On Tuesday, February 27, the GT Association (GTA) released the entry list for the 2018 Autobacs Super GT Series – which contains 15 of the fastest GT racing cars on earth from the GT500 category, and 29 of the most diverse and unique challengers from the GT300 category.

With 44 of the best teams in sports car racing assembled, 2018 promises to be another banner year of participation from the fastest-growing sports car racing series in the world.

The fastest sports cars in the world today are the GT500 cars – six Lexus LC500s built by Toyota, five mid-engined Honda NSX-GTs, and four Nissan GT-Rs.

The additions of 2009 Formula 1 World Champion, Jenson Button, FIA World Endurance Championship star Kamui Kobayashi, and FIA Formula E Championship star Felix Rosenqvist further bolster the field for 2018, as do home-grown GT500 newcomers Kenta Yamashita and Mitsunori Takaboshi.

Those drivers only add to a roster already containing the established stars of Super GT: Names like Kazuki Nakajima, Heikki Kovalainen, Yuji Tachikawa, Hiroaki Ishiura representing Lexus; Tsugio Matsuda, Ronnie Quintarelli, Satoshi Motoyama, and Jann Mardenborough representing Nissan; and Naoki Yamamoto, Takashi Kogure, Koudai Tsukakoshi, and Bertrand Baguette at Honda.

They will all be chasing down defending champions Ryo Hirakawa and Nick Cassidy, representing Lexus Team KeePer TOM’s.

There is also a new team to represent Nissan: NDDP Racing with B-Max, who move up from the GT300 category and are led by legendary racing driver Masahiro Hasemi.

The 29-car GT300 class is one of the largest in the history of the second division of Super GT – another strong mix of FIA GT3, JAF-GT300, and JAF-GT Mother Chassis vehicles.

While the likes of BMW Team Studie and Rn-sports have withdrawn from the category, there is still plenty of fresh energy with the arrival of the new Honda NSX GT3, fielded by the returning Modulo Drago Corse, and the brand-new CarGuy Racing.

There are new alliances as well, as K-Tunes Racing have invested in one half of the LM Corsa team, and Panther Team Thailand officially enter the Toyota Gazoo Racing family with a new Lexus RC F GT3 of their own. Gainer have taken the mantle of the leading Nissan challengers in GT300.

Combined with the return of Super GT legend Ryo Michigami, newcomers like Ritomo Miyata and Hiroki Otsu, and GT500 drivers like Kohei Hirate, Hironobu Yasuda, and Takashi Kobayashi finding a new home in GT300 – the roster is as intriguing as ever.

They’ll all be determined to defeat the #0 Goodsmile Hatsune Miku Mercedes-AMG GT3, driven by three-time champions Nobuteru Taniguchi and Tatsuya Kataoka who are both on the verge of history.

The February 27 announcement confirms one new driver: Natsu Sakaguchi returns as one of the two drivers of the #5 Team Mach Toyota 86 MC, with a handful of other teams still yet to formally announce their drivers.