Round 3 Motegi : Race GT300

　2026 AUTOBACS SUPER GT Round 3 Race, the “MOTEGI GT 250 RACE took place on November 7th (Sat.) afternoon (4,801m x 53 laps), being blessed with fair weather, and the No. 12 TRS IMPUL with SDG Z (Kazuki Hiramine / Bertrand Baguette) that started from 6th position on the starting grid passed the cars in front of it to give the NISSAN Z NISMO GT500 is first win of the season. In the GT300 class, the No. 96 K-tunes RC F GT3 (Morio Nitta / Shinichi Takagi) that started from 2nd position on the grid went on to win its second consecutive race of the season. Tomorrow, November 8th (Sun.) the final race of the season will take place here at Motegi.

　First of all, following the pole-starting No. 11 GAINER TANAX Z (Ryuichiro Tomita/Kazuki Oki) Morio Nitta in the No. 61 SUBARU BRZ R&D SPORT (Takuto Iguchi/Hideki Yamauchi) passed the No. 96 K-tunes RC F GT3 (Morio Nitta/Shinichi Takagi) that had started from 2nd position on the grid to move into 2nd position. Behind this, the No. 31 apr LC500h GT (Kazuto Kotaka/Miki Koyama) that was having trouble keeping pace was being chased by the No. 777 D’station Vantage GT3 (Tsubasa Kondo/Charlie Fagg), and in the process there was a multiple car crash that involved cars No. 31 and No. 777 as well as the No. 7 CARGUY Ferrari 296 GT3 EVO (Ritomo Miyata/Kiyoshi Umegaki) and the No. 30 apr GR86 GT (Manabu Orido/Hibiki Taira) that ran off the track, causing these four cars to retire from the race. Also, the Safety Car was brought in to control the race until the cars could be recovered and spilled oil cleaned from the track.

　The race was then restarted from the 8th lap. After this, car No. 11 slowly increased its lead while being chased by cars No. 61, No. 96, as well as the No. 88 VENTENY Lamborghini GT3 (Takashi Kogure/Daniil Kvyat) that all pulled up to battle within the space of one second. Especially it was Morio Nitta in car No. 96 who battled intently to overtake car No. 61, even though this was said to be his last race before retiring from competition in SUPER GT after the last two races at Motegi. He held onto 2nd position. After being passed, car No. 61 gradually dropped back in position.

　As the competition became more intense among the cars behind second position, the leading car No. 11 was penalized for a violation in the restart after the Safety Car withdrew on the 15th lap that resulted in a drive-through penalty. This put car No. 96 in the lead.

　Then, as the race finished about 16 laps, it entered the distance where the required pit stops could be made. Here, the leading car No. 96 made its pit stop on the 17th lap. The leader of the drivers’ standing, the No. 56 REALIZE NISSAN MECHANIC CHALLENGE GT-R (Joao Paulo de Oliveira/Iori Kimura) and the No. 65 LEON PYRAMID AMG (Naoya Gamou/Togo Suganami) also chose this timing to make their pit stops. Among these cars making the early pit stops, most opted for a no-tire-change strategy.

　Next, the No. 666 seven x seven PORSCHE GT3R EVO (Sven Müller / Taichi Watarai) also made its pit stop. Here, No. 666 managed to return to the race in front of car No. 96, but Shinichi Takagi in car No. 96 was quickly able to repass No. 666 to reclaim the tentative lead.

　Meanwhile, among the teams that had held off on making their pit stops, the No. 26 ANEST IWATA GAINER Z (Hironobu Yasuda/Yusuke Mitsui) that had been running strongly from the beginning now passed car No. 88 to make its pit stop. Then it returned to the race behind No. 96. Running now in virtually 3rd position was car No. 666, and it was followed by car No. 88 and the No. 45 PONOS FERRARI 296 EVO (Takuro Shinohara / Shintaro Kawabata).

　Shinichi Takagi running in the lead in car No. 96 continued to run on at a fast pace. Even though he was being hampered by a failure in his cool suit system, he continued to hold a lead of 11 seconds over the cars in 2nd position downward and run on to the finish.

　This gave the No. 96 K-tunes RC F GT3 (Morio Nitta/Shinichi Takagi) its second consecutive win after the one in Round 7 at Autopolis (AUTOPOLIS?). With this win, Morio Nitta also advanced his record for most career wins to 24. Furthermore, he rose to second position in the Drivers’ standing and remained in contention for tomorrow’s race despite having already announced his intention to retire from SUPER GT racing from this season.

　After crossing the finish line in 2nd place, car No. 26 was disqualified after the race for a violation found in the post-race technical inspection. With this, 2nd place went to car the No. 666 seven x seven PORSCHE GT3R EVO (Sven Müller/Taichi Watarai) that outran car No. 88, while 3rd place went to the No. 88 VENTENY Lamborghini GT3 (Takashi Kogure/Daniil Kvyat).

　As for the No. 56 REALIZE NISSAN MECHANIC CHALLENGE GT-R (Joao Paulo de Oliveira/Iori Kimura) that rose to the top of the ranking with its successful no-tire-change strategy, was eventually given a drive-through penalty for a speed violation in the pit lane as well as a time penalty for a collision with another car, which combined to drop it to 15th place in the race. Yet it still managed to win 2 points for that finish. In tomorrow’s final race the 2nd-ranked car No. 96 driver pair of Morio Nitta and Shinichi Takagi, the No. 777 pair of Tsubasa Kondo and Charlie Fagg, the car No. 2 pair of Yuui Tsutsumi and Kazuhisa Urabe, the No. 65 pair of Naoya Gamou and Togo Suganami as well as the No. 56 pair of Joao Paulo de Oliveira and Iori Kimurawill all be in competition for the title.