Yamamoto and Makino Clinch Super GT GT500 Title at Motegi as Honda Prelude-GT Wins the Championship in Its Debut Season
The 2026 Autobacs Super GT Series came down to its final lap at Motegi, and when it was over, the No. 100 Stanley Team Kunimitsu Honda had given the sport one of the more emotional championship moments in recent memory.
Naoki Yamamoto and Tadasuke Makino led 42 of 53 laps in Sunday's Motegi GT 250km Grand Final, with Makino bringing the car home 1.7 seconds clear of the field to clinch the GT500 title by winning the race outright. It was their third win of the season, Honda's first GT500 championship since 2020, and crucially, the first title for Team Kunimitsu since the passing of legendary founder Kunimitsu Takahashi in 2022.
It is also the first championship for Honda's new Prelude-GT, which won five of the six races it contested after returning from an extended summer break to close out the season.
For Yamamoto, 37, it is a third GT500 title, the result of a career that nearly ended following a serious neck injury in 2023. He becomes only the seventh driver in GT500 history to win three or more championships. For Makino, who joined Team Kunimitsu in 2020 as the designated successor to Jenson Button in the seat, it is his second title.
The Race
The No. 100 Honda led from pole and controlled the afternoon with minimal drama at the front. The story of the race was happening elsewhere.
Sho Tsuboi and Kenta Yamashita in the No. 36 TGR Team TOM'S Toyota arrived at Motegi needing a result to claim what would have been a record-breaking fifth GT500 championship for Tsuboi, cementing what was already one of the most dominant individual runs in Super GT history. It did not come to pass.
A collision between the No. 36 Toyota and the No. 88 JLOC Lamborghini during a full course yellow left Tsuboi's car with left-front damage that only worsened when Tsuboi and Sacha Fenestraz tangled at the 90-degree corner after the FCY was lifted. Tsuboi retired the car eight laps from the flag. The championship dream ended there.
The final podium was complicated by post-race penalties. The No. 39 TGR Team SARD Toyota of Fenestraz and Yuhi Sekiguchi was disqualified for excessive skid block wear, and the No. 23 NISMO Nissan received a 40-second penalty for a pit lane infringement. After the adjustments, the No. 17 Real Racing Honda of Koudai Tsukakoshi and Yuto Nomura was classified second, completing a Honda 1-2. The No. 12 Team Impul Nissan of Kazuki Hiramine and Bertrand Baguette inherited third. The No. 38 TGR Team Cerumo Toyota and the No. 14 Rookie Racing Toyota rounded out the top five.
GT300: Kvyat Wins, Kondo Racing Takes the Title
The GT300 class had its own late drama. Daniil Kvyat, sharing the No. 88 JLOC Lamborghini Huracán GT3 EVO2 with Takashi Kogure, found himself chasing Sven Müller after the No. 666 Seven x Seven Racing Porsche pitted early for fuel only and took the class lead. Kvyat's stop included rear tyres, and when he rejoined he had ground to make up. He closed Müller down and made the move with four laps remaining to take the win, JLOC's first GT300 victory since its 2024 title-clinching race at Suzuka. It may also be the last Super GT win for the Huracán GT3 platform, with the new Lamborghini Temerario GT3 set to debut in Japan next year.
Müller and co-driver Taichi Watarai finished second from 12th on the grid. A win would have put Müller in position to take the championship; second was not enough.
The GT300 title went to the No. 56 Kondo Racing Nissan GT-R NISMO GT3 of João Paulo de Oliveira and Iori Kimura, who survived a dramatic run from 17th on the grid to finish fourth in the race and seal Kondo Racing's third GT300 championship. For the 48-year-old Brazilian veteran Oliveira, it is also his third class title, drawing him into a five-way tie for the most in Super GT GT300 history. For Kimura, still in the early stages of his career, the result could attract attention from Nissan as it evaluates future GT500 talent.
Third in the race went to the No. 11 Gainer Nissan of Ryuichiro Tomita and Kazuki Oki, ahead of the title-winning Kondo Nissan in fourth. The No. 777 D'station Racing Aston Martin of Tsubasa Kondo and Charlie Fagg completed the top five.
A notable retirement was the No. 96 K-tunes Racing Lexus of 59-year-old Morio Nitta, who was running toward the front in what had been billed as a potential storybook farewell before a pit lane speeding penalty ended those chances. He and co-driver Shinichi Takagi finished ninth. Fellow veteran Manabu Orido also made his final Super GT start on Sunday, finishing 25th in the No. 30 apr Toyota GR86.
The No. 32 Rookie Racing GR GT3 Concept made its second competitive appearance this weekend, finishing one lap down in 23rd place. The car ran cleanly across both Saturday and Sunday, showing marginally more pace than its debut, as the program works toward homologation and a first full season of competition in 2027.
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