Six years had passed since the last Suzuka Summer Endurance Race, and so much had changed in the Intercontinental GT Challenge. But one thing remains the same after all this time: Team WRT is still the team to beat, no matter which manufacturer it’s aligned with.
Raffaele Marciello, Kelvin van der Linde, and Charles Weerts won the long-awaited 49th edition of the Suzuka 1000km with a dominating drive from pole position in their #32 BMW M4 GT3 EVO.
It’s BMW’s first Suzuka 1000km overall win in 43 years, the first since the Group 5 BMW M1 of Fumiyasu Satō and Naoki Nagasaka won the 1982 International Suzuka 1000km.
But for WRT, the winning feeling is nothing new: Back-to-back Suzuka Summer Endurance wins for the team and for South African driver van der Linde, six years after they last won with Audi. Van der Linde joins his co-driver Marciello (who won in 2018 with Mercedes-AMG) as two-time winners of Japan’s great endurance sports car race, while Weerts won the event in his first appearance.
Even in the final weeks of summer and with a partial cloud cover, Suzuka Circuit was still very hot, with temperatures near 30ºC at the start of Sunday’s six-hour, 30-minute timed race.
Van der Linde established an early advantage, taking the holeshot into turns one and two ahead of the #888 Team GMR Mercedes-AMG GT3 EVO of Maxime Martin. Behind them, Cheng Congfu in the #14 Audi Sport Asia Team Phantom R8 got a sluggish start, while the Porsches of Alessio Picariello and Laurens Vanthoor made side-by-side contact in the S-Curves.
An early Full Course Yellow when Li Kerong (#86 Origine Porsche) spun at the Degner Curves was lifted. Van der Linde eventually extended his lead out to 18 seconds when it was time to hand the red and black #32 BMW to Weerts.
Meanwhile, within the top ten there were some exciting battles and overtakes: Klaus Bachler’s Porsche went side-by-side with the Nissan of Yu Kanamaru from the Nissin Brake Hairpin to Spoon Corner, and it was Bachler in the #23 Phantom Global Racing “Pink Pig” that swept past the #500 Team 5Zigen GT-R. Sadly, a refuelling rig issue undid most of Bachler’s progress after the first pit stop.
Kanamaru was also under threat from the quick #9 Bingo Racing Callaway Corvette C7 GT3-R of Ukyo Sasahara for several laps, but as Sasahara tried a move around turn one, he opened the door for Scott McLaughlin in the #2 Johor Motorsports JMR Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R to swing to the inside and overtake the older ‘Vette.
At the first round of pit stops, the #14 Audi’s great weekend came to a sudden halt when it caught fire as it left the box. The car had been suffering from a slow oil leak for most of Cheng’s opening stint and it finally ignited – Audi Sport Asia Team Phantom lost an hour in the garage with repairs and was a non-classified finisher.
Kévin Estre took over the #7 Absolute Racing “NewMan” Porsche from his fellow World Champion Vanthoor and made a ruthless barge pass up the inside of Mikaël Grenier for second place, but the contact with the #888 GMR Mercedes-AMG warranted a five-second time penalty at the #7’s next stop.
Weerts got the gap out to over 23 seconds when it was time to pit and hand the car over to Marciello. Two Full Course Yellows for incidents involving the #60 LM corsa Ferrari and the #51 AMAC Motorsport Porsche 991.2 ended a two-and-a-half hour period of green flag racing.
Marciello got the gap back out to about 28 seconds when fans of the Bingo Racing Callaway Corvette were dealt a painful blow. With young Reimei Itō behind the wheel, the blue and yellow-flame Corvette ground to a halt with a stuck brake pedal.
In what may (or may not) have been the car’s final race, Callaway C7 GT3-R chassis #005 was the first retirement, triggering an extended Full Course Yellow and eventually, the first Safety Car intervention of the race at the end. That slashed the #32 WRT BMW’s lead over the #888 GMR Mercedes, which cycled to second place by staying out as the race went back to green.
The second extended FCY and Safety Car came out after a collision between the #33 Vollgas Porsche of Liang Jiatong and the #45 PONOS Racing Ferrari of Yusuke Yamasaki broke the Ferrari’s suspension. The #32 WRT BMW pitted during this period and for the first time, conceded its lead momentarily, as the #888 GMR Mercedes curiously chose to wait until the Safety Car withdrew to follow it in for its pit stop.
Marciello set the fastest lap of the race in the leading BMW before Naoki Yokomizo in the #555 Maezawa Racing Ferrari spun off and crashed at 130R corner, leading to the final FCY and Safety Car. Yokomizo was okay, but in the intervention, the recovery tractor accidentally pulled the 296 GT3’s rear end away from the car.
None of that was any concern to van der Linde, who hopped back into the #32 WRT BMW for the last 90 minutes of green flag racing. He kept the yellow and black #7 Porsche of Estre at a safe distance, brought the car in for its last pit stop with 45 minutes to go, then pulled away in the final stint.
The #32 WRT BMW led 163 out of 170 laps, only giving up the lead during pit stop cycles near the end, and won by 13.647 seconds, a final margin which flatters just how dominant the trio of van der Linde, Marciello, and Weerts were all day.
BMW took further control of the IGTC Manufacturers’ Championship over Porsche, while van der Linde ended the day as the new leader in the IGTC Drivers’ Championship. “It’s fantastic, honestly,” van der Linde said after the race. “The team have given us a great car this weekend, in all conditions, and it really was a pleasure to drive here at Suzuka.
“We’ve traveled from Austin, Texas last week, came here, spent a couple of nights in Tokyo, did some karaoke – and now to top it off with a win, it’s the best ever.”
“It’s my first time here in Japan and to be able to come and race, and to do the pole and to win, it’s just incredible,” said Weerts, who dedicated the win to his father Yves (the “W” in WRT). “I remember watching the race in 2019 when WRT won with Dries (Vanthoor) back then, I was like, this is a race I want to do once, and if I could win, that would be incredible. This car was an absolute weapon the whole weekend.”
Marciello, who’s finished first, second, and first in his three Suzuka 1000km appearances, added: “My teammates have said enough, it’s amazing to win this race again after ’18; in ’19 I was on the podium with Kelvin when he won the race. It’s an amazing place, and I have special memories here, so it’s very nice.”
Porsche’s challenge for its record-extending 12th overall win and first since 1994 came up one position short as Absolute Racing’s #7 Porsche driven by Estre, Vanthoor, and Patrick Pilet finished second, one of three 911 GT3 Rs inside the overall top five.
“I don’t think [anything would have changed the result],” lamented Estre. “We for sure got everything all in to try to overtake people, and there was some contacts here and there, but that was the only possibility I think, for us to pass and get track position. BMW was just too strong for us today.
“The #32 was stronger the whole race. We did the maximum, but that’s the way it is,” he shrugged.
The highlight of the final 20 minutes was the battle for third overall between the #2 JMR Corvette of Nicky Catsburg and the #10 Absolute Racing Porsche of Loek Hartog. Both cars had overtaken the wounded #6 Origine Porsche that drove over half the race with a damaged floor, and young Porsche selected driver Hartog was able to catch his fellow Dutchman.
Hartog tried a lunge up the inside of the “Triangle” Chicane with ten minutes to go, but couldn’t complete the pass; Catsburg was forced wide through the runoff but was able to redress the margin and maintain third place.
The blue and silver #2 JMR Corvette of Catsburg, McLaughlin, and Alexander Sims (who drove the middle stints) held on to finish ahead of the blue and purple #10 Absolute Porsche of Hartog, Richard Lietz, and Antares by just 0.263 seconds. With that result, the Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R became the first American car to finish on the overall podium at the Suzuka 1000km.
Asked how he held off Hartog at the end, Catsburg said: “I’m not sure, to be honest! I’m completely destroyed. I don’t think I’ve ever had to fight that hard for P3. But we had some good battles. Everyone was pretty fair, so it was a really awesome race. First race for me with these guys, and my teammates did an amazing job. No mistakes all day, and we brought a podium home, so not so bad.”
Hartog responded, “If he (Catsburg) says that – he’s a legend for myself, and it’s cool for myself to battle with these guys that I look up to! Yes, I wanted it very dearly, but on the other side, we’re in a different race. We were fighting for the Bronze class, so there was no risk. But I think I made a good show.”
It capped off a commanding fourth place overall run and Bronze class win for Au, Lietz, and Hartog. Au drove a perfect opening stint and with the combination of good strategy and good driving from his pro teammates, Au also took maximum IGTC Independent Cup points this weekend.
Carrying the colours of the 1981-winning Italiya-Kremer Porsche 935/K3, the #6 Origine Porsche of Picariello, Bastian Buus, and Laurin Heinrich battled to fifth place despite the floor damage. Buus’ mega stint in which he held off a train of faster cars for several minutes was admirable, but ultimately Catsburg fought his way past the Dane’s defense, running side-by-side from turn one until he made the move at NIPPO (formerly Dunlop) Corner.
Heinrich ran fifth in the final stint until he was hit by Hesse on the penultimate lap, and dropped behind the #31 WRT BMW. But Hesse would receive a 12-second post-race time penalty for the collision, dropping him, Dan Harper, and Augusto Farfus to sixth behind the #6 Origine Porsche.
Team GMR’s Martin, Grenier, and Luca Stolz finished as the top Mercedes-AMG customer crew in seventh place after running squarely inside the top three for the first four hours or so, but ultimately the strategy didn’t work out for them in the end.
Despite the pit stop problems for the #23 Phantom Global Porsche, Bachler, Dorian Boccolacci, and Patric Niederhauser still took eighth place, less than a second ahead of the #89 Team KRC BMW in ninth.
Ruan Cunfan, Maxime Oosten, and Neil Verhagen also took second place in the Bronze class – and first place among all GT World Challenge Asia teams running with their regular drivers from that championship (Ruan/Oosten).
Completing the top ten overall was the #77 Craft-Bamboo Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 of Maximilian Götz, Ralf Aron, and Kakunoshin Ohta, which gained 18 positions during the race after starting a lowly 28th.
11th overall and third place in the Bronze class went to the #91 Herberth Motorsport Porsche (Ralf Bohn/Robert Renauer/Alfred Renauer), one position ahead of the #61 EBM GIGA Racing Porsche (Adrian D’Silva/Harry King/Sven Müller), which went from 33rd to 12th.
Behind them, the #75 75 Express Mercedes-AMG (Kenny Habul/Yannick Mettler/Dominik Baumann) and #18 Porsche Center Okazaki GT3 R (Hiroaki Nagai/Kazuto Kotaka/Takuro Shinohara) took fourth and fifth in the Bronze class; the #18 Porsche was the top-ranked all-Japanese team in the race.
It was a tough day for several Japanese teams, but there was a silver lining as the #500 Team 5Zigen Nissan GT-R NISMO GT3 of Kanamaru, Yuya Motojima, and Takayuki Aoki held on to win the Silver class with a 15th place overall finish. This was despite Kanamaru being spun out on the last lap by Goodsmile Racing’s Kamui Kobayashi.
“I’ve never raced this long with this car and it was pretty tough. During the Qualifying we had a very good session, but for the race we didn’t have much pace, so I always had to defend from other drivers,” Kanamaru admitted. “Unfortunately we had a crash in the end, but we finished the race, and we won the race in Silver, so I’m happy with it.”
Team Handwork Challenge’s #30 Nissan (Daiki Sasaki/Iori Kimura/Atsushi Miyake) retired with an engine failure with just over two hours to go, one of four cars that didn’t complete enough laps to be classified at the finish.
Pro-Am class victory went to the #28 Craft-Bamboo Mercedes-AMG of Jonathan Hui, Kevin Tse, and Ben Barnicoat over the #69 GetSpeed Mercedes-AMG (Anthony McIntosh/Philip Ellis/Steve Jans). Barnicoat was a rocket on the opening stint as he gained 18 positions in just one hour of driving, and at the end, he held off fellow IMSA standout Ellis for the class victory by 3.2 seconds.
It was redemption for Tse, who crashed out in Qualifying due to an ABS failure. “Ben was an absolute animal to do a double stint at the end, and to have the Merc chasing us down for first place – Ben is a hero, and definitely driver of the day,” Tse said of his co-driver.
Further down the overall order, the highest-finishing Ferrari was the #21 Harmony Racing “Ramen Rocket” (Dustin Blattner/Dennis Marschall/Lorenzo Patrese) in 22nd. The Ferrari had a problem with a stuck wheel nut on its first pit stop and lost four laps very early. All five Ferraris in the field retired or had significant time loss due to mechanical issues or accidents.
Finally, the two-car Am class duel was won by the #360 RunUp Sports Nissan, which not only ran the entire Suzuka 1000km and every test, practice, and qualifying session – but also completed the entire Japan Cup support race weekend as well with no major issues.
Masaaki Nishikawa, Atsushi Tanaka, and last-minute addition Yūsaku Shibata won the Am class by 16 laps over the #51 AMAC Porsche. “I am very happy about this win,” said RunUp Sports’ owner/driver Tanaka. “The car did a great job this weekend, and I’m very happy about the potential of the Nissan GT-R. I’m very grateful for this team.”
24,000 passionate race fans came to Suzuka across the two-day weekend, 15,000 of them on Sunday, representing a drop from the 2018 and 2019 Suzuka 10 Hours. Those who came were treated to a fantastic race, but it is clear that there is more work to be done – and hopefully, the SRO and Honda Mobilityland can work together as promoters to bring more fans in to enjoy the 50th edition of the race in September 2026.
Images © SRO / Gruppe C Photography
