The SUGO GT 300km RACE, Round 6 of the 2025 AUTOBACS SUPER GT series, was held at Sportsland SUGO (one lap: 3,586 m x 84 laps) in Miyagi Prefecture on September 21st (Sun.). Both classes saw intense competition continue until the final stages, with the GT500 class race seeing Natori in the No. 24 REALIZE CORPORATION ADVAN Z / Nissan Z (Tsugio Matsuda/Teppei Natori) take a come-from-behind victory on the final lap to take his first win since November of 2016. Also, in the GT300 class race, the No. 60 Syntium LMcorsa LC500 GT (Hiroki Yoshimoto/Shunsuke Kohno) that started the race from 2nd position on the grid held off fierce pressure from behind to also take its first win since November of 2021.

Taking the lead at the start of the race was the pole-sitting No. 16 ARTA MUGEN CIVIC TYPE R-GT #16 (Hiroki Otsu / Ren Sato). Holding 2nd position came Sekiguchi in the No. 39 DENSO KOBELCO SARD GR Supra (Yuhi Sekiguchi / Sacha Fenestraz) that started from 2nd position on the grid, while holding 3rd position was the No. 3 Niterra MOTUL Z (Daiki Sasaki / Atsushi Miyake) that started from 3rd place on the grid. These three cars held their qualifying order this way through the third lap of the race.

Entering the 4th lap of the race, however, the No. 24 REALIZE CORPORATION ADVAN Z (Tsugio Matsuda) that had started from 5th position on the grid passed the 4th position grid-starting No. 1 au TOM’S GR Supra (Kenta Yamashita) to move up into 4th position. Then, on the first corner of the 6th lap, car No. 39 running in 2nd position succeeded in passing car No. 16 to take the lead. On the first corner of the 9th lap, it was then car No. 24 that passed car No. 3 to move into 3rd position. Then, on the 14 lap, No. 16 held on and moved up in 2nd position until it was finally able to pass No. 39 on the home straight of the 23rd lap to take the lead.

However, No. 39 would also not be left behind, holding its place close on the tail of No. 24. Then, at the hairpin turn of the 26th lap, No. 39 re-passed No. 24 to take the lead again. Behind this, the No. 17 Astemo CIVIC TYPE R-GT (Koudai Tsukakoshi / Syun Koide) had started the race from 8th position on the grid and steadily moved up through the field until it stood in 4th position by the 16th lap. Also, the No. 64 Modulo CIVIC TYPE R-GT (Takuya Izawa) that had started the race from 13th position managed to move up steadily to 6th position by the 26th lap.

When the race had completed its first third on the 28th lap, at which point it became possible under the regulation to change drivers, car No. 17 running in 4th position led the teams returning to their pits, after which other cars began to follow suit one after another. On the other hand, among the cars No. 39 and No. 24 battling for the lead, it was car No. 24 that returned to its pit on the 39th lap, while car No. 39 waited until the 42nd lap to finally make its pit stop.

On its first lap back in the race, car No. 24 had allowed car No. 17 and No. 64 to move ahead of it, but with Natori now at the wheel for the second half of the race, he move up and passed No. 64 on the 43rd lap to move up in the order. When the No. 38 KeePer CERUMO GR Supra (Hiroaki Ishiura / Toshiki Oyu) returned to the race on the 44th lap, it was the point where all of the cars in the GT500 class had finished their pit stops. At this point, car No. 39 had recovered the lead, but at the same time an accident occurred involving GT300 cars that led to a Full Course Yellow call, which finally ended on the 47th lap.

At this point in the race, car No. 39 held a big lead of about 10 sec. over the pack. However, on the home straight of the 48th lap three GT300 cars collided with each other one after another. With one of the cars being dumped off the track near the entrance to the pit road, it caused car No. 64 running in 4th position to collide with it and crash violently into the pit road barrier. This accident brought out the Safety Car. Fortunately, neither Okusa in car No. 64 nor the driver of the GT300 car suffered any serious injuries, but the crash left machine parts scattered across the track and the guard rail was damaged, which meant that the race had to be stopped to clear the damage.

The race was restarted at 4:00 in the afternoon behind the Safety Car. And due to the fact that the maximum extension limit for the race was set at 4:30, the final stage of the race would be limited to 30 minutes. Also, due to an accident involving GT300 cars, the second Full Course Yellow of the race was announced, and it would finally be withdrawn on the 58th lap.

It was at this point that car, No. 24 began its recovery. On the 60th lap, Natori in car No. 24 pulled up on the out-side of car No. 17 on the first corner and succeeded in overtaking it to move into 2nd position. From there Natori began chasing the leading car No. 39, and when he reached the control line, he trailed the leader by just 0.735sec. By the 63rd lap, that margin was down to 0.165 sec. and then, at the first corner of the 65th lap, Natori pulled along the out-side of No. 39, but the move to overtake it failed, and the No. 24 car slightly overran the track. At this point car No. 17 was moving up from 3rd position.

After this, No. 24 continued to try to move on No. 39, but Fenestraz, who was at the wheel of No. 39 now was able to skillfully run lines that blocked No. 24’s attacks lap after lap. With No. 39, No. 24, No. 17 and No. 16 running in single file the race entered its final seconds.

Nonetheless, Natori in No. 24 had not given up. On the 70th and last lap of the race, he ran nose-to-tail with the leader on the back straight, and at the Umanose Corner, Natori pulled up alongside No. 39 on the out-side. It was here that the clock reached the race extension limit of 4:30 in the afternoon, making this the last lap. Neither car would give an inch as No. 39 ran in the in-side and No. 24 on the out-side as the two came out of the corner. At the following SP Corner, No. 24 took the in-side to finally move into the lead. With the No. 24 Z now in the lead with the No. 39 GR Supra and two CIVIC TYPE R-GT cars coming out of the SP Corner and then the last corner, it was at this point that the checkered flag was waved.

With this result, the No. 24 REALIZE CORPORATION ADVAN Z (Tsugio Matsuda / Teppei Natori) won its long awaited first win of the season. For the team it was their first win since November of 2016 in the Rd. 3 MOTEGI race (which had been rescheduled due to cancellation of the AUTOPOLIS round in May due to the Kumamoto Earthquake), making it their first win in nine years. Also, for Tsugio Matsuda it was his first win since the opening round of the 2023 season at Okayama, and it raised his record number of wins in the GT500 class to 25. And, for Teppei Natori it was his first win ever in the GT500 class.

Finishing the race in 2nd place by a slim margin of 0.649 sec. came the No. 39 DENSO KOBELCO SARD GR Supra (Yuhi Sekiguchi / Sacha Fenestraz). Finishing in 3rd place was the No. 17 Astemo CIVIC TYPE R-GT (Koudai Tsukakoshi / Syun Koide) with a margin of 0.886 sec., showing how close battle had been, and these results put one car by each maker on the podium of this Rd. 6 at SUGO.