While the excitement of 2025 season opening round in Okayama still remains fresh in the memory, the FUJI GT 3 Hours RACE GW SPECIAL, Round 2 of the 2025 AUTOBACS SUPER GT is already approaching, scheduled for during national holidays of Japan, May 3rd (Sat) and 4th (Sun), at Fuji Speedway in Shizuoka Prefecture. With the teams that captured a podium-finish at the season opening race bearing increased success weight, there must be competitors who are seeing the upcoming Round 2 as a chance to strike back and aim for the victory. In addition, the Round 2 race will be a 3-hour race like last year, making it a difficult battle to predict for all teams due to being unusual from what they are used to, SUPER GT’s standard 300km race. Race strategies can vary significantly as some teams are bringing in a third driver. After experiencing three 3-hour races last year, teams should have a good amount of know-how accumulated, and it would be interesting to see how they will utilize it and adapt to the changes that can occur during the long race. In the past years, the Fuji event of May was held in the middle of Golden Week. This year’s event will have an ideal schedule as it will be held on Saturday and Sunday, which will leave consecutive national holidays afterward. Don’t miss this chance to visit Fuji Speedway to see and feel the excitement of SUPER GT in person. ※Top photo is from 2024 Round 2 Fuji. Photos below are from season opener Okayama race.
Fuji Speedway information ■Track details Length: 4,563m Width: 15 to 25m Elevation difference:40m
■Track records GT500 1’25.764 Kenta Yamashita / No.14 ENEOS X PRIME GR Supra 2021 Round 8 Qualifying – Q2 (Nov 27) GT300 1’34.395 Hideki Yamauchi / No.61 SUBARU BRZ R&D SPORT 2021 Round 8 Qualifying – Q2 (Nov 27)
■Can it be a first win since 2022 at home ground Fuji? GR Supra squad’s hope is on No.14 and 38 cars wanting to pay back for season opener
The season opening race in Okayama was concluded with the reigning GT500 champion No.1 au TOM’S GR Supra (Sho Tsuboi / Kenta Yamashita) exerting the power of champion, winning the first race of the season already after taking over the lead from the second place on the grid. No.1 car has to carry 40kg of success weight (SW) in return, but if it can finish on the podium again at upcoming race, it would have even better start of the season than last year, which can give the team a promising step forward for three-peat. However, other teams of the TOYOTA GR Supra GT500 squad must not be wanting to let only No.1 bask in the glory. Fuji event is held at the home track of Toyota during the longest national holidays drawing one of the highest number of spectators in the series, making all Toyota teams wanting to grab the trophy. It would be a must-win race especially for No.14 ENEOS X PRIME GR Supra (Kazuya Oshima / Nirei Fukuzumi) that was outran in the season opening race despite clinching the pole position. GR Supra sophomore Fuzukumi has outstanding speed to back it up too. The car would want to nail a pole-to-win and get ahead of No.1 car in the championship point ranking. Another car that would want to bounce back from frustration from the season opener is No.38 KeePer CERUMO GR Supra (Hiroaki Ishiura / Toshiki Oyu). It ended the previous race with a disappointing DNF after suffering surprising spin in the early stage of the race. They must be putting relentless effort in preparation to execute a perfect race by exerting the car’s quickness at the upcoming Round 2. The biggest threat to No.1 GR Supra could be a GR Supra like No.14 or 38 cars.
■CIVIC TYPE R-GT fleet aiming for second win at Fuji, the site of its first win. Leading forces are No.17, 100, and 8
Honda CIVIC TYPE R-GT captured one win in its debuting season last year. The win was at the Round 4 Fuji, brought by No.8 ARTA MUGEN CIVIC TYPE R-GT #8 (Tomoki Nojiri / Nobuharu Matsushita) while No.100 STANLEY CIVIC TYPE R-GT (Naoki Yamamoto / Tadasuke Makino) also finishing the race in second place. No.17 Astemo CIVIC TYPE R-GT (Koudai Tsukakoshi / Syun Koide as this season’s driver lineup) also captured a third place finish on the podium at another race that was held at the track before that, Round 2 Fuji, therefore, it is only natural to assume that the suitability of CIVIC TYPE R-GT, that has advantage in terms of top speed on straightaway, to Fuji is fairly well. Based on these facts, the eyes should be kept especially on No.100 and 17 cars at this season’s Round 2. Despite ending last year with no win, the team’s outcome of second place in the point standing, the highest among the CIVIC TYPE R-GT squad, implies that it was probably most advanced in setting up the CIVIC TYPE R-GT race car. It also finished this season’s first race in Okayama in fourth place right behind the GR Supra fleet that dominated the top 3. The chance of winning the race at Round 2 is quite high. No.17 car has been successful at Fuji also that even GT500 rookie Koide can probably demonstrate his speed on the track if weather or track conditions are not poor. Together with No.8 car that brought the first win at Fuji last year, the CIVIC TYPE R-GT squad would want to aim for complete dominance over the podium.
■No. 3 and 23 cars brought 1-2 finish to Nissan Z squad at last year’s Round 2. Can they repeat!?
At last year’s Round 2 Fuji, No.3 Niterra MOTUL Z quickly took the lead by Mitsunori Takaboshi’s outstanding start from the second place on the grid and continued to the finish. No.23 MOTUL AUTECH Z finished in second place after Katsumasa Chiyo patiently drove the car to the finish line to complete impressive one-two by Nissan Z NISMO GT500. The gigantic cheering squad composed of Z and Nissan fans that will gather in Fuji must be wishing for the same scenery of podium at this season’s Round 2 also. Chiyo, who was the key player of the success achieved at last year’s Round 2 and, also, is acknowledged as a ‘tough fighter’, and Takaboshi, who has the ‘speed in his style’, are teaming up in No.23 car, making the car a definite candidate for the win. No.3 car has acquired Daiki Sasaki, who has been on the podium twice at Fuji with a win and a third-place finish. Together with Atsushi Miyake, a GT500 sophomore whose reputation as a driver is elevating, No.3 car can be considered as a strong favorite with the driver combination. In fact, since both cars are managed by NISMO, a distinguished organization of the racing world, a race of 3 hours can also become an advantageous element. It is a battle that Nissan and NISMO fans would not want to miss.
■No.0 Huracan is inarguable GT300 top favorite after last year’s perfect win!? Must keep eyes on GR Supra, GT-R GT3, and AMG too.
The season opening race in Okayama saw No.65 LEON PYRAMID AMG (Naoya Gamou / Togo Suganami, with an addition of Haruki Kurosawa for Round 2) completing their revenge for ending both of last year’s season opener and point ranking as the runner-up. Contrastingly, defending GT300 champion No.0 VENTENY Lamborghini GT3 (Takashi Kogure / Yuya Motojima) was 15th in qualifying and 9th in the race. It might be a frustrating result if you only look at the season opener, but, from another perspective, the Lamborghini can take on upcoming Round 2 Fuji where they have been successful with a light Success weight (SW) of 14kg. Considering No.0 car (No.88 last year) completed a pole-to-win with 6kg SW last year, they are certainly at the top of the list of victorious candidates for this year’s Round 2. For No.65 car, SW is indeed heavy at 50kg, however, its car model, Mercedes AMG GT3, as well as the team operator, K2 R&D LEON RACING, boast a successful track record at Fuji. The car still has a pretty good chance for a podium finish or a position in the upper group and can be in comfortable position in the championship contests if they can achieve it. The competition between No.0 and 65 cars could probably be a dead heat again this year. Another car model in the GT300 class that typically produces decent outcomes at Fuji is GR Supra GT. Among the teams that field the Toyota race car, No.52 Green Brave GR Supra GT (Hiroki Yoshida / Seita Nonaka) has a prominent record, 5 podium finishes including 2 wins in 12 races held at Fuji in last 4 years. There are another 2 wins under the name of GR Supra, so the car is definitely a favorite for the win. NISSAN GT-R NISMO GT3 and Mercedes AMG GT3 are also tough to beat at Fuji as well as in a long-distance race. It is very likely to see No.56 REALIZE NISSAN MECHANIC CHALLENGE GT-R (Kohei Hirate / Yu Kanamaru) and No.4 GOODSMILE HATSUNE MIKU AMG (Nobuteru Taniguchi / Tatsuya Kataoka) competing in the upper group. In terms of the GT300 regulation compliant race cars, No.61 SUBARU BRZ R&D SPORT (Takuto Iguchi / Hideki Yamauchi) and No.2 HYPER WATER INGING GR86 GT (Yuui Tsutsumi / Hibiki Taira / Kazuhisa Urabe) have always been fast on the track of Fuji Speedway, hence, they should be able to see an upper position finish in their scope if they can secure an upper position in the qualifying. Dark horse of the Fuji race would be No.31 apr LC500h GT (Oliver Rasmussen / Miki Koyama / Yuki Nemoto) and No.60 Syntium LMcorsa LC500 GT (Hiroki Yoshimoto / Shunsuke Kohno / Reimei Ito). LC500 fits better to and, thus, has been strong on high-speed circuits, and the interests are on No.60 car that will run on the Fuji track for a first time after becoming non-hybrid with NA engine only.
