The final round of 2025 AUTOBACS SUPER GT is now only a few days away. The MOTEGI GT 300km RACE GRAND FINAL, Round 8 the series is set to open on November 1st (Sat) and 2nd (Sun) at Mobility Resort Motegi (Tochigi Prefecture). With the delay of Round 5 Suzuka to December, the Motegi event was not the last race last year, but the circuit has regained the privilege of hosting Final Round Motegi after 2 years. The race itself is a normal 300km race, just like any other most of the SUPER GT races, however, it is certainly serving the role of the final race by providing a stage where the champions of both classes will be decided. In the GT500 class, the top ranked No.1 au TOM’S GR Supra and other 5 cars below it in the point standing will fight for the title. The focal interest is whether No.1 car will accomplish a third consecutive title. There are also expectations on No.100 STANLEY CIVIC TYPE R-GT with Honda CIVIC TYPE R-GT retiring after this season to overcome the deficit and clinch the title. No.65 LEON PYRAMID AMG and No.56 REALIZE NISSAN MECHANIC CHALLENGE GT-R are in a dead heat for the GT300 class title with a mere point gap between them, but the 20-year-old duo in emerging No.7 CARGUY FERRARI 296 GT3 is within a range to break into between them. In fact, the class is a very tight competition with 9 teams in the top 10 of point standing still having a chance to capture the title. Who will clinch the champion? Who will be the last winner of this season? Final round Motegi will not let you move your eyes away until the last of the last moment.
*Above photo is last year’s Round 8 Motegi race start.
■Mobility Resort Motegi information ◎Track details Length: 4,801m Width: 12 to 15m Elevation difference:30.4m
◎Track records GT500 1’35.194 Tadasuke Makino / No. 100 STANLEY NSX-GT 2022 Round 8 Qualifying – Q2 (November 5) GT300 1’44.798 Iori Kimura / No. 55 ARTA NSX GT3 2022 Round 8 Qualifying – Q2 (November 5)
■Top interest is undoubtedly No.1 car’s 3-peat!? 4 other teams of GR Supra squad are keen to overturn it!
Clarification should be made first on the point system of GT500 class that there have not been any changes made from before. Winner gets 20 points and other cars down to 10th position (1 point) also receive points. Driver gets additional 1 point for capturing pole position (1st in qualifying). Teams that finished the race are granted 3 to 1 point depending on the number of lap the team is behind the car in first place. The point table is shown under the point standing chart displayed in ‘Results’ tab in the menu of this website. Points from all 8 rounds are added, and the one who has the highest number of points becomes the champion. If a tie, then the one with higher number of wins becomes higher position, and if that is the same, then the number of first place, second place, etc. is compared and whoever has more becomes higher position. The TOYOTA GR Supra squad dominates a major part of title candidates with 5 umbrella teams. Attracting everybody’s attention for the possibility of achieving the first 3 consecutive title in the history of GT500 class is No.1 au TOM’S GR Supra (Sho Tsuboi / Kenta Yamashita) (Since Yamashita joined last year, it will be 2 consecutive title for him). The team won the season opening round in Okayama and scored points in 6 straight races after that. They, however, did not complete the race at previous Autopolis event and ended with no points. The cause of machine trouble was already known, and a source said that it was a decision made by considering the risk of breaking the engine before the final round, thus, the concern may not be that critical for the team. If No.1 car finishes in first or second place, then they can accomplish impressive 3 consecutive titles on their own. No.14 ENEOS X PRIME GR Supra (Kazuya Oshima / Nirei Fukuzumi), ranked second in the point standing, is 6 points behind No.1 car. Even if they scored 21 points, the maximum number of points possible to score in an event, by completing a pole-to-win at the final event, they would need No.1 car to finish in 3rd position or below to capture the title. They need “luck” in addition to their own performance, but you never know what can happen until the last lap in SUPER GT, and there have been many dramas in the final race in the past. Nonetheless, they first need to be aggressive and then, they aim for their first crown.
No.38 KeePer CERUMO GR Supra (Hiroaki Ishiura / Toshiki Oyu) is fourth in points. In terms of possibilities, a 3rd finish in the race can provide a possibility for the title, but it ends as soon as No.1 car scores 1 point. For No.39 DENSO KOBELCO SARD GR Supra (Yuhi Sekiguchi / Sacha Fenestraz) and No.37 Deloitte TOM’S GR Supra (Ukyo Sasahara / Giuliano Alesi), ranked fifth and sixth, respectively, winning the race is the only chance for the title for them, therefore, all of No.38, 39, and 37 cars would need a pole-to-win, so they must firstly aim for the pole in qualifying. No.38 car, especially, could be having more enthusiasm as they take on the final round since their ace driver Ishiura has announced his retirement from GT500 by the end of this year and the team would want to present him with a glorious exit.
■Can No.100 nail huge upset title again with the momentum from CIVIC podium dominance from previous race?
Although the qualifying results were mediocre at previous Round 7 Autopolis, the Honda CIVIC TYPE R-GT fleet showed outstanding comeback in the 3-hour race and accomplished the first complete dominance over the podium by CIVIC TYPE R-GT. No.100 STANLEY CIVIC TYPE R-GT (Naoki Yamamoto / Tadasuke Makino), the winner of the race, jumped to 3rd position in the ranking and emerged in the title contest at the final round in Motegi. However, the point difference against No.1 car is quite large at 8.5 points that the team must acquire a 3rd-place finish in the race at least. If it goes to a tiebreaker, then they cannot beat the 2 teams above because their number of 2nd place is 0. That only leaves victory, or a pole-to-win if possible, as the target for No.100 car. If they win, then No.14 car will be out of reach and No.1 car will need a 2nd-place finish, giving No.100 car a larger possibility for the title. It was the strategy they adopted for the race that brought in the win at Autopolis and not the position in the qualifying, but No.100 car could be going full throttle from the qualifying at Motegi especially since the track is the home of Honda. On a side note, No.100 car nailed a huge upset win at the Final round Fuji in 2020 by overtaking the leader at the exit of the last corner in the last lap of the race, which eventually brought them the title also. Fans must be wishing to see such come-from-behind drama. Another car that deserves attention is No.64 Modulo CIVIC TYPE R-GT (Takuya Izawa / Riki Okusa) that is showing speed in recent 2 races, although the team is not involved in the title contention anymore. Okusa has been showing noticeable performance recently, appearing in upper positions in qualifying, and he was absolutely the key player at Round 7 where he finished in 1st place in Q1 and then driving 2 stints back to back during the race where he overtook cars in front of him one after another to eventually climb on the podium for the 2nd position. Okusa’s 1st position in Q1 at last year’s Motegi event pushed the team to clinch pole position (qualifying order was decided by adding lap times of Q1 and Q2 last year), so there should not be any doubt he will repeat the same this year at Motegi. Also, the team’s ace driver Izawa has expressed his retirement from GT500 by the end of this season. Okusa as well as the whole team must be eager to dedicate a win to Izawa. Eyes should also be kept on No.64 car.
■No.23 and No.12 fighting for pride of Z! Eyes must be kept on retiring Matsuda’s (No.24) last drive at final round!!
Unfortunately, the NISSAN Z NISMO GT500 squad lost their opportunity to take part in the title contention at the Final Round Motegi again this season. Nonetheless, their record at Motegi is impressive, winning the title by completing a pole-to-win in 2014 by No.23 GT-R (Tsugio Matsuda / Ronnie Quintarelli back then) and another pole-to-win by No.23 GT-R (same driver line-up as above) in 2017. In 2022, No.12 Z (Kazuki Hiramine / Bertrand Baguette) finished in second place to capture the title of the season. Current leader and 2nd position within the Z squad, No.23 MOTUL AUTECH Z (Katsumasa Chiyo / Mitsunori Takaboshi) and No.12 TRS IMPUL with SDG Z, bear expectation on their back to conclude 2025 by a pole position or a podium finish in the race. Matsuda driving for No.24 Realize Corporation ADVAN Z (Tsugio Matsuda / Teppei Natori) sadly announced his retirement from SUPER GT a week before the final round. He is an iconic driver of SUPER GT who has been competing in the GT500 class from 2000 until this season, boasting the all-time record of the highest number of wins, 25, which he renewed this season by winning Round 6 SUGO with his partner Natori. There are also other drivers who are retiring, but Matsuda’s presence and his retirement certainly have an impact on not only NISSAN fans but also everybody who love SUPER GT. The team as well as Natori who admires Matsuda like his father must be determined to dedicate everything to the final race in Motegi for Matsuda. Matsuda’s last race and his driving are something that must be etched in everybody’s memory.
■Win brings GT300 title for No.65 AMG, No.56 GT-R, and No.7 Ferrari 296! Eyes must be kept also on No.0 Huracan and No.61 BRZ desperate to win!!
With the changes made in the point system this season, increasing the points granted to the winner to 25 points, the title contention of GT300 class has 9 teams out of the top 10 in the driver ranking with a possibility of clinching the title at the final race. But, in reality, it will be shortlisted to top 4 teams in the point standing. No.65 LEON PYRAMID AMG (Naoya Gamou / Togo Suganami) is at the top of ranking. No.56 REALIZE NISSAN MECHANIC CHALLENGE GT-R (Kohei Hirate) trails with 1.5 points behind. The privilege of challenging for the title lies only with Hirate in the No.56 team since Joao Paulo de Oliveira who pairs with Hirate has absented 2 races. Standing at third position is No.7 CARGUY FERRARI 296 GT3 (Zak O Sullivan / Rikuto Kobayashi) that is following behind No.65 car with just 4.5 points deficit despite being a newcomer this season. These 3 teams can clinch the title on their own by winning the final race. However, if No.65 car adds 1 point from qualifying first and finishes second, No.65 car will capture the title even if No.56 car wins because two cars will have the same number of points and No.65 will eventually be higher by having a greater number of 3rd-place finish in the comparison of race-finish position.
For No.7 car, the possibility of capturing the title on its own rose due to the point system newly introduced from this season which only counts the points from 7 best events out of the 8 series events. By this rule, a team that scored at every event until now will have the smallest score subtracted from the total points of 8 events if the score from the final event is higher than the smallest score of the previous 7 event, if lower, then the total points will remain the same from previous 7 events. The rule is applied only to No.65 (smallest score of 3 points until Round 7) and No.56 (smallest score: 5.5 points) this season. No.7 car is not in disadvantageous situation as it seems from the point deficit if you compare against above 2 teams because of the rule. Then, will being young combination of 20-year-old drivers and a new comer team be advantageous or disadvantageous? This could become another point to pay attention.
No.4 GOODSMILE HATSUNE MIKU AMG (Nobuteru Taniguchi / Tatsuya Kataoka) ranked 4th is faced with a minimum requirement of 3rd-place finish. They must be wanting 1 point from the 1st place in qualifying too since the point gap against No.65 is 12.5 points. If they can nail a pole-to-win, then they will be holding the title even if No.65 car finished at 3rd and No.56 or No.7 cars at second, therefore, their first aim would be to get “No.1” in qualifying for their 4th title.
No.52 Green Brave GR Supra GT (Hiroki Yoshida / Seita Nonaka), No.777 D’station Vantage GT3 (Tomonobu Fujii / Charlie Fagg), No.2 HYPER WATER INGING GR86 GT (Yuui Tsutsumi / Hibiki Taira), No.666 seven x seven PORSCHE GR3R (Harry King / Kiyoto Fujinami), and No.18 UPGARAGE AMG GT3 (Takashi Kobayashi / Yuto Nomura), standing at 6th place and below with a large gap from the point leader, would need to win the race and then wait for the results of the rivals in the upper group of point standing to secure the title. Will it be an anxious weekend or drop everything and no-pressure weekend? They could play a role to rattle the top teams in the final stretch of the season.
There should be many more teams other than the victorious candidates that are wanting to mark a win at the final race of the season. First team on the list could be No.0 VENTENY Lamborghini GT3 (Takashi Kogure / Yuya Motojima). They lost the previous Autopolis win by a penalty and finished in 3rd place. It is not easy to comprehend a defending champion staying winless for such a long time. With the streak of Motegi-wins going on, No.0 car must be keen to score a win at the race they know how to win. For No.61 SUBARU BRZ R&D SPORT (Takuto Iguchi / Hideki Yamauchi), this will be the last season to race with their long-time companion engine, EJ20. It has won global fame as a unique racing engine for Subaru with so called “boxer sound” that resonates from the horizontally opposed engine. It will be the last run on a GT300 machine for EJ20 that is known for winning the GT300 championship in 2021 as well as sharing joys and agonies with the Iguchi / Yamauchi duo and team as the heart of BRZ GT300. We must keep the eyes on No.61 car until the end of its last spurt on Motegi track.
