Super GT teams will be permitted to contest next year's Suzuka 1000km, GT Association chairman Masaaki Bandoh has confirmed.
The announcement came ahead of Super GT's penultimate round at Motegi on Sunday.
Super GT regulations prohibit its GT300 teams' chassis from competing elsewhere domestically, such as in Super Taikyu or the Japan Cup. However, the GTA will waive this stipulation for the Summer Endurance Race, which returns to the Intercontinental GT Challenge schedule next season for the first time since 2019.
This and several more potential developments were discussed between Bandoh and SRO's Stephane Ratel at the recent FIA Motorsport Games in Valencia.
"Until now, the situation was that the GT300 class teams were allowed to compete – but not their cars,” said Bandoh. “Super GT will be at Suzuka on 23-24 August, and the Suzuka 1000km is three weeks later – but we have agreed to allow us to use our cars to enter the race as it is.”
Super GT's GT300 class features a mix of domestically-built GTA chassis and international FIA GT3 cars. Both contested IGTC's Asian round in 2018 and '19, but only GT3 variants are currently scheduled to race next season. Bandoh is hopeful this will change in time for 2026 when Suzuka could also count towards the GT300 championship.
“We hope that this will be a stepping stone towards 2026,” he added. “We would like to continue to discuss with the SRO about how we are going to build the race for the future.
“Stéphane and I have discussed the possibility of giving GT300 points as part of the Super GT series, and we will look into it before then."
The Suzuka 1000km takes place on September 12-14.