The 2026 AUTOBACS SUPER GT series consists of eight rounds, and the upcoming AUTOBACS SUPER GT Round 6 “SUGO GT 300km RACE” marks the exact halfway point of the season. The race will be held on September 19 (Sat) and 20 (Sun) at Sportsland SUGO in Miyagi Prefecture. Nestled in the mountains, SUGO is a circuit characterized by a succession of medium- and high-speed corners. In SUPER GT, where large numbers of cars share the track, overtaking opportunities are plentiful, often leading to exciting racing and unexpected results. With Success Weight continuing to increase for many of the leading contenders, this is also a race where dark horses can emerge and teams that struggled during the first half of the season may launch a comeback. Such unpredictability is part of what makes SUGO so fascinating. Of course, attention will be focused on the battle for victory at the front, but for teams fighting in the championship chase throughout the midfield, every single point matters. Whatever the situation, the SUGO round is a race where fans simply cannot take their eyes off the teams they support. What kind of drama awaits this year?
※The top photo shows the GT500 start of Round 6 at SUGO in 2025.
■Sportsland SUGO information ◎Track details Length: 3,586m Width: 10 to 12.5m Elevation difference:69m
◎Track records GT500 1’09.122 Ren Sato / No.16 ARTA MUGEN CIVIC TYPE R-GT #16 2025 Round 6 Qualifying – Q2 (September 20)
GT300 1’16.834 Hideki Yamauchi / SUBARU BRX R&D SPORT 2019 Round 7 Qualifying – Q2 (September 21)
■The GR Supra contingent led the opening phase of the season. The lightly weighted No.37 and No.39 are aiming to strike back at SUGO
The No.36 au TOM’S GR Supra (Sho Tsuboi / Kenta Yamashita), which won both the season opener at Okayama and Round 2 at Fuji, led the charge among the Toyota contingent, with the No.14 ENEOS X PRIME GR Supra (Nirei Fukuzumi / Kazuya Oshima) and No.38 KeePer CERUMO GR Supra (Toshiki Oyu / Rikuto Kobayashi) also featuring prominently near the top of the Drivers’ Championship standings. However, the HRC PRELUDE-GT camp has won both Round 4 at Fuji and Round 5 at Suzuka, meaning the Toyota GR Supra GT500 teams can no longer afford to relax. In particular, the No.36, which is chasing a fourth consecutive championship, now carries 100kg of Success Weight (SW). In addition to the fuel-flow restrictor, a Success Refueling Restrictor must also be used, increasing pit-stop time during the race. How this highly experienced team overcomes that handicap and extends its streak of points finishes will be one of the key storylines of the weekend.
With the No.36 and No.14 cars facing a tough battle due to their SW, the GR Supra entry that appears most likely to challenge for victory may be the No.37 Deloitte TOM’S GR Supra (Ukyo Sasahara / Giuliano Alesi). Despite finishing third in Round 4, a combination of misfortune and missed opportunities in the other races has limited the team’s points tally. As a result, it carries just 24kg of SW, with the impact of the handicap expected to be minimal. Given that it shares the same TOM’S organization as the championship-leading No.36, the team will be eager to capitalize on this opportunity.
Still carrying the frustration of last year’s near-miss at SUGO, the No.39 DENSO KOBELCO SARD GR Supra (Yuhi Sekiguchi / Sacha Fenestraz) will surely be eager to claim victory this time. The team has stood on the podium at SUGO in both 2023 and 2025, and last year looked set for victory after leading into the final lap, only to be overtaken by the No.24 Z with less than half a lap remaining and finish second. Still carrying the disappointment of that dramatic defeat, both the drivers and the team will view this as a race for redemption.
■PRELUDE-GT entries arrive on a two-race winning streak! Could the No.17 and No.64 be the teams to watch? Another victory at technical SUGO would further increase the pressure on the GR Supra camp
The No.100 STANLEY HRC PRELUDE-GT (Naoki Yamamoto / Tadasuke Makino) delivered the first victory for the Honda HRC PRELUDE-GT at Round 4 Fuji, while the No.8 #8 ARTA MUGEN HRC PRELUDE-GT (Kakunoshin Ohta / Hiroki Otsu) secured pole position. Then at Round 5 Suzuka, the No.17 Astemo HRC PRELUDE-GT (Koudai Tsukakoshi / Yuto Nomura) took pole position and the No.16 #16 ARTA MUGEN HRC PRELUDE-GT (Tomoki Nojiri / Ren Sato) claimed victory. The No.17 and No.8 cars also reached the podium, resulting in a clean sweep of the podium positions for the PRELUDE-GT contingent. The manufacturer’s true pace has certainly been on display over the last two rounds.
The obvious candidates for victory would be the No.100, No.16 and No.8, all of which have starred in these two races. However, the SW situation is becoming increasingly challenging, with the No.16 carrying 66kg and both the No.100 and No.8 carrying 54kg. Reaching Q2 in qualifying and targeting a podium finish in the race would already represent a strong result, although victory remains possible depending on race circumstances. Among the Honda entries, the No.17 car deserves particular attention. The team finished third in last year’s race at SUGO and also recorded a third-place finish in 2021. In particular, after fighting nose-to-tail with the No.24 Z and No.39 GR Supra all the way to the finish last year, the team had to settle for a frustrating third place and will surely be determined to turn that result into victory this time.
Also worth watching is the No.64 Modulo HRC PRELUDE-GT (Riki Okusa / Igor Omura Fraga), which arrives at SUGO with 0kg of Success Weight and therefore has only one objective: victory. Although bad luck has prevented the team from scoring points in races, it qualified second at Suzuka and fifth at Fuji Round 2, demonstrating plenty of speed. Against rivals carrying substantial handicaps, this could be the ideal opportunity for the No.64 car to showcase its true pace.
■SUGO still brings back memories of the No.24 Z’s dramatic victory last year. The Z NISMO GT500 camp looks to fight back at a circuit that has suited it well in recent seasons!
Last year, the No.24 Z started fifth on the grid. Tsugio Matsuda (now Team Manager of the No.23 NISMO entry) moved up through the field in the early stages before Teppei Natori defeated the No.39 GR Supra in a thrilling battle for the lead late in the race, giving the team its first victory since 2016. This year, the No.24 REALIZE CORPORATION Z features a new driver pairing of Teppei Natori and Atsushi Miyake following Matsuda’s retirement. The combination is continuing to improve, while the team is also gaining a better understanding of the Bridgestone tires introduced this season. At Suzuka, the No.24 advanced to Q2 and qualified 10th before finishing seventh in the race, continuing to deliver steady results. Returning to a circuit where it enjoyed such success last year, the team will be hoping to fight at the front and score major championship points.
The No.23 MOTUL Niterra Z (Katsumasa Chiyo / Mitsunori Takaboshi) also showed promising form at Suzuka, finishing fourth despite just missing out on a podium. SUGO has also historically been a strong circuit for both drivers and team. Chiyo and Takaboshi won there in 2022 when racing the former No.3 Z, while the No.23 Z itself finished on the podium in two years in a row in both 2022 and 2023 (with Matsuda and Quintarelli). To reclaim the title, the team will be aiming for nothing less than victory, or at worst another podium finish, at SUGO.
■Is the momentum with the No.9 BMW after its Suzuka victory? The favorites may be the No.61 BRZ and last year’s winning No.60 LC500, but the Ferraris cannot be ignored…
Round 5 at Suzuka saw the dark-horse No.9 PACIFIC Umamusume NAC BMW (Yusuke Tomibayashi / Yuta Fujiwara) produce a perfect pole-to-win performance. Suzuka and SUGO are very different circuits, so a simple repeat victory will not be easy. However, if the team manages its increased Success Weight (SW) effectively, its current momentum could allow it to remain in contention near the front.
Among the leading championship contenders, every driver from championship leader No.56 REALIZE NISSAN MECHANIC CHALLENGE GT-R (João Paulo de Oliveira / Iori Kimura) down to Ishiura of the ninth-placed No.32 ENEOS X PRIME AMG GT3 (Hiroaki Ishiura / Tokiya Suzuki) is carrying 70kg or more of SW. That could make victory at SUGO extremely difficult. However, even if they are running around 15th during the race, the championship situation means that every point counts, making it important to score even one more point whenever possible. The No.56 GT-R has repeatedly shown the ability to perform strongly despite carrying significant SW. Even if it struggles in qualifying, it will be worth watching whether the team can once again work its way forward in the race. Meanwhile, the No.52 Green Brave GR Supra GT (Hiroki Yoshida / Seita Nonaka), currently fifth in the championship, suffered major accident damage at Suzuka but nevertheless appears on the SUGO entry list. The team’s ability to repair the car in such a short time deserves attention in itself.
So with the front-runners burdened by Success Weight, who are the favorites for victory at SUGO? The first name that comes to mind is the No.61 SUBARU BRZ R&D SPORT (Takuto Iguchi / Hideki Yamauchi). The team introduced a new engine this season and immediately secured pole position at Round 2 Fuji. Despite showing strong pace, reliability issues have prevented it from scoring the points its speed deserves. Now that the season has reached its midpoint, development has progressed and countermeasures against those problems have been implemented. The time may finally have come for the No.61 to realize its potential. Another strong contender is the No.60 Syntium LMcorsa LC500 GT (Hiroki Yoshimoto / Shunsuke Kohno), winner of last year’s SUGO race. Although the team has not produced the results it wanted during the first half of the season, there is no doubt about its speed at this circuit.
The Ferrari contingent also merits close attention. The No.7 CARGUY Ferrari 296 GT3 EVO (Zak O’Sullivan / Kiyoshi Umegaki), which claimed pole position at SUGO last year, the No.45 PONOS FERRARI 296 EVO (Takuro Shinohara / Shintaro Kawabata), which took pole position at Round 4 Fuji, and the No.6 UNI-ROBO BLUEGRASS FERRARI (Yoshiaki Katayama / Niklas Krütten) could all emerge as serious contenders for the top positions.
