Round 2 of the 2026 AUTOBACS SUPER GT series, the “FUJI GT 3 Hours RACE GW Special” was held on May 4th (Sun./Holiday) at Fuji Speedway (one lap 4,563m × 3 hours) in Shizuoka Prefecture. At the start of the race the air temperature reached 24 degrees Celsius. In the GT500 class the winner of the opening round of the season, the No. 36 au TOM’S GR Supra (Sho Tsuboi / Kenta Yamashita) starting from 2nd position on the grid came through to take its second win in a row this season. In the GT300 class, the No. 56 REALIZE NISSAN MECHANIC CHALLENGE GT-R (Joao Paulo de Oliveira / Iori Kimura) started the race from 6th position on the grid and moved up to take the lead in the first half and go on to take its first win since 2023.

　After yesterday’s Official Qualifying rain fell at Fuji Speedway and in the night strong winds blew. However, although the strong winds continued in the morning, fair May skies prevailed.

In the early stages of the race the poll-starting No. 61 SUBARU BRZ R&D SPORT (Hideki Yamauchi) gradually built up a large lead over 2nd place. Following in 2nd and 3rd came the No. 31 apr LC500h GT (Miki Koyama) and the No. 52 Green Brave GR Supra GT (Seita Nonaka), while the No. 56 REALIZE NISSAN MECHANIC CHALLENGE GT-R (Joao Paulo de Oliveira) starting from 6th position rose to 5th position.

While car No. 61 had continued to build its lead, from around the 11th lap, it allowed car No. 31 to close in behind it. These two cars would continue to battle nose to tail. As they did, the car No. 56 that had passed car No. 52 closed in on the leaders. By the 22nd lap a three-way battle for the lead developed.

However, on the 25th lap a sudden change would take place. The No. 61 car that had held the lead from the start developed trouble in its front tire which forced it to suddenly return to the pit. This left Koyama in car No. 31 to lead the race.

At the end of the 33rd lap, car No. 31 made its first pit stop and changed to the team’s third driver, Charlie Wurz. Furthermore, car No. 56 also headed for the pit at the end of the 41st lap and changed drivers to Iori Kimura. Meanwhile, car No. 52 running in 3rd position was also waiting for the right time to make its pit stop when a GT500 class car began to slow down in the last corner of the 47th lap and came to a stop after entering the straight. This brought a Full Course Yellow (FCY) call. Judging that it might run out of fuel before the FCY ended, car No. 52 returned to its pit. This resulted in the calling of a penalty requiring it to make not only a mandatory stop for refueling but also to sit out a 1-minute stop in the pit, which would drop it out of the competition for the lead.

　This now left car No. 31 in the lead, but only to be passed by Kimura in car No. 56, which then assumed the lead. Following in 3rd position came the No. 666 seven x seven PORSCHE GT3R EVO (Sven Muller / Kiyoto Fujinami), but after sitting out a 10-second time penalty for a collision with the No. 60 Syntium LMcorsa LC500 GT (Hiroki Yoshimoto / Shunsuke Kohno) on the opening lap of the race, it was left it in a position where it might not make a podium finish.

　With one hour remaining in the race, the cars of the lead group made their second pit stop one after another, and by the end of the 83rd lap, the leading No. 65 LEON PYRAMID AMG made its pit stop, which left car No. 56 in the lead once again with de Oliveira at the wheel. Following in 2nd position came car No. 666, but soon it was being chased by Kotaka, who was now at the wheel of car No. 31. The competition for the win was now down to these four cars. Meanwhile, the No. 61 car that had led in the early stages of the race was now running in around 10th position but had to take the car off the track due to problems on the car and ended its race. Due to car No. 61’s decision by Iguchi a FCY call was avoided, and the race would go on with no further interruptions.

　With this, the No. 56 REALIZE NISSAN MECHANIC CHALLENGE GT-R (Joao Paulo de Oliveira / Iori Kimura) would run on to take the win. For de Oliveira and for the team it would be their first win since Round 2 at Fuji in the 2023 season, and for Kimura it was his second consecutive win following the one in the final round of last season at Motegi, and this is his first victory with this team in only his second race.

Finishing in 2nd place was last season’s class champions, the No. 65 LEON PYRAMID AMG (Naoya Gamou / Togo Suganami / Haruki Kurosawa), while taking 3rd place on the podium was the No. 31 apr LC500h GT (Kazuto Kotaka / Miki Koyama / Charlie Wurz), which had also finished 3rd at the season’s opening round at Okayama. As for the No. 666 seven x seven PORSCHE GT3R EVO that had finished the race in 2nd place, dropped to 4th place due to a time penalty, as mentioned earlier.