On Day 2 of the 2026 AUTOBACS SUPER GT Official Tests, the weather was even colder than on yesterday’s Day 1 as the teams began there runs. In the morning and afternoon sessions the Red Flag was shown to stop the sessions a total of six times and disrupt the tests, and in the end the No. 16 #16 ARTA MUGEN HRC PRELUDE-GT recorded the overall top time. In the GT300 class, the SUBARU BRZ R&D SPORT （Takuto Iguchi / Hideki Yamauchi） competing with a new engine recorded the top time.
◎ First test runs (Session 1: morning of the second day) 9:30 – 11:12:05 (10:00 – 10:15) the SC simulation was run (extended 5 min.) Weather: Cloudy / Track: Wet to Dry Air temperature:7℃ – 10℃ / Track surface temperature: 9℃ – 13℃
◎ Second test runs (Session 2: afternoon of Day 2) 14:00 – 16:00 Weather: Cloudy / Track: Dry Air temperature:10℃ – 10℃ / Track surface temperature: 17℃ – 13℃
■Again the au TOM’S GR Supra records the Top Time！ But the KeePer CERUMO GR Supra is close behind in 2nd position
Rain from the night before remained on the track, which meant that the March 16th (Monday) morning session was run with Wet track conditions. However, there wasn’t enough water to cause a spray when passed over, and gradually the track dried out. In less than an hour the track condition was completely Dry.
By this time, most of the teams already had their cars on the track. About 45 minutes into the session, the No. 36 au TOM’S GR Supra left its pit, which meant that all of the GT500 class cars had begun their runs.
The first car to appear at the top of the time board with a time of 1 minute and 29 sec. was the first of two Nissan Z NISMO cars, the No. 12 TRS IMPUL with SDG Z (Kazuki Hiramine / Bertrand Baguette) and the No. 24 REALIZE CORPORATION Z (Teppei Natori / Atsushi Miyake). From there, the No. 14 ENEOS X PRIME GR Supra (Nirei Fukuzumi / Kazuya Oshima) appeared with a time of 1’28 sec. to take the Top spot. This was soon beaten however by the No. 13 MOTUL Niterra Z （Katsumasa Chiyo / Mitsunori Takaboshi） as the times got faster in quick succession.
About 1 hour and 30 minutes into the session, despite the remaining cloud cover, the air temperature finally rose to 10℃. It was at this point that there came a big change in the Top Time when Tsuboi in the No. 36 GR Supra recorded a time of 1’28.291 sec.
In the latter stages of the session when the teams were no longer making big improvements in their times, there was one car that stood out; the No. 64 Modulo HRC PRELUDE-GT (Riki Okusa / Igor Omura Fraga). During the early stages of the session, after running a few laps it had returned to its pit for a long time to wait for the track conditions to improve, before finally it returned to the track with Okusa at the wheel, and he began to bring his times down steadily until he recorded a time of 1’28.408 with about 20 minutes left in the session, which moved him up to 4th position. Just after that, at the ADVAN Corner, a GT300 class car, the No. 5 MACHSYAKEN AIR BUSTER MC86 MACH GO (Yusuke Shiotsu / Sota Arao) crashed. The machine’s rear portion was damaged, and it was at this point that the session was stopped. Just after the session was restarted for the first time, it was just about an hour later that the Red Flag was shown for the second time to stop the session, after which a 5-minute extension was added to the session.
What’s more, with about 10 minutes left in the session the No. 16 #16 ARTA MUGEN HRC PRELUDE-GT (Tomoki Nojiri / Ren Sato) ran off the track and came to a stop, thus bringing out the Red Flag to stop the session for the fourth time. Fortunately, the car was able to move again, and the session was restarted with a few minutes remaining. However, in this short time there was no big change in the order, and the No. 36 au TOM’S GR Supra came through with the Top Time. Finishing the session in 2nd and 3rd position were the No. 38 GR Supra、and the No. 23 Z. Fourth position went to the No. 64 PRELUDE-GT.
■In the last session the HRC PRELUDE-GT is strong! The #16 ARTA MUGEN HRC PRELUDE-GT closes the tests with the Top Time
Session 4 started at 2:00 in the afternoon. First, Yamamoto in the No. 100 STANLEY HRC PRELUDE-GT （山Naoki Yamamoto / Tadasuke Makino） got close to the top time in the morning session with a time of 1’28.498 to take the lead. Then, Oyu in the No. 38 KeePer CERUMO GR Supra (Toshiki Oyu / Rikuto Kobayashi) beat that with a time of 1’28.477, and next Tsuboi in the No. 36 au TOM’S GR Supra took the Top spot with a time of 1’28.295. For a while after this there were no changes in the top three.
At about 30 minutes after the start, the No. 4 GOODSMILE HATSUNE MIKU AMG （Nobuteru Taniguchi / Tatsuya Kataoka） came to a stop at trackside to bring out the first Red Flag stoppage of the session. When the session was restarted, Tsuboi in the No. 36 GR Supra recorded a Top Time of 1’28.110. With this the No. 36 GR Supra showed itself to be strong in both the Okayama and the Fuji Tests. However, in the final session it was the Honda HRC PRELUDE-GT cars that came to the fore.
First, it was Sato in the No. 16 #16 ARTA MUGEN HRC PRELUDE-GT that moved up to 2nd position with a time of 1’28.156 and then continued to lower his time and get closer to the top. It was around this time that a light rain began to fall, and a Wet condition was declared for the track. And following car No. 16 came Fraga in the No. 64 Modulo HRC PRELUDE-GT with a time of 1’28.446 that moved it up to 3rd position. In the end, although they were beaten by Kobayashi in the KeePer CERUMO GR Supra and fell back in the order, it can still be said that the No. 64 PRELUDE-GT, which had also run a good time in the morning was one of the stronger cars in the PRELUDE-GT teams.
In the final stages of the session the No. 16 PRELUDE-GT showed even greater speed. Sato scored first with a time in the 1’27 sec. range to take the Top Time away from the No. 36 GR Supra. After that, it was Nojiri who took the wheel of the No. 16 PRELUDE-GT and got a sector best time but was then caught behind a GT300 car at the GR GT Corner and failed to get a best time. It was the No. 16 ARTA MUGEN HRC PRELUDE-GT that got the session’s best time and went on to get the best time of Day 2. Finishing in 2nd and 3rd position were the No. 36 and No. 38 GR Supra cars together, while 4th position went to the Nissan Z NISMO car No. 23.
■The UPGARAGE AMG GT3 gets the morning’s best time. In the afternoon the SUBARU BRZ R&D SPORT was the only car to get a time in the 1’35 sec. range
In the GT300 class, it was Kobayashi in the No. 18 UPGARAGE AMG GT3 (Takashi Kobayashi / Kotaro Shimbara) who recorded the top time of 1’36.509. For Kobayashi, this season started with a new maintenance garage and a new driver partner who is a rookie named Shimbara. Kobayashi said, “Since this season has also seen a change in the BoP（Balance of Performance）, we had to start with a lot of trial and error regarding the car’s setup. In light of this, we are pushing forward constructively, and in today’s running I think we can say that the car’s setup was good. As for the overall situation, since we don’t even know if the competition is running wearing surgical masks or not, getting the top time may not mean much.” Thus, he concluded in a cautious way. He then went on to say, “This is the last test before the opening round. We don’t have much time and since I don’t know how much useful data we are getting, I want to see us analyze what we have now and work to raise our level of competitiveness. In the state we are in now I don’t feel confident that we can win, so as drivers and the rest of the team I think we have to try harder to the reach a point where we can stay in competition for the title.” With these words he expressed his aspirations for the season.
In the afternoon session it was Yamauchi in the No. 61 SUBARU BRZ R&D SPORT (Takuto Iguchi / Hideki Yamauchi / Shunji Okumoto) who immediately recorded a session-best time of 1’35.806. In the final stages of the session the No. 666 seven x seven PORSCHE GT3R EVO (Sven Müller / Kiyoto Fujinami / Taichi Watarai) came to a stop coming out of the TGR Corner. This brought the second Red Flag stoppage of the session, and after the restart it was Urabe in the No. 2 HYPER WATER INGING GR86 GT (Yuui Tsutsumi / Kazuhisa Urabe) who moved up into 2nd position with a time of 1’36.157, but it wasn’t enough to beat Yamauchi’s time. On this Day 2 of the tests the overall Top Time went to the No. 61 BRZ.
GT500 class・Day 2 Overall Top Time
Ren Sato (No.16 #16 ARTA MUGEN HRC PRELUDE-GT)
“In the afternoon session, as we ran through the tire tests that we hadn’t finished in the morning, a lap that I ran at an advantageous time became the top time. Since it seemed that the other teams were running their own test menus, I can’t really say unconditionally that it was a good thing. Looking at the flow of this week, I feel that the car’s performance potential looks to be high. As for bringing out the PRELUDE-GT’s performance, I feel that we are making steady progress, and although in the end Nojiri-san got caught behind another car and couldn’t get a good time, since we are both getting the same kind of performance, I feel that things are coming together well. I think there is still a lot we can do before the opening round, and I want us to go into it well prepared.”
GT300 class・Day 2 Overall Top Time
Hideki Yamauchi (No. 61 SUBARU BRZ R&D SPORT)
“During these two days there has been a lot of time when machine trouble kept us from running, and since that made the atmosphere rather disappointing, I feel very fortunate that we got a good lap time. However, since we were running on rather soft tires when we got the good time, although I am glad for the fact that we got the top time, from the standpoint of consistency, to be honest I am still a bit worried. Nonetheless, I think there won’t be many times during the season when the air temperature and the track surface temperature will be as cold as it was today but I hope things will be OK. This year we have gotten a new engine and because it has plenty of torque, and since when we are running with the classes mixed, when the rpm drops low it rises well again and I think that will reduce time loss. While keeping an understanding of these advantages and disadvantages firmly in mind, in the end I think it is good that we have gotten to this point.”
