For the first time since 2020, Stanley Team Kunimitsu, Naoki Yamamoto, and Tadasuke Makino have been crowned champions of the Autobacs SUPER GT Series GT500 class, wrapping up the championship on Sunday with a pole-to-win victory in the Motegi GT 250km Grand Final.
The #100 Stanley Honda HRC Prelude-GT of Yamamoto and Makino led 42 out of 53 laps in Sunday’s final race to the finish, with Makino taking the chequered flag by 1.7 seconds to lead a Honda 1-2 finish over the #17 Astemo Prelude-GT of Koudai Tsukakoshi and Yuto Nomura in second place.
It’s Honda’s first GT500 championship since 2020, and in the debut year for its new HRC Prelude-GT – which finished the year with five wins in the six races since the end of an extended summer break.
Yamamoto and Makino’s third win of the season wrapped up the championship, Team Kunimitsu’s first since the passing of its founder, the legendary Kunimitsu Takahashi, in 2022.
For the team’s long-time ace driver Yamamoto, it’s a long-awaited third GT500 championship, following a heartbreaking near-miss in 2021, and a career-threatening neck injury he suffered in 2023. Yamamoto becomes the seventh driver to win three or more GT500 championships. Makino, who joined Team Kunimitsu in 2020 as the successor to Jenson Button, took his second GT500 championship today.
Behind them, the #39 Denso Kobelco SARD Toyota GR Supra (Yuhi Sekiguchi/Sacha Fenestraz) went from 10th to the final podium position in third, holding off yesterday’s winning car, the #12 TRS Impul Nissan Z NISMO GT500 (Kazuki Hiramine/Bertrand Baguette) by 0.275 seconds over the line. The #23 Motul Niterra Z (Katsumasa Chiyo/Mitsunori Takaboshi) completed the top five in GT500.
Sho Tsuboi, Kenta Yamashita, and TGR Team au TOM’S collective pursuit of a historic championship ended in tatters after a collision between the #36 au TOM’S GR Supra and the #88 Venteny Lamborghini coming to a Full Course Yellow caused left-front damage, which only got worse after Tsuboi and Fenestraz collided at the 90º Corner.
Tsuboi retired the car eight laps short of the flag, and fell short of what could have been a record-breaking fifth championship – bringing an end to one of the most remarkable runs of sustained dominance in SUPER GT history.
In the GT300 class, the win went to the #88 Venteny Lamborghini Huracán GT3 EVO2 of Takashi Kogure and Daniil Kvyat, despite the hit with the #36 TOM’S Toyota at the end.
The championship, meanwhile, went to the #56 Realize/Nissan Mechanic Challenge GT-R of João Paulo de Oliveira and Iori Kimura, which came back from a harrowing 17th-place start to finish fourth and seal Kondo Racing’s third GT300 championship.
For the legendary Oliveira, it’s his third GT300 championship as well, adding him to a five-way tie for the most titles in the history of SUPER GT’s second division. For the former Honda junior Kimura, his first championship may catch the eye of Nissan as it evaluates future talent for its GT500 ranks.
The battle for the win came down between top foreign talent Kvyat and Sven Müller, who was emerged with the lead after an early, fuel-only pit stop in the #666 seven x seven Porsche 911 GT3 R. The #88 JLOC team took rear tyres on its stop, Kvyat showed poise under pressure, and overtook Müller with four to go for JLOC’s first GT300 win since its title-clinching 2024 victory at Suzuka.
Müller and Taichi Watarai finished second after starting 12th, enough for Müller to finish as GT300 championship runner-up – though a win could have put the German in position to take the title from Kondo Racing.
The #11 Gainer Tanax Nissan Fairlady Z (Ryuichiro Tomita/Kazuki Oki) took third place, ahead of Oliveira and Kimura, who survived some intense pressure to hang on to fourth place and take the title. The #777 D’station Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo (Tsubasa Kondo/Charlie Fagg) rounded out the top five.
What could have been a storybook career ending for 59-year-old, three-time GT300 champion Morio Nitta ended just short of an ultimate prize. The #96 K-tunes Lexus RC F GT3 of Nitta and Shinichi Takagi was fighting towards the front all race, but a drive-through penalty for pit lane speeding took the K-tunes RC F out of championship contention. Nitta and Takagi finished ninth today.
Also bowing out of SUPER GT was Manabu Orido, the two-time GT300 champion and drift legend, who finished 25th in the #30 apr Toyota GR86 (with Hibiki Taira).
As it did in its world motorsport debut on Saturday, the #32 ENEOS X Prime GR GT3 Concept (Hiroaki Ishiura/Tokiya Suzuki) ran a competent, trouble-free race, finishing one lap off the lead in 23rd place. This time out, they showed a bit more pace, but a clean run was the aim this weekend – as the bold, controversial GR GT3 prepares for homologation and its first full season of racing in 2027.
More to follow…
Images © Honda Mobilityland
