On December 9th, Nissan Motor Co., Ltd. and Nissan Motorsports & Customizing Co., Ltd. (NMC) announced their SUPER GT GT500 class team lineups for the 2026 season. As for the customer racing programs, they will be announced at a later date.
The NISSAN participants for the 2026 season will be the No. 12 TEAM IMPUL, the No. 23 NISMO, and the No. 24 KONDO RACING team. These three teams will participate in the GT500 class using the Nissan Z NISMO GT500. The lineups of the three teams will be as follows below.
Car no.
Team
Team Director
Driver
12
Team Impul
Kazuyoshi Hoshino (Team Principal)Kazuki Hoshino (Team Director)
Kazuki Hiramine (JPN)Bertrand Baguette (BEL)
23
NISMO
Tsugio Matsuda
Katsumasa Chiyo (JPN)Mitsunori Takaboshi (JPN)
24
Kondo Racing
Masahiko Kondo
Teppei Natori (JPN)Atsushi Miyake (JPN)
For the No. 12 TEAM IMPUL, Kazuyoshi Hoshino will serve as Team Principal, with Kazuki Hoshino giving direction as Team Director. The drivers for 2026 will be the same pair of Kazuki Hiramine and Bertrand Baguette as when the team won the championship in 2022. As a leading presence among the NISSAN teams, which won Round 5 this season at Suzuka, will be the No. 23 NISMO team, entering with the same driver pair as this season of Katsumasa Chiyo and Mitsunori Takaboshi. Serving as Team Director will be Tsugio Matsuda, who has already announced his retirement as a GT500 driver as of this season. The No. 24 KONDO RACING team that won its first race in nine years in Round 6 at SUGO will have as its Director again next season Masahiko Kondo. Moving up to the position of first driver to replace Tsugio Matsuda, who will retire as of this season, will be Teppei Natori, who is in his third year as a GT500 class driver. And joining Natori will be Atsushi Miyake, who comes to the team after two seasons of driving the No. 3 Nissan Z,
In the announcement release, the president of NMC, Yutaka Sanada, spoke of his aspirations for the coming season in these words. “Super GT is a key activity for Nissan/NMC, and our passion for motorsports remains unwavering,” said Yutaka Sanada, president of NMC. “For the upcoming season, we will enter Super GT with a three-car lineup, with Tsugio Matsuda assuming the role as Team Director for NISMO. All teams are energized for the new season as they aim for victory with their Nissan Z NISMO GT500 racecars. We sincerely appreciate the continued and unwavering support of our fans.”
■Nissan/NMC announces 2026 Super GT GT500 team lineup https://global.nissannews.com/en/releases/2026-super-gt-gt500-class-driver-lineup
