Super GT

The JGTC was established in 1993 by the JAF, replacing the All Japan Sports Prototype Championship for Group C prototypes and the Japanese Touring Car Championship for Group A touring cars. Seeking to prevent spiraling budgets and domination by single teams or manufacturers, the JGTC imposed strict limits on power and applied heavy weight penalties to race winners. The GT Association (GTA) was established in October 1993 to manage the series beginning in 1994, introducing the two-class structure of GT500 and GT300. Nissan, Toyota, and Honda all operated factory efforts in GT500.

The JGTC expanded internationally in 2000, adding a round at Sepang International Circuit in Malaysia. A non-championship race was held at California Speedway in the United States in 2004.

Plans for a 2005 round at Shanghai International Circuit in China were set aside because holding the series in more than two countries would have cost the JGTC its "national championship" status under the FIA International Sporting Code, requiring direct FIA authorization rather than JAF jurisdiction. Initially announced as "Super GT World Challenge," the new name was blocked by the FIA over confusion with the "World Championship" designation and a dispute with Sports Car Club of America, which ran Speed World Challenge since 1990. On December 10, 2004, "Super GT" was confirmed as the new name.

In 2014, Super GT and the German touring car series DTM announced the creation of "Class 1," unifying GT500 and DTM technical regulations so manufacturers could race in both series with a single car specification. Technical regulations were fully aligned in 2020, with GT500 fully adopting Class One specifications. By 2021, however, DTM switched to a Group GT3 series due to a massive manufacturer exodus, and Super GT maintained the current GT500 technical regulations without further use of the "Class 1" label.

Super GT races take place on well-known Japanese circuits including Fuji Speedway, Suzuka Circuit, and Mobility Resort Motegi, as well as Autopolis in the Kyushu region, Okayama International Circuit in the Chūgoku region, and Sportsland Sugo in the Tōhoku region. Races are typically between 250 and 300 kilometres, with one compulsory pit stop for driver changes and refuelling. In 2022 a 450-kilometre format with two compulsory pit stops was introduced for select races, and in 2024 the series added three-hour timed races to the calendar.

Internationally, Sepang hosted a championship round every year until 2014, when it was replaced by an event at Chang International Circuit in Buriram, Thailand. Planned overseas races at Shanghai Circuit in 2005 and Yeongam International Circuit in 2013 were both cancelled. Buriram and Sepang were on the 2020 provisional calendar but were cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic; Sepang returned to the calendar in 2025.

The International Suzuka 1000km endurance race was the longest and most prestigious event on the Super GT calendar from 2006, when it was added as a championship round, until 2017, the final year of the event in its 1000 km format. It was replaced in 2018 by the Intercontinental GT Challenge Suzuka 10 Hours. That same year the Fuji GT 500 Mile Race (805 km) was revived as the series' new endurance round, running in 2018 and 2019.

The Golden Week race at Fuji Speedway, held annually on May 4, is considered one of the series' most prestigious events. Drawing from Japan's major public holiday, it regularly attracts the largest crowds of any Super GT race, recording a two-day attendance of 91,000 spectators in 2019. It was the first event of the inaugural 1994 JGTC season and has been a permanent fixture except for 2004 (circuit renovations) and 2020 (COVID-19 pandemic).

Due to the 2009 energy crisis in Japan, the Fuji 500 km and Suzuka 1000 km distances were shortened. The 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami caused a further reduction in all race distances for that season; standard distances were restored in 2012.

Non-championship rounds have been held sporadically. The Fuji Sprint Cup ran from 2010 to 2013. The first Super GT × DTM Dream Race was held in November 2019.

The cars are divided into GT500 and GT300. The class names originally reflected horsepower limits: GT500 cars were capped at 500 horsepower and GT300 cars at around 300 hp. Current GT500 engines produce over 650 horsepower. GT300 engines range from around 400 to just over 550 horsepower, though GT300 cars carry far less downforce than their GT500 counterparts.

Car numbers are assigned to the team, which may choose any unused number. The number 1 is reserved for the defending GT500 champion; the number 0 for the reigning GT300 champion. GT500 cars use white headlight covers, windshield decals, and number panels; GT300 cars use yellow.

GT500 is composed entirely of manufacturer-supported teams representing Toyota, Honda, and Nissan. Since 2014, GT500 cars have been powered by single-turbocharged, inline four-cylinder engines of two litres displacement producing over 650 horsepower. The cars are silhouette racing cars with purpose-built carbon fibre monocoques. The standard turbochargers, introduced from the start of the 2014 season, are supplied exclusively by Garrett Advancing Motion, a subsidiary of Honeywell International Inc., producing boost pressure up to 3.5 bar (51 psi).

In the early JGTC years, foreign manufacturers also competed in GT500. During the first season, the Ferrari F40, Porsche 911 Turbo, and Porsche 962C all won races. The Porsche 911 GT2 and the BMW-powered McLaren F1 GTR are the only foreign cars to have won the GT500 championship: the 911 GT2 took the teams' title in 1995 and the F1 GTR won both drivers' and teams' titles in 1996. The longtail F1 GTR scored a race victory in 2001. The last foreign-built car to enter was the Aston Martin DBR9 in 2009. Team Goh, who entered the championship-winning 1996 McLarens, planned to run a Maserati MC12 GT1 in 2006 but withdrew after pre-season testing.

For many years the Nissan Skyline GT-R, the Toyota Supra (A80), and the Honda NSX (NA1) represented their brands in GT500. Cars that have since competed include the Nissan Fairlady Z (Z33), Lexus SC 430, Lexus RC F, Lexus LC 500, Nissan GT-R, Honda NSX (NC1), and the Honda Civic Type R (FL5), as well as the Honda HSV-010 GT — a prototype developed specifically for Super GT whose planned road variant was cancelled. Current GT500 competitors are the Nissan Z (RZ34), the Toyota GR Supra, and the Honda Prelude (BF1).

In 2014, new GT500 cars introduced Class 1 common aerodynamic regulations shared with DTM, turbocharged four-cylinder engines, downforce increased by 30%, and over sixty common parts including brakes, diffuser, and rear wing. A 2017 aerodynamic overhaul lowered downforce by 25%; KERS units, previously used only by Honda, were banned (Honda had already discontinued them in 2016). In 2020, Class 1 technical regulations were fully implemented with new cars and a standardized ECU and suspension.

Unlike GT500, both works-backed and independent teams compete in GT300, producing a more varied field. Japanese manufacturers campaign JAF-GT cars such as the Toyota Prius and Subaru BRZ. The class is predominantly composed of GT3-class cars from European manufacturers including Audi and Mercedes, though Lexus, Nissan, and Honda are also represented by GT3 entries.

The GTA worked with Dome to create the "Mother Chassis" — a low-cost GT300 platform — with the first MC car entering the series in 2014. Mother Chassis cars use a standard Dome-produced tub and GTA-branded Nissan VK45DE engine while maintaining the appearance of production cars such as the Toyota 86, Lotus Evora, and Toyota Mark X. The Toyota 86 MC won the GT300 championship in 2016.

Among notable GT300 competitors was the Mooncraft Shiden MC/RT-16, a Riley Daytona Prototype-based revival of the original 1977 Mooncraft Shiden 77, which competed from 2006 to 2012, narrowly losing the title in 2006 and winning it in 2007. The GTA works with the Stéphane Ratel Organisation to balance GT300 performance via technical adjustments.

Hybrid cars first raced in GT300 in 2012, when apr introduced the Toyota Prius apr GT and Team Mugen fielded a Honda CR-Z GT. Both were mid-engined, differing from their front-engined road counterparts; the CR-Z was withdrawn after 2015 when new regulations required engines to be located in the same position as in the road car. apr used a loophole to continue racing their mid-engine Prius until 2018, when a new front-engine version was required.

Super GT openly states its commitment to exciting racing at the expense of runaway investment by works teams. GT500 cars are fitted with many common parts to lower costs and equalize performance. In GT300, air restrictor sizes, minimum weights, ride heights, and maximum turbo boost pressures are adjusted on a race-to-race basis. All adjustments to regulations and the balance of performance are publicly accessible.

Regulations stipulate that no single driver may drive over two-thirds of the race distance, affecting pit stop timing and preventing strategy from dominating. The series employs a Success Ballast system (also called Success Weight), adding two kilograms of ballast per championship point scored. Weight ballast is capped at 50 kilograms; cars exceeding that threshold receive a fuel flow restriction instead. The system aims to prevent sandbagging and keep the championship competitive to the final round: only two GT500 teams — ARTA in 2007 and MOLA in 2012 — and one GT300 team — GAINER with André Couto in 2015 — have clinched a drivers' championship prior to the final race. Beginning in 2025, GT300 success weight also incorporates refuelling time as part of the formula.

Top Japanese GT500 stars of the 2000s included Toyota factory drivers Juichi Wakisaka and Yuji Tachikawa, Nissan's Satoshi Motoyama, and Honda's Ryo Michigami, all of whom won GT500 championships. The series also attracted international drivers including Benoît Tréluyer, André Lotterer, and Loïc Duval, who won GT500 races and subsequently became FIA World Endurance Champions and 24 Hours of Le Mans winners with Audi. Kazuki Nakajima, Kamui Kobayashi, and Ryo Hirakawa achieved the same honours with Toyota Gazoo Racing. Former Formula One drivers including Érik Comas — described as the series' most successful driver until he stepped back — and 2016 GT500 champion Heikki Kovalainen competed in the series. After a one-off appearance in 2017, 2009 F1 world champion Jenson Button drove for Team Kunimitsu in 2018 and 2019, winning the 2018 title.

Across both classes, 37 different drivers have won the drivers' championship in Super GT since 2005. Japan has produced the most championship-winning drivers with 27. Ronnie Quintarelli and Sho Tsuboi have won the most GT500 drivers' championships with four each. Including the JGTC era, Satoshi Motoyama, Juichi Wakisaka, Yuji Tachikawa, and Kenta Yamashita each hold three titles. In GT300, Tatsuya Kataoka and Nobuteru Taniguchi have won three titles each since 2005, tied with Morio Nitta and Tetsuya Yamano for most GT300 titles overall. Three drivers — Masataka Yanagida, Kazuya Oshima, and Takashi Kogure — have won championships in both GT500 and GT300.

This article is based solely on the supplied corpus. No external sources were consulted; claims that could not be substantiated against the corpus were omitted under the drop-the-claim rule.