BH Auction SMBC Suzuka 10 Hours organisers, Mobilityland, have announced a 37-strong provisional entry list for round four of this year’s Intercontinental GT Challenge on August 23-25.
An additional 12 FIA GT3, ST-X and Mother Chassis cars have joined the 22 Intercontinental GT Challenge and three extra international entries confirmed by SRO Motorsports Group on Saturday. That’s already two more than contested the same race last season.
The latest list also includes 13 manufacturers, eight of which are competing at all five Intercontinental GT Challenge rounds.
Super GT regulars include JLOC’s two Lamborghini Huracans, which return for a second season, a pair of new McLaren 720S GT3s entered by McLaren Customer Racing, and LM Corsa’s Porsche 911. Goodsmile Racing, apr with ARN Racing, Team Hitotsuyama and CarGuy Racing were already confirmed, while the newly announced Team UpGarage Honda NSX has been nominated to score #IntGTC points for the manufacturer.
Just one Mother Chassis entry is currently listed: the CarsTokaiDream28 Lotus Evora that also appeared at Suzuka last season. Only found in Japan, MC cars – which are based around a common set of key components such as a Dome-built carbon chassis and 4.5-litre V8 engine – compete alongside their GT3 counterparts in Super GT’s GT300 class thanks to SRO’s Balance of Performance data.
Super Taikyu is also well represented courtesy of SATO-SS Sports (Mercedes-AMG), MP Racing (Nissan) and Tairoka Racing (TBA). All three have extensive knowledge of Pirelli’s DHD2 tyre, which must be used by all teams competing at Suzuka and in Super Taikyu.
Two more Japanese entries appear on the provisional list, which is expected to expand further in due course: The Callaway Competition with BingoSports Corvette C7 GT3-R, which contested the same race last August, and an extra McLaren – albeit currently without a team – featuring two-time FIA Formula 1 World Champion Mika Hakkinen.
Those 12 are joined by three international entries not eligible to score #IntGTC points: Strakka Racing’s Mercedes-AMG, Garage59’s Aston Martin and AMAC Motorsport’s Lamborghini. All were confirmed over the weekend.
This year’s five-round Intercontinental GT Challenge campaign reaches its halfway mark at the 24 Hours of Spa on July 25-28 before Suzuka takes centre stage one month later. The revived Kyalami 9 Hour in South Africa hosts 2019’s season finale on November 21-23.