Michelin: Dominant GT300 Win for Pacific BMW “Not Magic”

Michelin has expressed its delight at being able to score at least one win in the final year of SUPER GT’s tire competition era before it exits the series at the end of the year, following Pacific Racing’s dominant triumph from pole on Sunday at Suzuka.

Starting from pole, Yusuke Tomibayashi and Yuta Fujiwara enjoyed a straightforward run to victory aboard the No. 9 BMW M4 GT3 EVO, scoring not only the team’s maiden triumph but also a first for BMW since Team Studie’s 2023 win at the same track.

The result has extra significance for Michelin, which will exit SUPER GT at the end of the year having lost out on next year’s sole supply bid for the GT300 class to Dunlop, and means all four brands active in the lower class have won races so far this season.

Michelin Japan motorsports director Hiroaki Odashima however says the win did not come as a surprise given the brand’s strong past form in hot conditions at Suzuka.

Odashima told Sportscar365: “It was the first time for both the team and the drivers to score pole and the win, and we are very happy that we could support their success.

“We expected this to be a tough race for tires given the hot temperatures and the track layout, so we prepared Hard compound tires and they worked well. We had experience with Team Studie, and we were able to pass this on to the team.

“It’s not magic; it’s the result of logical preparations. We were confident that we could show the potential of our tires and performance against our rivals.”

Michelin gained Pacific Racing as a new customer team this year after a bruising 2025 campaign in which it supplied two teams running the GTA-GT300-rules Toyota GR86 GT, apr and Shade Racing, but scoring only one points finish all year.

However, Odashima said the French firm was confident of making a comeback not only with the Pacific BMW, but also with Shade switching over to the tried-and-trusted Lexus RC F GT3 after suffering numerous failures with the GR86.

“Our activities in GT300 are not the same as they were in GT500,” said Odashima. “The working procedures are not the same, and the frequency of updates is slower.

“However, from last year, we analyzed our weak points and we made improvements, which worked as we expected. It shows our development method is right.

“Also, this year we are supplying FIA GT3 cars, and even if there is Balance of Performance, the design philosophy is quite different from the ‘JAF’ (GTA-GT300) cars that we supplied last year. We tried to adapt to this, but it was not enough.

“On the other hand, we have a lot of experience of GT3 cars, so they are no mystery for us. We have references from IMSA, not only for the BMW but also the Lexus.”

Pacific Racing has been active in SUPER GT since 2010, and has since entered into various alliances with other teams, including D’station Racing (2020) and CarGuy Racing (2021-22), but had not scored a podium finish since the opening round of 2017.

It has operated independently since 2023, using a Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo from that year until making the unexpected switch to BMW for 2026, and despite promising pre-season test results the team had failed to score points until its breakthrough win.

Tomibayashi told reporters post-race that he hoped Pacific’s success at Suzuka would help to change perceptions of one of SUPER GT’s underdog teams.

“I had a lot of confidence about the switch to BMW and Michelin, and yet things didn’t go well,” he said. “To achieve that breakthrough of going from ‘zero’ to ‘one’, when neither driver nor the team itself has ever won before, is very difficult.

“On the other hand, once you win, more luck starts to come your way and you can develop a winning ‘habit’. Up to now, I think we have been regarded a team that is usually only just battling to score points, but I think now we have this win, we will have more possibilities to fight higher up the order more regularly.

“We are not thinking about the championship fight at all; we just want to score regular points and fight consistently in the second half of the year.”