The Super Taikyu Organisation (STO) released the provisional entry list for the 2019 Pirelli Super Taikyu Series, which begins on 24 March at Suzuka Circuit. 60 provisional entries are listed for the upcoming season, across all eight classes in the series, another healthy entry for Japan’s top pro-am racing championship.

The series is headlined by a ten-car entry in the ST-X class, for FIA GT3 cars. Reigning ST-X champions and Fuji 24 Hours winners GTNET Motor Sports lead the way in ST-X, with their new Nissan GT-R NISMO GT3. There are several new entries as well, including the big-ticket newcomers McLaren Customer Racing Japan, and their new 720S GT3. These teams will also take part in the SMBC/BH Auction Suzuka 10 Hours on 25 August, as a “Special Stage” championship round counting towards the ST-X Championship standings.

After two years, the ST-Z class for FIA GT4 cars will finally see its first full-time entries. Five teams have been announced for ST-Z: Two new Mercedes-AMG GT4s for established Super Taikyu teams Endless Sports and Birth Racing Project, a KTM X-Bow GT4 for K’s Frontier Syntium KTM, a Ginetta G55 GT4 for Techno First Racing Team, and a Porsche Cayman GT4 for Team Bend.

ST-TCR will feature nine entries. Reigning back-to-back champions Dome Racing scale back to one Honda Civic Type R, but the addition of a new Honda entry from international powerhouse KCMG will bring new energy to the grid.

The remaining five classes, for production-based cars of various engine displacements, all have multiple entries. A Porsche 911 GT3 Cup for reigning ST-1 champions D’station Racing will have an Audi R8 LMS Cup to race against from a team yet to be announced.

Six-time consecutive ST-2 champs TOWA INTEC Racing will see new competition in the form of a new Honda Civic Type R (FK8) fielded by the new Honda R&D Challenge team. ST-3 should see another great title fight between the Lexus RC 350s of teams like Tracy Sports and Le Beausset Motorsports versus the Nissan Fairlady Zs of Okabe Jidosha Motorsports and the Toyota Mark X of Saitama Toyopet GreenBrave.

ST-4 has eight Toyota 86es in its eleven-car ranks, led by reigning back-to-back series champions TOM’s Spirit – while in ST-5, a great mix of front-wheel drive subcompacts takes on the rear-wheel drive Mazda Roadsters – including two cars from the traditionally all-female Love Drive Racing squad, whose reach now extends to the prototype racing ranks in the Asian Le Mans Series as R24.

The series’ official pre-season test will take place on 2 March from Fuji Speedway, home of this year’s Fuji Super TEC 24 Hours. Some of the teams listed are expected to take part in the test, while some will make their on-track debut on the opening week of the season.

ST-X (FIA GT3) 10 cars (confirmed drivers listed in brackets)

#1 – GTNET Motor Sports – Nissan GT-R NISMO GT3

#9 – MP Racing – Nissan GT-R NISMO GT3

#31 – apr – Porsche 911 GT3-R (991)

#83 – X Works – Audi R8 LMS GT3

#112 – Sato-SS Sports – Mercedes-AMG GT3 (Atsushi Sato, Yuya Motojima, Ryosei Yamashita)

#244 – Max Racing – Lexus RC F GT3 (Tohru Tanaka, Tetsuya Tanaka, Kimiya Sato, Go Max)

#300 – Tairoku Racing with B-Max Engineering – Ferrari 488 GT3 (Tairoku Yamaguchi, Ryuji “Dragon” Kumita, Shinichi Takagi)

#720 – McLaren Customer Racing Japan – McLaren 720S GT3 (Álex Palou, Takayuki Kinoshita, Sena Sakaguchi)

#777 – D’station Racing – TBA

+ 1 TBA Entry

ST-Z (FIA GT4) 5 cars

#3 – Endless Sports – Mercedes-AMG GT4 (Yuudai Uchida, Hideki Yamauchi, Tsubasa Takahashi)

#35 – Techno First Racing Team – Ginetta G55 GT4

#51 – Bend – Porsche Cayman GT4

#190 – Birth Racing Project – Mercedes-AMG GT4

#222 – K’s Frontier Syntium KTM – KTM X-Bow GT4 (Taiyou Iida, Hiroki Katoh, Kazuho Takahashi, Hiroshi Hamaguchi)

ST-TCR (TCR) 9 cars

#10 – Adenau – Volkswagen Golf GTI TCR

#19 – Birth Racing Project – Audi RS3 LMS

#22 – Harness – TBA

#45 – Team Dream Drive – Audi RS3 LMS

#65 – Audi Team Mars – Audi RS3 LMS

#75 – Team Noah – Honda Civic Type R TCR

#97 – Dome Racing – Honda Civic Type R TCR

#108 – RFC – Honda Civic Type R TCR

#501 – KCMG – Honda Civic Type R TCR

ST-1 (3501cc and above) 2 cars

#47 – D’station Racing – Porsche 911 GT3 Cup

#998 – TBA – Audi R8 LMS Cup

ST-2 (2001-3500cc, front-wheel and all-wheel drive) 5 cars

#6 – Shinryo Auto Racing Team – Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution X

#7 – Shinryo Auto Racing Team – Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution X

#17 – Team NOPRO – Mazda Axela Skyactiv-D

#59 – TOWA INTEC Racing – Subaru WRX STI

#743 – Honda R&D Challenge – Honda Civic Type R

ST-3 (2001-3500cc, rear-wheel drive) 7 cars

#14 – Okabe Jidosha Motorsport – Nissan Fairlady Z34

#15 – Okabe Jidosha Motorsport – Nissan Fairlady Z34

#34 – Techno First Racing Team – Lexus RC 350

#38 – Tracy Sports – Lexus RC 350

#39 – Tracy Sports – Lexus RC 350

#62 – Le Beausset Motorsports – Lexus RC 350 (Koki Saga, Kenta Yamashita, Ryo Ogawa)

#68 – Saitama Toyopet GreenBrave – Toyota Mark X

ST-4 (1501-2000cc) 11 cars

#8 – APROS Racing – Toyota Vitz GRMN Turbo

#13 – Endless Sports – Toyota 86

#18 – Asano Racing Service – Toyota 86

#28 – Team Damonde – Toyota 86

#54 – TC Corse – Mazda Roadster NC

#86 – TOM’s Spirit – Toyota 86

#100 – SPV Racing – Toyota 86

#104 – Team Damonde – Toyota 86

#116 – Captain Harlock Racing Team – Honda S2000

#310 – C,S,I Racing – Toyota 86 (Rintaro Kubo, Shinya Hosokawa, Rei Yamaguchi)

#884 – Hayashi Telempu Shade Racing – Toyota 86

ST-5 (1500cc and below) 11 cars

#4 – Team Bride – Honda Fit RS 3

#37 – Team NOPRO – Mazda Demio Skyactiv-D

#50 – Love Drive Racing – Mazda Roadster ND

#66 – Over Drive – Mazda Roadster ND

#69 – J’s Racing – Honda Fit RS 3

#70 – J’s Racing – Honda Fit RS 3

#78 – Love Drive Racing – Mazda Roadster ND

#88 – Murakami Motors – Mazda Roadster ND

#101 – HMRacers – Mazda Demio

#168 – RFC – Honda Fit RS 3

#888 – Team Collection – Honda Fit RS 3