The 2017 Autobacs Super GT Series was the twenty-fifth season of the Japan Automobile Federation Super GT Championship including the All Japan Grand Touring Car Championship (JGTC) era, and the thirteenth season under the name Super GT. It was the thirty-fifth overall season of a national JAF sportscar championship dating back to the All Japan Sports Prototype Championship. The season began on April 9 and ended on November 12, after 8 races.
In the GT500 class, the No. 37 Lexus Team KeePer TOM'S duo of Ryō Hirakawa and Nick Cassidy won their first-ever championship, narrowly beating the Nismo duo of Tsugio Matsuda and Ronnie Quintarelli for the championship. It was the first championship title for TOM'S since Juichi Wakisaka and André Lotterer's 2009 title win. In the GT300 class, in Good Smile Company and Hatsune Miku's 10th season of involvement in Super GT, Goodsmile Racing won their third GT300 title in just seven years after a closely fought championship battle between the No. 4 Hatsune Miku AMG and the No. 65 LEON CVSTOS AMG of K2 R&D LEON Racing. It was Nobuteru Taniguchi and Tatsuya Kataoka's third title, as well as Mercedes' first championship title in Super GT.
Schedule
Round Race Circuit Date 1 Okayama GT300 km Okayama International Circuit April 9 2 Fuji GT 500 km Fuji Speedway May 4 3 Autopolis GT300 km Autopolis May 21 4 Sugo GT 300 km Sportsland Sugo July 23 5 Fuji GT 300 km Fuji Speedway August 6 6 46th International Suzuka 1000km1000 km Suzuka Circuit August 27 7 Buriram United Super GT Race300 km Chang International Circuit October 8 8 Motegi GT250 km Twin Ring Motegi November 12
Calendar changes The series returned to Autopolis for the first time since 2015. The race scheduled to be held there in 2016 was cancelled due to damage caused to the circuit and local infrastructure by the 2016 Kumamoto earthquakes. This was the last season that the Suzuka 1000km is included as a round of Super GT, as the current 1000 km format would be dropped in favour of a 10-hour timed race for 2018. The new race will be aimed primarily at FIA GT3 and GT300 machinery.
Drivers and teams
GT500 Team Make Car Engine Drivers Tyre Rounds Lexus Team SARD Lexus Lexus LC500 GT500 Lexus RI4AG 2.0 L Turbo I4 1 Kohei Hirate All Heikki Kovalainen Lexus Team LeMans Wako's Lexus Lexus LC500 GT500 Lexus RI4AG 2.0 L Turbo I4 6 Andrea Caldarelli All Kazuya Oshima Autobacs Racing Team Aguri Honda Honda NSX-GT Honda HR-417E 2.0 L Turbo I4 8 Tomoki Nojiri All Takashi Kobayashi Team Impul Nissan Nissan GT-R NISMO GT500 Nissan NR20A 2.0 L Turbo I4 12 Hironobu Yasuda All Jann Mardenborough Team Mugen Honda Honda NSX-GT Honda HR-417E 2.0 L Turbo I4 16 Hideki Mutoh All Daisuke Nakajima Jenson Button 6 REAL Racing Honda Honda NSX-GT Honda HR-417E 2.0 L Turbo I4 17 Koudai Tsukakoshi All Takashi Kogure Lexus Team WedsSport Bandoh Lexus Lexus LC500 GT500 Lexus RI4AG 2.0 L Turbo I4 19 Yuhi Sekiguchi All Yuji Kunimoto 1, 3-8 Kenta Yamashita 2 Kamui Kobayashi 6 NISMO Nissan Nissan GT-R NISMO GT500 Nissan NR20A 2.0 L Turbo I4 23 Tsugio Matsuda All Ronnie Quintarelli Kondo Racing Nissan Nissan GT-R NISMO GT500 Nissan NR20A 2.0 L Turbo I4 24 Daiki Sasaki All João Paulo de Oliveira Lexus Team au TOM'S Lexus Lexus LC500 GT500 Lexus RI4AG 2.0 L Turbo I4 36 James Rossiter All Kazuki Nakajima 1, 3-8 Daisuke Ito 2 Lexus Team KeePer TOM'S Lexus Lexus LC500 GT500 Lexus RI4AG 2.0 L Turbo I4 37 Ryo Hirakawa All Nick Cassidy Lexus Team Cerumo Lexus Lexus LC500 GT500 Lexus RI4AG 2.0 L Turbo I4 38 Hiroaki Ishiura All Yuji Tachikawa Nissan Nissan GT-R NISMO GT500 Nissan NR20A 2.0 L Turbo I4 46 Satoshi Motoyama All Katsumasa Chiyo Nakajima Racing Honda Honda NSX-GT Honda HR-417E 2.0 L Turbo I4 64 Kosuke Matsuura All Bertrand Baguette Team Kunimitsu Honda Honda NSX-GT Honda HR-417E 2.0 L Turbo I4 100 Naoki Yamamoto All Takuya Izawa
GT300 TeamMakeCarEngineDriversTyreRounds Lotus Lotus Evora MC GTA V8 4.5 L V8 2 Kazuho Takahashi All Hiroki Katoh Hiroshi Hamaguchi 6 NDDP Racing Nissan Nissan GT-R Nismo GT3 (2017) Nissan VR38DETT 3.8 L Twin Turbo V6 3 Kazuki Hoshino All Mitsunori Takaboshi Goodsmile Racing & TeamUKYO Mercedes-AMG Mercedes-AMG GT3 Mercedes-AMG M159 6.2 L V8 4 Nobuteru Taniguchi All Tatsuya Kataoka Team Mach Toyota Toyota 86 MC GTA V8 4.5 L V8 5 Natsu Sakaguchi All Kiyoto Fujinami Junichirō Yamashita 2 Tetsuji Tamanaka 6 BMW Team Studie BMW BMW M6 GT3 BMW P63 4.4 L Twin Turbo V8 7 Jörg Müller All Seiji Ara Augusto Farfus 6 Pacific with Gulf Racing Porsche Porsche 911 GT3-R Porsche M97/80 4.0 L F6 9 Jono Lester All Kyosuke Mineo GAINER Nissan Nissan GT-R Nismo GT3 (2017) Nissan VR38DETT 3.8 L Twin Turbo V6 10 Ryuichiro Tomita All Hiroki Yoshida Mercedes-AMG Mercedes-AMG GT3 Mercedes-AMG M159 6.2 L V8 11 Katsuyuki Hiranaka All Björn Wirdheim with Bandoh Toyota Toyota 86 MC GTA V8 4.5 L V8 18 Yuhki Nakayama All Shintarō Kawabata Audi Sport Team Hitotsuyama Audi Audi R8 LMS Audi DAR 5.2 L V10 21 Richard Lyons All Masataka Yanagida R'Qs Motor Sports Mercedes-Benz Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG GT3 Mercedes-Benz M159 6.2 L V8 22 Masaki Jyonai 1–3, 5–8 Hisashi Wada 1, 3, 5–8 Hideto Yasuoka 2 VivaC Team Tsuchiya Toyota Toyota 86 MC GTA V8 4.5 L V8 25 Takamitsu Matsui All Kenta Yamashita 1, 3–8 Tsubasa Kondo 2, 6 Team Taisan SARD Audi Audi R8 LMS Audi DAR 5.2 L V10 26 Shinnosuke Yamada All Jake Parsons Christian Klien 6 Toyota Toyota Prius apr GT Toyota RV8KLM 3.4 L Hybrid V8 30 Hiroaki Nagai All Kota Sasaki 31 Koki Saga All Rintarō Kubo D'station Racing Porsche Porsche 911 GT3-R Porsche M97/80 4.0 L F6 33 Tomonobu Fujii All Sven Müller 1–2, 6–8 André Couto 3 Yuya Motojima 4–5 Panther Team Thailand Toyota Toyota 86 MC GTA V8 4.5 L V8 35 Nattavude Charoensukhawatana All Nattapong Horthongkum Dijon Racing Nissan Nissan GT-R Nismo GT3 (2017) Nissan VR38DETT 3.8 L Twin Turbo V6 48 Masaki Tanaka All Hiroshi Takamori 1–4, 6–8 Taiyou Iida 2, 5 Masami Kageyama 6 INGING & Arnage Racing Ferrari Ferrari 488 GT3 Ferrari F154CB 3.9 L Twin Turbo V8 50 1, 3–8 Morio Nitta LM corsa Lexus Lexus RC F GT3 Lexus 2UR-GSE 5.4 L V8 51 Yuichi Nakayama All Sho Tsuboi 60 Akira Iida All Hiroki Yoshimoto Saitama Toyopet Green Brave Toyota Toyota Mark X MC GTA V8 4.5 L V8 52 Taku Bamba All Shigekazu Wakisaka 6 Autobacs Racing Team Aguri BMW BMW M6 GT3 BMW P63 4.4 L Twin Turbo V8 55 Shinichi Takagi All Sean Walkinshaw R&D Sport Subaru Subaru BRZ R&D Sport Subaru EJ20 2.0 L Turbo F4 61 Takuto Iguchi All Hideki Yamauchi K2 R&D LEON Racing Mercedes-AMG Mercedes-AMG GT3 Mercedes-AMG M159 6.2 L V8 65 Haruki Kurosawa All Naoya Gamou JLOC Lamborghini Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Lamborghini DFJ 5.2 L V10 87 All Kimiya Sato Yuya Motojima 2, 6 88 Manabu Orido All Kazuki Hiramine Tsubasa Takahashi 2 Koji Yamanishi 6 Rn-sports Mercedes-AMG Mercedes-AMG GT3 Mercedes-AMG M159 6.2 L V8 111 Keishi Ishikawa All Ryōsei Yamashita 2, 6 EIcars Bentley TTO Bentley Bentley Continental GT3 Bentley CND 4.0 L Twin Turbo V8 117 Yuji Ide 1–3, 5–6, 8 Ryohei Sakaguchi Nissan Nissan GT-R Nismo GT3 (2017) Nissan VR38DETT 3.8 L Twin Turbo V6 360 Yūsaku Shibata 1–6, 8 Takayuki Aoki 1–2, 4, 6, 8 2–3, 5–6
Vehicle changes GT500 Lexus teams will race the new LC 500 machine, replacing the Lexus RC F which debuted in 2014. Nissan and Honda will continue to run the Nissan GT-R and Honda NSX-GT, modified to updated aerodynamic regulations. The updated NSX-GT will be based upon its newly launched production counterpart.
GT300 Saitama Toyopet GreenBrave announced that they will enter the Super GT Series for the first time in 2017, fielding a brand new Toyota Mark X based on the Mother Chassis platform. LM Corsa will field two 2017 specification Lexus RC F GT3s, replacing both their older model RC F GT3, and their Ferrari 488 GT3, used in 2016. Bentley and their Continental GT3 race car will make their Super GT debut with the new EIcars Bentley TTO (Teramoto Technical Office) team.
Entrant changes
GT500 Lexus: Kazuki Nakajima returns to Super GT for the first time since 2014, driving for Lexus Team au TOM'S. He'll be joined by James Rossiter, who swaps seats at TOM'S with Nick Cassidy. Daisuke Ito will not drive full-time in Super GT this season, and will serve as the team director of Lexus Team au TOM's. Nissan: Jann Mardenborough makes his GT500 debut with Team Impul, replacing João Paulo de Oliveira, who moves to Kondō Racing to replace Masataka Yanagida. Honda: Team Mugen return to the GT500 category for the first time since 2003. The team run using Yokohama tyres.Hideki Mutoh and Daisuke Nakajima will drive for the revived Team Mugen in 2017. Kosuke Matsuura moves to Nakajima Racing from ARTA, who promote Takashi Kobayashi from their GT300 team back to GT500 for the first time since 2012. Drago Modulo Honda Racing announced their withdrawal from the series on 8 November 2016, after just two seasons. Oliver Turvey left Drago Modulo Honda Racing after five races in 2016, and will not return to Super GT in 2017. Tadasuke Makino who raced with Drago Corse for couple of rounds moves to the FIA European Formula 3 Championship with Hitech Grand Prix.
GT300 Masataka Yanagida moveS down to GT300 with Audi Team Hitotsuyama, replacing Tomonobu Fujii, who will drive for the newly christened D'Station Racing. Yuichi Nakayama moves from apr to LM Corsa and the new Lexus RC F GT3, and sophomore driver Rintaro Kubo will replace him in the #31 apr Toyota Prius. Hiroki Yoshida replaces former GT300 champion André Couto in the GAINER Nissan GT-R GT3. Shinnosuke Yamada will join Team Taisan SARD after spending one season at Team UpGarage with Bandoh. Both Akihiro Tsuzuki and three-time GT300 champion Morio Nitta leave LM Corsa to join the newly unified INGING and Arnage Racing team. Reigning All-Japan Formula Three champion Kenta Yamashita will return to Super GT full-time in 2017, replacing Takeshi Tsuchiya at VivaC Team Tsuchiya. Reigning Porsche Supercup and Porsche Carrera Cup Germany champion Sven Müller joined D'Station Racing as a Porsche factory driver. However, he would not drive between Rounds 3 and 5 due to his involvement in the ADAC GT Masters, during which André Couto would substitute for him. Former FIA F4 Japanese Champion Sho Tsuboi makes his Super GT debut with LM Corsa. Takayuki Hiranuma was set to make his Super GT debut with Saitama Toyopet GreenBrave, but withdrew before the season started. Shintaro Kawabata graduates from the FIA F4 Japanese Championship to Super GT with Team Upgarage with Bandoh. Sean Walkinshaw, son of legendary racing driver and team executive Tom Walkinshaw, will make his Super GT debut with Autobacs Racing Team Aguri in their BMW M6 GT3. Former Pro Mazda Championship driver Jake Parsons of Australia joins Team Taisan SARD for his first season in Super GT. Keishi Ishikawa and Ryosei Yamashita will each make their Super GT debuts with Rn-sports. Ishikawa graduates from All-Japan Formula Three, whilst Yamashita steps up from Super Taikyu and the Toyota 86/BRZ Race. Former Honda Formula Dream Project driver Natsu Sakaguchi, and former Nissan Driver Development Programme driver Kiyoto Fujinami will make their Super GT debuts for Team Mach. Nattavude Charoensukhawatana and Nattapong Horthongkum will run their first full seasons in Super GT in 2017 for Panther Team Thailand. Charoensukhawatana has run two races as a local wildcard driver, while Horthongkum is making his series debut. Mitsunori Takaboshi returns to Super GT full-time with NDDP Racing. After winning his first Super GT championship in 2016, Takeshi Tsuchiya retired from full-time driving. He will focus primarily on his role as chief engineer for VivaC Team Tsuchiya. Yuji Ide returns to Super GT for the first time since 2015 with EIcars Bentley TTO. 2011 GT300 champion Taku Bamba will return to Super GT for the first time since 2012, driving for Saitama Toyopet GreenBrave.
Mid-season changes