Ferrari, Porsche GT300 Teams Set for Evo Upgrades

The respective Evo versions of the Ferrari 296 GT3 and Porsche 911 GT3 R are planned for introduction in SUPER GT next year, but the Japanese debut for the Lamborghini Temerario GT3 looks set to be delayed beyond the start of the 2026 season.

This season, three teams ran the 296 GT3 in what was Ferrari’s second season in the GT300 class since its return to the Japanese championship — Velorex (Team LeMans), PONOS Racing and newcomer CarGuy MKS Racing — after a year away.

Representatives from all three teams confirmed plans to Sportscar365 to run their cars in Evo spec next season when polled at last month’s Motegi season finale.

Likewise, sole Porsche squad Seven x Seven Racing team director/driver Kiyoto Fujinami revealed that the team will run the 911 GT3 R Evo next season.

Both CarGuy MKS and Seven x Seven will go into 2026 with revised driver lineups, with Rikuto Kobayashi poised for a step up to the GT500 ranks with Toyota outfit Cerumo and Harry King departing for the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship.

On the other hand, long-time Lamborghini outfit JLOC appears set to go into the new season without the new Temerario GT3 despite Isao Noritake stating that acquiring one unit of the soon-to-debut machine was an option for the team in 2026.

It comes amid suggestions that Lamborghini has scaled down on initial plans to deliver ten units of the Temerario to customer teams for the start of next season.

During the Motegi season finale, Noritake suggested speaking to Sportscar365 that going into the new season with the existing Huracan GT3 EVO2 was the more likely solution for JLOC, even if he insisted that a final decision had not been made.

“We plan to take delivery of one car next year, but we are not sure if we will actually run it in SUPER GT,” Noritake said. “It’s possible we may just test with it.”

While JLOC looks set to start the season with its pair of Huracans, a mid-season debut for the Temerario still can’t be ruled out, a move that would mirror the team’s decision to upgrade one of its Huracans to EVO2 spec in the middle of the 2023 season.

Factory support for the Huracan is expected to end after 2026, meaning that JLOC would likely aim to make a full switch to the new machine in 2027.

New Toyota GT3 Set for Mid-Season GT300 Debut 

Elsewhere in the GT300 class, credible paddock rumors suggest that the upcoming Toyota/Lexus GT3 car could make a mid-season debut in SUPER GT next year.

This would likely be with Rookie Racing, which also runs a GR Supra in the GT500 class, as the Akio Toyoda-owned team is understood to have purchased the GT300 grid slot formerly belonging to the Servus Japan organization.

Servus currently runs Team UpGarage’s Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo while providing engineering support to other teams, including Honda GT500 squad Team Kunimitsu.

Its grid slot had been loaned out to Team Studie, the BMW team that withdrew from SUPER GT at the end of last season, meaning the door to Studie returning to the grid now looks to be closed unless it was to purchase an entry from another team.

With the new Toyota/Lexus GT3 car not expected to make its global race debut until some time in the middle of next year, Rookie is likely to begin its maiden GT300 assault with a Mercedes-AMG before switching models during the season.

The team previously campaigned a Mercedes-AMG in Super Taikyu in 2023-24, winning the ST-X class title in both seasons.

At least one example of the Lexus RC F GT3 is set to continue on the grid next season with K-tunes Racing, although Anest Iwata Racing’s plans remain unclear.

Anest Iwata, which was supported by Gainer this year, is scheduled to move to its own premises this winter, and is also set for a refreshed driver lineup as Igor Fraga is expected to replace the retiring Takuya Izawa at Nakajima Racing in GT500.