The official qualifying session for the “MOTEGI GT 250km RACE”, Round 3 of the 2026 AUTOBACS SUPER GT series, took place on the morning of Saturday, November 7th, at Mobility Resort Motegi (one lap: 4.801 km) in Tochigi Prefecture. In the GT500 class, Riki Okusa, driving the No. 64 Modulo HRC PRELUDE-GT (Riki Okusa / Igor Omura Fraga), took pole position, which is his third consecutive pole. In the GT300 class, Ryuichiro Tomita, driving the No. 11 GAINER TANAX Z (Ryuichiro Tomita / Kazuki Oki), took the top spot; this marks the first GT300 class pole position for both Tomita himself and for the Fairlady Z model developed by the team. Both of these teams will start at the front of their respective class grids for the final race, which begins today, November 7th, at 2:00 PM.
□Official Qualifying Weather: clear | Track: dry | Air temperature/Track temperature at the start of the GT300 class qualifying: 15℃/18℃, at the start of the GT500 class qualifying: 21℃/19℃, at the end: 17℃/22℃.
Since this event features back-to-back rounds – Round 3 and Round 8 – the schedule differs from the norm. Furthermore, the official qualifying session will be conducted as a single, timed session instead of in the normal knockout format.
The official qualifying session for the GT500 class took place over a period of 15 minutes, starting at 9:30 in the morning. The weather was clear with blue skies, and the track surface was dry. The No. 37 Deloitte TOM’S GR Supra (Ukyo Sasahara) was the first to head out onto the track, followed closely by the No. 8 ARTA MUGEN HRC PRELUDE-GT (Kakunoshin Ohta).
With less than 10 minutes remaining, other drivers began leaving their pits to enter the track one after another. Finally, the No. 14 ENEOS X PRIME GR Supra (Nirei Fukuzumi), the No. 24 Realize Corporation Z (Atsushi Miyake), and the No. 64 Modulo HRC PRELUDE-GT (Riki Okusa) headed out onto the track. By the time the clock showed less than 9 minutes remaining, all cars were on the circuit and beginning their warm-ups.
After three warm-up laps, Okusa in car No. 64 immediately clocked an impressive time of 1:37.051, while Sasahara in car No. 37 could only manage a time of 1’38.125. Even after the checkered flag was displayed, drivers on track continued their final flying laps, and Fukuzumi in car No. 14 surged to record a top time of 1’36.942.
However, car No. 64 continued its attack, clocking a lap of 1’36.572 to reclaim the top spot. Meanwhile, Tomoki Nojiri in the No. 16 ARTA MUGEN HRC PRELUDE-GT moved up into second place with a time of 1’36.917.
As for the No. 17 Astemo HRC PRELUDE-GT, driven by Yuto Nomura, it clocked the fastest overall times in Sectors 1 and 2 (the first half of the course) and set a personal best in Sector 3. While hopes for a pole position were high, a costly overrun at the 90-degree corner in the final stages dashed any chance of that. Furthermore, upon returning to the pits, the team discovered that the front-right tire had suffered a blowout.
As a result, the No. 64 Modulo HRC PRELUDE-GT (Riki Okusa/Igor Omura Fraga) took their third consecutive pole position. The No. 16 ARTA MUGEN HRC PRELUDE-GT (Tomoki Nojiri/Ren Sato) qualified 2nd, thus giving the grid’s front row to the Honda HRC PRELUDE-GT entries. As for 3rd place, it went to the No. 14 ENEOS X PRIME GR Supra (Nirei Fukuzumi/Kazuya Oshima), while the No. 24 REALIZE CORPORATION Z (Teppei Natori/Atsushi Miyake) was fastest among the NISSAN Z NISMO GT500 contingent by finishing 5th.
Meanwhile, the point standing leader, the No. 36 au TOM’S GR Supra (Sho Tsuboi / Kenta Yamashita) qualified 7th position with Yamashita’s driving. Just behind these cars came, the No. 100 STANLEY HRC PRELUDE-GT (Naoki Yamamoto / Tadasuke Makino), currently 2nd in the point standings, took 8th position with Makino at the wheel. Both contenders are now gearing up for the race, which is scheduled to start at 2:00 in the afternoon.
