Kondo Nissan Team Weighing Up Bridgestone Tire Switch

Nissan GT500 team Kondo Racing could be set for a switch from Yokohama to Bridgestone tires for the 2026 SUPER GT season.

Sources have indicated that the team owned by Japanese pop icon Masahiko Kondo is likely to end a partnership with Yokohama dating back to its inaugural GT500 season in 2006, joining fellow Nissan teams NISMO and Team Impul on Bridgestone rubber.

Kondo also used Yokohama tires for its 24 Hours of Le Mans campaigns in 2003-04, as well for both of its Nürburgring 24 appearances to date in 2019 and 2025. 

Nissan confirmed a reduction to three GT500 cars for the upcoming season along with its driver roster earlier this month, naming Atsushi Miyake as Tsugio Matsuda’s replacement alongside Teppei Natori in Kondo’s No. 24 Nissan Z NISMO. However, the announcement did not specify which tires each of its cars will use.

Kondo Racing factory manager Nobuaki Adachi told Sportscar365 in the wake of that announcement that the team was still in the process of deciding its tire supplier.

Sportscar365 understands that both Natori and Miyake will participate in next month’s Sepang test as part of the lineup of the Bridgestone-shod No. 230 NISMO test car.

Nissan looks set to run two cars at the Malaysia track on Jan. 22-23 and 25-26, with the No. 12 Impul car expected to run alongside the No. 230 car.

Kondo’s likely defection would keep Bridgestone with 12 out of 14 GT500 cars while leaving Yokohama with just one, the No. 19 Racing Project Bandoh Toyota GR Supra.

The upcoming season looks certain to mark Yokohama’s final season involved in SUPER GT’s top class, and potentially the series as a whole for the time being.

Bridgestone is widely expected to be announced as the winner of the initial three-year tender to supply GT500 starting in 2027 upon the series’ switch to one-make tires.

Dunlop, meanwhile, appears to be in pole position to supply the lower GT300 class.

As well as a change of tire manufacturer and driver, with Miyake replacing Matsuda, Kondo is also set for a change of race engineer with Toshiomi Oeki leaving the team.