing Support Limited) to BMW Team Studie x CRS (Customer Racing Support). From the fourth round onward the entrant name was changed again, to BMW M Team Studie x CRS.