The official qualifying session for the 2026 AUTOBACS SUPER GT Round 8 (the final round), the “MOTEGI GT 300km RACE GRAND FINAL,” took place on the morning of Sunday, November 8, at Mobility Resort Motegi (one lap: 4.801 km) in Tochigi Prefecture. In the GT500 class, Tadasuke Makino, driving the No. 100 STANLEY HRC PRELUDE-GT for the HRC PRELUDE-GT squad (alongside teammate Naoki Yamamoto) won pole position, his first since 2023. In the GT300 class, Takashi Kogure, driving the No. 88 VENTENY Lamborghini GT3 (with teammate Daniil Kvyat) also claimed pole position—his first in the class. Both teams will start at the front of their respective classes for the final race, which begins today, November 8th , at 2:00 in the afternoon.
□Official Qualifying Weather: clear | Track: dry | Air temperature/Track temperature at the start of GT300: 15℃/20℃, at the start of GT500: 14℃/20℃, at the end: 14℃/20℃.
On Sunday, November 8th, the day after Round 3, Mobility Resort Motegi, the venue for the 2026 season finale, enjoyed another day of clear, sunny weather. The final official qualifying session of the season got underway at 9:45 a.m. As with Round 3, each driver participated in the 20-minute timed qualifying session. Conditions at the start were cool, with an air temperature of 15°C and a dry track surface at 20°C.
As was the case the previous day, the first to head out for the qualifying session was the No. 32 ENEOS X PRIME GR GT3 concept (Tokiya Suzuki), which was entered in this double-header at Motegi as a specially approved vehicle. Being the first to begin its flying laps, it recorded a time of 1’47.002. With this time now serving as the benchmark to aim at, other cars began to take to the track one after another, starting around the session’s nine-minute mark.
Car No. 32 clocked a top time of 1’46.791 ten minutes into the session – right around the halfway mark – and subsequently returned to the pits, ending its run.
With 3 minutes remaining in the session, the No. 25 HOPPY Schatz GR Supra GT (Takayoshi Matsui) set a new best time of 1’46.770, surpassing the previous one held by car No. 32. From this point on, the top lap time would be lowered even further.
With 1 minute remaining, the No. 11 GAINER TANAX Z (driven by Ryuichiro Tomita), which had secured its first pole position in Round 3, recorded a time of 1’45.149. The No. 61 SUBARU BRZ R&D SPORT (Hideki Yamauchi) followed with a 1’45.204, just as the checkered flag was waved. At this point it appeared as though the No. 11 car had won the pole position.
However, several cars were still making a final push as the session neared its end. First to post a lap time was the No. 96 K-tunes RC F GT3, driven by Shinichi Takagi, winner of Round 3, but his time of 1’45.170 fell short of Tomita’s, placing him second. It appeared as though this would result in a front-row start, just as it had the previous day.
On the final lap, the No. 88 VENTENY Lamborghini GT3, driven by Takashi Kogure, who had moved into third place on the previous lap with a time of 1’45.280, pushed for a consecutive flying lap as it crossed the finish line. Clocking a 1’45.082, Kogure won the pole position. For both the No. 88 entry and Kogure, this marks their first such achievement since Round 5 at Suzuka in 2024 (rescheduled to December and serving as the final round), where they also clinched the championship title.
Qualifying in 2nd and 3rd place were the No. 11 GAINER TANAX Z and the No. 96 K-tunes RC F GT3 respectively, the latter having climbed to second in the driver standings just yesterday.
The No. 56 REALIZE NISSAN MECHANIC CHALLENGE GT-R (Joao Paulo de Oliveira/Iori Kimura) – the current leader of the driver standings – finished in 17th place with de Oliveira behind the wheel, while the No. 666 seven x seven PORSCHE GT3R EVO (Sven Müller/Taichi Watarai) also faced a difficult result, finishing 12th.
