The Autobacs SUPER GT Series will have an eight-race season in 2026 after all. On Sunday morning it was announced by the GT Association (GTA) that the final round at Mobility Resort Motegi, originally scheduled to be a single 300-kilometre race, will now be a two-race double-header finale with races to be held on 7 & 8 November.
It will be the first time that Mobility Resort Motegi has hosted a double-header finale since 2016, when a second race was added to the “Grand Final” weekend to make up for the cancelled race at Autopolis that year (due to damage from the 2016 Kumamoto earthquakes).
Under similar circumstances, the 2026 double at Motegi will offset the loss of this year’s planned visit to Petronas Sepang International Circuit in Malaysia – which was called off due to a national energy crisis, rising air travel and freight costs, brought on by the US/Israel war on Iran.
What will effectively become the Sepang make-up race on Saturday 7 November will be run with “half-ballast”, with teams running with 1 kilogramme of Success Ballast per championship point. The Autopolis GT 3 Hour Race on 18 October, meanwhile, will be run with the regular 2 kg of Success Ballast as it shifts up to the sixth race of the year.
No specifics regarding the new event format for the Motegi GT Grand Final have been disclosed; in 2016, the two races were 250 kilometres in length.
Feature image © GTA
