Suzuka Saturday Notebook

Photo: Gruppe C Photography/SRO

***The top 13 crews in Saturday evening’s Suzuka 1000km qualifying session were all underneath last year’s pole benchmark of 2:00.658, with the fastest average of 1:58.696 set by Craft-Bamboo Racing’s No. 77 Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo being almost two seconds faster. Half of the track, from Nippo Corner (Turn 7) to the final chicane, has been resurfaced since last year’s event, while ambient temperatures were also lower last year, impacted also by qualifying taking place later in the evening this time.

***Kaku Ohta’s fastest individual time of 1:58.455 compares to Nicky Catsburg’s 2025 benchmark 1:59.936 in the Johor Motorsports JMR Corvette.

***Ohta told pit lane reporter Jonathan Grace after Q2: “It was a great strategy for us. We are using a different procedure for warm-up, just one warm-up lap and push. Maybe other teams are struggling with warm-up, I don’t know. I am so happy with the result, six tenths faster than second, so it was a great lap.”

***The No. 77 car was one of five that received grid penalties for speeding infringements during red flags in either Night Practice or Pre-Qualifying. The No. 69 Team WRT BMW M4 GT3 EVO of Parker Thompson was the biggest offender, having been caught at a peak speed of 160 km/h and exceeding the 80 km/h limit for a period of 17 seconds, and will have a five-position grid penalty as a result.

***Ohta, as well as the No. 79 Tsunami RT Porsche 911 GT3 R Evo of Johannes Zelger, No. 72 Harmony Racing Ferrari 296 GT3 Evo of Song Jiajun and the 75 Express Mercedes-AMG of Kenny Habul, meanwhile, all face three-position grid drops.

***A sixth car received a grid penalty, as the No. 8 AO by Absolute Racing Porsche was not in the pit lane during the scheduled pit walk, resulting in a two-position sanction. A team representative stated this was due to a mechanical problem for the fan-favorite ‘Bushi Rex’ entry but the stewards argued the team benefitted from more time to work on the car than other teams.

***Three more cars incurred grid penalties for infractions in qualifying. The No. 60 LM Corsa Ferrari of Shigekazu Wakisaka and No. 2 JMR Johor Motorsports Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R of Scott McLaughlin both will lose three positions from speeding during a red in Q2, while the No. 91 Herberth Motorsport Porsche of Ralf Bohn will lose five positions for overtaking a car in yellow flag conditions in Q1.

***McLaughlin’s penalty was originally issued as a five-position grid penalty but was amended in a subsequent bulletin.

***When added up, it means that almost one-third of the field has received grid penalties.

***Tomei Sports is set for an overnight rebuild of its No. 360 Nissan GT-R NISMO GT3 after Atsushi Tanaka’s 130R crash in pre-qualifying, which dealt the car significant rear-end damage. A fresh tub is understood to have been road-freighted from Kanagawa Prefecture to Suzuka after the impact, from which Tanaka emerged unharmed.

***Norik Racing’s Ferrari was granted a hardship lap on Saturday morning after the Japanese squad worked overnight to make “extensive repairs” to the Pro-Am class entry after Taku Bamba’s accident in Night Practice. The team, which was due to also contest the pair of Japan Cup races with the same chassis, has elected to withdraw from regional series to focus on the 1000km.

***It leaves the No. 9 Bingo Racing with LM Corsa Porsche, which is fighting for the championship, as the only car pulling double-duty between the races.

***Max Racing Mercedes-AMG pair Yusaku Shibata and Yuya Motojima took a step towards Japan Cup title glory with second place in Saturday’s first race, behind Hitotsuyama Racing Ferrari drivers Akihiko Tsuzuki and Shintaro Kawabata, who move up to second in the standings as a result. Shibata and Motojima take a 13-point lead into Sunday’s finale.

***The No. 96 K-tunes Racing Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R, which is making its Japan Cup return this weekend, is chassis No. 004, which previously served as the No. 4 entry for Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship GTD Pro ranks from 2024-25.

***75 Express has diagnosed its refueling issue after being authorized to use the fuel rig from Team Daishin’s Nissan prior to Pre-Qualifying, which determined the fuel tank in its Mercedes-AMG is the problem, and not Goodsmile Racing’s fuel rig that it’s borrowing after the team’s container didn’t show up due to weather-induced delays.

***Philip Ellis told Sportscar365 that the team is now working to improve the full-fuel time, which took ten seconds longer than the minimum pit stop time and is optimistic of finding a solution for the race.

***With team owner/driver Habul in the Pro class for the first time at Suzuka, the FIA Bronze-rated driver will need to only complete a minimum of 60 minutes in the race, the same requirement for all drivers, regardless of their rating.

***Last year’s maximum drive time of three hours and 15 minutes remains intact as well, although the Bronze driver in Bronze Cup entries must complete at least two hours of the race, and there must be a Bronze driver behind the wheel of a Pro-Am class entry for a minimum of three hours of the race, combined between drivers.

***The new Bronze driver drive time requirements are new for this year’s event.

***The 65-minute maximum stint length, extended to 70 minutes in the event of a safety car or Full Course Yellow, is unchanged, which could play a strategic role in the race, which will run to 6.5 hours regardless of distance. Last year’s race ran three laps short of reaching the 1000km mark.

***With Maro Engel (leader), Bastian Buus (fourth), Ricardo Feller (fifth) and Thomas Preining (eighth) all on DTM duty this weekend and also set to miss next month’s season-ending Indianapolis 8 Hour presented by AWS because of another clash with the German-based GT3 sprint series, it means the Intercontinental GT Challenge drivers’ championship could be mathematically guaranteed to go to Mercedes-AMG drivers this weekend.

***Stolz and Martin currently sit second and third in the standings on 51 and 50 points apiece, respectively but are sharing the No. 77 Craft-Bamboo Racing car at Suzuka. If Stolz leaves the weekend 26 points clear of his nearest competitors, Max Hesse, who is on 38 points, and fellow BMW driver Dan Harper, who has 26 points, the title will go to either Stolz or Martin in Indy.

***Mikael Grenier, who is with 75 Express this weekend, along with Absolute Racing Porsche driver Dorian Boccolacci, hold outside mathematical chances with 25 and 24 points apiece, as does Laurin Heinrich, who is currently on 21 points.

***The GT3 manufacturers’ championship is much less clear cut, with Porsche, courtesy of Lionspeed GP’s victory in the CrowdStrike 24 Hours of Spa, jumping ahead of Mercedes-AMG by eight points, with third-placed BMW still within striking distance, 25 points behind in third.

***Kerong Li, the only Independent Cup driver to have contested every race so far, holds a substantial 33-point lead over JMR’s Prince Jefri Ibrahim, although each of the FIA Bronze-rated drivers able to have a drop score. A record seven drivers are eligible for Independent Cup points this weekend.

***High Class Racing, the team Li drives for, has one of its busiest weekends ever, with the Barcelona-based squad fielding its Bronze Cup Porsche here this weekend, as well as a Porsche in the European Le Mans Series, two Ligier JS P325 Toyotas in Michelin Le Mans Cup competition, as well running a private event in Denmark. Team boss Anders Fjordbach told Sportscar365 that it’s required a staff of 50 people between the three venues.

***Nicky Catsburg, who kicked off a five-week straight trip that began with last weekend’s FIA World Endurance Championship round at Circuit of the Americas and ends with next month’s Motul Petit Le Mans at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta, told Sportscar365 that he’s optimistic about the upcoming Evo kit for the Corvette, which has already been testing in the U.S. by Pratt Miller.

***The Dutchman told Sportscar365: “These guys know what they’re doing. I feel like over the many years, they’ve always been able to build very good race cars, so I feel like this update is going to be another good one.” While not mandatory for SRO-run competitions, Sportscar365 understands that the Evo kit is priced at $190,000 USD, not including a mandatory engine rebuild that’s part of the upgrade package.

***Catsburg, meanwhile, confirmed that he will not be taking part in the Indy 8 Hour, with JMR needing a Silver-rated driver in order to race in the Pro class, per GT World Challenge America powered by AWS rules.

***The 50th edition of the Suzuka 1000km gets underway Sunday at 12:50 p.m. local time (Saturday, 11:50 p.m. EST) and will be streamed live on SRO’s GT World YouTube channel with commentary from David Addison and Joe Osborne in the booth and Grace and Hana Burton on pit lane.

Jamie Klein contributed to this report

John Dagys

John Dagys is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of Sportscar365. Dagys spent eight years as a motorsports correspondent for FOXSports.com and SPEED Channel and has contributed to numerous other motorsports publications worldwide. Contact John