The 2026 SRO Japan Cup season began this weekend at Sportsland Sugo, with Qualifying on Saturday, and two 60-minute sprint races on Sunday.
In Qualifying, defending Japan Cup GT3 champion Akihiro Tsuzuki put his #1 Hitotsuyama with Cornes Racing Ferrari 296 GT3 on the pole for Race 1. Race 2 pole position went to Bingo Racing with LM corsa’s new #9 Porsche 911 GT3 R, driven by Toyota SUPER GT and Super Formula driver Ukyo Sasahara.
Unfortunately, fans hoping to see the debut of K-tunes Racing’s #96 Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R were left disappointed with the news that the car had withdrawn due to a mechanical issue in pre-event testing, leaving just 15 cars to run the opening round of the Japan Cup season.
Tsuzuki and champion co-driver Shintaro Kawabata were the class of the field to start Sunday as they won Race 1 nearly lights-to-flag. Tsuzuki maintained a steady two-second gap to the #24 Max Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 EVO (no relation to the lead protagonist of this weekend’s other big race!) of Yusaku Shibata going into the mid-race pit window, and came in at the first opportunity for a driver change.
Shibata, meanwhile, stayed out for another lap before handing the #24 Mercedes-AMG over to Yuya Motojima, but Kawabata kept the dark blue and yellow #1 Ferrari ahead, taking the lead once the #45 PONOS Racing Ferrari made its pit stop, and holding it until the finish, leading 39 out of 43 laps.
Shibata and Motojima came second by 1.6 seconds, while the battle for third came down to a battle between two Toyota factory aces, moonlighting for other GT3 manufacturers this weekend.
Three-time and defending SUPER GT GT500 champion Kenta Yamashita, who joined Tadao Uematsu in the #88 miracolo Tokyo McLaren 720S GT3 this year, held off the #9 Porsche of Sasahara by 0.538 seconds to finish third.
Behind Sasahara and Shinji Takei, fifth place and GT3 Am honours went to the #19 Spirit of FFF Racing Lamborghini Huracán GT3 EVO2 of Mineki Okura and Hiroshi Hamaguchi.
Meanwhile, in the GT4 class, the #82 Zenko RS Garage with Sunrise Blvd Porsche 718 GT4 RS Clubsport of Yoshitomo Makino and Takeshi Suehiro won the opening race.
Sasahara started Race 2 on the pole as mentioned, but Kawabata in the #1 Hitotsuyama Ferrari leaned ahead from the outside of the front row, taking the lead into turn one. Unfortunately, Kawabata’s start was out of order, and he incurred a ten-second time penalty to be served at the pit stop.
The #9 Bingo Porsche, in its Mobil 1 livery, would continue in second place before taking the lead after pit stops.
K-tunes Racing’s sole remaining challenger, the #97 Ferrari of Shinichi Takagi and Betty Chen, was one of the last cars to pit alongside the #9 Bingo Porsche of Sasahara and the #88 miracolo McLaren of Yamashita. But not long after Chen got in the car, she pulled over with what appeared to be a right-rear puncture, triggering a Full Course Yellow followed by a Safety Car.
With the field compressed, a 12-minute sprint for the Am drivers decided the race. Shibata in the #24 Max Racing Mercedes-AMG capitalised on a mistake from Uematsu in the #88 miracolo McLaren to take second place.
He’d put pressure on race leader Takei, but the #9 Bingo Porsche would hang on to win Race 2 by just 0.208 seconds over the #24 Max Racing Mercedes-AMG, with the #88 miracolo McLaren only 0.584 seconds off the win in third.
The top six GT3 cars were all covered by just 3.148 seconds at the flag. The #555 Maezawa Racing Ferrari (Yusaku Maezawa/Naoki Yokomizo) finished fourth, followed by the #1 Hitotsuyama Ferrari in fifth.
The #19 Spirit of FFF Lamborghini finished sixth overall and swept both races in GT3 Am, to take the championship lead over the #45 PONOS Ferrari of Yusuke Yamasaki and Yorikatsu Tsujiko.
After finishing second in Race 1, the #11 Akiland Racing Toyota GR Supra GT4 EVO2 of Masayoshi Oyama and Yuji Kunimoto would grab the win in Race 2, after Kunimoto capitalised on an error from past champion Suehiro to slip past him and into a lead that he and Oyama would not relinquish.
The SRO Japan Cup returns on 10–12 July at Fuji Speedway, for the first of two SRO Asia GT PowerTour events held alongside GT World Challenge Asia powered by AWS.
Images © SRO Motorsports Group
