Round 3 Qualifying

Round 3 was held as a replacement for the Malaysia round originally scheduled for June, with special regulations applying half success weight, calculated at 1 kg per championship point, rather than the usual weight allocation.

The qualifying format was also different from usual, with one driver from each car setting a flying lap during a 15-minute session to determine the starting grid. The #64 Modulo HRC PRELUDE-GT (Riki Okusa) set the fastest time to secure its third consecutive pole position. The #16 ARTA MUGEN (Tomoki Nojiri) qualified P2, giving the Honda HRC PRELUDE-GT a front-row lockout for the fifth consecutive race.

Meanwhile, the #17 Astemo HRC PRELUDE-GT (Yuto Nomura), which had claimed its first victory of the season at Round 6 at SUGO but failed to score points at the previous round at Autopolis, entered the event P3 in the championship standings. Nomura set the fastest overall times in Sectors 1 and 2 and improved his personal best in Sector 3, putting him in contention for pole position. However, he went off the track in the closing stages of his lap and will start the race from P14.

The #100 STANLEY (Tadasuke Makino), sitting P2 in the championship just three points behind the leader and aiming to overturn the deficit to claim the title, will start the race from P8, one place behind the championship-leading #36 Toyota.

GT500 Qualifying Result