K2 R&D LEON Racing has announced that reigning SUPER GT GT300 Champions Naoya Gamou and Togo Suganami will return to the team to defend their championships in 2026.
Gamou and Suganami will return to drive the black #65 LEON Pyramid Mercedes-AMG GT3 EVO, under the management of Team Director Haruki Kurosawa – who also helped drive the team to its first championship in 2018. Also, in the final year of open tyre competition in GT300, LEON Racing will continue to run Bridgestone tyres, the combination that has powered the team to two GT300 championships and eight race wins since 2016.
This will be Gamou’s 12th season with LEON Racing. The two-time GT300 Champion has been a part of the team’s rise to an elite team in the series for over a decade, as he looks to add a record-tying third GT300 title to his CV in 2026.
Suganami, who made his SUPER GT debut with LEON Racing in 2019, returned to the team last season and picked up where he’d previously left off in 2021.
Together they won the opening round at Okayama despite a late-race collision while battling for the win, collected additional podiums in both Fuji Sprint Races in August, and secured the championships by just one point in the Drivers’ standings, while taking the Teams’ title in a tiebreaker.
The LEON Pyramid AMG will sport special decals commemorating the 25th anniversary of LEON, the mens’ lifestyle magazine and title sponsor of the team. As they did in 2019, K2 R&D LEON Racing will not carry the number 0, which is reserved for the reigning GT300 champion team.
No combination of team and drivers have ever won back-to-back GT300 titles in the 32-year history of SUPER GT. Only Tetsuya Yamano has ever won consecutive championships as a driver (driving for three different teams), while Team Taisan and Gainer have each won consecutive GT300 Teams’ titles with different driver line-ups.
Images © GTA
