Stanley Team Kunimitsu, Naoki Yamamoto, and Tadasuke Makino struck a major blow in the Autobacs SUPER GT Series’ GT500 title race on Sunday, as they won a thrilling Autopolis GT 3 Hour Race. It was the #100 Stanley Honda HRC Prelude-GT’s second win of the year, and the fourth consecutive GT500 class win for Honda.
The race lead in GT500 changed three times in the first hour: The #64 Modulo Nakajima Racing Honda led from pole, was then overtaken by the #17 Astemo Real Racing Honda that started second, and then the #17 Honda was overtaken by the #12 Team Impul Nissan.
But as they did last year at this same venue, Team Kunimitsu used strategy to move to the front. A long first stint from Yamamoto, where the two-time champion ran over 80 minutes, allowed the #100 Stanley Prelude to take less fuel on its second and final stop, which put Makino in the net lead in the last hour. Makino withstood some early pressure before pulling away from the pack, and eventually cruising to the win after 98 laps of racing.
It was a victory that allowed Yamamoto and Makino to close to within three points of GT500 championship leaders Sho Tsuboi and Kenta Yamashita in the #36 au TOM’S Toyota GR Supra GT500, heading into the double-header finale at Mobility Resort Motegi on 7/8 November.
The #38 KeePer Cerumo GR Supra of Toshiki Oyu and Rikuto Kobayashi did its best to close the gap late, and finished second by 1.363 seconds. Completing the GT500 podium was the #23 Motul Niterra Nissan Z NISMO GT500 (Katsumasa Chiyo/Mitsunori Takaboshi), whose third-place finish ended a three-race podium drought for Nissan in the top class.
Behind them, the #37 Deloitte TOM’S GR Supra (Ukyo Sasahara/Giuliano Alesi) was fourth, followed by the #12 TRS Impul with SDG Z (Kazuki Hiramine/Bertrand Baguette) in fifth, and #8 ARTA Mugen Prelude (Kakunoshin Ohta/Hiroki Otsu) in sixth.
The #36 au TOM’S GR Supra of Tsuboi and Yamashita ran as high as third, and even challenged Makino for the net lead after both cars made their final pit stops. But with 25 minutes left, the championship leaders were given a drive-through penalty for a refuelling procedure violation, and would finish eighth.
After its strategy was compromised due to a mid-race Safety Car period, the #17 Astemo Prelude (Koudai Tsukakoshi/Yuto Nomura) was dealt an additional blow when it stopped two laps short of the finish. Tsukakoshi and Nomura lost out on a chance to score points but remain third in the championship (-16), followed by Cerumo’s Oyu and Kobayashi (-18).
“I’m happy to have won,” said Yamamoto, who entered the double-digits club with his 10th career GT500 win. “The deployment of the safety car (in the first hour) meant things didn’t go exactly according to our original strategy, but after consulting with the team, our first pit stop went well. For the second pit stop, Makino suggested over the radio that we keep the stint short, and after that, he did a great job holding off the cars behind us at crucial moments.
“I’m truly fortunate to have such a fantastic team and partner, and I’m so happy we were able to win together.”
“I don’t really remember the specifics of my own driving out there, but I think this result speaks well about the strength of our partnership—Naoki-san and me—as well as the strength of Team Kunimitsu,” said Makino, who scored his sixth career win.
“We’ve closed the gap in the title fight to three points, and with only two races left, it’s all about what we do at the final round in Motegi. The details don’t matter anymore—we just have to win.”
The #96 K-tunes Lexus RC F of Morio Nitta and Shinichi Takagi produced the feel-good story of the race, as their GT300 class victory made Nitta (59) and Takagi (56) the oldest GT300 race winners of all-time. In fact, three-time series champion Nitta actually surpassed Kunimitsu Takahashi’s record as the oldest winner in any class by 168 days.
They were one of the teams that capitalised on the upheaval caused by the second of two Safety Cars in the race: A long first stint from Nitta, and a fuel-only second stop, put Takagi in position to take the lead in the final hour, after he overtook the #360 RunUp x SOL Nissan GT-R NISMO GT3 of Yu Kanamaru with 45 minutes left.
The win was the first for Nitta and K-tunes since the May 2019 race at Suzuka, and for Takagi, it was his first since the 2019 race at Sugo, the year he won his second GT300 title.
“The car was perfect,” said Nitta, who extended his personal record with his 23rd career GT300 class win. “We hadn’t been able to check the tyres yesterday, but they performed extremely well, and so we were able to have a great race.”
Takagi, who scored his 22nd win – one fewer than his long-time co-driver for most of the 2000s – said, “I didn’t manage to set the record for the most wins—which is a shame! I have so many mixed emotions about this, especially since it’s my first win since 2019, but we actually won! I honestly expected a tough race. But the team adopted a strategy perfectly suited to the conditions, and the Bridgestone tyres held up well until the very end. That’s exactly why we were able to win.”
The #666 seven x seven Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R (Sven Müller/Taichi Watarai) crossed the finish line in second, but was demoted to 11th after failing to complete its second mandatory pit stop under green flag conditions – a similar penalty dropped the No. 88 JLOC Lamborghini Huracán GT3 EVO2 (Takashi Kogure/Daniil Kvyat/Natsu Sakaguchi※) from fourth to 12th.
In their place, the #360 RunUp GT-R (Rin Arakawa/Yu Kanamaru/Atsushi Tanaka※) was promoted to second; it’s the best-ever finish for Tomei Sports in its SUPER GT history, and a popular result for the team, whose owners Tanaka and Masaaki Nishikawa both have ties to the Kumamoto region that was devastated by the 28 July earthquake.
The #65 LEON Pyramid Mercedes-AMG GT3 EVO (Naoya Gamou/Togo Suganami/Haruki Kurosawa※) was promoted to third, followed by the #2 Hyper Water INGING Toyota GR86 (Yuui Tsutsumi/Kazuhisa Urabe) in fourth, the #18 UpGarage Mercedes-AMG (Takashi Kobayashi/Kotaro Shimbara), and then two Ferraris – the #45 PONOS Racing 296 GT3 Evo (Takuro Shinohara/Shintaro Kawabata/Kento Omiya※) and #7 CarGuy 296 (Zak O’Sullivan/Kiyoshi Umegaki).
Of note, the #26 Anest Iwata Gainer Nissan Fairlady Z (Hironobu Yasuda/Lee Jung-woo/Yusuke Mitsui) recovered from a wheel hub failure in the morning warm-up, and a pit lane start, to finish ninth.
Championship leaders João Paulo de Oliveira and Iori Kimura only finished 14th in their No. 56 Kondo Racing Nissan GT-R, but still hold a commanding 15-point lead over CarGuy MKS Racing’s O’Sullivan, who is now second in the standings. Both the #2 Hyper Water GR86 of Tsutsumi/Urabe (-18) and #65 LEON Pyramid AMG of Gamou/Suganami (-18) gained ground in the championship.
Meanwhile the #777 D’station Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo of Tomonobu Fujii/Charlie Fagg (-23) took a massive tumble down the points table after the chequered flag; they originally finished eighth, but were demoted to 22nd due to a two-lap penalty for making contact with the #7 CarGuy Ferrari after the finish.
Also taking critical blows to their title hopes were the #31 apr Lexus LC500h (Kazuto Kotaka/Miki Koyama/Charlie Wurz), which lost its right-front wheel in the first hour and crashed out, and the #52 Saitama Green Brave Toyota GR Supra (Hiroki Yoshida/Seita Nonaka), which spun and crashed at half-distance following a spirited battle between Nonaka and Yuui Tsutsumi.
※ Denotes a driver that did not drive during the race and was ineligible to score points.
30,100 spectators attended across the two-day race weekend, including 19,000 on Sunday, who had the opportunity to donate towards earthquake relief funds benefiting nearby Kumamoto Prefecture and those who were affected by the disaster.
The 2026 Autobacs SUPER GT Series concludes with the Motegi GT 250km Race: Grand Final on 7/8 November. Two 250 kilometre sprint races will be held, one on Saturday and one on Sunday, with Qualifying to be held on the morning of each race.
Images © GTA
