After a 2-month interval from Round 2 Fuji, the 2025 AUTOBACS SUPER GT Round 3 “SUPER GT MALAYSIA FESTIVAL 2025” will be held on June 27th (Fri) and 28th (Sat). The stage will be set at Sepang International Circuit in Malaysia for the first time since 2013. However, we can expect intense and exciting battles no less than any other domestic races since many drivers and engineers are familiar with the circuit from the winter test of GT500 class and other Asian GT series held at the venue, and, also, there going to be additional practice session on the 26th (Thu). What’s more worrisome is how the teams can cope with sudden changes of track conditions by Southeast Asia’s typical squall. In the past, there were drivers suffering exhaustion from the extreme heat of Malaysia and significant performance gap created by tire match up. The chance of having those concerns happening may be low, though, since cars as well as teams have evolved significantly in over a decade of time. In fact, it will be a great interest of everybody to see how much faster the SUPER GT race cars have got with the evolution. Being a closing race of the first half of 2025 season, teams must be focusing on scoring as many points as possible, which can ignite exciting battle not only at the top group but at every level of the positions. Upcoming Round 3 will be held on unusual Friday and Saturday where both of qualifying and race starting at 16:30 local time to avoid Malaysian heat. *Top photo is from 2013 Round 3 Sepang.
Sepang International Circuit information ■Track details Length: 5,542m Width: 16 to 25m Elevation difference: –
■Track records GT500 1’54.306 Takashi Kogure / No.18 TAKATA DOME NSX 2007 Round 4 Qualifying – Super Lap (June 23) GT300 2’03.025 Shinichi Takagi / No.55 ARTA CR-Z GT 2013 Round 3 Qualifying – Q2 (June 15)
■GR Supra squad in good form. Will No.39 car be next or will No.19 have a chance?
GR SupraRound in a winning streak after the defending champion No.1 au TOM’S GR Supra (Sho Tsuboi / Kenta Yamashita) taking the season opening Okayama race victory and No.38 KeePer CERUMO GR Supra (Hiroaki Ishiura / Toshiki Oyu) winning the Round 2 Fuji, producing Top 3 dominance by GR Supra teams in the drivers point standing with No.1 at top with consecutive podium finishes and No.38 car and No.14 ENEOS X PRIME GR Supra (Kazuya Oshima / Nirei Fukuzumi) following at second and third, respectively. It will be the first race on the Malaysian circuit for GR Supra, but the car took part in the joint testing by GT500 automakers held at Sepang during the offseason of last year and the year before that, so it is not a totally unknown course to the car. Considering that GR Supra with improved downforce has produced impressive results in recent years at Suzuka that has similar characteristics to Sepang, the squad could maintain its position as the top favorites. No.1 and 38 cars, though, may need to race conservatively with the heavy Success weight (SW), but, as all know, No.1 car’s speed has not diminished much by increased SW that it is very possible to see the car running in the upper group. Who, then, will be the victorious candidate from the GR Supra squad? The first candidate could be No.39 DENSO KOBELCO SARD GR Supra (Yuhi Sekiguchi / Sacha Fenestraz). No.39 SARD is the winner of 2004 Round 3 Sepang race, and Sekiguchi has raced and driven in the winter test at the circuit. The chance is quite high for the car to be in the top contention despite carrying unignorable SW of 34 kg. No.19 WedsSport ADVAN GR Supra (Yuji Kunimoto / Sena Sakaguchi) may see the upcoming event as an opportunity for strike-back. The car has no SW and is wearing Yokohama tires, supplied to only 2 teams in the class. If the tire matches perfectly, then it can become a huge advantage like seen in the past.
■Is Sepang favorable to CIVIC TYPE R-GT? Expectations are on No.16 and 64 cars.
Honda’s GT500 machine CIVIC TYPE R-GT made its debut last year. Obviously, the car has not raced at Sepang, but it ran in the 3-automaker joint test held in the winter of not only last year but also in January 2024 before its debut. It is not an unknown track to the drivers or engineers, and, as a matter of fact, No.100 STANLEY CIVIC TYPE R-GT (Naoki Yamamoto / Tadasuke Makino) marked a top time of a session during this year’s winter test. No.100 car, then, should be the top favorite of the CIVIC fleet based on the fact above, but the car is ranked forth in the point standing and carries rather heavy 38kg SW. SW may not be an issue for the car to compete for the top position, but, given this race will be the first time for CIVIC, teams with lighter SW could be in a better situation. Then, the prediction will be on No.64 Modulo CIVIC TYPE R-GT (Takuya Izawa / Riki Okusa) with ignorable 4kg SW. In addition, being the first race since 2013 and no recent data, good match and bad match of tires to the track characteristics should surface, and the fact that No.64 car being the only car using Dunlop tire among not only CIVIC fleet but all GT500 cars could become an exclusive advantage. No.16 ARTA MUGEN CIVIC TYPE R-GT #16 (Hiroki Otsu / Ren Sato) with no SW due to finishing the two races in the first half of the season with no points will have a chance for success. Despite finishing the season opening race in an unfortunate way, getting involved in a hard crash caused by other car’s spin, and the second round race in 11th position due to making a mistake after starting from third position on the grid, the car possesses sufficient speed. The team must be highly motivated since winning the upcoming race would provide a leap in the ranking.
■No.12 car completed pole-to-win at last race in 2013! Keep eyes on No.24 car, most Sepang win record co-holder with IMPUL!!
Previous Sepang event was held as Round 3 of 2013-season where ‘No.12 CALSONIC IMPUL GT-R (Tsugio Matsuda / Joao Paulo de Oliveira)’ completed a pole-to-win. No.12 IMPUL also won in 2010, tying the record of most wins by a team in the GT500 class, giving the NISSAN cars a record of 6 wins in 11 races. Of course, history itself could not be an advantage especially since the race cars in present days and in 2013 and before are built based on different regulations, however, there is no reason not to be comfortable with the record for the NISSAN teams as well as their fans. There is another active team participating in the event with the most win record of 2 wins. KONDO RACING is the shared record holder, currently competing under No.24 Realize Corporation ADVAN Z (Tsugio Matsuda / Teppei Natori). The team won consecutively in 2007 and 2008, but the key factor of the success was that the tires Yokohama brought in performed well in the extremely hot weather and on the track surface, which led the team to the victory. With the continuing support from NISSAN and Yokohama and the ace driver Tsugio Matsuda, who holds the highest number of wins by a driver at Sepang, 4 wins, which was not achieved with No.24 car though, KONDO’s No.24 Z is certainly an eye-catcher.
■No.88, 777, 60 are mighty strong on high-speed track and No.61 car is unbeatable in corners…who will top GT300 in Sepang?
GT300 class will not be be able to see the full lineup of cars participating in the 2025 season at the Round 3 Malaysia where only 18 cars that obtained A-seed were planned to take part originally. SHADE RACING GR86 GT is not traveling to Southeast Asia due to the severe damage the car suffered at the joint test held after the Round 2, making the entry list to a total of 19 cars, 17 regular series participants and 2 wild cards (special participation without eligibility for championship points). After scoring a win in the season opener Okayama and a fifth-place finish at the Round 2 Fuji in two races of the first half of 2025, No.65 LEON PYRAMID AMG (Naoya Gamou / Togo Suganami) is maintaining the top position of the point ranking currently. The team would want to aim to finish in an upper position, but their Success weight (SW) has reached 75kg already, and, despite the actual ballast loaded on the car will be limited to 50kg, the newly introduced ‘Refueling restrictor’ imposed in parallel will consequently stretch the time needed to fill up the gas tank. No.65 may be required to fight conservatively to make sure to finish within top 10 at Round 3. Who, then, will we going to see competing in the top contention? Teams fielding a car that runs well around mid- and high-speed corners can be considered having advantages with Sepang being a high-speed track. From the theory, expectation can be put on the defending champion No.0 VENTENY Lamborghini GT3 (Takashi Kogure / Yuya Motojima). The car has not been able to show the speed it had last year until now this season, but Sepang is a high-speed circuit which Huracan GT3 favors, and, also, its SW is light at 14kg fortunately, or unfortunately. The team would want to be in the top contention during the race to at least finish on the podium to keep the target on a back-to-back title. Among the entire FIA GT3 regulated cars, No.777 D’station Vantage GT3 (Tomonobu Fujii / Charlie Fagg) can be worth a ballot. The team and Fujii have experience racing at Sepang with the GT World Challenge Asia, and their prospect is bright since Sepang’s track layout demands downforce, similar to Suzuka where the team won the race of Round 3 in 2024. Concern could be its bit heavy 42kg SW. Out of the GT300 regulated race cars, No.61 SUBARU BRZ R&D SPORT (Takuto Iguchi / Hideki Yamauchi) also runs superbly around corners and the ability should be beneficial at Sepang. Dark horses would be No.60 Syntium LMcorsa LC500 GT (Hiroki Yoshimoto / Shunsuke Kohno) and No.31 apr LC500h GT (Oliver Rasmussen / Miki Koyama) that field LEXUS LC500 and LC500h, respectively. The base vehicle, LC500, is equipped with a high level of downforce and always a strong contender at Fuji and Autopolis that have similar characteristics as Sepang. How actually the cars will cope with the circuit is uncertain because this will be the first time to run at Sepang for any type of LC500, but there are veteran Yoshimoto, the technique of Rasmussen backed by his long racing career, and the expertise of the experienced team that can be relied on. Two cars of EBM GIGA, a team competing in the GT World Challenge Asia (GTWA), No.333 EBM Vantage GT3 (Kerong Li / Jazeman Jaafar) and No.611 EBM GIGA 911 GT3 (Adrian D Silva / Dorian Boccolacci), have entered as wild cards for the upcoming event. Silva in No.611 Porsche GT3R has won a GTWA race at Sepang and Aston Martin Vantage GT3 wearing No.333 is the same car as No.777 and using the same tire supplier, Dunlop. These two cars might be tough to beat.
