2026 Super GT GT500 driver lineups explained
- Tarun Suresh
- 7 minutes ago
- 3 min read
Written by Tarun Suresh
With Honda’s announcement of its GT500 driver roster for the 2026 Super GT season, the top class has finalised all entries. Here is a breakdown of all the driver lineups in the GT500 class.
Nissan
Nissan, as expected, downsized their Super GT efforts to just three cars due to financial issues, and the No.3 NISMO was the one put on the chopping block. Daiki Sasaki has been dropped from the Nissan lineup, ending a 13-year partnership between the 3-time race winner and Nissan.
Atsushi Miyake moves over from the No.3 to the No.24 Kondo Racing garage to partner Teppei Natori, taking over from the retiring Tsugio Matsuda. Matsuda moves over to the only remaining NISMO, the No.23, in a management role, taking over as Team Director.
The remaining Nissans continue with the same driver lineup; the No.23 sticking with Katsumasa Chiyo and Mitsunori Takaboshi, and the No.12 Team Impul with Kazuki Hiramine and Bertrand Baguette.
Toyota
Toyota has chosen to maintain almost all of their driver lineups, changing only one. Toyota prodigy Rikuto Kobayashi (not related to endurance racing legend Kamui Kobayashi) has been promoted to GT500 and will be driving for the No.38 KeePer Cerumo, taking over Hiroaki Ishiura, who retired at the end of the 2025 season. He will partner with Toshiki Oyu, the two-time race winner, continuing with the team for the third consecutive season.
The only other change in the Toyota teams is that the reigning champions, the Team au TOM’S, will revert back to their No.36 racing number, ditching the No.1 moniker. Both the Team TOM’S cars, the No.36 and the No.37, will stick with their current driver lineups; the former being piloted by Sho Tsuboi and Kenta Yamashita, who will be chasing their fifth and fourth Drivers’ Championships respectively, the latter will be driven by the resurgent duo of Giuliano Alesi and Ukyo Sasahara.
The No.14 ENEOS ROOKIE car will be driven by Nirei Fukuzumi and Kazuya Oshima. The No.19 Racing Project Bandoh garage will continue with Yuji Kunimoto and Sena Sakaguchi. The last of the Toyotas, the No.39 Team SARD, will also stick with their current lineup of Yuhi Sekiguchi and Sacha Fenestraz.
Honda
Earlier this year, Honda announced that they would be retiring the Civic from GT500 after two disappointing seasons. It will be replaced by the new Prelude GT. Along with the change in machinery, Honda have also had major driver reshuffles, changing the lineups for four of the five Honda-powered teams.
The two ARTA Mugens, the No.8 and the No.16, have swapped one of their drivers, with Tomoki Nojiri moving from the No.8 to the No.16, and Hiroki Otsu doing the opposite.
The most anticipated of all driver changes this year has been Kakunoshin Ohta’s return to Super GT after taking a year-long hiatus to focus on the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship. He will be driving for the No.8 ARTA Mugen, partnering Otsu.
Ohta is replacing Nobuharu Matsushita, leaving the latter without a seat for the 2026 season. Ren Sato will remain with the No.16 ARTA Mugen crew.
Igor Omura Fraga has gotten the call-up to GT500, replacing Takuya Izawa in the No.64 Nakajima Racing car. The Brazilian continues his relationship with Nakajima Racing, driving for them in Super Formula as well.
The last of the GT300 graduates is Yuto Nomura. The reigning Super Formula Lights champion will be replacing Syun Koide in the No.17 Real Racing Honda. Koudai Tsukakoshi stays with the team.
The only Honda lineup to remain unchanged is the 2025 runner-up duo of Tadasuke Makino and Naoki Yamamoto for the No.10 Team Kunimitsu Honda. The longstanding HRC factory-backed duo will be eyeing their second championship together.
Tyres
2026 will be the final year with multiple tyre manufacturers in each class. With Bridgestone's dominance in the tyre war expected to continue, there have been no changes in tyre manufacturers for each team.
Nissan are yet to announce their tyre manufacturers but are expected to stick with Bridgestones for the No.23 and No.12 and Yokohamas for the Kondo Racing machine.
The No.64 Nakajima crew will be sticking with Dunlop tyres, and the rest of the Hondas will remain with Bridgestones.
Similarly, the No.19 Bandoh Supra will continue their partnership with Yokohama and the rest of the Toyotas will remain with Bridgestone.
