One driver that won't be back on the Super GT grid this year is 2012 GT300 co-champion Naoki Yokomizo, who lost his ride at the now-defunct Lamborghini Team Direction after the 2016 season, which he described as "the worst of [his] career."
For 2017, he will focus on Super Taikyu and racing outside of Japan.
http://www.as-web.jp/supergt/96890?all