Honda Locks Out First Two Rows in Suzuka Qualifying

Honda locked out the first four grid slots for this weekend’s SUPER GT round at Suzuka as GT500 rookie Yuto Nomura took his first pole for Real Racing.

Although his co-driver Koudai Tsukakoshi was only fourth-fastest in Q1, Nomura pulled out a lap of 1:45.129 at the wheel of the No. 17 Honda HRC Prelude-GT to beat his opposite number in the Nakajima Racing Honda, Riki Okusa, by 0.077 seconds.

Igor Fraga had earlier topped Q1 in the Dunlop-shod Nakajima car, freshly rebuilt after his airborne crash at the start of the previous round at Fuji Speedway.

ARTA swept the second row, with Kaku Ohta in the HRC-backed No. 8 car leading Ren Sato in the No. 16, as Honda made it back-to-back lockouts of the top three.

However, practice pacesetter Sato appeared to blow a shot at pole when he ran off track at Spoon Curve on his first attack lap in Q2.

Best of the rest behind the dominant Preludes was Bertrand Baguette in the Team Impul Nissan Z NISMO, one place ahead of the best of the Toyota GR Supra contingent, the Yokohama-equipped Racing Project Bandoh machine of Yuji Kunimoto.

Although Atsushi Miyake was second in Q1 in the Kondo Racing Nissan, his co-driver Teppei Natori didn’t set a representative time in Q2, consigning the car to 10th behind the Cerumo Toyota, NISMO Nissan and the No. 37 TOM’S Toyota.

The points-leading No.36 TOM’S Toyota narrowly missed out on a place in Q2 and will take the start of Sunday’s race in 11th.

Meanwhile, the Team Kunimitsu Honda that won last time out at Fuji qualified 14th and last, with Naoki Yamamoto and Tadasuke Makino heading into the race facing a five-second penalty stop, the result of an engine change following issues in practice.

Pacific Racing BMW Scores Surprise GT300 Pole

Top spot in GT300 qualifying went to Pacific Racing and its BMW M4 GT3 EVO, as Yusuke Tomibayashi scored his and the team’s first class pole.

In the car he shares with Yuta Fujiwara, Tomibayashi overcame D’station Racing’s Charlie Fagg by a mere 0.004 seconds in Q2 to deliver both BMW and tire supplier Michelin, which will exit the series after this year, their first pole since 2022.

Boosted by a 20 kg reduction in Balance of Performance weight for this round, D’station’s Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo looked good for pole after Tomonobu Fujii set the fastest time in Q1, but Fagg fell just shy of the team’s second pole of the year.

Also in contention for a second pole of 2026 was the works R&D Sport Subaru BRZ, but Hideki Yamauchi had to be content with third in the end, as Shunsuke Kohno completed a 2-3-4 for Dunlop-shod cars in the LM Corsa Lexus LC500.

Takashi Kobayashi was fifth-fastest in the Team UpGarage Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo ahead of Zak O’Sullivan’s CarGuy MKS Racing Ferrari 296 GT3 Evo.

The two cars tied on points at the head of the GT300 standings suffered tough qualifying sessions, as Seita Nonaka was 13th in the Saitama Green Brave Toyota GR Supra GT, while Kazuhisa Urabe was a lowly 24th in the Inging Toyota GR86 GT.

The Suzuka 300km is slated to begin Sunday at 1.30 p.m. local time (12:30 a.m. EST).

RESULTS: GT500/GT300