2026 AUTOBACS SUPER GT Round 5 Race, the “SUZUKA GT 300km RACE” was held on August 23rd at Suzuka Circuit (1 lap 5,807m×52 laps). The air temperature reached 34℃ to make it a hot mid-summer race, and in the heated competition in the GT500 class between the HRC PRELUDE-GT cars, the No. 16 #16 ARTA MUGEN HRC PRELUDE-GT (Tomoki Nojiri / Ren Sato) took an impressive come-from-behind win. What’s more, the HRC PRELUDE-GT cars swept the winners’ podium. In the GT300 class, the No. 9 PACIFIC UMA MUSUME NAC BMW (Yusuke Tomibayashi / Yuta Fujiwara) took a pole-to-finish win to give the drivers and the team a felicitous first win.

The pole-starting Nomura in the No. 17 Astemo HRC PRELUDE-GT (Koudai Tsukakoshi / Yuto Nomura) runs strongly in the lead from the start. Following him comes Otsu in the No. 8 #8 ARTA MUGEN HRC PRELUDE-GT (Kakunoshin Ohta / Hiroki Otsu) who started from 3rd position on the grid and at the NIPPO Corner of the first lap passed the No. 64 Modulo HRC PRELUDE-GT (Riki Okusa / Igor Omura Fraga) that started from the 2nd grid position to move up into 2nd position. Then Nojiri in the No. 16 #16 ARTA MUGEN HRC PRELUDE-GT (Tomoki Nojiri / Ren Sato) that started from 4th position on the grip also followed suit and passed No. 64. Nojiri would then be in 3rd position when they reached the control line.

Next, No. 16 pulled up on the in-side of the No. 8 #8 ARTA MUGEN HRC PRELUDE-GT at the Chicane of the 3rd lap and passed it to move into 2nd position, after which it began to chase the leading car No. 17. However, No. 17 had already built a lead of more than 3.5 sec. by the 3rd lap of the race. Nonetheless, No. 16 would close in on the leader at an even faster pace from the 4th lap onward to close the gap between the two leaders to 2.54 sec. by the 6th lap and then to 1.38 sec. on the 7th lap, and by the 8th lap it had finally closed in on No. 17’s tail. When No. 16 then pulled up on the in-side of No. 17 at the Chicane of the 15th lap, the rookie Nomura in car No. 17 managed to hold off the attack of his veteran opponent and keep the lead.

Entering the 17th lap, a collision occurred between two GT300 class cars that resulted in the first calling of a Full Course Yellow in the race, but the call was withdrawn within the course of the same lap. Taking advantage of this opportunity, however, No. 64 passed No. 8 on the home straight to move up into in 3rd position. In this way, the first half of the race was dominated by the intense battles between the four Honda HRC PRELUDE-GT cars.

The leading car No. 17 made its pit stop early on the 18th lap and changed drivers from Nomura to Tsukakoshi. This was followed by car No. 8, which returned to the track with Ohta driving. Car No. 64 also made its pit stop on the 19th lap and changed drivers, but not before allowing the car No. 8 and the No. 24 REALIZE CORPORATION Z (Teppei Natori / Atsushi Miyake) to pass it, after which it was also passed by the No. 38 KeePer CERUMO GR Supra (Toshiki Oyu / Rikuto Kobayashi) and the No. 14 ENEOS X PRIME GR Supra (Nirei Fukuzumi / Kazuya Oshima), after they had completed their own pit stops.

In contrast, car No. 16 continued running until the 22nd lap and then changed drivers from Nojiri to Sato. It then returned to the track in front of No. 17. Now in 2nd position, No. 17 pulled up on the in-side of No. 16 coming out of the hairpin turn and the two cars entered the Spoon Curve running side-by-side. Here, No. 17 took the lead.

Then, just before the 130R curve of the 37th lap No. 17 tried to pass a back-lapper and ended up running off the track slightly. Then Car No. 16 tried to pass the same car and used the momentum to pass No. 17 and move into the lead.

After this, car No. 16 began to pull away from No. 17 gradually. However, entering the 48th lap an accident occurred as a GT300 class car ran off the track at the 130R curve and crashed into the barrier. This resulted in the second FCY (Full Course Yellow) call of the race, followed by the Safety Car coming out to control the race.

Eventually, the race would reach its final 52nd lap with the safety car still in control when the checkered flag was waved. With this, the No. 16 #16 ARTA MUGEN HRC PRELUDE-GT (Tomoki Nojiri / Ren Sato) won its first race since 2024. For Nojiri this extended his career record of most wins to 11, and for Sato it was his first SUPER GT win in either the GT300 or GT500 class.

Finishing in the 2nd place was the No. 17 Astemo HRC PRELUDE-GT (Koudai Tsukakoshi / Yuto Nomura), while the No. 8 #8 ARTA MUGEN HRC PRELUDE-GT (Kakunoshin Ohta / Hiroki Otsu) took 3rd place, thus giving the HRC PRELUDE-GT a sweep of the SUZUKA winners’ podium. In the 4th place came the No. 23 MOTUL Niterra Z (Katsumasa Chiyo / Mitsunori Takaboshi) and 5th place went to the No. 38 KeePer CERUMO GR Supra (Toshiki Oyu / Rikuto Kobayashi).

As a result, the winning pair of Nojiri and Sato (No. 16) acquired a total of 36 drivers points to move them ahead of the Fukuzumi/Osima pair (No. 14) that finished in 8th place for 31 points, thus placing them second in total points behind the Sho Tsuboi / Kenta Yamashita pair (No. 36 au TOM’S GR Supra) with 50 points that finished this race in the 9th place.

On the other hand, the No. 100 STANLEY HRC PRELUDE-GT (Naoki Yamamoto / Tadasuke Makino) that won the previous found at Fuji suffered from engine trouble in the official practice that made it change to a new engine, and the No. 37 Deloitte TOM’S GR Supra (Ukyo Sasahara / Giuliano Alesi) also had to change to a new engine causing both to receive a 5 sec. Pit Stop Penalty that dropped them back in the pack. As a result, No. 100 finished out of the limit of 11th place to receive series points, while No. 37 gradually worked back in position to finish in 10th place.