Craft-Bamboo Racing took back-to-back ENEOS Super Taikyu Series wins, as the #33 Mercedes-AMG GT3 EVO driven by Sun “JZ” Jingzu, Kakunoshin Ohta, and Adderly Fong picked up its second victory of 2026 in the Suzuka 5 Hour Race.
47 cars entered this second round of the Super Taikyu season, featuring the 2026 season debut of the ST-TCR category, and the second outing for Super Taikyu’s new ST-USA exhibition class for American-built cars. Sun and Ohta struck first in the four-way fight for the ST-X (GT3) and overall victory, putting the #33 Craft-Bamboo Mercedes-AMG on the pole with a combined time of 4:03.476, nearly a second and a half quicker than the next-fastest car.
Ohta took the start in Sunday’s five-hour feature race and broke out to an early advantage, even over the other three ST-X cars which started the race with pro drivers. Each team then installed their ‘A’ drivers for the second stint and Sun, rich with experience in regional GT3 racing, was able to retain the lead.
The race took a turn just past half-distance when the #430 Audi Team Show Apex RS3 LMS broke down at the Nissin Brake Hairpin. The Full Course Yellow (FCY) was deployed with the #777 D’station Racing Ferrari 296 GT3 Evo and the #23 TKRI Mercedes-AMG in the pits.
The Ferrari cycled to the lead once the race resumed, but Yuta Kamimura’s time at the front would be short-lived. The stewards deemed that the #777 Ferrari hadn’t come to pit lane in time before the FCY was deployed, resulting in a devastating stop-and-hold +60 second penalty.
This penalty, and a drive-through to the #33 Craft-Bamboo Mercedes-AMG for pit lane speeding, moved the #31 apr Lexus RC F GT3 to the lead of the race. With a little over an hour to go, all four cars made their final pit stops and changed drivers. Ohta took over the #33 Mercedes-AMG from Fong for the final stint, and exited pit lane just ahead of Koki Saga in the #31 Lexus. Even on cold tyres, though, Ohta held off Saga on the out-lap.
And that would be all that Ohta needed to secure the win, as he pulled out a 32-second margin of victory after five hours and 139 laps of racing. Craft-Bamboo Racing retained its championship lead after three races, heading into the upcoming NAPAC Fuji 24 Hour Race on 6/7 June.
Ohta’s victory came less than 12 hours after his IMSA co-drivers Renger van der Zande and Nick Yelloly won at Long Beach for Acura Meyer Shank Racing.
The #23 TKRI Mercedes-AMG of Daisuke Matsunaga, Tatsuya Kataoka, Yuhki Nakayama, and Yuya Motojima completed a Silver Arrows 1-2, ahead of the #31 apr Lexus of Hiroaki Nagai, Ryo Ogawa, and Koki Saga in third. Motojima and Saga battled hard in the last half-hour of the race, but Saga’s defence was breached by a Motojima lunge up the inside of Spoon Curve with 13 minutes to go.
This marked a successful first race for the new-look TKRI Mercedes-AMG, beginning a collaboration with the creators of the anime/manga series My Dress-Up Darling and the real-life Iwatsuki Ward in Saitama City (the series’ setting). The new pink and black livery prominently features the series’ popular leading woman Marin Kitagawa and adds yet another in the long line of colourful itasha liveries in sports car racing!
The #777 D’station Ferrari (Satoshi Hoshino/Tomonobu Fujii/Yu Kanamaru) finished fourth after its penalty, and all four ST-X entries finished on the same lap. A planned return for reigning ST-X champions Hiroyuki “Bankcy” Ogawa, Kiyoto Fujinami, and Taichi Watarai was scrubbed when the team’s #666 Porsche 911 GT3 R did not arrive.
D’station’s #47 Porsche 992 GT3 Cup (Kenji Hama/Tatsuya Hoshino/Tetsuya Tanaka/Taiga Kabaki) finished fifth overall and won the ST-1 class by one lap over the #2 K’s Frontier KTM Cars X-Bow GTX (Taiyo Ida/Hiroki Katoh/Kazuho Takahashi/Hiroki Yoshimoto) in sixth.
In ST-Z (GT4), the #22 Kokusai Group Sports Team Porsche 718 GT4 RS Clubsport of Ryosuke Kure, Rintaro Kubo, Shota Kitazono, and Naoya Yamano narrowly held on by less than three-tenths of a second to take the class win. Kokusai Group has raced in ST-Z for several years now, through its subsidiary labels like Porsche Team EBI.
They took the advantage after the leading #52 Saitama Green Brave Toyota GR Supra GT4 EVO2 (Kota Matsui/Seita Nonaka/Naoki Hattori/Hiroki Yoshida) was forced into the garage due to an early mechanical issue.
Even then, the #22 Kokusai Group Porsche nearly let the win slip away after a left-rear tyre failure with 53 minutes to go. It set up a showdown between Nürburgring expert Kubo in the Porsche, and Ryuichiro Tomita, himself a veteran of European competition, in the #25 Team ZeroOne Nissan Z NISMO GT4.
Tomita could keep the pressure on Kubo and draw alongside the Porsche’s rear axle, but even on the last lap with a lunge at the famous ‘Triangle’ Chicane, Tomita couldn’t get by. The #22 Porsche won its class by just 0.242 seconds over the #25 Nissan of Ryuichiro Otsuka, Tsugio Matsuda, Takuro Shinohara, and Tomita in second.
Rounding out the ST-Z podium was the #34 Techno First Audi R8 LMS GT4 (Masaki Kano/Riki Okusa/Hironobu Yasuda/Igor Fraga), while the #885 SHADE Racing Toyota (Dai Mizuno/Katsuyuki Hiranaka/Yuji Kunimoto/Tsubasa Mekaru) completed the overall top ten. The #338 Wing Hin Motorsports Japan Toyota (Shuji Maejima/Naquib Azlan/Amer Harris) was fifth in class, a benchmark for the Malaysian-based team in just its second Super Taikyu race.
The top ST-Q class prototype was the #271 Team HRC Honda Civic Type R HRC Concept, racing with an all-pro line-up of Hiroki Otsu, Kotaro Shimbara, and Shion Tsujimoto behind the wheel. The trio completed 128 laps and finished 16th overall.
The HRC concept reverted back to the conventional K20C engine used in the customer Honda Civic Type R TCR, though it runs on ENEOS E20 low-carbon gasoline and will use experimental aero parts.
Also completing its first run of the year was the #12 Mazda Spirit Racing Roadster Future Concept (Hiroshi Kawata/Yuui Tsutsumi/Ryohei Sakaguchi/Ikuo Maeda), another car using ENEOS low-carbon gasoline: It finished 21st with 125 laps on the board.
In ST-2, the famous blue and yellow #95 Team Spoon Honda Civic Type R of Kazuomi Komatsu, Syun Koide, and Yusuke Mitsui notched its second straight win of the 2026 season with ease.
The #13 Endless Sports Toyota GR Yaris (Masaya Hanazato/Mizuki Ishizaka/Reimei Ito/Hitoshi Okada) finished second in class, followed by the #72 Nihon Automobile College Civic Type R (Makoto Kanai/Tetsuya Yamano/Toshiya Nojima) in third. Honda could have had a 1-2 finish, were it not for the #743 Honda R&D Challenge Civic suffering a catastrophic mechanical breakdown while running second.
In something of a surprise, the winner of the ST-4 class (theoretically the slowest in the field) finished ahead of the winners of the other two championship categories. That car was the #884 SHADE Racing Toyota GR86 of Tatsuya Osaki, Eijiro Shimizu, and Shinnosuke Yamada, taking its second win of the year
The ST-4 podium was completed by top contenders such as the #3 Endless Sports GR86 (Hiroyuki Saka/Togo Suganami/Rikuto Kobayashi/Atsushi Shimaya) in second, and the #41 Tracy Sports GR86 (Takumi Shima/Yusuke Tomibayashi/Yohei Maruyama/Yuki Ota) in third.
Speaking of ST-3, Tracy Sports with RCIT’s #39 Lexus RC 350 (Yuji Takahashi/Takashi Ito/Hitoshi Sakai/Shinya Fujita) won its class comfortably while the #21 Hitotsuyama Racing BMW M2 Racing still struggled to keep pace with its older rival.
ST-TCR was a war of atrition that was won by a new force on the scene: The Team Standard, whose new #100 Honda Civic Type R took the class win by nine laps. Yosuke Yamaki, Shinji Nakano, and Koji Yamanishi all christened the new team with a debut win. As did Super Taikyu newcomer, Rintaro Sato – and yes, he is the son of IndyCar/F1 legend Takuma!
Together they led a Honda 1-2 ahead of the #97 M&K Racing Honda (Mitsuhiro Endo/Tomoki Nojiri/Ren Sato/Vee Thanasiwanat), which suffered a suspension problem while leading and dropped nine laps adrift of the class winner.
And finally, Birth Racing Project took the mantle of running the Ford Mustang Dark Horse R in ST-USA this season, after the car made a successful first outing at Fuji in November via TechSport Racing.
Wearing the number 250 to celebrate the United States’ 250th anniversary, the Ford driven by Anna Inotsume, Takahisa Ohno, team owner Koichi Okumura, and Yuzuki Takemoto completed 110 laps and finished 41st out of 43 classified finishers. The run wasn’t trouble-free as the car spent a large chunk of the last hour in the garage.
Images © STMO, Honda Mobilityland
