Honda brings the heat in opening Motegi Super GT practice

Ahead of this weekend’s Super GT doubleheader finale at Mobility Resort Motegi, Nakajima Racing’s No. 64 Honda HRC Prelude-GT continued to show its one-lap prowess by posting the fastest time in Friday’s dedicated test session.

RACER+ and RACER Network will have live coverage of this weekend’s 53-lap sprint races on Friday and Saturday nights starting at 11:50pm ET/8:50pm PT, with English commentary provided by Speed City Broadcasting’s Jonathan Green and RACER.com correspondent RJ O’Connell.

The 90-minute test, which served as the weekend’s one and only practice before qualifying and the races, was run with all cars carrying “half-ballast” – one kilogram per championship point scored instead of the usual 2 kg per point. Those same conditions are in place for the first race of this weekend’s double-header.

During the final 10-minute class-exclusive run, GT500 teams went out for qualifying simulations, and it was the Dunlop-clad No. 64 Nakajima Racing Honda – carrying extra Dunlop branding this weekend to honor the team’s 21-year relationship with its tire partner – that went fastest as Riki Okusa posted a 1m37.449s around the recently resurfaced Motegi road course.

The No. 14 Rookie Racing Toyota GR Supra GT500 (1m37.485s) went second-fastest, followed by the No. 19 TGR Team Bandoh Toyota (1m37.528s) in third, and the No. 12 Team Impul Nissan Z NISMO GT500 (1m37.597s) in fourth. TGR Team Bandoh and all other teams on Yokohama tires are carrying special decals commemorating Yokohama’s time in Super GT, which ends after this weekend as the series switches to one-make tires for GT500 (Bridgestone) and GT300 (Dunlop).

Four prime GT500 championship contenders enter Saturday’s race within 20 points of the lead. Between them, the No. 17 Real Racing Honda (1m37.762s) was the quickest in eighth, ahead of the No. 38 TGR Team Cerumo Toyota (1m37.791s) in ninth, the No. 100 Team Kunimitsu Honda (1m37.980s) in 11th, and the championship-leading No. 36 TGR Team TOM’S Toyota (1m38.036) in 12th.

GT 500 RESULTS

The story in GT300, meanwhile, was the first proper on-track appearance for the new No. 32 Rookie Racing GR GT3 Concept after four years of development and testing.

Veteran driver Hiroaki Ishiura and rookie Tokiya Suzuki completed 30 laps. Ishiura’s best time (1m49.638s) was good for just 28th and last out of a slightly reduced field – but within three seconds of the best lap, in a session where trouble-free running was the priority.

“When the session starts, we leave the pits with the steering wheel fully locked in one position. But when you actually perform race operations such as operating the clutch in that state or rushing through driver changes, I realized once again that all sorts of challenges can come up,” Ishiura said. “There were also many things that made me glad we were able to race in ‘concept’ form. That said, we were able to get up to racing speed right away once we got on the track, and it allowed us to properly verify everything we’ve worked on so far.

“I don’t know yet what our plans will be for next year and beyond, but my top priority is to provide feedback that will help lead to a better car. I’m sure this experience will be useful to various teams, so that’s what I want to focus on first. Also, while I’ve been receiving all sorts of comments on social media, I want to compete with respect for the championship.”

Leading the session in GT300 was the No. 61 R&D Sport Subaru BRZ (1m46.817s), followed by the two JLOC Lamborghini Huracán GT3 EVO2s, the No. 88 (1m46.874s) and No. 87 (1m47.055s), and the No. 11 Gainer Nissan Fairlady Z (1m47.297s).

Of the five cars that are within 25 points of the GT300 championship lead, the fastest was the No. 7 CarGuy MKS Racing Ferrari 296 GT3 (1m47.896s) in 11th.

The GT300 field is down to just 28 cars this weekend after Saitama Green Brave withdrew its No. 52 Toyota GR Supra from this weekend’s final races. The car was badly damaged in an accident during the previous round in Autopolis, which was its second major accident in the last three races. Saitama Green Brave aims to return in 2027.

GT300 RESULTS

Earlier this week, another one of Super GT’s legendary figures announced his retirement from the series. On Wednesday, K-tunes Racing driver Morio Nitta confirmed that this weekend’s races will be his last in the series. Nitta recently extended his all-time record for most GT300 class victories when he took his 23rd career win last time at Autopolis. His 62 wins and 1,451 championship points are also all-time records for the category.

Nitta, 59, has also driven in more JGTC/Super GT races than any other driver: When he makes his final start on Sunday, he will have entered 251 races, including 241 championship rounds and 10 non-championship events.

64-year-old Masaki Jyonai, a veteran of 29 JGTC/Super GT seasons, also announced his retirement from the series – he will bow out after driving the No. 22 R’Qs Motor Sports Mercedes-AMG GT3 EVO in Saturday’s race.

• RACER+ and RACER Network will have live coverage of this weekend’s 53-lap sprint races on Friday and Saturday nights starting at 11:50pm ET/8:50pm PT,