Honda Reveals GT500 Roster, ARTA Gains Works Status

Honda has revealed its GT500 lineups for the 2026 SUPER GT campaign as it bids for a first top class title since 2020 with the all-new HRC Prelude-GT.

The Sakura-based manufacturer will field five examples of the new machine, which was revealed in September as the successor to the Civic Type R-GT, with the same lineup of four teams as this year: Team Kunimitsu, ARTA, Real Racing and Nakajima Racing.

Only Team Kunimitsu’s No. 100 car, which retains 2020 title winners Naoki Yamamoto and Tadasuke Makino, has an unchanged lineup of the five Honda cars.

Kaku Ohta, who returns to SUPER GT after a year away in tandem with a slimmed-down program in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, will join the two-car ARTA stable operated by Team Mugen, as previously reported by Sportscar365.

He will partner Hiroki Otsu in the team’s No. 8 car, which has been designated as a factory-supported entry under the ‘Team HRC ARTA Mugen’ banner and will run under the auspices of engineers from both HRC and Mugen.

Tomoki Nojiri moves across to the No. 16 ARTA machine in an effective swap with Otsu to partner Ren Sato.

Real Racing also sees a refreshed lineup as Yuto Nomura steps up after a season in the GT300 ranks with Team UpGarage to join veteran Koudai Tsukakoshi in the No. 17 car.

Finally, Nakajima Racing has elected to promote Igor Fraga, who already races for the team in Super Formula, to the seat vacated by Takuya Izawa alongside Riki Okusa.

It means Nobuharu Matsushita, who drove ARTA’s No. 8 car this year alongside Nojiri, has been dropped, while Shun Koide, Tsukakoshi’s teammate this year at Real, is expected to be kept as a reserve driver across the five-car Honda stable.

In SUPER GT’s final year of open tire competition, Nakajima’s No. 64 car will use Dunlop tires while the remaining four cars will use Bridgestones.

Akihiro Hasegawa was named technical director for Honda’s GT500 operation, a newly-created position, and will work alongside GT500 project leader Masahiro Saiki.

Honda’s announcement means the full GT500 grid for 2026 is now known, as Toyota revealed its lineups last Friday and Nissan did likewise earlier in the month.

With Honda sticking to five cars, it confirms that the top class grid for next season will be made up of only 14 cars, the lowest number since 2010.