In one of the more unusual ways a modern sports car racing championship has been decided, TKRI (TK Racing Invitiation) has clinched the 2026 ENEOS Super Taikyu Series ST-X class championship after Craft-Bamboo Racing’s entry was barred from competing in this weekend’s four-hour season finale at Fuji Speedway.
The #23 Mercedes-AMG GT3 EVO of Daisuke Matsunaga, team owner Tatsuya Kataoka, Yuhki Nakayama, and Yuya Motojima will headline a seven-car ST-X field in the final round of the season at Fuji on Sunday, 15 November, with live Japanese-language coverage provided by the Super Taikyu Series’ official S-Tai TV YouTube channel.
TKRI enters this weekend leading by 31.5 points over the #33 Craft-Bamboo Racing Mercedes-AMG, which needed all 32 points available (30 points for victory, plus two bonus points for pole position). It was to have been the Super Taikyu debut for Craft-Bamboo’s collaboration with the Yani Neko (Chainsmoker Cat) anime series that began at the GT World Challenge Asia finale in Shanghai, complete with a special rainbow livery and a line-up that was to have featured Kakunoshin Ohta, Jeffrey Lee, and Adderly Fong.
スーパー耐久シリーズのファンの皆様に、残念なお知らせがあります。残念ながら、Craft-Bamboo… pic.twitter.com/bValShGSkg
— CBR Anime (@CBR_anime) November 11, 2026
But when the entry list for the final round at Fuji was published on 5 November by the STMO (Super Taikyu Mirai Organisation), the #33 Mercedes-AMG was nowhere to be found on a 68-car grid, the maximum capacity for the circuit. 69 cars submitted entries – one more than the capacity – which meant that the STMO had to decide one car to leave off based on the number of penalty points accrued for all entries across the 2026 season. Unfortunately for Craft-Bamboo Racing, their #33 Mercedes-AMG led the penalty points standings, and was the only entry shut out of the weekend.
Strangely, it took nearly an entire week for the decision to be acknowledged by Craft-Bamboo Racing, whose statement from yesterday reads: “Sadly we have been forced to withdraw from this weekend’s Super Taikyu race at Fuji Speedway. With an over-subscribed field of 69 cars, combined with the penalty points accumulated from a season of fierce competition, series regulations state we are unable to take part this weekend.
“As the only team left in contention for the overall title, we are of course greatly disappointed with this situation; and are especially sorry for our hardworking team members, drivers, and sponsors after a strong fight this season.
“This also means that our Yani Neko livery launch and fan event will be postponed to a later race event in the very near future. Sorry if anyone planned to join us this weekend at the race, but please stay tuned for more information which will be released in the very near future. Thanks to everyone for the support and congratulations to TKRI for a strong season and the championship title.”
This is the first ST-X championship for TKRI, who won the Fuji 24 Hour Race and the five-hour Super Taikyu Race in Autopolis with its quartet of Daisuke, Kataoka, Nakayama, and Motojima – who drove in all but the two shortest events at Sugo and Okayama.
Craft-Bamboo’s absence does not mean that ST-X will be short of entries, with seven cars matching the season high. 2025 champions seven x seven Racing have returned for the first time this year – after an aborted entry at Suzuka that was to have been led by team owner Hiroyuki “Bankcy” Ogawa. However, the #666 Porsche 911 GT3 R will feature an all-Australian driver line-up this weekend, featuring SRO GT Academy champion-elect Oscar Targett, and Lachlan Bloxsom, who filled in at seven x seven Racing in select Porsche Carrera Cup Japan events. All four drivers have one-make racing experience for Porsche.
Meanwhile, the #31 apr Lexus RC F GT3 (Hiroaki Nagai/Naoya Gamou/Ryo Ogawa/Koki Saga) and the #777 D’station Racing Ferrari 296 GT3 Evo (Satoshi Hoshino/Tomonobu Fujii/Yuta Kamimura) will battle to finish runner-up in the standings. apr’s Lexus won at Sugo, while D’station won at Autopolis.
Another new entry comes from 2025 ST-TCR champions Waimarama Racing and the #98 Hyundai Elantra N TCR, coming back to action after spending most of 2026 on the sidelines.
Championships in six categories (ST-Z, ST-TCR, ST-1, ST-2, ST-4, and ST-5F are still to be decided heading into Sunday’s finale – a shorter race but one which pays out 1.5x points like a five-hour event.
Team ZeroOne and its #25 Nissan Z NISMO GT4 (Ryuichiro Otsuka/Ryuichiro Tomita/Tsugio Matsuda) has had a fine season, coming off consecutive wins at Autopolis and Okayama – and now takes a 20-point lead in the standings over the #52 Saitama Green Brave Toyota GR Supra GT4 EVO2 (Kota Matsui/Seita Nonaka/Naoki Hattori/Hiroki Yoshida), which is trying to win its fourth consecutive ST-Z title.
In ST-TCR, the first-generation #19 Birth Racing Project Cupra TCR has a 14.5-point advantage over the newer #97 M&K Racing Honda Civic Type R TCR, which has won each of the last two races to close the gap in the standings.
A race finish would be enough for the #47 D’station Racing Porsche 911 Cup to win the ST-1 title over the #2 K’s Frontier KTM Cars X-Bow GTX, which is 20 points back going into the finale.
The #13 Endless Sports Toyota GR Yaris and #95 Team Spoon Honda Civic Type R (-22.5 points) are the two teams left to contend for the ST-2 title. Team Spoon’s title hopes took a hit at Okayama after a mechanical failure took the Civic out of the race, but they still have a chance at the championship going into the finale.
Only 3.5 points separate the top two cars in ST-4, both Toyota GR86es – the #41 Tracy Sports and #3 Endless Sports entries which have traded wins since the Fuji 24 Hours – Endless Sports won at Sugo, Tracy Sports at Okayama. But two other cars are mathematically eligible for the championship at the start of the weekend: The #884 SHADE Racing Toyota GR86 (-21), and the #66 Over Drive Mazda Roadster RF (-31), which needs all 32 points on the table to have a chance.
Finally, a win at Okayama has put the #4 Team Bride Honda Fit3 RS in a comfortable 22.5-point lead in the ST-5F standings over the #11 Sakae Motorsports “Kodan-chan” Fit, with the #821 AndLegal Racing Fit (-29) also mathematically eligible but needing a win to have any chance.
The other championships that have been decided are in ST-3, where the #39 Tracy Sports with RCIT Lexus RC 350 has won every race over the struggling #21 Hitotsuyama Racing BMW M2 Racing, and in ST-5R, where wins in the first three rounds of the season have propelled the #88 Murakami Motors Mazda Roadster to its second consecutive championship – in a year where the team only received the necessary funds to continue racing late in the off-season.
Six cars have entered in the ST-Q class for manufacturer-supported prototypes, including a car that took the paddock by storm at Okayama – the redesigned #28 GR Team ORC Field Yaris M Concept, which has now been shaped into a mid-engined coupe from its original hatchback form.
There has been no shortage of speculation as to whether or not this new “Concept M” will serve as the basis for a revival of one of Toyota’s classic sports cars of yesteryear, the Celica. And in the weeks that have passed since it raced at Okayama, Toyota Racing has announced that a new coupe-bodied prototype, the GR Celica Rally1, will compete in next year’s FIA World Rally Championship.
Toyota Gazoo ROOKIE Racing will enter its #32 Toyota GR Corolla H2 Concept for the second time this year, after the Fuji 24 Hour Race, and GR Team Spirit will continue to run the #104 GR Yaris DAT Racing Concept.
Mazda Spirit Racing’s biodiesel-powered #55 Mazda3 Future Concept, Team SDA Engineering’s #61 Subaru HighPerformanceX Mk. II concept, and Team HRC’s TCR-based #271 Honda Civic Type R HRC Concept running on low-carbon petrol will round out the ST-Q field, while it’s a homecoming for Birth Racing Project’s #250 Ford Mustang Dark Horse R, one year after its Japanese debut, as the sole ST-USA entry.
Images © STMO
