Months after finishing a close second in the 2025 Autobacs SUPER GT Series GT300 Championship, two-time GT500 Champion Kohei Hirate has announced that he won’t be racing full-time in the series in 2026.
A fan-favourite in SUPER GT since his debut in 2008, Hirate announced in November that he would leave Nissan after seven years as a factory racing driver for the brand across both the GT500 and GT300 classes, as well as the Super Taikyu Series. A graduate of the Toyota Young Driver Programme (TDP), Hirate broke into the top levels of Japanese motorsport with Toyota, eventually stepping up to GT500 and winning titles in 2013 (with Cerumo) and 2016 (with SARD).
Hirate left Toyota after 2018 and was a winner in his first season with Nissan in 2019, driving the NDDP Racing with B-Max Nissan GT-R NISMO GT500 to victory in a rainy race at Sportsland Sugo. Hirate then spent another three seasons with NDDP/NISMO, then moved to Kondo Racing where he spent the final two years of his GT500 career driving the then-new Nissan Z GT500.
He found himself back in GT300 in 2024, driving for Nissan GT3 customer team HELM Motorsports in a GT-R NISMO GT3. Hirate returned to Kondo Racing in 2025, this time, driving their #56 Nissan GT-R in the GT300 class.
Joined by João Paulo de Oliveira and Yu Kanamaru, Hirate finished in the top ten in every race last year, with a third place to open the season at Okayama International Circuit, and a second place at Sugo. He and Oliveira finished fourth in the season finale at Mobility Resort Motegi, and Hirate fell short of the GT300 Drivers’ Championship by just one point.
Hirate was also part of the NISMO team that helped develop the Nissan Z GT4 through competition in the Super Taikyu Series’ ST-Q exhibition class. His appearance in the Super Taikyu season finale at Fuji Speedway in November was his last race for Nissan as a factory driver.
Over the winter, Hirate participated in a multi-driver open test at Sepang arranged by CarGuy MKS Racing. The “audition test” saw Toyota Gazoo Racing Driver Challenge (TGR-DC) prospect Kiyoshi Umegaki secure a full-time seat alongside co-driver Zak O’Sullivan, with Reimei Ito picking up a third driver contract – and leaving Hirate as a free agent going into 2026.
“After considering various circumstances, I have decided not to compete in the full GT series,” Hirate wrote in a statement on social media.
“Though I have raced professionally for 24 years, my desire to race remains unchanged. I will position this year as a ‘year to build towards the next chapter’. I will continue to challenge myself whenever opportunities arise, including spot entries and other categories. I will dedicate this period to returning to the circuit.
“Alongside my racing activities, I will also continue to value my work conveying dreams, hope, and the appeal of cars to the younger generation through lectures and events. To everyone who has always supported me, thank you so very much. I look forward to seeing you all again at the races.”
Images © Nissan, GTA, STMO
