This second 3-hour race of the 2026 season, the Rd. 7 “AUTOPOLIS GT 3Hours RACE”, was held under clear autumn skies and with dry track condition. Including the qualifying on Saturday, a total of 30,000 spectators filled the venue. With this race being held under the theme of “Gambaro (let’s go) Kumamoto!” ～ A race to contribute to the recovery of Kumamoto from its devastating earthquake～”, and on the final race day on Oct. 18th some 100 victums of the earthquake were invited to attend the race.

Taking the lead at the start was the pole-starting No. 64 Modulo HRC PRELUDE-GT (Riki Okusa/Igor Omura Fraga), however, the No. 17 Astemo HRC PRELUDE-GT (Koudai Tsukakoshi/Yuto Nomura) that had started from 2nd position on the grid didn’t miss the opportunity when No. 64 got caught behind back-lappers on the 14th corner and 15th corner on the 7th lap and succeeded in taking the lead. After that, No. 17 continued to open up its lead until it made its first mandatory pit stop early on the 15th lap and completed its pit work.

With this, No. 64 was able to reclaim the lead, but closing in behind it came the No. 12 TRS IMPUL with SDG Z (Kazuki Hiramine/Bertrand Baguette) that had started the race from 5th position on the grid. Car No. 12 managed to pass the No. 100 STANLEY HRC PRELUDE-GT (Naoki Yamamoto/Tadasuke Makino) that had started from 4th position on the grid and move up into 4th position, after which it passed the No. 19 WedsSport BANDOH GR Supra (Yuji Kunimoto/Sena Sakaguchi) that had started the race from 3rd position on the second hairpin curve, and when car No. 17 made its pit stop on the 14th lap it emerged in 2nd position. What’s more, when car No. 64 drifted to the out-side of the 2nd hairpin curve on the 23rd lap, No. 12 managed to take the lead.

Just after that, an accident occurred when a GT300 car ran off the track at the 16th corner and crashed into the barrier. This caused the Safety Car (SC) to be brought out for the first time in the day. The SC eventually withdrew on the 28th lap. It was then that the leading car No. 12 returned its pit. Here, car No. 64 retrned to the lead and ran on to make its first pit stop on the 33rd lap.

After the cars of the leading group had finished their pit stops one after another, it was Yamamoto in the No. 100 STANLEY HRC PRELUDE-GT (Naoki Yamamoto/Tadasuke Makino) who emerged in the lead, and having taken a strategy of extending his first stint until the 45th lap, which brought him in 13th position on the track. Here it was once again car No. 17 that stood in the lead, but on entering the 50th lap a GT300 car ran off the track. This immediately resulted in an FCY (Full Course Yellow) call, which brought out the SC for the second time in the race. The SC eventually withdrew on the 55th lap. When it became possible to pass other cars on the 56th lap, the pit lane was also opened again.

It was here that the cars of the leading group rushed to the pit one after another and completed their second mandatory refueling. While car No. 17 made its pit stop on the 55th lap, and No. 16 made its on the 56th lap, the No. 36 au TOM’S GR Supra (Sho Tsuboi/Kenta Yamashita) that had made its pit stop on the 57th lap was able to return to the track in front of those two cars.

Due to a decision by Makino, who drove car No. 100 in the second half, he made his pit stop on the 58th lap. Seeing that this was just 13 laps since its last refueling, it was possible to shorten the refueling time to a minimum before returning to the track. By the time all of the GT500 class cars had finished their second refueling, No. 100 was once again in the lead. It was now followed by car No. 36, by car No. 12 that had made its pit stop on the 62nd lap, and the No. 38 KeePer CERUMO GR Supra (Toshiki Oyu/Rikuto Kobayashi) that had made its pit stop on the 66th lap.

On the 68th lap car No. 12 and car No. 38 passed car No. 36 in succession to effectively move into 2nd and 3rd positions. What’s more, on the second hairpin turn on the 69th lap the No. 23 MOTUL Niterra Z (Katsumasa Chiyo/Mitsunori Takaboshi) also passed No. 36. On the second hairpin curve of the 70th lap, No. 12 moved up on the in-side of car No. 100, but its driver Makino passed No. 12 back. At this time, Oyu in car No. 38 pulled up alongside No. 12, but here No. 12 was able to hold it off. However, on the 8th corner of the 72nd lap, car No. 38 once again pulled up on the in-side of No. 12 and emerge in 2nd position. Next, Chiyo in car No. 23 passed No. 12 on the in-side at the second hairpin curve to emerge in 3rd position.

By the 72nd lap, No. 38 had move up to within 0.847 seconds of No. 100. However, after that No. 100 began to gradually pull away from the cars in 2nd place and below until it held an 11.2 second lead by the 86th lap.

Entering the final stages of the race, Oyu in car No. 38 was running at a faster pace than Makino in car No. 100. However, before Oyu could see Makino within his reach, the race had reached its 3-hour limit, and having run 98 laps the No. 100 STANLEY HRC PRELUDE-GT (Naoki Yamamoto/Tadasuke Makino) won its second race of the season following the one in Rd. 4 at FUJI, thus giving the Honda HRC PRELUDE-GT cars their fourth straight win. What’s more, with No. 100 also having won last year’s AUTOPOLIS with the CIVIC TYPE R-GT, this meant it was the team’s second consecutive win here at AUTOPOLIS.

Finishing in 2nd place after a fierce charge that fell just 1.36 seconds short, the No. 38 KeePer CERUMO GR Supra (Toshiki Oyu/Rikuto Kobayashi) also scored a 2nd place finish for the second time following the one in the opening round at OKAYAMA. As for the No. 23 MOTUL Niterra Z (Katsumasa Chiyo/Mitsunori Takaboshi), it also recorded its second 3rd place podium finish since the one in Rd. 2 at FUJI. Also, this was the first race that saw one car each of all three car makers on the winners podium since the final round of last year’s season at MOTEGI.

On the other hand, although it had a podium finish within its reach at one point, car No. 36 was given a drive-through penalty for a pit work violation that dropped it back in the order. Nonetheless, Tsuboi was able to come back to finish in 7th place and win an additional 3 series points.

With these results, in the drivers’ ranking the No. 36 pair of Tsuboi and Yamashita maintained its lead in the ranking with 61 points. As the winners of the race, the No. 100 pair of Yamamoto and Makino now hold 58 points, which exceeds the 45 points of the No. 17 pair of Tsukakoshi and Nomura who came to a stop before the finish to put the No. 100 pair in 2nd place in the ranking. With the gap between the two leaders now a mere 3 points, the competition is certain to grow more intense. What’s more, the final round, MOTEGI Rd. 3, is to be held in two consecutive races on a Saturday, there will be 11 teams that still have a chance of coming within the 42 points held by No. 36.