JLOC Urges GTA Not to Deviate from SRO BoP

Photo: SUPER GT

JLOC boss Isao Noritake has urged SUPER GT organizer GTA to stick to the Balance of Performance values used by the SRO after the defending GT300 champion team’s title defense got off to a tough start last weekend at Okayama.

The team’s pair of Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2s struggled for competitiveness, qualifying 15th and 26th respectively, although adverse weather and a slew of incidents and penalties in the race allowed them to recover to seventh and ninth.

JLOC’s No. 88 car — now running as the No. 0, which is reserved for the reigning champion in GT300 — took the championship last year after Takashi Kogure and Yuya Motojima won half of the season’s eight races, including the final three in a row.

But having run with air restrictors of either 51 or 52mm in diameter throughout 2024, the Huracan EVO2 was forced to run with a 48mm air restrictor at Okayama, while its BoP weight of 85kg was unchanged from last year’s Suzuka finale.

Noritake was keen to point out that the Lamborghini was running with a 51mm restrictor in the GT World Challenge Asia powered by AWS round at Sepang that was taking place on the same weekend, and five kilograms lighter.

“Lamborghini has tried talking to the SRO about it on our behalf, but ultimately it’s up to the GTA as they are the organizer,” Noritake told Sportscar365.

“This weekend is the first time we’ve had the smaller air restrictor, and our top speed is down by about 6km/h compared to last year. We are already struggling and I think it will be even tougher when we go to Fuji, because of the long straight.

“We have discussed it with the GTA — we think they went too far.”

The GTA has had a partnership with the SRO to set the BoP for FIA GT3 cars since 2015, although there have often been minor differences with the minimum weight and other values in SUPER GT compared with those used in SRO-run series.

But Noritake believes that sticking to the SRO BoP values for GT3 machinery is essential for attracting more international teams to SUPER GT in future.

“The BoP exists to allow us to race the JAF [GTA-GT300] cars, which is good, but for GT3 cars, the work that SRO is doing should be the standard, especially if SUPER GT wants to attract more cars from overseas and be more international,” he said.

“It’s a bit of a shame, but we’ll do our best anyway.”

GTA chairman Masaaki Bandoh addressed the topic of BoP in his pre-event press conference at Okayama, stating that the differences between one-make Pirelli tires used in SRO competition and the confidential tires produced by Bridgestone, Yokohama, Michelin and Dunlop for SUPER GT makes finding the right balance difficult.

“The GT300 class is always evolving, and coming up with an effective BoP is very difficult, particularly with regards to the tires,” said Bandoh.

“Even in championships using commercial tires, each manufacturer is checking where they are in relation to the others, and compete against each other in the top categories using commercial tires, so development will be adjusted according to that.

“We want to have competition between tire manufacturers, but even against this backdrop we have to think about the future, and create a situation where teams can show their abilities and will want to stay in the championship continuously.”