It was the first event of the first official JGTC season in 1994, and has been a permanent fixture of the series' calendar with the exception of 2004, when the circuit was closed for renovations, and 2020, due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. Held during a major public holiday season, it regularly draws the largest crowds of any Super GT race, with a two-day attendance of 91,000 spectators in 2019. ![]() The Golden Week race at Fuji Speedway, held annually on May 4, is also considered to be the series' most prestigious event. ![]() It ran from 2018 to 2019, but was not renewed from 2020 onwards. ![]() That year, Super GT revived the Fuji GT 500 Mile Race (805 km) as the series' new endurance round. The Suzuka 1000 km was replaced with the Intercontinental GT Challenge Suzuka 10 Hours in 2018. The International Suzuka 1000km endurance race in late August was the longest and most prestigious event on the Super GT calendar, from 2006 when it was added as a championship round, until 2017, the final year of the event in its 1000 km format. As of the 2023 season, the series has yet to stage another race outside of Japan. Buriram and Sepang were both on the 2020 provisional calendar, but both races were cancelled due to the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. Additional overseas races were planned to be held at Shanghai Circuit in 2005, and Yeongam International Circuit in 2013, but both events were cancelled. Sepang International Circuit in Malaysia hosted a championship round every year until 2014, when it was replaced by a new event at Chang International Circuit in Buriram, Thailand. The series had already expanded internationally by the time it was rebranded in 2005. In 2022, the series introduced a new longer-distance format for select races, held over 450 kilometres with two compulsory pit stops. Races are typically single events between 250 and 300 kilometres' distance, with one compulsory pit stop in the middle of the race for driver changes and refuelling. The series also races at Autopolis in the Kyushu region, Okayama International Circuit in the Chugoku region, and Sportsland Sugo in the Tohoku region. Super GT races take place on well-known Japanese race tracks such as Fuji Speedway, Suzuka Circuit, and Mobility Resort Motegi. Super GT maintained the current technical regulations for GT500, though the "Class 1" moniker would no longer be used. By 2021 however, DTM switched to a Group GT3 series due to massive manufacturer exodus. After some delays, technical regulations were fully aligned in 2020, with the GT500 category fully adopting Class One specifications. In 2014, Super GT and the German touring car series DTM announced the creation of Class 1, which would unify GT500's and DTM's technical regulations, allowing manufacturers to race in both series with a single specification of car. However, despite the name change and several attempts at holding a second overseas race, Super GT has continued to only hold one overseas race per year in theory, it could regain its status as a national championship and return to JAF jurisdiction. On December 10, 2004, it was announced that new name of JGTC was confirmed as "Super GT". Initially, JAF announced JGTC would be renamed "Super GT World Challenge" with the goals of "challenge to the world", and "challenge to entertainment" however, FIA prevented JAF from using it due to confusion of the suffix with "World Championship" (a higher level FIA recognition status) and a dispute with Sports Car Club of America, which ran Speed World Challenge since 1990. The series would instead be classified as an "international championship" by the FIA, and would therefore require direct authorization from it, rather than the JAF. ![]() However, holding the series in more than two countries would have meant the JGTC would lose its status as a "national championship" under the International Sporting Code of the FIA, and therefore could not keep "Japanese Championship" in its name. The JGTC had planned to hold a race during the 2005 season at the Shanghai International Circuit in China, in addition to the existing overseas round at Sepang in Malaysia. 2009 Lexus Petronas Team TOM's SC 430 GT500 champion.
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