The 2026 AUTOBACS SUPER GT Rd. 6, the “SUGO GT 300km RACE” was held on Seprember 20th (Sun.) at Sportsland SUGO (one lap 3,586m x 84 laps) in Miyagi prefecture. The rain that had been feared stopped before noon, and although there was a thin covering of wet spots around the track, both the GT500 and GT300 races saw heated competition around the track. In the GT500 class, the No. 17 Astemo HRC PRELUDE-GT (Koudai Tsukakoshi/Yuto Nomura) got its first win since October of 2022, and for the Honda HRC PRELUDE-GT got an impressive third straight win in its debut year. In the GT300 class the No. 60 Syntium LMcorsa LC500 GT (Hiroki Yoshimoto/Shunsuke Kohno) that won last year’s SUGO race, but this time it won a perfect pole-win victory.
＜GT500＞ The approaching Typoon # 25 was slower in arriving than feared and the rain stopped before the start of the race, causing all of the cars to chose slick tires for the roughly 300 km (84 laps) race. The No. 64 Modulo HRC PRELUDE-GT (Riki Okusa/Igor Omura Fraga) starting from pole position ran strongly in the lead in the early stages. And he gradually pulled away from Nomura in the No. 17 Astemo HRC PRELUDE-GT starting from 2nd position on the grid.
However, car No. 17 allowed the No. 19 WedsSport BANDOH GR Supra (Yuji Kunimoto/Sena Sakaguchi) starting from 3rd position to pass it, causing it to drop to 3rd position for a while. But when it made an early pit stop on the 32nd lap the situation changed. When car No. 64 entered the pit on the 33rd lap, No. 17 was able to undercut it as well as car No. 19 and emerge in the lead. In the second half of the race car No. 64 was unable to keep pace and lost ground and No. 19’s pit timing also caused it to fall back. Moving into 2nd place instead came the No. 100 STANLEY HRC PRELUDE-GT (Naoki Yamamoto/Tadasuke Makino) that had started in 4th position on the grid. However, No. 100 was also passed on the 66th lap by the No. 39 DENSO KOBELCO SARD GR Supra (Yuhi Sekiguchi/Sacha Fenestraz ) and dropped to 3rd position.
In the second half of the race Tsukakoshi in the leading car No. 17 pulled away from the pack at a steady pace and went on to his first win of the season by a lead of 4.7 seconds. For Tsukakoshi and the teamit was their first win since Round 7 at AUTOPOLIS in the 2022 season as well as being a gratifying first win for Nomura since coming to GT500. For the Honda HRC PRELUDE-GT this was its third consecutive win since Round 4 at Fuji. Finishing in 2nd place came car No. 39, while 3rd place went to car No. 100. The series point leader, the No. 36 au TOM’S GR Supra (Sho Tsuboi/Kenta Yamashita) also moved up strongly after starting from 11th position on the grid to finish in 4th place and maintain its lead in the standing.
＜GT300＞ In the early stages of the race, Yoshimoto in the pole-starting No. 60 Syntium LMcorsa LC500 GT took the lead, followed by the No. 61 SUBARU BRZ R&D SPORT (Takuto Iguchi/Hideki Yamauchi), chased by the No. 7 CARGUY FERRARI 296 GT3 (Zak O’Sullivan/Kiyoshi Umegaki). and this fight continued until they made their pit stops, and entering the second half of the race the No. 56 REALIZE NISSAN MECHANIC CHALLENGE GT-R (Joao Paulo de Oliveira / Iori Kimura) opted for a no-tire-change strategy to take the lead. With Kohno in car No. 60 now chasing it became a race of chasing. In the final stages of the race, Kohno overtook car No. 56 as its pace dropped and returned to the lead. Car No. 60 went on that way to take to the finish and took its second consecutive win at SUGO. Finishing in 2nd place came car No. 56, while 3rd place went to car No. 61, taking it first podium finish of the season.
*Spectators September 19th (Race Day / rain to cloudy): 19,000 / Sept. 19th（Qualifying Day / Rain, occasionally cloudy）：11,100.
■Winner Comments
No.17 Astemo HRC PRELUDE-GT Koudai Tsukakoshi “With the race having just concluded, the feeling hasn’t fully sunk in yet, and I am at a loss for words regarding this victory—my first in four years. However, I am truly overjoyed. We have built so many things into the No. 17 car (PRELUDE-GT), and being able to translate that into a winning result is deeply rewarding. I am very grateful to our team and sponsors for their unwavering support.”
Yuto Nomura “ (Congratulations on your first victory.) Thank you very much. I was hoping to overtake the leading Car No. 64 during my first-half stint, but the car was really fast. I also had to manage my tires, which made things pretty tough toward the end of that stint. Even though the safety car came out, I managed to hand the car over to Tsukakoshi-san in good shape for the second half.”
No.60 Syntium LMcorsa LC500 GT Hiroki Yoshimoto “We executed a truly flawless race. However, I hadn’t anticipated that the No. 56 car would opt for a no-tire-change strategy. When they emerged ahead of us after the pit stops, I felt a brief moment of anxiety, thinking it would be a tough battle ahead. Ultimately, we secured a pole-to-finish victory. Thanks to Kohno’s incredible pace in the second half—including setting the fastest lap—we capped off a perfect race weekend. Thank you all very much.”
Shunsuke Kohno “After suffering disappointing results at Suzuka—the previous round—in both last year’s and this year’s seasons, I arrived here determined to win at SUGO, a track where I feel strong just as much as I do at Suzuka. Like the other teams, we struggled with tire wear during the race and had to manage them carefully. Despite that challenge, the No. 56 car managed to get ahead of us by opting not to change tires. However, I had better pace, so I kept pushing and managed to take the win. I think we ran a fantastic race, and the pit crew did a great job as well. It turned out to be a truly wonderful weekend. Thank you very much for your support.”
