The MOTEGI GT 300km RACE GRAND FINAL, Round 8 of the 2025 AUTOBACS SUPER GT series, took place on November 2nd (Sun.) at Mobility Resort Motegi (4,801m x 63 laps) in Tochigi Prefecture. At the end of the fierce competition that played out at Motegi, the No. 1 au TOM’S GR Supra (Sho Tsuboi / Kenta Yamashita) won its third race to the season to take the GT500 championship title, while Tsuboi became the first in SUPER GT history to win three consecutive titles. In the GT300 class, the No. 5 MACHSYAKEN AIR BUSTER MC86 MACH GO (Yusuke Shiotsu / Iori Kimura) got its first win as a team. The GT300 championship title went to the No. 65 LEON PYRAMID AMG (Naoya Gamou / Togo Suganami).

　In the early stages of the race, Iguchi in the pole-starting No. 61 SUBARU BRZ R&D SPORT (Takuto Iguchi / Hideki Yamauchi) gradually built its margin of lead to more than 5 seconds after the 5th lap. As for Shiotsu in the No. 5 MACHSYAKEN AIR BUSTER MC86 MACH GO (Yusuke Shiotsu / Iori Kimura) that started from 2nd position on the grid, he soon had the No. 52 Green Brave GR Supra GT (Hiroki Yoshida / Seita Nonaka) closing in on his tail.

　Back in the middle of the pack tight battles developed. The No. 777 D’station Vantage GT3 (Tomonobu Fujii / Charlie Fagg) that had started from 17th position on the grid and the No. 6 UNI-ROBO BLUEGRASS FERRARI (Yoshiaki Katayama / Roberto Merhi Muntan) that started from 19th position collided in the 90 Degree Corner of the 7th lap. Car No. 777 was quickly able to get back into the race, but No. 6 came to a stop on the gravel. In order to get it to a place where it could be moved, the first Full Course Yellow (FCY) of the race was called.

　Just before this, the car No. 52 running in 2nd position caught and passed car No. 5. However, when the FCY was cancelled, No. 5 was able was able to pass No. 52 back, but soon No. 52 passed No. 5 again, as the fierce battle continued. Then, moving up past this battle into 3rd position came Hirate in a car involved in the championship competition, the No. 56 REALIZE NISSAN MECHANIC CHALLENGE GT-R (Joao Paulo de Oliveira / Kohei Hirate). If Hirate could go on to finish the race in this position it would come from behind to claim the championship title.

　As for Suganami in the No. 65 LEON PYRAMID AMG (Naoya Gamou / Togo Suganami) that came to the last round as the leader of the standing, he finished the qualifying in 14th position, and from that start moved up to 10th position with determination to go higher. As for the 3rd ranked No. 7 CARGUY Ferrari 296 GT3 (Zak O’Sullivan / Rikuto Kobayashi) running in 7th position, it passed the No. 666 seven × seven PORSCHE GT3R (Harry King / Kiyoto Fujinami) to rise to 6th position. Here, there was clear evidence that the title race would grow in more intense in the second half.

　After the 19th lap, some cars were already heading in for early pit stops. Among the cars that made pit stops on the 19th lap was car No. 5, which changed drivers from Shiotsu to Iori Kimura while also opting for a no-tire-change strategy. And, as with car No. 52 that made its pit stop at the end of the 27th lap and changed only its two front tires, there were cars that sought to shorten their pit time by reducing the number of tires they changed. And in this case No. 52, it was able to get back into the race in front of the leading car No. 61. Also, in order to increase its chances in the title race, car No. 65 was another that tried to move up in position by changing only its two front tires.

　Among the cars that had finished their pit work, car No. 5 was in the lead, followed by No. 52 and No. 61. But when Yamauchi in car No. 61 with his superior speed managed to pass No. 52, he then he began chasing the leading Kimura in car No. 5. However, despite having opted for no tire change, No. 5 was able to maintain its pace. And in fact, its lead over No. 61 gradually increased little by little.

　With the intensity of the competition from 2nd position downward, the margin of lead between No. 5 and the pack from 2nd position and below gradually grew, and in the end, Kimura managed to build a lead of nearly 9 seconds as he went on to the goal. With this, the No. 5 MACHSYAKEN AIR BUSTER MC86 MACH GO (Yusuke Shiotsu / Iori Kimura) won the final race of the season. For the “MACH GO” which had competed from the era of the All-Japan GT Championship (JGTC) from the 2001 series, it meant the team was in their 22nd year of competition when they finally grasped this first win. Also, when the team began to compete in the SUPER GT GT300 class from 2015, they had adopted the GT300 Mother Chassis, and this was the first win with the 86 MC since 2018(*). This was also Shiotsu’s first win, and for Kimura it was his second win following the one in 2022 in Rd. 8 at MOTEGI.
　*The most recent victory for the Mother Chassis was with the Lotus Evora MC in Round 4 of the 2021 season.

　In the final stages, an increasingly fierce battle for second position developed between 4 cars, No. 61, No. 52, and No. 666 and No. 56. Especially noteworthy was the fact that by coupling with car No. 56’s de Oliveira in 3rd position, Hirate’s chances of winning the GT300 title grew. When Gamou’s position in car No. 65 near the back of the pack rose to 6th position, since it was 15 seconds behind the pack and there was no real chance of rising further, the driving of car No. 56’s de Oliveira became the focus of attention.

　However, for No. 61, with this being the last race for the BRZ which built the age of SUBARU Motor Sports with its signature horizontal opposed engine “FJ20”, there was a desire to send it off with a podium finish. Due to Yamauchi’s determined defense with cars on his tail, the No. 61 SUBARU BRZ R&D SPORT (Takuto Iguchi / Hideki Yamauchi) finished the race in 2nd place. Finishing in 3rd and 4th places were the No. 666 seven × seven PORSCHE GT3R (Harry King / Kiyoto Fujinami) that passed No. 52 on the final lap and the No. 56 REALIZE NISSAN MECHANIC CHALLENGE GT-R (Joao Paulo de Oliveira / Kohei Hirate).

　With these results, the No. 65 LEON PYRAMID AMG driver pair of Naoya Gamou and Togo Suganami that finished in 6th place won the 2025 GT300 championship. For the team and for Gamou it was their 2nd title and their first since 2018, while for Suganami it was his first title.