The title-winning #36 au TOM’S Toyota GR Supra GT500 had set the fastest time in all three days of SUPER GT pre-season testing. But on the final day at Fuji Speedway, Honda climbed to the top of the board for the first time with its new HRC Prelude-GT.
The #16 ARTA Mugen HRC Prelude-GT set the top time during the final afternoon session from Fuji on Monday, though the #36 au TOM’S GR Supra would still lead the morning session in a Toyota 1-2 finish.
There were rain showers overnight that led to a damp start to the Monday morning session (Session 3). Since the surface temperatures were already quite low to start the day, some teams were less eager to enter the course than others, at least until the track started drying and the surface temperatures began to climb.
After about 90 minutes of running, four-time and defending GT500 champion Sho Tsuboi set the #36 Toyota’s best time in the morning session at 1:28.291.
Not far behind Tsuboi was Toshiki Oyu in the #38 KeePer Cerumo GR Supra. His best lap was a 1:28.302, only 0.011s short of Tsuboi’s benchmark time.
Rounding out the top three from the morning outing was Mitsunori Takaboshi in the #23 Motul Niterra Nissan Z NISMO GT500, whose best time was a 1:28.368 – Nissan’s best time of the day in GT500. The #64 Modulo HRC Prelude-GT (Riki Okusa, 1:28.408) finished the morning in fourth, picking up where it left off yesterday.
The session was interrupted by four red flags, the most significant of which was for a crash involving Team Mach rookie Souta Arao. The 20-year-old lost control of the #5 Mach Syaken/Air Buster MC86 between the exit of 100R and the entrance of Advan Corner and crashed into the tyre barrier.
マッハ号クラッシュ！
開幕戦までに間に合うだろうか…。#SUPERGT pic.twitter.com/ebrJwY33zZ— Yoshitaka Nakamura (@defD11) March 16, 2026
Arao was able to walk away from the crash uninjured, but the heavy damage to the rear of the car meant that not only would the team miss the rest of the day’s activities, but Team Mach will now have to do its best to repair the 10-year-old Toyota 86 MC – the last of its kind in active competition – in time for the season-opening round at Okayama International Circuit.
Other stoppages came for the #45 PONOS Ferrari 296 GT3 Evo, the #31 apr Lexus LC500h, and the #16 ARTA Mugen Prelude-GT, though all three cars were able to proceed with the remainder of their tests in the afternoon.
It was at the very end of the afternoon session (Session 4) where the #16 Honda recovered from its earlier spin and stall to claim the top spot for the day. Ren Sato turned in a lap of 1:27.904 on his final flying lap behind the wheel. This was a good way to close out what had been a low-key pair of tests for Honda and ARTA, with its new team structure that includes the addition of Tomoki Nojiri to the #16 crew.
“During the afternoon session, we worked through the tire tests we hadn’t been able to complete in the morning, and a lap time we set at just the right moment ended up being the fastest of the day,” said Sato. “Since the other teams were likely doing long runs and various other parts of their program, I can’t say for certain that this was a definitive success. But looking at how things have gone this week, I think the car has a lot of potential. I also feel we’re making steady progress in bringing out the Prelude-GT’s full performance.
“Although Nojiri couldn’t set a time at the end because he got held up by another car, both drivers were able to deliver similar performances, so it feels like we’re coming together as a team. I think there’s still a lot we can do before the season opener, so we want to make sure we prepare thoroughly.”
The #36 au TOM’S GR Supra of Tsuboi set a 1:28.110 to finish with the second best time of the day. Tsuboi still held the fastest time across both days with his 1:27.500 set in the very first session of the Fuji test. And at this stage, it would be a significant upset if Toyota didn’t open the 2026 Autobacs SUPER GT Series with a win at Okayama, particularly the champion duo of Tsuboi and Kenta Yamashita.
All three GT500 rookies finished inside the top five during Session 4: Rikuto Kobayashi in the #38 KeePer GR Supra (1:28.415) was third in the afternoon, followed by Igor Omura Fraga in the #64 Modulo Prelude-GT (1:28.446), and Yuto Nomura in the #17 Astemo Prelude-GT (1:28.447).
In GT300, the #18 UpGarage Mercedes-AMG GT3 EVO of Takashi Kobayashi set the fastest time of Session 3 at 1:36.509.
The #60 Syntium LM corsa Lexus LC500 (Hiroki Yoshimoto, 1:36.596) was second-fastest, followed by the #2 Hyper Water INGING Toyota GR86 (Yuui Tsutsumi, 1:36.614) in third.
And in the afternoon session, the #61 Subaru BRZ R&D Sport took the top time, a 1:35.806 set by Hideki Yamauchi.
“We had a lot of downtime over the past two days due to issues, and the atmosphere had gotten a bit heavy, so I’m really glad we were able to set a fast lap time and see some signs of progress,” Yamauchi remarked. “That said, I was on softer tires when I set the time, so while I’m happy about the top time itself, to be honest, I’m a bit concerned about how sustainable that performance will be. Still, I don’t think we’ll be racing in conditions with such low air and track temperatures for the rest of the season, so I’d like to believe we’ll be fine.”
It’s the first time that the R&D Sport Subaru has led a session with its new 3.3-litre flat-6 EG33 engine, replacing the previous 2.0-litre flat-4 EJ20 that had powered every Subaru GT300 car since 1998.
“Because it has good torque, when the pace slows down in mixed traffic—especially when the engine speed drops—it accelerates well from there, so I think we’re losing less time in those situations. It was good that we were able to get to the point where we could set a fast lap time while fully understanding both the strengths and weaknesses of the car,” Yamauchi added.
It was a solid day for the black #2 Hyper Water INGING GR86; after Tsutsumi went third-fastest in the morning, his rookie co-driver Kazuhisa Urabe set a 1:36.157, the second-best time of the day and the afternoon.
Completing the top three spots in GT300 was the #11 Gainer Tanax Nissan Fairlady Z – Ryuichiro Tomita set a 1:36.198, following up on a strong result yesterday.
Two red flags interrupted the afternoon session: A mechanical problem for the day one-leading #4 Goodsmile Hatsune Miku AMG, and a tyre puncture for the #666 seven x seven Porsche 911 GT3 R.
The start of the 2026 Autobacs SUPER GT Series is only four weeks away, starting 11–12 April at Okayama International Circuit, site of the Okayama GT 300km Race.
Images © GTA
