In what’s become a very familiar sight for SUPER GT fans, TGR Team au TOM’S drivers Sho Tsuboi and Kenta Yamashita started their 2026 campaign in near-perfect fashion, driving their #36 au TOM’S Toyota GR Supra GT500 to a commanding victory in Sunday’s Okayama GT 300km Race at Okayama International Circuit.
Reigning GT500 champions Tsuboi and Yamashita have now won the last three season-opening races at Okayama, just as they did on their way to the 2024 and 2025 GT500 titles. And individually, Yamashita has become the circuit’s most successful driver, winning a record five times at Okayama. Together, they led a 1–2 finish for Toyota, as Toshiki Oyu and rookie co-driver Rikuto Kobayashi finished second in the #38 KeePer Cerumo GR Supra.
Polesitter Oyu led the first 33 laps of the race ahead of Yamashita, but the leading Toyotas changed places shortly after making their routine pit stops. Kobayashi got held up by the sister #37 Deloitte TOM’S GR Supra, which was fighting to stay on the lead lap (and would finish eight laps down after going to the garage). Tsuboi capitalized on the moment – and Kobayashi’s relative inexperience – to take the net lead with a pass down the backstretch into the Hairpin Corner (turn five).
Tsuboi then drove away from Kobayashi and the rest of the field to take the win by a commanding margin of 19.602 seconds, but Kobayashi would still get to enjoy a podium finish in his GT500 class debut.
This was Tsuboi’s 11th career GT500 win, tying him with Toyota SUPER GT legend Juichi Wakisaka and moving him into first place among all active drivers. Looking back on the weekend, Tsuboi said, “Personally, I was upset by my result in qualifying (second place), even though I have driven in Q2 numerous times. But since we have done well in long runs, I thought I would be able to pass the car #38 in first place. In the second stint, I was able to pass it, and I felt good about that. After that I tried to open up my lead by as much as possible, and that made up for my disappointment about yesterday!”
Yamashita scored his 10th career win, becoming the 11th driver to reach double digits in the top class. “Tsuboi-san was magnificent today, wasn’t he?” Yamashita added. “I wasn’t very fast when I ran in the first stint, so Oyu was able to open up a bit of a lead on me, and I felt bad about that. However, in the second half, Tsuboi-san was wonderful. This time, I was the starting driver, and since my running distance was shorter it was easy and good for me! I wonder if I should keep doing it this way.”
The #12 TRS Impul Nissan Z NISMO GT500 of Kazuki Hiramine and Bertrand Baguette broke up a potential podium sweep for the GR Supras. Baguette’s aggressive drive from seventh on the grid in the opening laps set the table for the blue Nissan to grab third place. The #14 ENEOS X Prime GR Supra (Nirei Fukuzumi/Kazuya Oshima) and the #39 Denso Kobelco SARD GR Supra (Yuhi Sekiguchi/Sacha Fenestraz), were neck-and-neck for fourth and fifth, separated by only half a second at the finish.
Tomoki Nojiri and Ren Sato took top honours for Honda, finishing sixth in their #16 ARTA Mugen HRC Prelude-GT, ahead of the #100 Stanley Prelude-GT (Naoki Yamamoto/Tadasuke Makino).
GT300 saw an equally-impressive performance from its winners, Tomonobu Fujii and Charlie Fagg, who won from pole in their #777 D’station Racing Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo.
The green Aston Martin only conceded the lead on track during the pit stop cycle, but never relinquished control of the race as they took a comfortable win over the #2 Hyper Water INGING Toyota GR86 of Yuui Tsutsumi and debut podium finisher Kazuhisa Urabe by 7.325 seconds.
For Fujii, it’s his 11th career GT300 class win – good for sixth place all-time, and the most of any driver who has not yet won the GT300 championship. “Since we were starting from pole position, we were going for the win, but I thought it wasn’t going to be that easy,” he said. “I just wanted to do my best to watch my tyre management and come home still in the lead. In the second half, Charlie had a longer run, and he really ran well and got us the win. I am truly grateful to the team, to the Dunlop tyre people and everyone else.”
“In the second half, when we had the lead I ended up running alone, which made it a bit lonely!” said Fagg, who took his third win in Japan with D’station. “To just concentrate on the tyre management was important, so I was careful about that. Also, regarding the car, this time everything about the package was good, and I think that is what got us the win.”
Meanwhile, a bit of SUPER GT history was made as the #31 apr Lexus LC500h of Kazuto Kotaka and Miki Koyama finished third in GT300. Koyama joined June Okanoya (1995, Suzuka) and Lilou Wadoux (2024, Sugo) as only the third woman in JGTC/SUPER GT history to record a podium finish in any class.
Her co-driver Kotaka fended off a late-race charge from the #4 Goodsmile Hatsune Miku Mercedes-AMG GT3 EVO (Nobuteru Taniguchi/Tatsuya Kataoka) for the last podium spot.
Reigning GT300 class champions Naoya Gamou and Togo Suganami finished fifth in the #65 LEON Pyramid AMG, ahead of the #88 JLOC Lamborghini Huracán GT3 EVO2 (Takashi Kogure/Daniil Kvyat) in sixth place.
The 2026 Autobacs Super GT Series returns on Monday, 4 May, for the annual tradition that is the Fuji Speedway Golden Week special, and the first of two three-hour long-distance races.
More to follow
Images © GTA
