Round 8 Motegi : Race GT500

　The 2026 AUTOBACS SUPER GT Round 8 (final round), the “MOTEGI GT 250km RACE GRAND FINAL” was held in the afternoon of November 8th (Sun.) at the Mobilityland Motegi in Tochigi Prefecture (on lap 4,801m x 53 laps). In the GT500class the No. 100 STANLEY HRC PRELUDE-GT (Naoki Yamamoto / Tadasuke Makino) achieved a perfect win from pole position to become the Champions for the first time since 2022 (3rd time overall). In the GT300 class the No. 88 VENTENY Lamborghini GT3 (Takashi Kogure / Daniil Kvyat) scored a win from pole position. The GT300 class championship went to the No. 56 REALIZE NISSAN MECHANIC CHALLENGE GT-R (Joao Paulo de Oliveira / Iori Kimura) that battled to finish 4th in the race.

　As the final race of the season, the Round 8 race started at 2:00 in the afternoon. The formation lap took place following a “traffic safety awareness parade” led by five police motorcycles and five patrol cars from the Tochigi Prefectural Police.

　Although Yamamoto in the pole-starting No. 100 STANLEY HRC PRELUDE-GT (Naoki Yamamoto / Tadasuke Makino) make a good start and is followed through the first lap by the No. 36 au TOM’S GR Supra (Sho Tsuboi / Kenta Yamashita) starting from 2nd position on the grid and the No. 64 Modulo HRC PRELUDE-GT (Riki Okusa / Igor Omura Fraga) starting from 3rd position all come through the first lap in their starting order, the No. 19 WedsSport BANDOH GR Supra (Yuji Kunimoto / Sena Sakaguchi) that started from 11th position ran off the track at the 1st corner, dropping to the very back of the class.

　Behind this action there are a number of accidents involving GT300 class cars, and as with yesterday, the Safety Car (SC) was brought in on the 2nd lap to control the race. After the cars were recovered, the SC left the track on the 4th lap. After the race was restarted on the 5th lap, on the 6th lap, Yamamoto in car No. 100 recorded a fast lap time of 1’38.483. Not to be beaten, car No. 36 ran a lap of 1’38.526 and the 2 cars continued to lap the track within a close margin of less than 1 second. By the end of the 10th lap, the gap between the two cars was no more than 0.669 sec. In 3nd position trailed car No. 64 some 4.103 sec. Behind that and being chased by the No. 17 Astemo HRC PRELUDE-GT (Koudai Tsukakoshi / Yuto Nomura) and the No. 14 ENEOS X PRIME GR Supra (Nirei Fukuzumi / Kazuya Oshima). On the 13th lap, Nomura in car No. 17caught and passed car No. 64 to move up into 3rd position. Also, Fukuzumi in car No. 14 managed to overtake No. 64 on the 14th lap. After that No. 64 began to gradually drop back in the field.

　Meanwhile, in the battle for the lead, each time car No. 100 came up on GT300 class back-lappers, car No. 36 moved up and tried to overtake it, but No. 100 didn’t let its guard down, and eventually the duel remained that way until both cars made their pit stops on the 22nd lap. They both refueled, changed drivers and changed tires before returning to the track.

　With this, when Makino, now at the wheel of car No. 100, came out with a fast pace on his first lap back on the track he began to pull away from No. 36. As for No. 36, it fell back in the order when it was passed at the harpin turn by the No. 17 Astemo HRC PRELUDE-GT (Koudai Tsukakoshi / Yuto Nomura) that had finished its pit stop one lap earlier. From there Tsuboi in car No. 36 pushed hard to catch up with and overtake No. 17, but Tsukakoshi in car No. 17 didn’t give in. During this time, car No. 100continued to expand its lead.

　On the 33rd lap, when the No. 39 DENSO KOBELCO SARD GR Supra (Yuhi Sekiguchi / Sacha Fenestraz) made its pit stop, this put car No. 100 back in the lead. It was here that car No. 39 opted for a no-tire-change strategy as it had the day before. As for the No. 16 #16 ARTA MUGEN HRC PRELUDE-GT (Tomoki Nojiri / Ren Sato) that had been given a 5-sec. penalty stop for changing to a new engine made its pit stop. Here it also opted for a no-tire-change strategy to move up in the order.

　During this time cars No. 17 and No. 36 were involved in a battle for 2nd position, but Tsuboi in car No. 36 was unable to make a move successfully against no. 17. What’s more, on the 44th lap two GT300 were involved in an intense battle that ended in a collision that resulted in car parts being scattered at the 2nd and 3rd corners, which resulted in a Full Course Yellow call tenable the debris to be cleared away. With this, car No. 36 struck a GT300 car that had slowed down in front of it, causing some serious damage to its left front fender. As a result of this, No. 36 returned to its pit on the 46th lap and ended its race there. This ended No. 36’s hopes for a fourth consecutive title.

　This resulted in 3rd position going to car No. 39, which had succeeded in improving its position by means of a no-tire-change strategy like in the previous day’s race. In the final stages, No. 39 came under attack by the No. 12 TRS IMPUL with SDG Z (Kazuki Hiramine / Bertrand Baguette), but Fenestraz was able continue lapping the track ahead of Hiramine.

　Eventually, it was the No. 100 STANLEY HRC PRELUDE-GT (Naoki Yamamoto / Tadasuke Makino) that won the race with no threat from behind, thus taking its third win of the season following the one in Round 7 at Autopolis. As a result, the driver pair of Naoki Yamamoto and Tadasuke Makino won their second Drivers’ Championship following the one in 2020. For Yamamoto it was his third title, including the one he won driving with Jenson Button in 2018.

　Finishing the race in 2nd place came the No. 17 Astemo HRC PRELUDE-GT (Koudai Tsukakoshi / Yuto Nomura), while the third 3rd car to finish was No. 39, but a violation found in the post-race technical inspection caused it to be disqualified. With this, the No. 12 TRS IMPUL with SDG Z (Kazuki Hiramine / Bertrand Baguette) was moved up to finish the race in 3rd place.