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.

Fear of bad weather from the approaching Typhoon No. 25 prevailed as the day arrived for the Rd. 6 SUGO Race. Although rain fell in the morning, it stopped before the start of the noon warmup and the track condition gradually improved. However, because just before the start of the Race there were still wet patches on parts of the track Race Control chose to call for the race to start behind safety car (SC). Still, all of the cars in the GT500 class chose to go into the race on dry-use tires.

After the SC led the race for four laps, the race finally began in earnest from the 5th lap. Starting from pole position, the No. 64 Modulo HRC PRELUDE-GT (Riki Okusa) went out at a fast pace to lead the race from the early stages. Starting from 2nd position on the grid, the No. 17 Astemo HRC PRELUDE-GT (Yuto Nomura) was trailing the leader at a constant distance of less than one second from the 8th lap, but after that it began to fall behind.

What’s more, perhaps because car No. 17 was suffering from poor tire grip, the No. 19 WedsSport BANDOH GR Supra (Yuji Kunimoto) that had started the race from 3rd position on the grid moved up from behind and passed it into 3rd position on the 17th lap.

Meanwhile, the leading car No. 64 had stretched its lead to more than four seconds on the 16th lap, but from the 17th lap car No. 19, which had moved up and was running in 2nd position, gradually began to close in until by the 26th lap it was now running nose to tail behind the leader.

However, on the 26th lap an accident occurred. When the No. 16 #16 ARTA MUGEN HRC PRELUDE-GT (Tomoki Nojiri) running in 6th position tried to avoid a GT300 class car that had lost control in front of it, the effort was unsuccessful and the two cars collided. The collision left pieces of the two machines scattered across the track, which immediately led to the calling of an FCY (Full Course Yellow), which brought out the Safety Car.

When the race was restarted on the 33rd lap, car No. 17 immediately returened to the pit and changed drivers to Koudai Tsukakoshi. What’s more, the No. 12 TRS IMPUL with SDG Z (Kazuki Hiramine / Bertrand Baguette), the No. 36 au TOM’S GR Supra (Sho Tsuboi / Kenta Yamashita) and the No. 24 REALIZE CORPORATION Z (Teppei Natori / Atsushi Miyake) all returned to the pit in quick succession.

It turned out that this choice of pit stop timing would be a big benefit. Tsukakoshi in car No. 17 succeed in returning to the race in front of car No. 64, which had returned to the pit one lap later. As for the car No. 19 that had been running in 2nd position in the early stages, it waited until the 37th lap to make its pit stop, but perhaps because of this decision it lost position considerably after that.

Also, after returning to the race, car No. 64 found itself unable to run at a good pace, allowing the No. 8 ARTA MUGEN HRC PRELUDE-GT (Kakunoshin Ohta / Hiroki Otsu), which had completed its service on the same 33rd lap—and the No. 36 car to get ahead.

The car that waited the longest before making its pit stop was the No. 37 Deloitte TOM’S GR Supra (Ukyo Sasahara / Giuliano Alesi), and when it finished its pit work on the 52nd lap, finally all of the GT500 class cars had finished their required pit stops.

In the lead at this point was car No. 17, and it continued to steadily increase its lead over Makino in the No. 100 STANLEY HRC PRELUDE-GT (Naoki Yamamoto / Tadasuke Makino) running in 2nd position.

Behind them, closing in at a fast pace came Fenestraz in the No. 39 DENSO KOBELCO SARD GR Supra (Yuhi Sekiguchi / Sacha Fenestraz) that had made its driver change on the 38th lap. On the 45th lap Fenestraz passed car No. 36 to stand effectively in 6th position, after which he passed the car No. 64 that had effectively risen to 5th position and then went on to also catch car No. 12 running in 3rd position. With this, he continued to closed in on car No. 100.

Then on the 65th lap, car No. 39 moved up on the in-side of car No. 100 at the first corner. However, when he ran a little too wide coming out of the turn, Makino was able to pass him back. Still, Fenestraz did not give up. On the following 66th lap, he moved in again on the in-side at the first corner and, making clever use of a back-lapper, he finally succeeded in overtaking No. 100. With this he finally moved up into 2nd position.

Also, moving up behind No. 100 came car No. 36. As the ranking leader, No. 36 was carrying a heavy load of 100 kg of success weight, and although it had only managed to come through the qualifying in 11th place, it moved up in position by making an early pit stop. Driving the stint in the second half of the race, Sho Tsuboi was able to move up at a pace no less than that of the leaders until he was within reach of car No. 100 on the 72nd lap.

After that, cars No. 39, No. 100, and No. 36 continued a tight battle within a space of 1 sec., but after the 77th lap their path was blocked by back-lappers and the distance between them began to widen.

In the final stages of the race, No. 17 continued to run at a steady pace and increase its lead. It continued to run unchallenged for the full 84 laps to take its first win of the season. With this, the Honda HRC PRELUDE-GT took its third straight win since round 4 of the series.

For Tsukakoshi and the Astemo REAL RACING team it was their first win since the one in Round 7 at AUTOPOLIS in the 2022 season. Also, for Nomura who moved up to the GT500 class this season, it was a gratifying first win in the GT500 class.

Finishing in 2nd place was the No. 39 DENSO KOBELCO SARD GR Supra (Yuhi Sekiguchi / Sacha Fenestraz), while 3rd place went to the No. 100 STANLEY HRC PRELUDE-GT (Naoki Yamamoto / Tadasuke Makino). As for the ranking leading No. 36 au TOM’S GR Supra (Sho Tsuboi / Kenta Yamashita), it finished in 4th place despite carrying its load of 100 kg of success weight and thus remained the point standing leader.

As for the Nissan Z NISMO GT500 cars, despite qualifying in 14th position, the No. 24 REALIZE CORPORATION Z (Teppei Natori / Atsushi Miyake) successfully moved up to finish in the 7th place. Also, with the No. 23 MOTUL Niterra Z (Mitsunori Takaboshi / Daiki Sasaki) that suffered an unfortunate setback the day before the qualifying round when Katsumasa Chiyo was injured, it managed to finish in 8th place, and thus win valuable series points.

Meanwhile, the car No. 12 that had been in contention for a podium finish eventually lost its pace. Seemingly due to machine trouble, it had to return to its pit. That caused it to drop out of the race for a top place.