Makino and Team Kunimitsu take Super GT pole for Motegi Race 2

Team Kunimitsu’s Naoki Yamamoto and Tadasuke Makino took the championship lead yesterday, and on the eve of this afternoon’s final round of the Autobacs Super GT Series from Mobility Resort Motegi, Makino won the pole position to give the team a crucial point in their pursuit of a championship.

Makino put the No. 100 Honda HRC Prelude-GT on the pole for the second of this weekend’s 53-lap, 250-kilometer races which will determine the 2026 Super GT champions. RACER Network and RACER+ will have live coverage of the finale starting tonight at 11:50 p.m. ET / 8:50 p.m. PT, with Jonathan Green and RJ O’Connell providing English-language commentary.

As was the case yesterday, GT500 and GT300 qualifying was done in a single session for each class – but unlike yesterday, all Success Ballast has been removed from the cars in the race. With nothing to hold them back, the top two cars in the championship locked out the front row, but it was Makino who took pole position with his best lap of 1m36.135s, set on his final flying lap of the session. That was Makino’s first Super GT pole since May 2023 at Fuji Speedway, and Honda’s sixth consecutive GT500 pole position with the new HRC Prelude-GT.

That bumped Kenta Yamashita and the No. 36 TGR Team TOM’S Toyota GR Supra from the top spot, as Yamashita would settle for second with a 1m36.413s.

With Makino and co-driver Naoki Yamamoto earning a bonus point for pole position, the gap between them increases to three points – but it’s still a winner-take-all battle where if either the #100 Stanley Prelude-GT or the #36 au GR Supra of Yamashita and Sho Tsuboi wins the race, they win the championship.

Tsuboi is seeking to become Super GT’s first five-time GT500 champion, Yamashita is trying for his fourth championship, while Yamamoto is seeking his third title, and for Makino, his second.

The No. 64 Nakajima Racing Honda’s great run of consecutive poles came to an end as Riki Okusa ended up third with a 1m36.458s.

After a puncture ended his bid for pole yesterday, Yuto Nomura in the No. 17 Real Racing Honda was able to complete a run good enough for fourth on the grid (1m36.481s). Nomura and Koudai Tsukakoshi now trail by 15 points, and must win today’s race to have any chance at the GT500 championship.

The same can be said of the No. 12 Team Impul Nissan Z NISMO GT500 of Kazuki Hiramine and Bertrand Baguette (-19), which won yesterday’s 53-lap sprint. But they’ll have a much tougher task ahead of them today after Baguette was only 10th-quickest (1m37.212s) in the 15-minute session.

Kakunoshin Ohta (1m36.634s) qualified fifth in the No. 8 Team HRC ARTA Mugen Honda, ahead of Nirei Fukuzumi in the No. 14 Rookie Racing Toyota (1m36.734s) in sixth, and the fastest of the Nissans, the No. 23 NISMO Nissan of Katsumasa Chiyo in seventh.

Following their disqualification from yesterday’s race due to a skid block wear violation, Rookie Racing has appealed the decision, so the GT500 results of the first race this weekend remain provisional pending a final verdict. However, the GTA has stated that it is prepared to declare a champion today based on the provisional results in place.

One of JLOC’s Lamborghini Huracán GT3 EVO2s won the pole for the first time in 2026, and what could be the last time with the newer Lamborghini Temerario GT3 set to debut next season.

Takashi Kogure waited until the final seconds to start his flying lap in the No. 88 JLOC Lamborghini, but made the most of his opportunity, winning the pole with a 1m45.082s to edge ahead of yesterday’s polesitter Ryuichiro Tomita in the #11 Gainer Nissan Fairlady Z (1m45.149s).

Shinichi Takagi and K-tunes Racing qualified third with a 1m45.170s – and after stringing together back-to-back wins, the No. 96 K-tunes Lexus RC F GT3 of Takagi and Morio Nitta is best positioned of the six surviving championship contenders.

Of the other title contenders, Ritomo Miyata qualified seventh in the No. 7 CarGuy MKS Racing Ferrari 296 GT3 Evo (with Kiyoshi Umegaki), Naoya Gamou in the No. 65 LEON Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 EVO was 10th, Sven Müller in the No. 666 Seven x Seven Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R was 12th, and Yuui Tsutsumi was 13th in the No. 2 Inging Motorsport Toyota GR86.

João Paulo de Oliveira and co-driver Iori Kimura still lead the championship in their No. 56 Kondo Racing Nissan GT-R NISMO GT3, but Oliveira was only able to put the Nissan 17th on the grid, a second behind the pole lap from Kogure.

Just a little further back, the No. 32 Rookie Racing GR GT3 Concept showed a bit more pace in its second-ever qualifying attempt in Super GT. This time it was young Tokiya Suzuki who qualified the car, in a respectable 23rd position – 1.7 seconds off the pole time.