SUPER GT's return to Sepang was a hit — but what comes next?
A review of SUPER GT's first overseas foray since 2019 and a look at what it means for the GTA's plans for international expansion... (Photos: SUPER GT)
When I started planning which races to attend in 2025, SUPER GT’s return to Sepang was virtually at the top of the list. And the ‘Malaysia Festival’, as the event was branded, was certainly a success, marking an important first step for the GTA’s international ambitions that were thwarted for years by the COVID-19 pandemic.
When Sepang promoter HARO Sports & Entertainment set itself a target of 80,000 fans across two days, during last year’s signing ceremony it felt ambitious. But in the end, a total of 75,977 passed through the turnstiles, a figure that is very likely to make the race the second-best attended of the year, behind only the Fuji Golden Week race.
To put the number into further context, last weekend’s Sepang round became the fourth-best attended in the post-COVID era, and the highest outside of Fuji.
Top SUPER GT attendances (over two days) since 2022:
88,400 - Fuji Round 2, 2024
82,500 - Fuji Round 2, 2025
80,200 - Fuji Round 2, 2023
75,977 - Sepang Round 3, 2025
73,000 - Fuji Round 2, 2022
Given that SUPER GT previously raced successfully at Sepang, hosting championship races from 2002 until 2013, perhaps such numbers shouldn’t come as a total surprise. Clearly, there’s an appetite for this type of racing among local fans. But 12 years is a long time for an event like this one to be away for, and the world has changed in many ways in the interim. Drawing such a crowd, equivalent to more than 90 percent of the series’ biggest race of the season, was by no means guaranteed.
The GTA deserves a pat on the back for a successful first overseas race this side of COVID. But what can we expect from the remaining two years of its contract with HARO Sports & Entertainment to host the race in 2026 and ‘27, and beyond that?