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 All Japan Grand Touring Car Championship (JGTC) is a grand touring car racing series that began in 1993. Originally titled as the , the series was renamed to Super GT in 2005. It was the top level of sports car racing in Japan. The series was s ...

(JGTC) era, and the thirteenth season under the name

Super GT Super GT (stylized as SUPER GT) is a sports car racing series that began in 1993. Launched as the , generally referred to as the All Japan Grand Touring Car Championship (JGTC), the series was renamed to Super GT in 2005. It is the top level of ...

. It was the thirty-fifth overall season of a national JAF sportscar championship dating back to the

All Japan Sports Prototype Championship The , abbreviated as JSPC, formed by the Japan Automobile Federation, was a domestic championship which took place in Japan for Group C and IMSA GTP Sports prototype, prototype cars and also featured cars that were eligible for touring car racin ...

. 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 is a Japanese racing driver who is currently competing for Toyota Gazoo Racing in the FIA World Endurance Championship. He was Super GT GT500 champion in 2017 Super GT Series, 2017, and finished runner-up in Super Formula Championship, Super For ...

and

Nick Cassidy Nicholas Robert Cassidy (born 19 August 1994) is a New Zealand racing driver, currently competing in Formula E for Jaguar TCS Racing. He previously raced for Envision Racing in the series for three seasons, becoming the runner-up during the ...

won their first-ever championship, narrowly beating the

Nismo , abbreviated as Nismo, is a division of Nissan Motorsports & Customizing focused in motorsport and performance-oriented car models for Nissan. Nismo was initially a company, , formed in 1984 as a result of a merger of two motorsport departmen ...

duo of

Tsugio Matsuda is a Japanese professional racing driver for Nissan and Kondo Racing in the Super GT Series, and a team ambassador for KCMG (auto racing team), KCMG in the Super Formula Championship, Super Formula Championship. He is the Super GT Series' all- ...

and

Ronnie Quintarelli Ronnie Quintarelli (born 9 August 1979) is an Italian racecar driver competing in Super GT from 2005 through 2024. A four-time champion, he holds the all-time record for the most drivers' championship titles won in the GT500 class of Super GT. B ...

for the championship. It was the first championship title for TOM'S since

Juichi Wakisaka is a former Japanese racing driver who was a 2002, 2006 and 2009 champion in Japan's Super GT series in the Super GT#GT500, GT500 category. Prior to the 1998 Formula One World Championship , 1998 Formula One season he tested for the Jordan Grand ...

and

André Lotterer André Lotterer (born 19 November 1981) is a German racing driver, who most recently competed in the FIA World Endurance Championship for Porsche in motorsport, Porsche. In formula racing, Lotterer competed in Formula One at the in , and Formu ...

2009 2009 was designated as the International Year of Astronomy by the United Nations to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei's first known astronomical studies with a telescope and the publication of Astronomia Nova by Joha ...

title win. In the GT300 class, in

Good Smile Company is a Japanese manufacturer of hobby products such as the Nendoroid and Figma (toy), Figma product lines, as well as scale figures. In addition to production and manufacturing, its business includes design, marketing and distribution. Its product ...

and

Hatsune Miku , officially code-named CV01, is a Vocaloid software voicebank developed by Crypton Future Media. Its official mascot is depicted as a sixteen-year-old girl with long, turquoise twintails. Miku's personification has been marketed as a virt ...

's 10th season of involvement in

, Goodsmile Racing won their third GT300 title in just seven years after a closely fought championship battle between the No. 4

AMG and the No. 65 LEON CVSTOS AMG of K2 R&D LEON Racing. It was

Nobuteru Taniguchi is a Japanese racing driver and drifting (motorsport), drifting driver who currently competes in the Super GT racing series. Taniguchi is commonly nicknamed "NOB" (first three letters from his name, meaning "No One Better") or "The Pimp" as a ref ...

and

Tatsuya Kataoka is a Japanese racing driver. He currently competes in the Super GT Super GT (stylized as SUPER GT) is a sports car racing series that began in 1993. Launched as the , generally referred to as the All Japan Grand Touring Car Championship (J ...

's third title, as well as Mercedes' first championship title in Super GT.

Schedule

Calendar changes

* The series returned to

Autopolis is a international racing circuit located near Kamitsue, Ōita, Kamitsue village in Ōita Prefecture, Japan on the northeast of Kumamoto. Nippon Autopolis">F1 News - Grandprix.com > GP Encyclopedia > Circuits > Nippon Autopolis/ref> Tsurumaki ...

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 The were a series of earthquakes, including a magnitude 7.0 mainshock which struck at 01:25 Japan Standard Time, JST on April 16, 2016 (16:25 UTC on April 15) beneath Kumamoto, Kumamoto City of Kumamoto Prefecture in Kyushu, Kyu ...

. * This was the last season that the

Suzuka 1000km The Suzuka 1000km, also known as the Suzuka Summer Endurance Race, is an annual Sports car racing, sports car Endurance racing (motorsport), endurance race that has been held at the Suzuka Circuit in Mie Prefecture, Japan since 1966. After a five ...

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

GT300

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 The Nissan GT-R (''Gran Turismo–Racing''; model code: R35; Japanese: 日産・GT-R; ''Nissan GT-R'') is a series of cars built by Japanese marque Nissan from 2007 to 2025. It has a 2+2 (car body style), 2+2 seating layout and is considered b ...

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 Bentley Motors Limited is a British designer, manufacturer and marketer of Luxury vehicle, luxury cars and Sport utility vehicle, SUVs. Headquartered in Crewe, England, the company was founded by W. O. Bentley (1888–1971) in 1919 in Crickle ...

and their Continental GT3 race car will make their Super GT debut with the new EIcars Bentley TTO (Teramoto Technical Office) team.

Entrant changes

250px, The Bentley Continental GT3 made their debuts in the GT300 class this season. 250px, Toyota Mark X MC (right) made their debuts in the GT300 class this season.

GT500

* Lexus: **

Kazuki Nakajima is a Japanese former racing driver and motorsport executive, who competed in Formula One from to . In Japanese motorsport, Nakajima won the Super Formula Championship in 2012 and 2014 with TOM'S. In endurance racing, Nakajima won the 2018� ...

returns to Super GT for the first time since 2014, driving for Lexus Team au

TOM'S is an automotive aftermarket parts manufacturer and tuner of Toyota and Lexus vehicles, as well as a factory-backed racing team. The TOM'S head office is located in Tokyo, Japan. TOM'S most prominently produces aftermarket parts for current ...

. He'll be joined by

James Rossiter James Stuart Rossiter (born 25 August 1983) is a British former professional racing driver, British motorsport executive and former team principal of Maserati MSG Racing in Formula E. He was a test driver for British American Racing, BAR, Hon ...

, who swaps seats at TOM'S with

. 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 is an automotive aftermarket parts manufacturer and tuner of Toyota and Lexus vehicles, as well as a factory-backed racing team. The TOM'S head office is located in Tokyo, Japan. TOM'S most prominently produces aftermarket parts for current ...

. * Nissan: **

Jann Mardenborough Jann Alexander Mardenborough (born 9 September 1991) is a British professional racing driver. He currently competes in the 2025 GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup for HRT Ford Performance. In 2011, he became the third and youngest winner ...

makes his GT500 debut with Team Impul, replacing

João Paulo de Oliveira João Paulo Lima de Oliveira (born 13 July 1981) is a Brazilian professional racing driver currently competing in the Japanese Super GT series and in the FIA World Endurance Championship driving for the Vanwall Racing Team. He won the Super GT G ...

, who moves to Kondō Racing to replace

Masataka Yanagida Masataka Yanagida (born 4 June 1979, in Tokyo) is a Japanese racing driver. Career The son of successful racing driver Haruhito Yanagida, a runner-up in the Japanese Touring Car Championship, Masataka began his career in karting in 1993. In 1997 ...

. * Honda: ** Team Mugen return to the GT500 category for the first time since 2003. The team run using Yokohama tyres.

Hideki Mutoh is a Japanese race car driver from Tokyo who last raced in the 2022 Super GT Season for Autobacs Racing Team Aguri. Career Profile Mutoh is 172 cm (5 ft 8 in) tall and weighs 64 kg (141 lb). His blood type is AB Rh-positive. His hobbies i ...

and Daisuke Nakajima will drive for the revived Team Mugen in 2017. **

Kosuke Matsuura is a Japanese race car driver currently competing in the Super GT series. He previously competed in the Formula Nippon and IRL IndyCar Series. Early career After winning the Japanese Formula Dream Championship in 2001, Kosuke attracted the at ...

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 Oliver Jonathan Turvey (born 1 April 1987) is a British people, British professional racing driver, who most recently competed in Formula E, and is currently signed to DS Penske as a reserve driver and a sporting advisor. He was a notable Karti ...

left Drago Modulo Honda Racing after five races in 2016, and will not return to Super GT in 2017.

Tadasuke Makino is a Japanese racing driver for Honda Motor Company who currently competes in Super GT for Team Kunimitsu and in the Super Formula Championship for Dandelion Racing. A feature race winner in the FIA Formula 2 Championship during his time abroa ...

who raced with Drago Corse for couple of rounds moves to the FIA European Formula 3 Championship with

Hitech Grand Prix Hitech Grand Prix (formerly Hitech Racing, currently racing as Hitech TGR for sponsorship reasons) is a British motor racing team. It was founded by Dennis Rushen and David Hayle in 2002 and relaunched by Oliver Oakes in 2015. Currently, Hite ...

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 André Bragança Macedo e Couto ( zh, t=安德烈·高度; born 14 December 1976) is a Macau, Macanese

in the GAINER Nissan GT-R GT3. * Shinnosuke Yamada will join Team Taisan

SARD Carnelian (also spelled cornelian) is a brownish-red mineral commonly used as a semiprecious stone. Similar to carnelian is sard, which is generally harder and darker; the difference is not rigidly defined, and the two names are often used int ...

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 is a Japanese racing driver for Toyota Gazoo Racing who is currently competing in Super GT for Rookie Racing, ROOKIE Racing and in Super Formula Championship, Super Formula for Masahiko Kondō, Kondō Racing. He won the GT500-class Super GT cham ...

will return to Super GT full-time in 2017, replacing

Takeshi Tsuchiya is a professional race car driver. Racing Record Complete Japanese Formula 3 results ( key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap) 24 Hours of Le Mans results Complete Formula Nippon results ...

at VivaC Team Tsuchiya. * Reigning

Porsche Supercup The Porsche Supercup (officially known as Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup, known as Porsche Michelin Supercup prior to 2007 and often abbreviated as PSC) is an international One-design racing, one-make production stock car racing series supporting the ...

and

Porsche Carrera Cup Germany The Porsche Carrera Cup Germany, (currently known as Porsche SIXT Carrera Cup Deutschland; known as Porsche 944 Turbo Cup between 1986–1989) is a one-make racing series by Porsche based in Germany. Champions Circuits * Adria International ...

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 The ADAC GT Masters is a grand tourer-based auto racing series founded by the international Stéphane Ratel Organisation (SRO) and supported by the German ADAC automotive club. Similar to an earlier ADAC GT Cup series in the 1990s, the new GT ...

, during which

André Couto André Bragança Macedo e Couto ( zh, t=安德烈·高度; born 14 December 1976) is a Macau, Macanese

would substitute for him. * Former FIA F4 Japanese Champion

Sho Tsuboi is a Japanese racing driver for Toyota Gazoo Racing and TOM'S, TOM'S Racing, who currently competes in the Super GT, Super GT Series GT500 class and Super Formula Championship.DriverDB Internetseite: Tsuboi is a three-time Super GT GT500 champ ...

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 Sean Nathan Thomas Walkinshaw (born 3 November 1993) is a British racing driver who currently competes in the Super Taikyu Series for Hitotsuyama Racing. He is the son of former Formula 1 team principal Tom Walkinshaw. Career Super GT Walkinsha ...

, son of legendary racing driver and team executive

Tom Walkinshaw Thomas Dobbie Thomson Walkinshaw (14 August 1946 – 12 December 2010) was a British racing car driver from Scotland and the founder of the racing team Tom Walkinshaw Racing (TWR). He was also involved in professional rugby union, as owner of ...

, will make his Super GT debut with

Autobacs Racing Team Aguri Autobacs Racing Team Aguri (ARTA) is a joint racing project formed between former F1 driver Aguri Suzuki and Autobacs in 1997. The team's original name was "ARTA F1 Project," but due to trademark claims based on the usage of the word "F1", the n ...

in their BMW M6 GT3. * Former Pro Mazda Championship driver Jake Parsons of Australia joins Team Taisan

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 Honda has been competing in a variety of racing series through the years, including Formula One, IndyCar Series, IndyCar, touring car racing, sports car racing and Grand Prix motorcycle racing, MotoGP. Currently they are involved in Formula One, ...

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 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...

retired from full-time driving. He will focus primarily on his role as chief engineer for VivaC Team Tsuchiya. *

Yuji Ide (born 21 January 1975) is a Japanese racing driver. He is the 2005 Formula Nippon runner-up and the 2010 Suzuka 1000km winner. He competed in Formula One with the Super Aguri team in 2006, but was demoted to third driver after four races and ...

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

* At the Suzuka 1000 km, former Formula 1 driver

Kamui Kobayashi is a Japanese racing driver and motorsport executive, who competes in the FIA World Endurance Championship for Toyota Gazoo Racing Europe, Toyota and in Super Formula for KC Motorgroup, KCMG. Kobayashi competed in Formula One from to . In end ...

makes his Super GT debut in a one-off for Lexus Team WedsSport Bandoh. 2009 Formula 1 champion

Jenson Button Jenson Alexander Lyons Button (born 19 January 1980) is a British racing driver, who competes in the FIA World Endurance Championship for Jota. Button competed in Formula One from to , and won the World Drivers' Championship in with Brawn; ...

also makes his Super GT debut in a one-off for Team Mugen. * Daisuke Ito drives at the second round of the championship at

Fuji Speedway is a motorsport race track standing in the foothills of Mount Fuji, in Oyama, Shizuoka, Oyama, Suntō District, Shizuoka, Suntō District, Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan. It was built in the early 1960s. In the 1980s, Fuji Speedway was used for the ...

, replacing Kazuki Nakajima, who would instead compete in the

6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps The 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps (formerly the 1000 Kilometres of Spa-Francorchamps) is an endurance race for sports cars held at Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps in Belgium. History The Spa 24 Hours had been introduced in 1924, and other races f ...

. * After André Couto was seriously injured during a round of the China GT Championship held at

Zhuhai Zhuhai; Yale romanization of Cantonese, Yale: ''Jyūhói''; Chinese postal romanization, also known as Chuhai is a prefecture-level city located on the west bank of the Pearl River (China), Pearl River estuary on the central coast of southern ...

, D'Station Racing announced Yūya Motojima would replace Couto as substitute driver for Sven Muller, driving in Rounds 4 and 5. * K2 R&D LEON Racing will switch from Yokohama to Bridgestone tyres in 2017. * Excellence Porsche Team KTR changed their name to D'Station Racing following a change of ownership and title sponsors. Former baseball pitcher

Kazuhiro Sasaki Kazuhiro Sasaki (佐々木主浩 ''Sasaki Kazuhiro'', born February 22, 1968) is a Japanese former professional baseball relief pitcher. He played his entire Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) career with the Yokohama Taiyō Whales / Yokohama ...

will serve as the team's general representative. * INGING Motorsport and Arnage Racing will enter under a unified banner in 2017, with the ex-LM Corsa Ferrari 488 GT3 used last season. * Lamborghini Team Direction have suspended activities in Super GT for the 2017 season, leaving JLOC as the sole representative for Lamborghini in Super GT.

Results

Championship standings

Drivers' championships

;Scoring system

GT500

GT300

Teams' championships

;Scoring system

GT500

GT300

Notes

References

External links

Official website
{{Super GT seasons

2017 2017 was designated as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development by the United Nations General Assembly. Events January * January 1 – Istanbul nightclub shooting: A gunman dressed as Santa Claus opens fire at the ...