The opening round of the 2026 AUTOBACS SUPER GT series, the OKAYAMA GT 300km RACE, took place on April 12th at the Okayama International Circuit (one lap 3,703m × 82 laps). Blessed with clear skies, the air temperature rose to 24 degrees Celsius, when the race started. In the GT500 class the 3-time champions, the No. 36 au TOM’S GR Supra（Sho Tsuboi / Kenta Yamashita） team that had qualified in 2nd position in the Qualifying showed its true strength in the race by coming from behind to win its third straight championship title in the opening round at Okayama. In the GT300 class, the No. 777 D’station Vantage GT3（Tomonobu Fujii / Charlie Fagg） started from pole position and ran on to victory without ever giving up the provisional lead.

　In front of a grandstand crowded with fans, the GT300 class race sees Fujii in the pole sitting No. 777 D’station Vantage GT3 (Tomonobu Fujii / Charlie Fagg) make a clean hole shot to take the lead. This is followed by Urabe in the No. 2 HYPER WATER INGING GR86 GT (Yuui Tsutsumi / Kazuhisa Urabe) and Koyama in the No. 31 apr LC500h GT (Kazuto Kotaka / Miki Koyama) running in their grid order. Meanwhile, behind the No. 6 UNI-ROBO BLUEGRASS FERRARI (Yoshiaki Katayama / Niklas Krütten) that took 4th place in the Qualifying, there was a close competition. This battle is won by the No. 52 Green Brave GR Supra GT (Hiroki Yoshida / Seita Nonaka), moving it up to 4th position.

Entering the 6th lap, the leading GT500 class group was already closing in on the trailing GT300 class cars. At this point, car No. 777 took a lead of about 1 sec. over the GT300 class competitors. In a close battle for 2nd position were cars No. 2 and No. 31, with car No. 52 also closing in. However, as No. 52 is given a penalty for a jumped start, it drops out of the battle for the lead.

With this fierce battle among the lead group behind it, car No. 777 gradually built its lead, which had grown to more than 4 sec. over 2nd position by the 20th lap. Then, past the 20th lap, an intense competition for 4th position developed. On the 23rd lap, No. 6 was passed by the No. 4 GOODSMILE HATSUNE MIKU AMG (Nobuteru Taniguchi / Tatsuya Kataoka), moving it up into 4th position.

After it became possible for the GT300 class cars to begin making their pit stops, car No. 31 running in 3rd position was first to make its pit stop. The No. 777 D’station Vantage GT3 that had been leading the race made its pit stop at the end of the 29th lap. Meanwhile, some teams tried to move up by limiting the number of tires they changed. The No. 65 LEON PYRAMID AMG (Naoya Gamou / Togo Suganami) that had been running in 8th position in the early going, moved up by opting to change only its two front tires. Although it succeeded in moving ahead of car No. 31, it was quickly passed again later by No. 31. What’s more, the No. 88 VENTENY Lamborghini GT3 (Takashi Kogure / Daniil Kvyat) that had been running in less than 10th position in the early going, and the No. 87 OPEN HOUSE Lamborghini GT3 (Yuya Motojima / Kosuke Matsuura) also opted to change only two rear tires and succeeded in moving up to 6th and 8th positions respectively.

　From 2nd position downward, as the teams competed with their driving skills and strategies, Fagg in car No. 777 steadily increased his actual lead. After changing drivers, cars No. 2 and No. 31 continued to battle for 2nd position, and gradually closing in behind them came cars No. 65, No. 4, and also the former F1 driver Kvyat in car No. 88.

Entering the final stages of the race, the leading No. 777 held a big lead of roughly 11 sec. over cars No. 2 and No. 31 competing closely for 2nd position. Approaching them came car No. 4 and car No. 65 locked in a close battle for 5th position. In 6th position came the No. 52 car that had fallen back due to a penalty and held off in making it pit stop until as late as possible and opting to make no tire change to close the gap.
　
　While this year’s Okayama opening round brough fierce battles at places around the track, it remained a high-speed race with virtually no interruptions from big accidents, safety car interventions and FCY (full course yellow) calls. And through it all, car No. 777 was able to maintain a steady pace throughout the race and take the checkered flag as the winner.
　The resulting well-paced pole-to-win victory by the No. 777 D’station Vantage GT3 (Tomonobu Fujii / Charlie Fagg) was its first win at OKAYAMA. For Fujii, it was his 11th win in the series, and for Fagg it was his fourth.

Finishing in second place came the No. 2 HYPER WATER INGING GR86 GT (Yuui Tsutsumi / Kazuhisa Urabe) while 3rd place went to the No. 31 apr LC500h GT (Kazuto Kotaka / Miki Koyama) which managed to hold off a charge in the latter stages of the race by car No. 4 to take its first podium finish since Rd. 5 at Suzuka in the 2024 season. Finishing in 4th place came the No. 4 GOODSMILE HATSUNE MIKU AMG, which despite starting from pole position in last year’s opening round only managed to finish the race in 4th place, and in the end, it could only manage the same 4th place finish this season.