The MOTEGI GT 300km RACE GRAND FINAL, Round 8 of the 2025 AUTOBACS SUPER GT series, took place on November 2nd (Sun.) at Mobility Resort Motegi (4,801m x 63 laps) in Tochigi Prefecture. At the end of the fierce competition that played out at Motegi, the No. 1 au TOM’S GR Supra (Sho Tsuboi / Kenta Yamashita) won its third race to the season to take the GT500 championship title, while Tsuboi became the first in SUPER GT history to win three consecutive titles. In the GT300 class, the No. 5 MACHSYAKEN AIR BUSTER MC86 MACH GO (Yusuke Shiotsu / Iori Kimura) got its first win as a team. The GT300 championship title went to the No. 65 LEON PYRAMID AMG (Naoya Gamou / Togo Suganami).

The Rd. 8 Motegi Race, last round of the 2025 season, started at 1:00 in the afternoon behind five motorcycles and five patrol cars of the Tochigi Prefectural Police in a Road Safety Awareness Parade Run and followed by one formation lap, after which the race began. With the participating cars running with no Success Weight, the 300 km race broke into full fury.

　It was Ishiura in the pole-sitting No. 38 KeePer CERUMO GR Supra (Hiroaki Ishiura / Toshiki Oyu) that made a successful hole shot. However, Tsuboi in the No.1 au TOM’S GR Supra (Sho Tsuboi / Kenta Yamashita) that had started from 2nd position on the grid who quickly caught up with No. 38 by the 3rd and 4th corners and passed it to take the lead. Then the No. 12 TRS IMPUL with SDG Z (Kazuki Hiramine / Bertrand Baguette) that had started from 4th position on the grid also passed No. 38 to move into 2nd position in the race. Behind this, it was the No. 100 STANLEY CIVIC TYPE R-GT (Naoki Yamamoto / Tadasuke Makino) that had started from 7th position that also succeeded in passing the No. 3 Niterra MOTUL Z (Daiki Sasaki / Atsushi Miyake) and the No. 24 REALIZE CORPORATION ADVAN Z (Tsugio Matsuda / Teppei Natori) in quick succession to move into 5th position on the same lap.

　 After this car No. 1 had trouble trying to expand its lead over No. 12. However, there was then an accident involving two GT300 class cars that led to a Full Course Yellow (FCY) call on the 8th lap. However, after the call was withdrawn, it only took No. 1 a few laps to gradually build up a lead of approximately 4 seconds.

　Then, when the race reached approximately one-third of its distance on the 21st lap, the point at which driver changes were officially allowed, some of the cars began making their pit stop as early as the 22nd lap to perform pit work. With this, the No. 12 car running in 2nd position and car No. 38 in 3rd position made their pit stops on the 22nd lap. It was here that the No. 38 team completed its pit work quickly and was able to get back on the track in front of car No. 12. But on its first lap out, Oyu in car No. 38 ran out on the gravel at the 90 Degrees Corner, causing it to lose ground in the race order, after which it was unable to hold its pace.

　Meanwhile, the leading car No. 1 made its pit stop on the 23rd lap and changed drivers from Tsuboi to Yamashita before returning to the race. But next it was car No. 100, which has passed car No. 23 on the 21st lap to move up into 4th position, that made its pit stop on the 24th lap and opted for a no-tire-change strategy. This reduced its time in the pit to the point that it succeeded in returning to the track in front of car No. 1.

　But it was Yamashita in car No. 1 that passed No. 100 from the out-side of the 3rd corner of the 29th lap to take the lead. The No. 37 Deloitte TOM’S GR Supra (Ukyo Sasahara / Giuliano Alesi) that had been waiting until last, finally made its pit stop on the 37th lap, thus giving No. 1 the lead again.

　Then, on the 29th lap, No. 100 was passed by No. 12 and No. 23 in quick succession to fall back to 4th position. Then the two Z cars No. 12 and No. 23 closed in on the leading No. 1 GR Supra and continued to run nose to tail that way lap after lap.

　At the 90 Degrees Corner of the 44th lap, car No. 12 pulled up on the in-side of No. 1, but Yamashita at the wheel of No. 1 passed it back immediately after coming out of the curve to hold on to the lead. And then it was on the 49th lap that No. 12 attacked again, this time from the out-side, but once again No. 1 defended its lead. In this way, both No. 23 in 3rd position and No. 12 continued to make moves on No. 1 time and again.

　Then, on the 56th lap, at the entrance to the 3rd corner, there was an accident that saw the No.14 ENEOS X PRIME GR Supra (Kazuya Oshima / Nirei Fukuzumi) collide with the No. 16 ARTA MUGEN CIVIC TYPE R-GT #16 (Hiroki Otsu / Ren Sato). Because this left car parts scattered across the track, the second FCY of the day was called.

　This FCY was cancelled after a little more than 1 minute, but once again No. 1 made smart use of this interval to gain a lead of about 2 seconds. After that, No. 12 continued to look for chances to make a pass. However, Yamashita in car No. 1 continued to hold it off until the end.

　Finishing this way, the No. 1 au TOM’S GR Supra (Sho Tsuboi / Kenta Yamashita) took its third win of the season following the one in race 1 of Rd. 4 at FUJI.

　Crossing the goal line in 2nd place came car No. 12, but in the post-race car inspection, its skid block was found to be shaved off more than the specification allowed, and due to this violation car No. 12 was disqualified. With this, 2nd place went to the No. 23 MOTUL AUTECH Z (Katsumasa Chiyo / Mitsunori Takaboshi) and 3rd place to the No. 100 STANLEY CIVIC TYPE R-GT (Naoki Yamamoto / Tadasuke Makino). As for the No. 100 STANLEY CIVIC TYPE R-GT (Naoki Yamamoto / Tadasuke Makino) that had worked relentlessly to win the championship, this move officially gave a 3rd place to the Honda CIVIC TYPE R-GT in its last race in GT500.

　With these results, the 2025 season GT500 class Drivers title went to the driver pair of Sho Tsuboi and Kenta Yamashita. For Tsuboi, this gave him the first 3rd consecutive title in SUPER GT history, as well as giving him a fourth career title to tie him with the record of four titles held by Ronnie Quintarelli, who retired last season. As for Yamashita, he got his second consecutive and third career title. What’s more, the TGR TEAM au TOM’S won its third consecutive team title to tie the record for most consecutive titles (with NISMO’s three from 2003 to 2005).