Coming off an exceptional first season together in the Autobacs SUPER GT Series GT300 class, CarGuy MKS Racing has announced its full line-up of drivers for 2026.
The union of Takeshi Kimura’s CarGuy Racing team and Misato Haga’s new company MKS (Misato Knockout Sport) Racing yielded a maiden victory in Suzuka Circuit last August, and third place in the standings for rookie drivers Zak O’Sullivan and Rikuto Kobayashi.
After Toyota Gazoo Racing Driver Challenge (TGR-DC) prospect Kiyoshi Umegaki was confirmed to drive for CarGuy MKS in December, today it’s been confirmed that he’ll be racing full-time for the team, alongside the returning O’Sullivan – who will also race in the 2026 Super Formula Championship for Team Impul.
Umegaki makes his sports car racing debut as the reigning FIA Formula Regional Japanese Champion, and at age 18, projects to be the youngest driver in the series this coming season. He replaces Kobayashi, who has been promoted to GT500 with TGR Team KeePer Cerumo.
CarGuy MKS Racing has also signed 2024 Porsche Carrera Cup Japan Champion Reimei Ito as its third driver for the 2026 season, reuniting the 25-year-old with Haga, who gave him his first opportunity in SUPER GT three years ago as part of Yogibo Racing.
Ito was one of several drivers who took part in a “driver shootout” at Petronas Sepang International Circuit, joined by Umegaki, two-time GT500 Champion Kohei Hirate, reigning SRO Japan Cup GT3 Champion Shintaro Kawabata, highly-rated single-seater prospect Hiyu Yamakoshi, last year’s FIA F4 Japanese Championship runner-up Itsuki Sato, and Masataka Inoue, who was CarGuy Racing’s driver coach in SRO Japan Cup last season.
Feature image © GTA
