#16 ARTA MUGEN claims first win of the season as HRC PRELUDE-GT sweeps the podium
Suzuka CircuitOn Sunday 23 August 2026, the SUPER GT Round 5 race was held at Suzuka Circuit in Mie Prefecture.
Round 5 Race
After locking out the top four positions on the grid, the HRC PRELUDE-GT runners battled for the lead, with #16 ARTA MUGEN (Tomoki Nojiri/Ren Sato) ultimately claiming its first victory of the season. #17 Astemo HRC PRELUDE-GT (Koudai Tsukakoshi/Yuto Nomura) finished P2, while #8 HRC ARTA MUGEN (Kakunoshin Ohta/Hiroki Otsu) took P3 to complete an HRC PRELUDE-GT podium sweep.
The race started at 1:37 p.m. in scorching 34°C conditions. Pole-sitter #17 Astemo (Nomura) immediately began pulling away, while #64 Modulo (Riki Okusa), starting P2, struggled to bring his tyres up to temperature and was passed by #8 ARTA MUGEN (Otsu) and #16 ARTA MUGEN (Nojiri) before exiting the Esses.
Running P3, #16 ARTA MUGEN (Nojiri) showed strong pace. On Lap 3, he passed #8 ARTA MUGEN (Otsu) at the chicane to take P2, then began closing the 3.5-second gap to leader #17 Astemo (Nomura). On Lap 8, Nojiri attacked again at the chicane, but GT500 rookie Nomura held on to the lead.
As Lap 17 began, a GT300 entry went off track and a Full Course Yellow (FCY) was declared. When it was withdrawn later that lap, #64 Modulo (Okusa) overtook #8 ARTA MUGEN (Otsu). Immediately afterwards, leader #17 Astemo (Nomura) and #8 ARTA MUGEN (Otsu) pitted after completing the mandatory minimum 18 laps, leaving #16 ARTA MUGEN (Nojiri) in the provisional lead. #64 Modulo (Okusa) pitted on Lap 19 and handed over to Igor Omura Fraga, but dropped significantly down the order as its race pace fell away.
#16 ARTA MUGEN (Nojiri) pitted on Lap 22 and handed over to Sato. Although Sato rejoined ahead of #17 Astemo (Tsukakoshi), Tsukakoshi’s tyres were already up to temperature and he regained the position, setting up an intense battle between the pair.
The decisive moment came on Lap 37. While overtaking a lapped GT300 entry, #17 Astemo (Tsukakoshi) went to the outside and #16 ARTA MUGEN (Sato) attacked on the inside. Sato passed both cars in one move to take the lead. Together with #8 ARTA MUGEN (Ohta) in P3, the HRC PRELUDE-GT runners established a 1-2-3 formation heading into the closing stages.
With five laps remaining, another car went off track, prompting an FCY followed by the deployment of the Safety Car (SC). The 52-lap race finished under the SC, with #16 ARTA MUGEN taking the chequered flag ahead of #17 Astemo and #8 ARTA MUGEN.
The result gave HRC PRELUDE-GT its second consecutive victory and a clean sweep of the podium.
It was Sato’s first SUPER GT victory, while Nojiri recorded his 12th career win, the most among active drivers. #16 ARTA MUGEN increased its championship tally to 33 points and moved into P2 in the standings behind the championship-leading #36 Toyota.
Round 6 is scheduled for 19–20 September at Sportsland SUGO in Miyagi Prefecture.
It’s great to win again after two years. I felt we had the potential to win, and getting a victory in the middle part of the season is a bit of a relief. But in terms of the championship, the real battle starts from here.
I think this win will help us build even stronger teamwork, so we want to come together as a team and take the fight to our rivals.
The HRC PRELUDE-GT has matured through all the hard work put in by everyone involved with the car. The rate of development has also improved significantly, so I believe we can expect even more from it going forward.
It’s great to win again after two years. I felt we had the potential to win, and getting a victory in the middle part of the season is a bit of a relief. But in terms of the championship, the real battle starts from here.
I think this win will help us build even stronger teamwork, so we want to come together as a team and take the fight to our rivals.
The HRC PRELUDE-GT has matured through all the hard work put in by everyone involved with the car. The rate of development has also improved significantly, so I believe we can expect even more from it going forward.
People say that once you get your first win, it changes how you feel, and I’ve finally managed to achieve it. After taking the lead, the Safety Car came out with five laps remaining, so I was nervous about when the race would restart. I was also worried that we might have a problem before the finish, so I felt relieved when we finally crossed the line.
At the next round at SUGO, we will be carrying a significant amount of success weight (SW), but we will go there P2 in the standings, so I want to have a race where we can close the gap to the championship leader as much as possible.
The HRC PRELUDE-GT has improved significantly since the previous round at Fuji, thanks to HRC continuing to refine areas such as the set-up concept.
People say that once you get your first win, it changes how you feel, and I’ve finally managed to achieve it. After taking the lead, the Safety Car came out with five laps remaining, so I was nervous about when the race would restart. I was also worried that we might have a problem before the finish, so I felt relieved when we finally crossed the line.
At the next round at SUGO, we will be carrying a significant amount of success weight (SW), but we will go there P2 in the standings, so I want to have a race where we can close the gap to the championship leader as much as possible.
The HRC PRELUDE-GT has improved significantly since the previous round at Fuji, thanks to HRC continuing to refine areas such as the set-up concept.
The #17 and #16 pulled steadily away from the rest of the field while fighting intensely for the lead. In the second half of the race, Sato seized a brief opportunity to move into the lead and went on to secure #16’s first win of the season, the HRC PRELUDE-GT’s second victory, and his own first SUPER GT win. I am very pleased that we achieved an HRC PRELUDE-GT 1-2-3 finish at Suzuka, which exceeded our expectations.
In SUPER GT, it is important to be competitive when carrying the same success weight (SW) as our rivals. HRC will continue working to improve our competitiveness while also strengthening our collaboration with the race teams and drivers. We will fight the remaining races together as one team as we aim for the championship. Thank you for your continued support.
The #17 and #16 pulled steadily away from the rest of the field while fighting intensely for the lead. In the second half of the race, Sato seized a brief opportunity to move into the lead and went on to secure #16’s first win of the season, the HRC PRELUDE-GT’s second victory, and his own first SUPER GT win. I am very pleased that we achieved an HRC PRELUDE-GT 1-2-3 finish at Suzuka, which exceeded our expectations.
In SUPER GT, it is important to be competitive when carrying the same success weight (SW) as our rivals. HRC will continue working to improve our competitiveness while also strengthening our collaboration with the race teams and drivers. We will fight the remaining races together as one team as we aim for the championship. Thank you for your continued support.
GT500 Race Result
Pos. | No. | Team | Driver | Time/Gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 16 | ARTA MUGEN | Tomoki Nojiri / Ren Sato | 1h47'00.000 |
2 | 17 | Astemo REAL RACING | Koudai Tsukakoshi / Yuto Nomura | +2.220 |
3 | 8 | Team HRC ARTA MUGEN | Kakunoshin Ohta / Hiroki Otsu | +3.011 |
4 | 23 | NISMO | Katsumasa Chiyo / Mitsunori Takaboshi | +3.500 |
5 | 38 | TGR TEAM KeePer CERUMO | Toshiki Oyu / Rikuto Kobayashi | +3.850 |
6 | 12 | TEAM IMPUL | Kazuki Hiramine / Bertrand Baguette | +5.326 |
11 | 100 | STANLEY TEAM KUNIMITSU | Naoki Yamamoto / Tadasuke Makino | +13.005 |
12 | 64 | Modulo Nakajima Racing | Riki Okusa / Igor Omura Fraga | +50.341 |
