What changed
2026-08-22 10:11 UTC → 2026-08-28 23:07 UTC ·
added
removed
In early July 2026, the BMW & MINI Racing series held its third round Following Honda’s successful return to form at Fuji Speedway, featuring intense competition across three classes. Later Speedway in the month, early August, the Super GT championship returned for manufacturer continued its fourth round, the FUJI GT 300 km race on August 1–2. Practice sessions saw dominance in the Astemo HRC PRELUDE-GT lead GT500 and class during the PONOS Ferrari 296 EVO top GT300, while D’station Racing aimed to protect its points lead. On July 31, Honda achieved its first fifth round of the Super GT GT500 pole championship at Fuji with the new Prelude GT500, driver Kaku Ohta posting a 1:26.776 lap and the ARTA MUGEN HRC Prelude-GT also topping the warm-up, underscoring Honda’s strong pace ahead of the race. On 2 August, Suzuka Circuit. At the Suzuka event, Honda Prelude GT500 secured its first Super GT victory, achieving a 1–2 finish podium sweep in GT500 as car GT500. The No. 100 16 Honda Prelude, driven by Naoki Yamamoto Tomoki Nojiri and Naoto Makino won, with teammate Kaku Ohta in Ren Sato, took first place, marking Sato’s first GT victory. The No. 17 car finished second, followed by the No. 8 finishing second. The event began under wet conditions; a major crash involving car No. 64 prompted in third. This followed a safety-car period before the track dried and slick tyres proved decisive. In GT300, strong qualifying session where the Green Brave GR Supra GT (car No. 52) driven by Hiroshi Yoshida and Seita Nonaka 17 Astemo HRC Prelude-GT took the win, marking Yoshida’s first triumph since 2023 pole position and a personal milestone after the July 28 Kumamoto earthquake. D’station Racing’s Vantage GT3, despite a strong qualifying performance, fell to 23rd. Honda GT500 project leader Tomohiro Onishi noted that models occupied the victory followed a three-month hiatus caused by top four spots. Notably, the cancellation No. 100 Stanley HRC Prelude-GT, the winner of the Sepang round previous Fuji round, faced technical setbacks including a coolant leak and an engine change, resulting in June. Onishi stated that a five-second post-start penalty. In the break allowed GT300 class at Suzuka, the team to “course correct” No. 9 BMW M4 GT3, driven by Yusuke Tomibayashi and provided Yuta Fujiwara, achieved a “golden opportunity” to address technical issues from earlier rounds and adjust their development philosophy. Moving to pole-to-win victory, marking a first for both the fifth round at Suzuka, team and the Honda HRC Prelude-GT continued its dominance drivers. Other notable GT300 performances included an 18-year-old driver, Kiyoshi Umegaki, finishing second in GT500 qualifying. a Ferrari 296 GT3, and university student Kotaro Niihara taking third in a Mercedes-AMG GT3. Conversely, teams such as Syntium LMcorsa and Subaru R&D Sport struggled with tire issues, finishing 13th and 28th respectively.