If all hope was lost for Honda in the 2025 Autobacs SUPER GT Series, nobody told ace drivers Naoki Yamamoto and Tadasuke Makino. Together in Team Kunimitsu’s #100 Stanley Honda Civic Type R-GT, they led an all-Honda lockout of the podium in Sunday’s Autopolis GT 3 Hours Race, and even snuck their way in to a six-way title fight that will be decided in the season finale at Mobility Resort Motegi.
Autopolis was the site of the second long-distance race of the 2025 season. Qualifying was impacted by rain showers, but even though conditions were overcast, the race remained dry from start to finish.
Overcome with emotion yesterday, polesitter Daiki Sasaki led the field to the green flag in the #3 Niterra Motul Nissan Z. His stablemate Mitsunori Takaboshi was able to hold second in the #23 Motul Autech Z, despite a slow getaway versus the #14 Eneos X Prime Toyota GR Supra of Nirei Fukuzumi and the #38 KeePer Cerumo GR Supra of Toshiki Oyu. Oyu was then spun out by the #12 TRS Impul Z of Bertrand Baguette, in what could have been a critical blow for his and Hiroaki Ishiura’s championship hopes. Baguette received a drive-through penalty for incident responsibility.
The hits kept coming 19 minutes into the race. One race after his milestone 25th victory, Tsugio Matsuda’s day was done early after a collision with Takuya Izawa at the approach to turn three sent Matsuda off into the tyre barrier. The #24 Realize Corporation Advan Z was out of the race, and that incident brought out a Full Course Yellow (FCY) and then a full Safety Car (SC). Izawa in the #64 Modulo Civic would receive a drive-through penalty of his own after the contact.
In the 33rd minute, the race resumed, with Sasaki trying once again to try and build up a margin over teammate Takaboshi. But one car that was rapidly moving its way towards the front was the #37 Deloitte TOM’S GR Supra of Ukyo Sasahara. Taking fourth place after the contact and penalty for Oyu and Baguette, Sasahara then cut up and under Fukuzumi to take third place.
Sasaki and Takaboshi raced tail-to-nose but as GT300 traffic came into play, Sasahara began to reel in the two NISMO cars. In the 47th minute, Sasahara took advantage of that and swung around the outside of a boxed-in Takaboshi to grab second place. And five minutes later, a momentary hesitation was all Sasahara needed to slipstream past Sasaki down the main straightaway and into the lead.
After 55 minutes of racing, the #23 Motul Z made its first pit stop on lap 30. And with 65 minutes completed, the two leaders made their pit stops, the #37 Deloitte GR Supra of Sasahara followed by the #3 Niterra Z, now driven by Atsushi Miyake. Meanwhile, the #100 Stanley Civic, which started 12th in the hands of Yamamoto, ran a very long first stint by conserving fuel, and didn’t come in until one hour and 15 minutes of racing were completed. That timing allowed Makino to take over for the rest of the race, but he’d be starting his stint from 11th.
The leader after the first round of stops wasn’t Sasahara, Takaboshi, or Miyake – it was the #38 KeePer GR Supra of Oyu, which made a very early first stop for fuel and tyres, and undercut the field to grab the lead. A similar strategy also vaulted Yuji Kunimoto in the #19 WedsSport Advan GR Supra to second place. Sasahara was knocked down the order after a long stop, but climbed back up to third place in pursuit of the two Toyotas in front.
It was in this middle stage that Makino began to march through the field, past the #14 Eneos GR Supra of Kazuya Oshima, then past Miyake, and then past Takaboshi to get to sixth place with less than 80 minutes to go. As Oyu and Kunimoto brought their respective Toyotas into the pits, Makino got past the #17 Astemo Civic of Koudai Tsukakoshi, and then after dodging a damaged GT300 car, he passed the #1 au TOM’S GR Supra of Sho Tsuboi, to grab second place with 74 minutes left. Sasahara was coming up towards his maximum drive time limit and brought the #37 Deloitte GR Supra in from the lead with 70 minutes left.
Makino took the lead and held it until, with 64 minutes left, he brought the silver, black, and orange Stanley Civic in for its last stop. He still maintained the net lead of the race, and cycled back up to first place once the #12 TRS Z and #39 Denso Kobelco SARD GR Supra made their final stops with just over 55 minutes left.
All the while, the two TOM’S Toyotas that had been running at the front all day, despite their sizeable Success Weight, began to lose pace. While Sasahara and Tsuboi had made contact in a battle for third place, it wouldn’t have fully explained their gradual loss of power and their sharp drop down the running order. Instead of maintaining the #37’s pursuit of the lead, Giuliano Alesi retired the #37 car with 50 minutes left. And after falling out of the points, Tsuboi retired the #1 au GR Supra with 40 minutes left.
Both cars suffered intake system problems, and in the case of TGR Team au TOM’S, it snapped a streak of 22 consecutive points-paying races. Tsuboi and Kenta Yamashita had a remote chance to put the championship away at Autopolis, but instead, they left empty-handed.
With 30 minutes left, Makino had a 17-second lead over the new second-place battle that was now between Ren Sato in the #16 ARTA Mugen Civic, and Riki Okusa in the #64 Modulo Civic. As his two juniors locked horns in their battle for second, Makino continued to build up the gap, and could cruise to the chequered flag. Staring down the barrel of a winless 2025 campaign, the HRC-supported Stanley Team Kunimitsu finally got Honda on the board with its first win in GT500, and the team’s first win since the 2022 season finale at Motegi.
It was Yamamoto’s eighth career win, and his first since the big accident he suffered at Sportsland Sugo two years ago. “I suffered a big injury before, and this is my first win since that time,” he said. “And even more than that, this has been one of the last two races for the Civic Type R-GT, so we came into this race really wanting to get a win with our own hands. For that reason, I am truly glad that we got this win.
“When I was running for more than an hour in the first stint, I was thinking all the time about what I could do to get it ready to hand over to my teammate Makino for his stint, and it turned out that today this was truly his race. Also, I want to express my gratitude for the hard work that the Honda people did in difficult conditions with the engine development.”
Makino scored his fourth career win in a performance that, symbolically, could represent a passing of the torch between generations of Honda aces. “Thank you all!” he exclaimed. “Through this season of difficult times, we finally put together a race we can be proud of. I am very happy. It has been great.”
Behind them, Okusa went up the inside of turns eight and nine on the penultimate lap to take second place from Sato, and that’s how they finished to make up the first all-Honda podium since 2020: The #64 Modulo Civic of Izawa and Okusa in second, and the #16 ARTA Civic of Sato and Hiroki Otsu in third (after starting 11th). With Motegi set to be Izawa’s final GT500 race, his 29th career podium may well have been his last.
Honda ensures that, with the Prelude-GT already lined up to debut in 2026, the Civic Type R-GT will bow out with a win and potentially a chance at the championship, as Yamamoto and Makino are now third in points, just eight and a half points behind Tsuboi/Yamashita.
Recovering from its first-lap incident, the #38 KeePer GR Supra of Oyu and Hiroaki Ishiura finished fourth to secure critical championship points, keeping Ishiura’s dream of winning the championship in his final season alive. They’re now 9.5 points back in the standings, fourth in the table.
Kunimoto and Sena Sakaguchi took fifth in the #19 WedsSport GR Supra (accompanied by third driver Kazuto Kotaka, who did not run in the race and was ineligible for points).
Behind them were the two NISMO cars, leading the Nissan brigade, the #23 Motul Z of Takaboshi and Katsumasa Chiyo in sixth, and the #3 Niterra Z of Sasaki and Miyake in seventh. Neither result will keep Nissan in the championship picture going into Motegi.
Rounding out the top ten were the #17 Astemo Civic of Tsukakoshi and Syun Koide, the #14 Eneos GR Supra of Oshima and Fukuzumi, and the #8 ARTA Civic (Tomoki Nojiri/Nobuharu Matsushita) in eighth, ninth, and tenth.
Tsuboi and Yamashita’s lead in the GT500 Drivers’ Championship was trimmed to just six points over Oshima and Fukuzumi in second. Six teams will have a chance to win the championship at Motegi, with the #39 Denso GR Supra of Yuhi Sekiguchi and Sacha Fenestraz (-16.5) and the #37 Deloitte GR Supra of Sasahara and Alesi (-17) also clinging to hope. It’s the five Bridgestone-clad Toyota teams versus themselves and the #100 Stanley Honda Civic Type R-GT.
Once the mightiest manufacturer in GT300, thanks to privateers like the mighty Team Taisan, Porsche’s 13-year winless drought in the category finally came to an end in stunning fashion after the #666 seven x seven Racing 911 GT3 R of Harry King, Kiyoto Fujinami, and Tsubasa Kondo took a come-from-behind victory.
Only 26 cars took the green flag in GT300, after the #11 Gainer Tanax Nissan Fairlady Z (Ryuichiro Tomita/Kazuki Oki) was scratched due to damage from its Q2 accident.
From the pole, Rikuto Kobayashi in the #7 CarGuy MKS Ferrari 296 GT3 led the #0 Venteny Lamborghini Huracán GT3 EVO2 of Yuya Motojima and the #2 Hyper Water INGING Toyota GR86 of Yuui Tsutsumi, who ran first, second, and third during the opening stint. Before the end of the first hour, Kobayashi brought the #7 Ferrari in for a pit stop, and handed off to Zak O’Sullivan. JLOC decided to take fuel and rear tyres only for both of its cars.
This strategy helped Motojima emerge from the pits ahead of O’Sullivan, with the net lead. It also helped the #87 Metalive S Huracán of Natsu Sakaguchi climb to third from sixth.
Motojima and O’Sullivan’s battle was interrupted by the shock of Takayuki Aoki’s #360 RunUp Rivaux Nissan GT-R NISMO GT3 suffering a right-rear puncture and pulling off, across the track towards pit exit, nearly causing a bigger accident along the way. The car then sat motionless at pit exit for several minutes before a Full Course Yellow was deployed.
The #0 Venteny Huracán made its last pit stop before the FCY came out, while the #7 CarGuy 296 came in after the FCY was lifted. This set up a battle between Takashi Kogure and Rikuto Kobayashi for the win, but that battle was about to get turned on its head with drive-through penalties. First, the #0 dropped out of first place when it had to serve a penalty for speeding during the FCY, handing the lead back to Kobayashi.
Then, both cars were given drive-throughs for overtaking under a yellow flag zone. Kobayashi’s margin was such that he was able to retain his lead, but now in second was the #666 seven x seven 911 of King, ahead of the #0 Venteny Huracán of Kogure. King put pressure on Kobayashi, but the Ferrari was eventually able to get the gap back out to around five seconds as the race approached the final minutes.
When CarGuy MKS Racing was cruising to its second win of the season, though, there was still more trouble ahead as Kobayashi needed to bring the car in for a splash of fuel with eight minutes left. And King drove through in the bright yellow Porsche to take the lead, which he would not relinquish.
For the first time since Motegi in 2012, when Team Taisan captured its final SUPER GT win with the 997-generation Porsche 911 GT3 R, the famous badge from Stuttgart had finally made its way back to the top step of the podium in GT300. And this was, of course, the first win for seven x seven Racing and for King – who, all of a sudden, has become the ace driver for the team.
“Arigato!” exclaimed King, who started the season as seven x seven’s third driver at the Fuji 3H. “I am very pleased with this result. I didn’t expect us to be able to win, and we were hindered by Success Weight and BoP. But the team staff did a great job of setting up the car, so I am so happy that we got this result. Also, it has been so good for me to be able to work with Fujinami-san and Kondo-san.”
Two-time GT300 Champion Fujinami has spent this year continuing to rebuild his career and his reputation as a driver/manager at seven x seven Racing. He voluntarily stood down from driving the #666 Porsche for several rounds to give King more seat time in GT300. Upon his return to the cockpit this weekend, Fujinami ran the opening stint and took his sixth career GT300 victory, his first since 2022.
“We did it! I want to thank everyone,” Fujinami said. “Has this been the first win since 2022? A lot has happened since then, and I want to thank all the fans that have continued to cheer me on. This year I returned to SUPER GT with a new team and I am glad to have been able to give back something to by working with the team staff, the owner and the tyre maker to get this win. Especially, Harry is a really fast driver, and Tsubasa-san joined as our third driver for me, and in the last race he got third place for us. With everyone playing a part, it is great that we got this win.”
Though it won’t go in the books as a third career win for Kondo, who said after watching the race from the garage: “Watching the race, I was impressed by the speed of both of our drivers. But I think it is quite a feat to have the team win in this first year of participation. I am very glad that I was allowed to be involved with this team.”
Even with the late splash of fuel, the #7 CarGuy 296 of Kobayashi and O’Sullivan (third driver Keita Sawa did not run) still took home second place and continued its rapid ascent up the GT300 points table.
And what could have been JLOC’s first win of the year instead turned into third place for Kogure and Motojima, who bow out as GT300 Champions after being mathematically eliminated from contention for the 2025 title.
The #56 Realize/Nissan Mechanic Challenge GT-R (João Paulo de Oliveira/Kohei Hirate) took fourth place, just ahead of the #6 Uni-Robo Bluegrass Ferrari (Yoshiaki Katayama/Roberto Merhi) in fifth. And the #65 LEON Pyramid Mercedes-AMG GT3 EVO (Naoya Gamou/Togo Suganami; Haruki Kurosawa did not run) was able to consolidate its championship lead with a sixth-place finish.
Rounding out the top ten were the #52 Saitama Green Brave Toyota GR Supra (Hiroki Yoshida/Seita Nonaka), the #18 UPGarage Mercedes-AMG (Takashi Kobayashi/Yuto Nomura), the #87 Metalive S Lamborghini (Kosuke Matsuura/Natsu Sakaguchi), and the #4 Goodsmile Hatsune Miku AMG (Nobuteru Taniguchi/Tatsuya Kataoka).
Another drive-through penalty for overtaking under yellows was given to the #2 Hyper Water GR86 of Tsutsumi and Hibiki Taira (Kazuhisa Urabe did not run) dropping it from seventh to 12th, behind the #26 Anest Iwata Lexus RC F GT3 (Igor Fraga/Hironobu Yasuda). The #62 HELM Motorsports GT-R (Yuya Hiraki/Reiji Hiraki), the #5 Mach Syaken/Air Buster MC86 (Yusuke Shiotsu/Iori Kimura), and #25 Hoppy Schatz GR Supra (Takamitsu Matsui/Kimiya Sato) completed the GT300 points finishers.
Now, with the revised GT300 points system, nine teams can still win the championship: Gamou/Suganami sit on 79 points, 1.5 points ahead of Hirate, and 4.5 points ahead of O’Sullivan/Rikuto Kobayashi. Then, Taniguchi/Kataoka (-12.5) are fourth in the Drivers’ Standings, but Goodsmile Racing & TeamUKYO leads the Teams’ Standings thanks to the contributions of its Sepang relief drivers.
Behind them, Yoshida/Nonaka (-19.5), Tomonobu Fujii/Charlie Fagg (-22.5), Tsutsumi/Taira (-22.5), King (-23.5), and Takashi Kobayashi/Nomura (-23.5) all reside as outsiders, yet mathematically have a chance if they win the final round.
Fujii and Fagg finished 21st in their #777 D’station Aston Martin Vantage GT3, which had to serve a five-second penalty stop for a chassis change and did not recover from its early deficit.
Meanwhile, the #31 apr Lexus LC500h (Oliver Rasmussen/Miki Koyama/Yuki Nemoto) was disqualified for a technical infringement in violation with the GT300 vehicle regulations, after finishing 15th on the road.
All roads now lead to the Motegi GT 300km Race: Grand Final on 1/2 November, where the biggest prizes in Japanese sports car racing will be given out.
Images © GTA
