2025 AUTOBACS SUPER GT has been showcasing surprising races at every event. The 2025 AUTOBACS SUPER GT Round 4 FUJI GT SPRINT RACE scheduled for August 2nd (Sat) and 3rd (Sun) at Fuji Speedway in Shizuoka Prefecture will be the first sprint race in the series event of SUPER GT, which is mainly competed in endurance races. As indicated by the event title ‘SPRINT RACE’, the upcoming Fuji event will have a short distance race on Saturday and Sunday where one driver will drive all of practice session, qualifying, and race. In addition, while the Saturday race will have 2 classes run together as usual (35 laps, approximately 160km), the sprint race on Sunday will have each class racing exclusively (50-minute timed race, approximately 115km), a first racing format for the series race. It will definitely be an event which SUPER GT fans should not miss to witness unpredictable consequences. Furthermore, the series will enter the middle phase of the season, and each race from here will be vital for clinching the tittle. With massive crowd expected to show up because it will be in the middle of summer vacation, the battle at Fuji will surely get hotter than ever before.
※Above photo is from this year’s Round 2 Fuji.
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)
■2 different racing formats to be executed. No success weight means pure drivers battle!?
Below is an overview of the new racing formats for Round 4. SUPER GT basically adopts an endurance race format where 2 or more drivers drive in a race distance of 300km or longer, but, as the event title explains itself, the upcoming Round 4 FUJI GT SPRINT RACE is composed of 2 sprint races, one race each on Saturday and Sunday. Drivers will share one car as usual, but one driver will only drive either Saturday or Sunday and for the whole day whichever he is assigned to. In another words, each driver will race to grab the glory of victory just for himself.
Race 1 on Saturday will race for predefined number of laps, 35 laps (approximately 160km / 1 hour) and Race 2 on Sunday will be a timed race of 50 minutes (approximately 115km / 25 laps). Tire change and refueling are not mandatory, and there will not be driver change, obviously, so it will be a direct flight from start to finish.
There will be official qualifying before the race, however, it will also be different from usual events. Qualifying sessions will be separated between classes where the GT300 class will run for 20 minutes (no grouping) while the GT500 class will have a 10-minute timed qualifying session. Tires are limited to one set which needs to be selected beforehand and used for both qualifying and race.
Having different drivers driving on each day creates new perspectives that vary from the usual SUPER GT. In a usual SUPER GT event, there are always some elements which a driver cannot have in a way he wishes, such as the setup of the car, fuel efficiency, wear of tires, etc., because driver changes in the race, however, in the sprint race a driver can set up the car exclusively to his preference and take on the battle. Fans can expect their favorite driver to showcase the speed and razor-sharp battle that they would not see in any other events.
With these features the sprint race can provide in mind, an exception will be applied to the event that there will be no success weight loaded on the cars (accumulation of success weight will still be effective for future events). The intension is, since the principle of sprint race is one-on-one battle between drivers, not to let the battle be spoiled by the success weight. It is an initiative of the organizers to enable fans to experience and enjoy a new attraction of SUPER GT by presenting this driver battle.
The awarded series points for the upcoming race will be a half of usual event for the race, granted based on the race classification (for example, 10 points for first place in GT500). Pole position of each qualifying will receive 0.5 points. The points that a driver captured will also be given to the other driver of the pair of the same car.
■Can GR Supra nail 5 consecutive wins of season at home Fuji!? Could be head-to-head between Champion No.1 and speedster No.19.
The recent success of the TOYOTA GR Supra GT500 squad is not just this season. The squad has been in a striking 6-race winning streak since the Round 6 of last year (Round 5 was postponed to the last event of the season), 3 consecutive victories in just this season. If they can dominate both Round 4 races held at the home track of Toyota, it would tie the record of 5 consecutive wins in one season held by the first model of Supra in 1997 as well as LEXUS LC500 in 2019. The team that is closest to the achievement would be No.1 au TOM’S GR Supra (Sho Tsuboi / Kenta Yamashita) that is also aiming for 3 consecutive titles. As an individual, both Tsuboi and Yamashita boast first-class speed that many should predict to be the top favorite for back-to-back wins if there is no success weight (SW). 2 sprint races in a row could be advantageous to No.19 WedsSport ADVAN GR Supra (Yuji Kunimoto / Sena Sakaguchi). The team captured pole positions 3 times in 4 events held at Fuji between 2021 and 2022, and they have been showing the speed this season that evokes an image of them from that time. Sprint is certainly a chance to win. There is also No.38 KeePer CERUMO GR Supra (Hiroaki Ishiura / Toshiki Oyu) that completed a pole-to-win at Round 2 Fuji. The possibility of seeing a winner from the GR Supra again, even in a sprint race, appears to be quite high.
■Can No.8 car reproduce CIVIC TYPE R-GT victory? Expectations are also on No17 and 100 cars.
The first victory of Honda CIVIC TYPE R-GT was brought in by ARTA MUGEN CIVIC TYPE R-GT #8 (Tomoki Nojiri / Nobuharu Matsushita) at Round 4 Fuji of last year in the form of pole-to-win. With the speed both drivers possess, it would be no surprise if they steal 2 wins at the sprint races of upcoming Round 4. No.17 Astemo CIVIC TYPE R-GT (Koudai Tsukakoshi / Syun Koide) has been prominently fast at Fuji. The team has a record of 2 wins and 2 3rd-places in the 2020’s, including the first pole position for CIVIC TYPE R-GT and a 3rd-place finish on the podium at last year’s Round 2 Fuji led by impressive performance of Kakunoshin Ohta, who used to drive for the team. The chance should be pretty good for them to win since it is going to be a sprint race on Fuji track. No.100 STANLEY CIVIC TYPE R-GT (Naoki Yamamoto / Tadasuke Makino) ranked 4th in the point standing, the highest position among the CIVIC TYPE R-GT fleet, could be receiving expectations since there will not be any SW and for the CIVIC one-two they completed at last year’s Round 4 Fuji along with No.8 car.
■Among Z NISMO GT500s, attention should be poured on No.12 car topping the rank and Takaboshi’s No.23 car with back-to-back Fuji wins possibility.
For the NISSAN Z NISMO GT500 squad of this season, the best result so far is the 3rd place on the podium at the previous Round 3 Malaysia by No.12 TRS IMPUL with SDG Z (Kazuki Hiramine / Bertrand Baguette). No.12 car would have been racing with SW on board from the 3rd-place finish if it were in a regular series scenario, but there will be no SW for the upcoming event, thus, the car has luckily gained a chance. In 2022 when they captured the title, the team climbed to the second highest position on the podium at Round 4 Fuji which gave them good momentum, so they are probably aiming to score a big point again at the upcoming event to gain momentum for the rest of this season. Another team out of the Z squad that deserves to be mentioned is No.23 MOTUL AUTECH Z (Katsumasa Chiyo / Mitsunori Takaboshi). Takaboshi must be confident about Fuji since the driver has won at Fuji consecutively with a Z maintained by NISMO, winning the Round 4 of 2023 in No.3 car with Chiyo and Round 2 of 2024 again in No.3 car, despite it was a different Z from the current model. Not only No.12 car but the entire Z NISMO GT500 squad would want to win the sprint races to ignite a strike back.
■Will GT300 class evolve around GT3 regulated race cars? Cannot underestimate GT300 regulated cars boasting speed.
With the upcoming Round 4 being a sprint race on the high-speed circuit of Fuji, the upper positions can be dominated by the cars that are fast on the straightaway or quick around the high-speed corners. Plus, if there is no success weight on the car, the cars in the upper group of point standing should be utilizing the chance and aiming for the podium. In such scenario, the FIA GT3 regulated race cars with excellent engine power have advantages over others. No.6 UNI-ROBO BLUEGRASS FERRARI (Yoshiaki Katayama / Roberto Merhi Muntan) that won the previous race at Fuji, Round 2, as well as No.777 D’station Vantage (Tomonobu Fujii / Charlie Fagg) that clinched the pole position at the same event deserve to draw attention. Teams fielding Lamborghini Huracan GT3, including No.0 VENTENY Lamborghini GT3 (Takashi Kogure / Yuya Motojima) that won last year’s Round 2 Fuji, and those with Mercedes AMG GT3, such as the winner of Round 4 Fuji held last year, No.65 LEON PYRAMID AMG (Naoya Gamou / Togo Suganami), and No.4 GOODSMILE HATSUNE MIKU AMG (Nobuteru Taniguchi / Tatsuya Kataoka), and also No.56 REALIZE NISSAN MECHANIC CHALLENGE GT-R (Joao Paulo de Oliveira / Kohei Hirate) that always exerts its speed at Fuji could be deemed the top favorites by many predictors. Another scenario which a sprint race can allow to happen is to get a good grid position by exerting ‘one-shot’ speed in qualifying and run away from the start in the race. No.61 SUBARU BRZ R&D SPORT (Takuto Iguchi / Hideki Yamauchi) will get a chance for revenge for falling back from the top position it maintained until the half point of final lap at the previous Round 2 Fuji race. No.52 Green Brave GR Supra GT (Hiroki Yoshida / Seita Nonaka), known as Fuji meister of the GT300 regulated cars, seems to have regained speed after deploying a new body at the Round 3 Sepang where it finished second in the race, therefore, the car should have a pretty good chance at Fuji also. With the 2-race & different driver format, teams would have a chance to recover even if they are unsuccessful in one race because there is going to be another race to reset the failure, and this is important in terms of scoring, or avoiding not scoring, precious points for the title contention. We can expect to see fiercer Round 4 since the contest for the victory, or an upper position, will happen on both Saturday and Sunday, Race 1 and Race 2.
