The 2026 AUTOBACS SUPER GT Rd. 6, the “SUGO GT 300km RACE” was held on Seprember 20th (Sun.) at Sportsland SUGO (one lap 3,586m x 84 laps) in Miyagi prefecture. The rain that had been feared stopped before noon, and although there was a thin covering of wet spots around the track, both the GT500 and GT300 races saw heated competition around the track. In the GT500 class, the No. 17 Astemo HRC PRELUDE-GT (Koudai Tsukakoshi/Yuto Nomura) got its first win since October of 2022, and for the Honda HRC PRELUDE-GT got an impressive third straight win in its debut year. In the GT300 class the No. 60 Syntium LMcorsa LC500 GT (Hiroki Yoshimoto/Shunsuke Kohno) that won last year’s SUGO race, but this time it won a perfect pole-win victory.

On September 20th (Sunday) there was rain from the morning at Sportslsnd SUGO. However, the rain had stopped before the start of the noon warmup runs, and as the cars repeated their runs the track condition improved toward a dry status. Nonetheless, at the time of the start of the race there were still many wet patches around the track and the track surface temperature was at 25℃, which is low for this time of year. The race was thus started behind the safety car (SC) as a Safety Car start. Also, the No. 22 R’Qs AMG GT3 (Masaki Kano / Hisashi Wadai) had to start from the pit due to machine trouble, and eventually it was never able to get out on the course.

At 1:30 in the afternoon when the race started behind the SC, all of the cars chose to race on slick tires. After the SC withdrew on the 5th lap the race finally began at full pace.

During the early stages of the race, the pole-starting No. 60 Syntium LMcorsa LC500 GT (Hiroki Yoshimoto) began to increase its lead. It was chased by the No. 61 SUBARU BRZ R&D SPORT (Takuto Iguchi), and a little farther back by the No. 7 CARGUY Ferrari 296 GT3 (Zak O’Sullivan) in 3rd position.

On the other hand, the No. 52 Green Brave GR Supra GT (Hiroki Yoshida / Seita Nonaka) struggled to improve its pace. Behind it came the No. 777 D’station Vantage GT3 (Tomonobu Fujii / Charlie Fagg), the No. 666 seven x seven PORSCHE GT3R EVO (Sven Muller / Taichi Watarai), and the No. 4 GOODSMILE HATSUNE MIKU AMG (Nobuteru Taniguchi / Tatsuya Kataoka) that were engaged in a fierce battle for position.

On the 27th lap (based on the GT500 pace), the No. 30 apr GR86 GT (Hiroaki Nagai / Hibiki Taira) that had worked up from 21st position ran off the track at the first corner. When it tried to return to the race, it spun out instead. It was then that a GT500 class car that failed in an attempt to avoid it collided with No. 30. The result was serious damage to both cars and a scattering of machine parts across the track. This accident resulted in the safety car being called in to control the race.

The race was restarted after about 15 minutes, and a succession of teams chose to pit at that moment. Among the cars that then performed their routine pit work here were the leading car No. 60 and the No. 61 car in 2nd position.

By the time the leading cars had finished their pit work, the car in the lead was now the No. 56 REALIZE NISSAN MECHANIC CHALLENGE GT-R (Joao Paulo de Oliveira / Iori Kimura). Having started from 19th position on the starting grid, Kimura had diligently worked to move up in position, and the team had worked to make the no-tire-change strategy work. Now at the wheel in No. 19, de Oliveira emerged in the lead.

Chasing the leader in 2nd position came Kohno in car No. 60. Also, in 3rd position came the No. 87 OPEN HOUSE Lamborghini GT3 (Yuya Motojima / Kosuke Matsuura) that had opted to change just two of its tires, but after dropping in position for a while, it was car No. 61 that recovered to a position to compete for a podium finish.

Behind this came the No. 88 VENTENY Lamborghini GT3 (Takashi Kogure / Daniil Kvyat) that had also opted to change just two of its tires, and a fierce battle developed between it and car No. 7 which had already finished its pit work. In the process of this, the No. 5 MACHSYAKEN AIR BUSTER MC86 MACH GO (Yusuke Shiotsu / Kimiya Sato) ran off the track, resulting in the calling of a FCY (Full Course Yellow). At the time when the FCY was withdrawn, Umegaki brilliantly overtook No. 88 to move into 5th position.

In the final stages of the race, the battle for the lead was a two-way contest between the leading car No. 56 and the pursuing car No. 60. After the 60th lap of the race, the difficulty of car No. 56 to keep pace due in part to the effect of the no-tire-change strategy, enabled Kohno in car No. 60 to quickly close in on it.

Then on the 68th lap, car No. 56 had a light collision with a GT500 class car at the Hi-point corner that caused it to run off the track. Taking advantage of this opportunity, car No. 60 recovered the lead to cause a big change in the contest.

Looking back now at car No. 56 which had lost its ability to give chase effectively, Kohno in car No. 60 ran on to finish the 80th lap of the race and took the checkered flag and the win. In addition to taking its first win of the season, the No. 60 Syntium LMcorsa LC500 GT claimed its 2nd consecutive win at Sportsland SUGO.

Finishing in 2nd place came the No. 56 REALIZE NISSAN MECHANIC CHALLENGE GT-R (Joao Paulo de Oliveira / Iori Kimura), taking a place on the winners’ podium thanks to a brilliant charge to the front and strategic execution. Finishing in 3rd place was the No. 61 SUBARU BRZ R&D SPORT (Takuto Iguchi / Hideki Yamauchi), taking its first podium finish of this season.

As for the No. 7 CARGUY Ferrari 296 GT3 (Zak O’Sullivan / Kiyoshi Umegaki) that had been leading the competion for 4th position up to the final stages of the race, it slowed down suddenly on the final lap, and it was also given a 40 sec. penalty for stopping the car on the track, which finally dropped it back to 13th place.

With these results, the No. 666 seven x seven PORSCHE GT3R EVO (Sven Muller / Taichi Watarai) that had won a battle with car No. 87 was moved up to a 4th-place finish.