Goodsmile Racing & TeamUKYO announced its team and drivers for the 2026 Autobacs SUPER GT Series. For the 15th year in a row, three-time GT300 Drivers’ Champions Nobuteru Taniguchi and Tatsuya Kataoka will drive for Goodsmile Racing, driving the #4 Mercedes-AMG GT3 EVO.
Team Director Ukyo Katayama will continue to manage the team under the supervision of Team Owner Takanori Aki, as has been the case for over a decade.
But there’s been a significant change behind the scenes as Takao Kohno, the owner of RS Fine garage, has stepped down from his post as Chief Engineer of Goodsmile Racing & TeamUKYO – not retiring from motorsport, but standing down to make way for the next generation.
It ends an incredibly accomplished 30-year tenure in SUPER GT for Kohno, who was the lead engineer for RE Amemiya’s popular Mazda RX-7s from the team’s GT300 debut in 1995, to their exit from the series in 2010 – culminating in a 2006 GT300 Championship led by drivers Tetsuya Yamano and Hiroyuki Iiri.
RS Fine became the maintenance garage for Goodsmile Racing in 2011, during the team’s alliance with Studie AG, the year in which Taniguchi and Taku Bamba won their first GT300 titles. Kohno then took over as Chief Engineer for Taniguchi and Kataoka, helping guide them to two more championships in 2014 and 2017.
For the upcoming season, KIM International will be the new service provider for Goodsmile Racing. Kim Kyon-mo’s shop currently services the KTMS (Kobe Toyopet Motor Sports) ST-2 effort in the Super Taikyu Series, and was also involved with TOM’S inaugural Kyojo Cup campaign as the series changed to hybridised Formula 4 cars in 2025.
Viktor Ferder will succeed Kohno as Chief Engineer of the #4 Mercedes-AMG, bringing a wealth of experience with the marque – first as a performance engineer for HWA AG, then as a freelance engineer overseeing all Mercedes-AMG Performance Teams at the Intercontinental GT Challenge, the Nürburgring 24 Hours, and the FIA GT World Cup in Macau.
Ferder has also worked with BMW Team Schnitzer, Proton Competition, Land-Motorsport, Algarve Pro Racing, and TDS Racing over the past decade.
Last season, Taniguchi and Kataoka finished fifth in the GT300 standings with top-ten finishes in all seven domestic rounds. Substitute drivers Yuhki Nakayama and Shunji Okumoto filled in for the Sepang round and took a third-place finish, while Taniguchi and Kataoka competed at the CrowdStrike 24 Hours of Spa.
Goodsmile Racing also unveiled the 2026 illustration of team mascot Hatsune Miku, illustrated by Kuroboshi Kouhaku, best known for his work as an illustrator and character designer for Sword Art Online and Fate/Grand Order.
No announcement has been made – yet – about a potential return to select Intercontinental GT Challenge rounds, after GSR ran at both Spa and the revived Suzuka 1000km.
Images © GTA, Goodsmile Racing
