Super Formula and Super GT outlines 2023 calendars

The Japanese single-seater series will again visit five different tracks next year, with Fuji Speedway maintaining the second date that it picked up last year at the expense of Motegi.

Suzuka also keeps both of its dates, while Autopolis, Sugo and Motegi will be visited once apiece.

Okayama, dropped from the 2021 schedule owing to financial difficulties, remains absent.

All seven race weekends maintain their 2022 dates, with Fuji opening up the season on 7-9 April and Suzuka closing things out on 27-29 October.

But there is intrigue in the fact that all seven events are listed as three-day meetings.

Super Formula elected to turn three of its seven race weekends into double-headers this year, bringing the total number of races up to 10, and the series has openly suggested that it could add more two-race weekends.

This year, Friday practice only occurs during the three weekends featuring two races, namely the Fuji opener and the final two events of the season at Honda-owned tracks Motegi and Suzuka.

However, Super Formula shared the bill with the All-Japan Superbike series for this year's April Suzuka and Autopolis events, and turning these races into double-headers would be a logistical challenge should the collaboration continue.

Pre-season testing dates have yet to be announced.

Provisional 2023 Super Formula calendar:

Date	Venue
7-9 April	Fuji Speedway
21-23 April	Suzuka Circuit
19-21 May	Autopolis
16-18 June	Sportsland Sugo
14-16 July	Fuji Speedway
18-20 August	Mobility Resort Motegi
27-29 October	Suzuka Circuit

#61 SUBARU BRZ R＆D SPORT

Photo by: Masahide Kamio

Super GT also reveals 2023 race calendar

Super GT has also revealed a 2023 calendar made up of eight races bearing a strong resemblance to this year's schedule.

Japan's top sportscar series will again visit six different tracks in 2023, namely Okayama, Fuji, Suzuka, Sugo, Autopolis and Motegi. As per this year, Fuji and Suzuka both get two dates on the calendar, while the remaining four tracks each get one slot.

Okayama will open up the campaign on 15-16 April, maintaining this year's slightly later date, while Motegi keeps its place as the venue for the final round of the season on 4-5 November.

Only the first Suzuka race, which has been shifted a week forward into June, and the Sugo race in September, which has been moved back a week to avoid a clash with the World Endurance Championship's annual visit to Fuji, fall on different weekends to this year's schedule.

Race distances have not been announced, and it remains to be seen whether the 450km format trialled this year in the two Fuji races and the August Suzuka race will be maintained.

For a fourth season in a row, Super GT will not visit any overseas tracks, as previously indicated by series chairman Masaaki Bandoh.

It means a return to either Thailand's Buriram, last visited in 2019, or Malaysia's Sepang Circuit, which was due to be on the 2020 schedule before being called off amid the coronavirus pandemic, will have to wait until 2024 at the earliest.

Provisional 2023 Super GT calendar:

Date	Venue
15-16 April	Okayama International Circuit
3-4 May	Fuji Speedway
3-4 June	Suzuka Circuit
5-6 August	Fuji Speedway
26-27 August	Suzuka Circuit
9-10 September	Sportsland Sugo
30 September-1 October	Autopolis
4-5 November	Mobility Resort Motegi