【Rd. 1 OKAYAMA: Race Day】GT500 Review: Champions au TOM’S GR Supra finish the Qualifying in the second place but then retaliate for a come-from-behind win! No. 38 rookie Kobayashi run well but falls just short in second place

　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.

□Weather: clear | Track: dry | Air temperature/Track temperature at the start (13:20): 24℃/39℃, early stages (14:00): 23℃/36℃, middle stages (14:30): 22℃/35℃, late stages (15:00): 22℃/34℃, at the finish (15:23): 21℃/32℃.

■In the first half, Oyu in car No. 38 shows his speed and holds off Yamashita in car No. 36 to finish the first half of the race in 1st place

　Starting from pole position, Oyu in the No. 38 KeePer CERUMO GR Supra (Toshiki Oyu / Rikuto Kobayashi) comes through the first corner in the lead, while the 2nd place Qualifying Yamashita in the No. 36 au TOM’S GR Supra (Sho Tsuboi / Kenta Yamashita) holds position through the following laps.

　 Behind them, the 7th position Qualifying Baguette in the No. 12 TRS IMPUL with SDG Z (Kazuki Hiramine / Bertrand Baguette) starts strong to come through the first corner in 6th position on the 1st lap and goes on to pass the No. 39 DENSO KOBELCO SARD GR Supra (Yuhi Sekiguchi / Sacha Fenestraz) at the hairpin turn. And then, on the 3rd lap REVOLVER、PIPER corners passes in succession the No. 17 Astemo HRC PRELUDE-GT (Koudai Tsukakoshi / Yuto Nomura) to move up to 4th position and continues on in the 7th lap REVOLVER CORNER to pass the No. 14 ENEOS X PRIME GR Supra (Nirei Fukuzumi / Kazuya Oshima) on the in-side to move up into 3rd position.

　 From this point, the top group of GT500 cars start to close in on the GT300 cars trailing by one-lap, with the leading car No. 38 successfully slipping past the group and going on to gradually increase its lead.

　 When the race reached one third of the regulation lap count on the 29th lap, some of the teams started to make their first pit stops. Running in 2nd position, car No. 36 made its pit stop on the 32nd lap. And after changing drivers from Yamashita to Tsuboi it returned to the track. Next, the leading car No. 38 also made its pit stop on the 33rd lap. After changing drivers from Oyu to Kobayashi, it also left the pit.

　 However, when No. 38 returned to the track it found itself behind the No. 37 Deloitte TOM’S GR Supra (Ukyo Sasahara / Giuliano Alesi). This car No. 37, which had changed to a new engine after the Qualifying, and in accordance with the regulation, it had to complete a 5-sec. penalty stop after the start of the Race. After performing this penalty on the 6th lap, No. 37 found itself far back in the field.

　 The GT500 rookie Kobayashi had to overtake this car No. 37, but on tires not sufficiently warmed up, and partly due to the characteristic of the GT500 car to lose downforce when the distance between cars is reduced, No. 38 had difficulty getting past No. 37.

　 Not missing this opportunity, Tsuboi in car No. 36 closed in quickly on car No. 38, and on the 35th lap was now within 0.541 sec., and finally on the back straight of the 37th lap he was able to pass No. 38 from the out-side and then slip easily past No. 37 and begin to close the gap on No. 38.

■ Having shown his championship strength in the Race was Tsuboi in car No. 36, while Rookie Kobayashi in No. 38 is praised for his valiant effort, but he is feeling a sense of regret

　Although Kobayashi in car No. 38 would eventually pass No. 37, by the time the race entered its 40th lap, the gap to car No. 36 had grown to 5 sec. After that as well, No. 36 steadily pulled away from No. 38, and it retake the lead until the No. 39 DENSO KOBELCO SARD GR Supra (Yuhi Sekiguchi / Sacha Fenestraz) that had opted for a late pit stop strategy pitted in on the 39th lap and the No.8 #8 ARTA MUGEN HRC PRELUDE-GT (Kakunoshin Ohta / Hiroki Otsu) did so on the 43rd lap. Tsuboi in car No. 36 had a 6-sec. lead over No. 38 and on the 45th lap and had widened that to roughly a 19 sec. by the time he finished the 82 laps of the race and took the checkered flag as the winner.

　For the No. 36 au TOM’S GR Supra (Sho Tsuboi / Kenta Yamashita) this was their third consecutive win in the opening round at Okayama. This marked an auspicious win for the team as it aims for its fourth consecutive title in the GT500 class. In 2nd place came the No. 38 KeePer CERUMO GR Supra (Toshiki Oyu / Rikuto Kobayashi). This gave the TOYOTA GR Supra GT500 teams a 1-2 finish for the third consecutive year.
　 For Kobayashi in car No. 38 this would be an early podium finish, but in the post-race press interview he said that rather than the joy of that, he was disappointed that he was unable to keep the lead and that it had been a “Weekend full of problems”.

　 Finishing in 3rd place was the No. 12 TRS IMPUL with SDG Z (Kazuki Hiramine / Bertrand Baguette), making it the team’s first podium finish since last year’s Rd. 3 in Malaysia. And of the teams that entered this race with the new HONDA HRC PRELUDE-GT, the fastest finisher was the No. 16 #16 ARTA MUGEN HRC PRELUDE-GT (Tomoki Nojiri / Ren Sato) in 6th place. While the No. 100 STANLEY HRC PRELUDE-GT (Naoki Yamamoto / Tadasuke Makino) finished in the 7th place.