Toyota announces 2021 Super GT driver, GT500 grid completed – Motorsports

Following the title mistake in 2020, Japanese automobile giants have once again introduced six Toyota GR Supras to the top class in the series.

As previously reported by Motorsport.comThe main changes are Sacha Fenestraz, who teams up with Ryo Hirakawa in # 37 Tom Scar, and Kenta Yamashita, who will return to partner Kazuya Oshima in rookie racing full-time, to reproduce the 2019 title acquisition lineup.

Fenestras will take the seat that Nick Cassidy has occupied since 2017. Nick Cassidy leaves the championship to participate in Formula E at Envision Virgin Racing.

Meanwhile, Sho Tsuboi will move in place of # 36 Tom’s Fenestras after spending a season with CERUMO’s second Oshima in 2020.

Rookie Racing has also won a new title sponsor in the form of the petrol brand ENEOS, a former sponsor of Team LeMans, to replace the chemical brand Wako.

The remaining three lineups within Toyota have not changed since last year.

CERUMO’s # 38 entry focuses on veteran pairing between Hiroaki Ishiura and Yuji Tachikawa. SARD maintains former Formula 1 stars Heikki Kovalainen and Yuichi Nakayama, and Racing Project Bando maintains the pairing of Ritomo Miyata and Yuji Kunimoto.

Five of Toyota’s six entries are in Bridgestone, and Racing Project Bandeau has a long-standing relationship with Yokohama.

3 GR Supra of GT300

Toyota also announced that three of the GR Supra GT300 machines will be on the grid this year. Thursday news that LM Corsa will use the car in 2021..

It is Max Racing that LM Corsa and Saitama Toyopet have joined in running the JAF GT300 specification car. This is switching from the increasingly unpopular Lexus RC F GT3, like the LM Corsa.

However, the Lexus brand will remain on the grid through K-tunes Racing, which operates the lineup of Morio Nitta and Sena Sakaguchi unchanged.

Meanwhile, Max Racing has adopted Tsutsumi Yui for Supra’s Atsushi Miyake.

Elsewhere, apr will continue to field the pair of GR Sport Prius PHVs. Hiroaki Saga and Manabu Orido remain in the # 30 pair, while Yuki Saga and Yuhki Nakayama fly # 31.

The seventh Toyota entry was listed as TBA, but uses Team Thai Team and its Lexus RC F GT3 reserve # 35.

However, it is unclear whether Team Thailand or its 2020 drivers Sean Walkinshaw and Matthias Beshe will return for the next season.

Full 2021 SUPER GT grid (GT500 class):