Youthful Firepower: Rising Stars of GT300’s New Season

New teams for the 2024 season also make an appearance

The 2024 season of SUPER GT, Japan’s premier GT car race, began at Okayama International Circuit in Okayama Prefecture on 13-14 April 2024. While three manufacturers, Toyota, Nissan, and Honda, compete in the GT500 class, the GT300 class has become a kind of cross-fighting competition with import car brands mixed in. Here we introduce the machines competing in the GT300 class. In this third volume, we bring you Car No. 30 to Car No. 48!

New talented female drivers have also entered the race

The prestigious racing team “apr”, which has been competing for many years, will again field two cars in the 2024 season, with veteran driver Manabu Orido joining the duo of Hiroaki Nagai and Rikuto Kobayashi in Car 30 “apr GR86 GT” as the third driver. Rikuto Kobayashi is one of the young drivers to watch out for as he will be 19 years old in 2024.

The other car, No. 31 “apr LC500h GT”, will be driven by Kazuto Kotaka and Jin Nakamura. Yuki Nemoto is on the entry list as the third driver. Jin Nakamura, who will be competing in the season opener, is another promising young driver, aged 18. It will be interesting to see how these two teenagers will compete.

The new PONOS RACING team, No. 45 PONOS FERRARI 296, is a combination of Kei Cozzolino, who has extensive overseas racing experience, and Lilou Wadoux, who has won the WEC World Endurance Championship. Wadoux is 23 years old and from France. He is also a Ferrari factory driver and knows Ferrari inside out. He will lead the car to the top in the tough racing environment of Super GT.

Car No. 48 was renamed from the 2023 entry name of “Shokumo”, to “Datsumo K’s Frontier GO&FUN Neko Neko GT-R.” VTubers “Neko Mugi Tororo” and “Nachoneko “, and “Nachoneko”. Drivers Taiyo Ida and Yusaku Shibata are entered in the series, with Takumi Sanada as the third driver. Ida and Shibata will take the steering wheel in the opening round.