The 2026 Autobacs SUPER GT Series’ first official pre-season test takes place in two weeks at Okayama International Circuit.
All 43 teams will test at Okayama on 6–7 March, though only Sunday’s portion of the test will be open to the general public – who’ll get their first look at the new Honda HRC Prelude-GT, and the newest modifications to the Toyota GR Supra GT500 and Nissan Z NISMO GT500.
It follows a two-day GT500 manufacturers’ test at Fuji Speedway where Toyota teams recorded the fastest times across both days. Nirei Fukuzumi (#14 Eneos X Prime GR Supra) went quickest yesterday, and today, reigning champion Sho Tsuboi (#36 au TOM’S GR Supra) set the fastest time of all.
| Class | No. | Vehicle/Registered Name | Drivers | Entrant | Tyres |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GT500 | 8 | Honda HRC Prelude-GT #8 ARTA Mugen HRC Prelude-GT | Kakunoshin Ohta Hiroki Otsu | Team HRC ARTA Mugen | Bridgestone |
| GT500 | 12 | Nissan Z NISMO GT500 TRS Impul with SDG Z | Kazuki Hiramine Bertrand Baguette | Team Impul | Bridgestone |
| GT500 | 14 | Toyota GR Supra GT500 ENEOS X Prime GR Supra | Nirei Fukuzumi Kazuya Oshima | TGR Team ENEOS ROOKIE | Bridgestone |
| GT500 | 16 | Honda HRC Prelude-GT #16 ARTA Mugen HRC Prelude-GT | Tomoki Nojiri Ren Sato | ARTA Mugen | Bridgestone |
| GT500 | 17 | Honda HRC Prelude-GT Astemo HRC Prelude-GT | Koudai Tsukakoshi Yuto Nomura | Astemo Real Racing | Bridgestone |
| GT500 | 19 | Toyota GR Supra GT500 WedsSport Bandoh GR Supra | Yuji Kunimoto Sena Sakaguchi | TGR Team WedsSport Bandoh | Yokohama |
| GT500 | 23 | Nissan Z NISMO GT500 Motul Niterra Z | Katsumasa Chiyo Mitsunori Takaboshi | NISMO | Bridgestone |
| GT500 | 24 | Nissan Z NISMO GT500 Realize Corporation Z | Teppei Natori Atsushi Miyake | Kondo Racing | Bridgestone |
| GT500 | 36 | Toyota GR Supra GT500 au TOM'S GR Supra | Sho Tsuboi Kenta Yamashita | TGR Team au TOM'S | Bridgestone |
| GT500 | 37 | Toyota GR Supra GT500 Deloitte TOM'S GR Supra | Ukyo Sasahara Giuliano Alesi | TGR Team Deloitte TOM'S | Bridgestone |
| GT500 | 38 | Toyota GR Supra GT500 KeePer Cerumo GR Supra | Toshiki Oyu Rikuto Kobayashi | TGR Team KeePer Cerumo | Bridgestone |
| GT500 | 39 | Toyota GR Supra GT500 Denso Kobelco SARD GR Supra | Yuhi Sekiguchi Sacha Fenestraz | TGR Team SARD | Bridgestone |
| GT500 | 64 | Honda HRC Prelude-GT Modulo HRC Prelude-GT | Riki Okusa Igor Omura Fraga | Modulo Nakajima Racing | Dunlop |
| GT500 | 100 | Honda HRC Prelude-GT Stanley HRC Prelude-GT | Naoki Yamamoto Tadasuke Makino | Stanley Team Kunimitsu | Bridgestone |
There’s no major surprises or omissions on the GT500 side, but with a few seats yet to be confirmed, GT300 has a few talking points.
This includes the newly-confirmed line-ups at JLOC: Takashi Kogure, Daniil Kvyat, and Natsu Sakaguchi (reserve) in the #88 Lamborghini, Yuya Motojima, Kosuke Matsuura, and Kohta Kawaai (reserve) in the #87.
It includes seven x seven Racing’s new combination of Porsche contracted driver Sven Müller – back in the series for the first time since 2018 – and Kiyoto Fujinami in the #666 Porsche 911 GT3 R (992.2).
And it includes another new addition to the SUPER GT grid: James Pull, the Anglo-Malaysian driver who spent three seasons in GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup driving for teams like Barwell Motorsport, Garage 59, and Team WRT. After two years out of racing, Pull resurfaced in Japan in 2024, spending the last two years racing in the Super Taikyu Series for Hitotsuyama Racing.
Pull will join Taiyo Ida in the #48 NILZZ Racing Nissan GT-R NISMO GT3; Daiki Fujiwara returns to the team for the Okayama test and will likely return as the team’s third driver for the long-distance races at Fuji and Autopolis.
Team Mach, coming off its first SUPER GT win, will give Souta Arao his first GT300 test in the #5 Mach Syaken/Air Buster MC86. Arao is a former Red Bull Junior Team and Honda Formula Dream Project (HFDP) academy driver who has raced in French F4, the GB3 Championship, and Super Formula Lights.
And Tomei Sports has brought in GT World Challenge Asia race winner Yu Kanamaru to test their #360 RunUp Rivaux GT-R alongside returnees Rin Arakawa and Atsushi Tanaka. Tanaka is the only driver officially confirmed for 2026 so far, but is more likely to spend more time racing for Tomei Sports’ SRO Japan Cup effort instead of SUPER GT.
Elsewhere, Pacific Racing Team’s newly-named Sporting Director Ryohei Sakaguchi will be back behind the wheel of the team’s new #9 BMW M4 GT3 EVO on Saturday only. That BMW will carry another new partnership between Pacific Racing and CyGames, creators of the wildly popular video game Umamusume: Pretty Derby.
Yorikatsu Tsujiko (#45 PONOS Racing Ferrari 296 GT3 EVO), Shunji Okumoto (#61 Subaru BRZ R&D Sport) and Haruki Kurosawa (#65 LEON Pyramid Mercedes-AMG GT3 EVO) are also listed as third drivers for the test, fulfilling their roles as reserve drivers.
Team Eneos ROOKIE’s new #32 Mercedes-AMG GT3 EVO was the fastest in Wednesday’s GT Entrants’ Association test at Fuji.
| Class | No. | Vehicle/Registered Name | Drivers | Entrant | Tyres |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GT300 | 2 | Toyota GR86 GT300 Hyper Water INGING GR86 GT | Yuui Tsutsumi Kazuhisa Urabe | Hyper Water Racing INGING | Bridgestone |
| GT300 | 4 | Mercedes-AMG GT3 EVO Goodsmile Hatsune Miku AMG | Nobuteru Taniguchi Tatsuya Kataoka | Goodsmile Racing & TeamUKYO | Yokohama |
| GT300 | 5 | Toyota (Dome) 86 MC Mach Syaken Air Buster MC86 Mach Go | Yusuke Shiotsu TBN Souta Arao | Team Mach | Yokohama |
| GT300 | 6 | Ferrari 296 GT3 Uni-Robo Bluegrass Ferrari | Yoshiaki Katayama Niklas Krütten | Velorex | Yokohama |
| GT300 | 7 | Ferrari 296 GT3 CarGuy Ferrari 296 GT3 | Zak O'Sullivan Kiyoshi Umegaki Reimei Ito | CarGuy MKS Racing | Yokohama |
| GT300 | 9 | BMW M4 GT3 EVO Pacific Umamusume NAC BMW | Yusuke Tomibayashi Yuta Fujiwara Ryohei Sakaguchi (6/3) Rintaro Kubo (7/3) | Pacific Racing Team | Michelin |
| GT300 | 11 | Nissan Fairlady Z GT300 Gainer Tanax Z | Ryuichiro Tomita Kazuki Oki | Gainer | Dunlop |
| GT300 | 18 | Mercedes-AMG GT3 EVO UpGarage AMG GT3 | Takashi Kobayashi Kotaro Shimbara | Team UpGarage | Yokohama |
| GT300 | 20 | Lexus RC F GT3 SHADE Racing RC F GT3 | Katsuyuki Hiranaka Eijiro Shimizu | SHADE Racing | Michelin |
| GT300 | 22 | Mercedes-AMG GT3 EVO R'Qs AMG GT3 | Hisashi Wada Masaki Kano Masaki Jyonai | R'Qs Motor Sports | Yokohama |
| GT300 | 25 | Toyota GR Supra GT300 Hoppy Schatz GR Supra GT | Takamitsu Matsui Ryota Horachi | Hoppy Team Tsuchiya | Yokohama |
| GT300 | 26 | Nissan Fairlady Z GT300 Anest Iwata Gainer Z | Hironobu Yasuda Lee Jungwoo | Anest Iwata Racing | Yokohama |
| GT300 | 30 | Toyota GR86 GT300 apr GR86 GT | Hiroaki Nagai Hibiki Taira Manabu Orido | apr | Yokohama |
| GT300 | 31 | Lexus LC500h GT300 apr LC500h GT | Kazuto Kotaka Miki Koyama Charlie Wurz | apr | Bridgestone |
| GT300 | 32 | Mercedes-AMG GT3 EVO Eneos X Prime AMG GT3 | Hiroaki Ishiura Tokiya Suzuki | Team Eneos ROOKIE | Bridgestone |
| GT300 | 45 | Ferrari 296 GT3 Evo PONOS Ferrari 296 Evo | Kei Cozzolino Takuro Shinohara Yorikatsu Tsujiko | PONOS Racing | Yokohama |
| GT300 | 48 | Nissan GT-R NISMO GT3 TBN | Taiyo Ida James Pull Daiki Fujiwara | NILZZ Racing | Yokohama |
| GT300 | 52 | Toyota GR Supra GT300 Green Brave GR Supra GT | Hiroki Yoshida Seita Nonaka | Saitama Green Brave | Bridgestone |
| GT300 | 56 | Nissan GT-R NISMO GT3 Realize Nissan Mechanic Challenge GT-R | João Paulo de Oliveira Iori Kimura | Kondo Racing | Yokohama |
| GT300 | 60 | Lexus LC500 GT300 Syntium LM corsa LC500 GT | Hiroki Yoshimoto Shunsuke Kohno | LM corsa | Dunlop |
| GT300 | 61 | Subaru BRZ GT300 Subaru BRZ R&D Sport | Takuto Iguchi Hideki Yamauchi Shunji Okumoto | R&D Sport | Dunlop |
| GT300 | 62 | Nissan GT-R NISMO GT3 HELM Motorsports GT-R | Yuya Hiraki Reiji Hiraki | HELM Motorsports | Yokohama |
| GT300 | 65 | Mercedes-AMG GT3 EVO LEON Pyramid AMG | Naoya Gamou Togo Suganami Haruki Kurosawa | K2 R&D LEON Racing | Bridgestone |
| GT300 | 87 | Lamborghini Huracán GT3 EVO2 JLOC Lamborghini GT3 | Yuya Motojima Kosuke Matsuura Kohta Kawaai | JLOC | Yokohama |
| GT300 | 88 | Lamborghini Huracán GT3 EVO2 Venteny Lamborghini GT3 | Takashi Kogure Daniil Kvyat Natsu Sakaguchi | JLOC | Yokohama |
| GT300 | 96 | Lexus RC F GT3 K-tunes RC F GT3 | Morio Nitta Shinichi Takagi | K-tunes Racing | Bridgestone |
| GT300 | 360 | Nissan GT-R NISMO GT3 RunUp x SOL GT-R | Rin Arakawa Yu Kanamaru Atsushi Tanaka | Tomei Sports | Yokohama |
| GT300 | 666 | Porsche 911 GT3 R (992.2) seven x seven Porsche GT3R EVO | Sven Müller Kiyoto Fujinami | seven x seven Racing | Yokohama |
| GT300 | 777 | Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3 D'station Vantage GT3 | Tomonobu Fujii Charlie Fagg | D'station Racing | Dunlop |
Images © GTA


