Official pre-season testing for the 2026 Autobacs SUPER GT Series continued Sunday at Fuji Speedway, the first day of a two-day test with all 43 cars taking part in a pair of two-hour test sessions. Conditions were fairly cold, mostly cloudy, and neither test was interrupted by any red flags.
Toyota had led all four sessions of the Okayama test last week in GT500, but to kick off the Fuji test, a Nissan took the top spot on the timing sheets. About halfway through the first session, the #24 Realize Corporation Nissan Z NISMO GT500 went into first place, via new transfer Atsushi Miyake, who set a 1:28.087 in the blue and white Z-car.
That put him ahead of early pacesetter Sena Sakaguchi in the #19 WedsSport Bandoh GR Supra, who’d previously led the way with a 1:28.273 – in the only Yokohama tyre-clad car in the class. Nirei Fukuzumi in the #14 Eneos X Prime GR Supra also improved later on, setting a 1:28.178 which put Fukuzumi in second, ahead of Sakaguchi in third.
Tadasuke Makino caused Honda fans to worry a bit when he spun off at GR GT Corner (turn 15), but he was able to compose himself and go fourth-fastest in the #100 Stanley Honda HRC Prelude-GT.
During the intermission, hundreds of fans flocked to the pit walk and a chance to see their favourite cars and drivers up close (and again, this is for a pre-season test day!). On-track running resumed in the afternoon with another two-hour session, led into from a simulated race start, and ending with two ten-minute Exclusive Runs for each class to allow for qualifying sims.
It was during that final ten minutes where four-time and defending GT500 Champion Sho Tsuboi in the #36 au TOM’S GR Supra set a 1:27.500 to lead the afternoon session – and with that, recorded the fastest time of the day.
Tsuboi has now set the fastest time of all three days of pre-season testing so far. But he downplayed the importance of his headlining lap relative to the long-run work the team had done during the day, saying, “I feel like we weren’t able to conduct a proper test today because the temperature was too low, and since I don’t know how the other teams were performing during the final exclusive practice session, I don’t think we should rely too heavily on that data.
“The car’s balance was a bit off this morning, but after some trial and error in the afternoon, we managed to find a decent setup. Since we set the fastest time at the end, I feel confident that our approach was correct. Also, despite the cold, we were able to assess the tyre conditions, so I think we’re getting closer to finding the right solution.”
It was a Toyota 1–2 in GT500 as Sacha Fenestraz went second-quickest in the #39 Denso Kobelco SARD GR Supra, posting a 1:27.697.
GT500 newcomer Igor Omura Fraga also put in an impressive run aboard the Dunlop-clad #64 Modulo Prelude-GT; he was fastest before the Exclusive Run portion of Session 2, and his hot lap at the very end (1:27.762) was still good for third-fastest overall.
The #19 WedsSport GR Supra of Sakaguchi was fourth, followed by the #16 ARTA Mugen Prelude-GT of Tomoki Nojiri, and the #100 Stanley Prelude-GT of Makino in sixth.
Mitsunori Takaboshi in the #23 Motul Niterra Z set a 1:28.074, the seventh-fastest time of the day and best of all the Nissan runners, surpassing Miyake’s leading time from Session 1.
In GT300, Goodsmile Racing & TeamUKYO had a frustrating Okayama test with mechanical setbacks, but was back to its usual standard with the fastest time in class. Thanks to a late improvement in Session 1, three-time GT300 Champion Tatsuya Kataoka put the #4 Goodsmile Hatsune Miku Mercedes-AMG GT3 EVO up front with a 1:36.190. This would stand as the fastest time of the day overall.
It’s been an off-season of change for Goodsmile Racing, not only with a new chassis, but a new maintenance partner (KIM International) and chief engineer (Viktor Ferder).
“While I think we were a bit unprepared during the official test at Okayama, this time we were able to tackle the session with everything properly in place,” said Kataoka. “Despite the low temperatures today, we were able to make progress on various setup adjustments using the tyres we brought. We were also able to verify our setup in light of this year’s changes to the BoP. From our perspective, it feels like we’re driving in a way that’s somewhat similar to last year.
“As for today’s fastest lap, it came about because we put on new tyres at a different time than the others and were able to run when conditions were optimal. So, I’m not exactly overjoyed, but on the flip side, if we couldn’t secure the top spot when conditions were good, I think things would be even tougher. In that sense, it’s definitely not bad, and since being on top is a result that boosts motivation, that part was good.”
The #60 Syntium LM corsa Lexus LC500 (Hiroki Yoshimoto, 1:36.364) and #30 apr Toyota GR86 (Hibiki Taira, 1:36.385) rounded out the top three in the morning.
Fuji marked the debut of Gainer’s revised and improved Nissan Fairlady Z GT300, which didn’t make it to Okayama, but was on track today.
Even better, the #11 Gainer Tanax Z showed pace out of the box: To cap off the afternoon, Ryuichiro Tomita went quickest in Session 2, second-fastest of the day, with a 1:36.259.
Behind him, the #9 Pacific Umamusume NAC BMW M4 GT3 EVO continued its strong form from the Okayama test; Yusuke Tomibayashi’s best lap of 1:36.344 was second in Session 2, followed by Goodsmile Racing’s Nobuteru Taniguchi (1:36.432) in third.
Reigning GT300 champion Togo Suganami was tenth-fastest for the day in the #65 LEON Pyramid AMG (1:36.581), though co-driver Naoya Gamou’s best time of the day was only three milliseconds slower.
Two more test sessions are on deck tomorrow on the last day of official pre-season testing.
Images © GTA
