Black Swan Racing has become the first American team to announce a Suzuka 10 Hours entry after confirming that its Porsche 991 GT3 R will contest round three of this season’s Intercontinental GT Challenge campaign on August 24-26.
The team, based in Pasadena, CA, claimed Pro/Am class victory and finished third overall in February’s season-opening Liqui-Moly Bathurst 12 Hour after also taking class honours on debut at Laguna Seca last year.
It now moves on to the Total 24 Hours of Spa this July when team owner/driver Tim Pappas will be eager to extend his Bronze driver championship lead alongside Jeroen Bleekemolen, who is also confirmed. The team will announce its final co-driver in due course.
“After taking part in the US round last year, we saw the potential in the IGTC,” said Pappas. “GT3 racing is some of the greatest on the planet, and to take part in a championship that sees us visit some of the greatest ‘bucket list’ tracks in the world is something that we couldn’t pass up. I couldn’t ask for a better team-mate than Jeroen, and I think our measured approach will prove fruitful.”
Black Swan’s commitment takes the number of confirmed Suzuka 10 Hours entries to 28, five of which are Porsches, while no less than 12 manufacturers have also been announced. Many more teams and marques are expected to confirm their plans in the next five months.
The 47th Summer Endurance Race, which builds on the tradition of Suzuka’s previous 1000km event, has also become Asia’s sole leg of the Intercontinental GT Challenge this season. The race is being jointly administered by SRO Motorsports Group, Super GT organisers GT Association, and Suzuka’s management company Mobilityland Corporation.
Pirelli has been chosen as the event’s official tyre supplier while prize money totalling 100-million Yen has also been confirmed.
Uniquely, the race offers FIA GT3 cars from all over the world an opportunity to compete equally against Japanese teams running similar machinery and the JAF GT-spec chassis only found in Super GT’s GT300 category.