Pacific switches to Mercedes, Ferrari drops out

Pacific, which has run Ferrari machinery in conjunction with CarGuy in SUPER GT’s GT300 class for the past two seasons (pictured above), appeared on the full-season entry list released by the Japanese championship last week, but with its car model and drivers yet to be announced.

Now the squad has announced that it will run a Yokohama-shod Mercedes this season, effectively confirming that Ferrari will be absent from the SUPER GT grid for the first time since 2020.

Motoki Jinno continues to serve as team boss, while maintenance is handled by Gifu Prefecture-based Nakanihon Automotive College.

SUPER GT veteran Ryohei Sakaguchi spearheads the driver line-up for the #9 car, moving across from Arnage Racing. He previously drove for Pacific in 2015-16, when it ran McLaren and then Porsche machinery.

Sakaguchi is joined by Chinese racer Liang Jiatong, who has experience in categories such as International GT Open and Lamborghini Super Trofeo.

Shintaro Kawabata, who previously drove for the Hitotsuyama Audi squad, will serve as third driver.

Elsewhere, R’Qs Motor Sports has announced its plans for the 2023 season. Veteran duo Hisashi Wada and Masaki Jyonai continue together in the team’s Arnage-run Mercedes, joined by new third driver Masaki Kano.

Kano shared the Arnage Toyota 86 Mother Chassis entry with Sakaguchi for the majority of last season.

An entry list for next month’s official pre-season test at Okayama also has gentleman drivers Taiyo Ida and Yuki Tanaka listed as the line-up for Nissan squad NILZZ Racing, which had yet to announce its drivers.

Team LeMans meanwhile has ex-Super Formula Lights racer Seiya Jin listed as a third driver for the test alongside its regular pairing of Roberto Merhi and Yoshiaki Katayama aboard its Audi R8 LMS GT3.

All 42 cars entered for the season are set to take part in the test on March 11-12.

SUPER GT Okayama test GT300 entry list: