The legendary Suzuka Circuit is the site of the fourth race (officially ‘Round 5’) of the 2026 Autobacs SUPER GT Series, which reaches the halfway mark this Sunday at the Suzuka GT 300km Race.
All 43 cars will be in action this weekend, where in the GT500 class, Toyota holds the overwhelming advantage early in the championship battle, Honda has the momentum on its side after a 1-2 finish in the last round at Fuji Speedway – but Nissan may be the favourites to win the race after a nightmare outing at the Fuji 300km earlier this month.
The #36 au TOM’S Toyota GR Supra of Sho Tsuboi and Kenta Yamashita still leads the standings, and has the heaviest Success Weight of any car in GT500 as a result. The effective 96kg of Success Weight is made up of 50kg of ballast weight, reduced engine fuel flow rate, and a “Stage 2” Success Refuelling Restrictor which should add 15 seconds of refuelling time to their compulsory pit stop…in theory. Their fourth-place run at Fuji included a rapid pit stop that left many to question if the “Stage 1” restrictor had any effect.
Still, they have a nearly unassailable lead over the second place #14 ENEOS X Prime GR Supra (Nirei Fukuzumi/Kazuya Oshima), and then the #100 Stanley Honda HRC Prelude-GT (Naoki Yamamoto/Tadasuke Makino), which moved up to third in the standings after scoring the HRC Prelude-GT’s first-ever victory at Fuji.
Honda will be keen to keep the momentum going at Suzuka, one of two Honda-owned circuits on the calendar – but one where the manufacturer has won only one of the last ten races. The #64 Modulo HRC Prelude-GT (Riki Okusa/Igor Fraga) will be one to watch: No points in the first three races, and coming off of Fraga’s terrifying accident on the main straightaway at Fuji. What can the only GT500 car on Dunlop tyres achieve in the race?
Nissan, meanwhile, was shut out of the points with all three of its cars, but can bounce back in a big way at Suzuka. The #23 Motul Niterra Nissan Z NISMO GT500 of Katsumasa Chiyo and Mitsunori Takaboshi won last year’s Suzuka 300km, the only win of the year for Nissan in GT500, and stands as among the favourites for the win this weekend. None of the three Nissans carry more than 30kg of Success Weight, and the off-season changes to the GT500 Z-car should suit Suzuka’s layout.
| 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 |
In GT300, 16 points cover the top 10 cars in the standings, and just six points covers the top six – though it is still very early days in what is now back to being an eight-race season.
The #52 Saitama Green Brave Toyota GR Supra (Hiroki Yoshida/Seita Nonaka) won at the Fuji 300km and with it, took the lead in the GT300 standings on countback over the #2 Hyper Water INGING Toyota GR86 (Yuui Tsutsumi/Kazuhisa Urabe). But none of them can afford a slip-up with the #56 Realize GT-R (João Paulo de Oliveira/Iori Kimura), #65 LEON Pyramid AMG (Naoya Gamou/Togo Suganami), #777 D’station Vantage (Tomonobu Fujii/Charlie Fagg), and #31 apr LC500h (Kazuto Kotaka/Miki Koyama) all inside that top six.
The Ferrari 296 GT3 Evos returned to form at Fuji and return to Suzuka, where the #7 CarGuy MKS Ferrari of Zak O’Sullivan and Rikuto Kobayashi won last year. This year it’s another Toyota-backed rookie in Kiyoshi Umegaki who partners O’Sullivan, and both drivers finished third at Fuji, behind the #52 Green Brave GR Supra and the #32 ENEOS X Prime Mercedes-AMG GT3 EVO (Hiroaki Ishiura/Tokiya Suzuki).
One car that could use a win at Suzuka is the #61 Subaru BRZ R&D Sport (Takuto Iguchi/Hideki Yamauchi), which got the pole and finished second at this track a year ago. The “new old stock” EG33 flat-six engine hasn’t been a pain point this year, but other assorted troubles have made for a frustrating start to 2026 for the Subaru team.
Just one team has changed drivers this weekend: Tomei Sports has put Yu Kanamaru back in the #36 RunUp x SOL GT-R after sitting out the Fuji 300km in favour of Hironobu Shimizu.
| 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 Souta Arao | Team Mach | Yokohama |
| GT300 | 6 | Ferrari 296 GT3 Evo Uni-Robo Bluegrass Ferrari | Yoshiaki Katayama Niklas Krütten | Velorex | Yokohama |
| GT300 | 7 | Ferrari 296 GT3 Evo CarGuy Ferrari 296 GT3 Evo | Zak O'Sullivan Kiyoshi Umegaki | CarGuy MKS Racing | Yokohama |
| GT300 | 9 | BMW M4 GT3 EVO Pacific Umamusume NAC BMW | Yusuke Tomibayashi Yuta Fujiwara | 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 | Masaki Kano Hisashi Wada | 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 | apr | Yokohama |
| GT300 | 31 | Lexus LC500h GT300 apr LC500h GT | Kazuto Kotaka Miki Koyama | 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 | Takuro Shinohara Shintaro Kawabata | PONOS Racing | Yokohama |
| GT300 | 48 | Nissan GT-R NISMO GT3 Kenkō K's Frontier WM NILZZ GT-R | Taiyo Ida James Pull | 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 | 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 | K2 R&D LEON Racing | Bridgestone |
| GT300 | 87 | Lamborghini Huracán GT3 EVO2 Open House Lamborghini GT3 | Yuya Motojima Kosuke Matsuura | JLOC | Yokohama |
| GT300 | 88 | Lamborghini Huracán GT3 EVO2 Venteny Lamborghini GT3 | Takashi Kogure Daniil Kvyat | 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 | 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 |
Sunday’s 52-lap race at Suzuka starts at 1:30 PM JST (local time), and Sunday 12:30 AM ET / Saturday 9:30 PM PT for those watching in the United States and Canada on RACER+ and RACER Network.
DSC’s North America & Asia Correspondent RJ O’Connell will join the commentary team for the US/Canada broadcast on RACER, alongside Speed City Broadcasting’s Jonathan Green.
Images © GTA