Sugo Japan Cup Opener Attracts 16-Car Entry

This weekend’s opening round of the new SRO Japan Cup season at Sportsland Sugo has attracted a 16-car entry, representing nine different marques.

The four-round series, entering its third season as a standalone competition from GT World Challenge Asia powered by AWS, begins with a standalone weekend, in which 13 GT3s and a trio of GT4 cars will do battle in a pair of one-hour races.

It marks a reduction of two cars compared to the 18-car field that contested last year’s Sugo opener, although the number of GT3 entries remains stable.

Ferrari remains the best-represented marque with no fewer than five examples of the 296 GT3, of which two are in Evo spec, together with a single 488 GT3 Evo, while Porsche, Lamborghini, Mercedes-AMG, Audi, McLaren, Chevrolet and Nissan are all represented among the GT3 contingent with single cars.

Norik Racing has the only 296 GT3 Evo in the Pro-Am class for Norikazu Shibata and Taku Bamba, with PONOS Racing having moved down to the Am class as Kei Cozzolino is replaced in the lineup by Yusuke Yamasaki alongside Yorikatsu Tsujiko.

Defending champion team Hitotsuyama with Cornes Racing maintains its 296 GT3 in pre-Evo spec for the same lineup that won last year’s title, Akihiro Tsuzuki and Shintaro Kawabata, while K-tunes Racing (Shinchi Takagi/Betty Chen) and Maezawa Racing (Yusaku Maezawa/Naoki Yokomizo) also field regular 296 GT3s.

CarGuy Racing will field a 488 GT3 Evo in the Am class for Takeshi Kimura and Kazuki Ota.

Bingo Racing has switched from Ferrari machinery to field a Porsche 911 GT3 R Evo for Toyota SUPER GT driver Ukyo Sasahara and Shinji Takei.

Further SUPER GT interest comes from Team Uematsu, which has Kenta Yamashita alongside Tadao Uematsu in its McLaren 720S GT3, and K-tunes Racing’s Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R, in which Sena Sakaguchi shares with Kazunori Suenaga.

Elsewhere, Max Racing continues to field a Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo (Yusaku Shibata/Yuya Motojima) while a single Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo II is entered by the Hitotsuyama-run AWD Racing squad (Jesse Swinimer/Jake Parsons).

In the Am class, Spirit of FFF Racing returns for the first time since 2023 with the same lineup that drove last year, Mineki Okura and former GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS competitor Hiroshi Hamaguchi in its Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2.

The remaining car in class is a Nissan GT-R NISMO GT3 entered by Tomei Sports under the RunUp Sports banner for Atsushi Tanaka and Masaaki Nishikawa.

Notably, SUPER GT outfits Seven x Seven Racing and Team UpGarage, which both won races in 2025, have elected not to return this season.

In the GT4 Pro-Am class, Akiland Racing’s Toyota GR Supra GT4 Evo2, which features SUPER GT driver Yuji Kunimoto in its lineup, will do battle with Zenko RS Racing with Sunrise Blvd’s Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 RS Clubsport.

A sole GT4 Am entry comes from Hong Kong-flagged entrant Pop Race, which fields a Mercedes-AMG GT4.

The TOM’S-run Toyota Gazoo Racing Indonesia squad that won last year’s GT4 division is not returning for 2026.

The first race begins at 10:30 a.m. local time on Sunday (Saturday 9:30 p.m. EST), with the second race following later that day at 3:15 p.m (2:15 a.m. EST).