+ Additional Ferrari and Nissan now confirmed
+ Porsche, Mercedes-AMG and Li top IGTC standings ahead of penultimate round
+ 2026 Suzuka 1000km entry list
Intercontinental GT Challenge 2026 continues at the Suzuka 1000km next weekend (September 11-13) where 30 GT3 cars will tackle the 50th edition of Japan’s Summer Endurance Race.
The entry list has grown by two since its provisional iteration was announced last month following the addition of Harmony Racing’s Ferrari and Team Daishin’s Nissan. Both are contesting the 14-strong Bronze class, which features several combinations with the potential to fight for an overall podium.
Attention will, however, focus on the nine Pro combinations that start as the most likely victory contenders. Together they comprise seven of the event’s eight manufacturers, as well as five of the marques – Chevrolet, Ferrari, Ford, Mercedes-AMG and Porsche – eligible to score IGTC points. Of the globe-trotting GT3 series’ full-season participants, only last year’s Suzuka winners, BMW, are absent from the top class.
There are no changes to Intercontinental’s record Independent Cup entry, which continues to number seven drivers, but there has been one further update at Maezawa Racing where Ferrari factory ace Alessio Rovera replaces his counterpart, Thomas Neubauer.
First staged in 1966, the 1000km’s long history makes it Asia’s most significant GT race. The previous 49 editions have been run to various lengths and durations, and counted towards national as well as international championships spanning several rulesets. SRO Motorsports Group’s involvement began with the BPR Global GT Series in 1994-96 and continued through its successor, the FIA GT Championship, over the following two years. IGTC first visited in 2018 and ’19 before returning last season.
The current Summer Endurance Race format spans 6.5 hours and ends in darkness but has previously run to 500km, 700km and 10-hour durations.
The event’s regional significance is underlined by Asian teams overseeing 22 of the 30 entries, while Japanese outfits that ordinarily contest Super GT and SRO’s Japan Cup account for 13 cars. That number is set to rise next season when the 1000km becomes a points-paying Super GT300 round.
SRO’s GT World YouTube channel will have live, free and unrestricted coverage – available with English and Japanese commentary – from Saturday’s pre-qualifying session. Qualifying-proper takes place that afternoon before the race begins at 12:50 JST (GMT +9) on Sunday. J Sports also has live coverage across Japan.
WIDE OPEN PRO CLASS BIG ON VARIETY
Fans of multi-manufacturer racing are spoilt for choice at Suzuka where Chevrolet, Ferrari, Ford, Lexus, Mercedes-AMG, Nissan and Porsche all have realistic victory contenders amongst their ranks.
Two – Nissan and Lexus – are invisible in IGTC’s classification, but that does not restrict their Japanese teams’ chances of shocking the international factory contingent on home turf. 5ZIGEN – pronounced ‘Go-Jeegun – has three Super GT500 drivers at its disposal, while K-tunes’ line-up is similarly stacked. The front engined GT-R and RC F are immensely popular thanks in part to their scarcity outside of Japan where both remain competitive despite their age.
Ponos, too, cannot be discounted. Its Pro Ferrari features three Japanese drivers, one of whom – Tadasuke Makino – is a former GT500 champion. Add to that the team’s experience of Pirelli rubber – something it shares in common with 5ZIGEN and K-tunes – and its case for fighting at the sharp end increases further.
A home win would undoubtedly prove immensely popular amongst Suzuka’s partisan crowd. But the chance to see international teams and drivers – as well as a dinosaur! – racing in Japan is also a big deal, and on that front there are plenty to choose from.
Porsche heads to Suzuka leading Mercedes-AMG by eight points in IGTC’s manufacturers’ standings. Both have two Pro entries at their disposal.
Picking one 911 over the other is impossible given both are overseen by Absolute – which finished second last year – and feature all-factory line-ups. Their livery game is also strong once again: ‘Bushi Rex’, the latest addition to AO’s universe, will be a firm fan favourite, while the multi-coloured Bosch design could become a modern classic.
Craft-Bamboo, which leads the line for Mercedes-AMG, has taken inspiration from Tokyo’s taxi heritage for its Pro entry, which pairs Super Formula’s runaway championship leader Kakunoshin Ohta with Maxime Martin and Luca Stolz. That decision might have a significant impact on the drivers’ standings given Maro Engel – who leads Stolz by 17 – is absent through DTM commitments. Martin, meanwhile, is a point further back and therefore unable to lead heading into the Indianapolis 8 Hour’s finale regardless of results at Suzuka.
Reigning Independent Cup champion Kenny Habul plus Philip Ellis and Mikaël Grenier share Mercedes-AMG’s other overall contender, run by 75 Express. Grenier, a winner with Engel and Martin at Bathurst earlier this year, is not entirely out of IGTC title contention but must finish no lower than second to retain a chance.
Chevrolet, meanwhile, will be eager to build on last year’s third place finish at Suzuka. Sensibly, its JMR squad has retained the same line up of Nicky Catsburg, Alexander Sims and IndyCar star Scott McLaughlin.
But GM’s isn’t the only muscular American V8 on the grid this year. Ford’s Mustang debuts at Suzuka with a programme comprising three factory drivers – including the 2019 1000km winner Frederic Vervisch – and a new partnership between Audi’s long-time Australian representative MPC and Miedecke Motorsport.
BMW EYEING CLASS HONOURS
WRT’s factory BMW enjoyed a dominant victory last season. A repeat appears highly unlikely, however, given its four entries are split between Bronze and Pro-Am. Three have a degree of works support courtesy of its best placed IGTC drivers Max Hesse and Dan Harper, as well as Augusto Farfus – who secured pole at the event in 2018 – but will, realistically, be a better bet for class instead of outright honours.
Indeed, WRT and KRC both appear very much in the Bronze mix. The latter’s Ruan Cun Fan and Maxime Oosten are former GT World Challenge Asia co-drivers and scored a Suzuka class podium together last season, while Anthony McIntosh, Parker Thompson and Harper share one of WRT’s FIA WEC entries.
Craft-Bamboo were Pro-Am winners last year and have retained the services of Kevin Tse in their efforts to go back-to-back, which are further bolstered by JP De Oliveira. They’ll face significant opposition from the other five class entries, which include LM Corsa’s Ferrari that again features Giancarlo Fisichella behind the wheel, as well as two IGTC Independent Cup entrants: Prince Jefri Ibrahim (JMR) and Johannes Zelger (Tsunami RT).
Bronze, meanwhile, is impossible to predict given the number of quality line-ups aside from WRT and KRC.
The large local contingent includes some particularly capable trios, such as the Japan Cup combinations at Maezawa Racing and Bingo, plus Porsche Center Okazaki and Plus with BMW M Team Studie’s GT World Asia regulars. But for star power there’s no beating Team Daishin and its Nissan legend Tsugio Matsuda who won this event outright back in 2008 when it was the jewel in Super GT’s crown. Co-drivers Ryuichiro Ohyagi and Kiyoto Fujinami make this late addition a serious class contender.
Elsewhere, the pace of Harmony’s Ferrari last year suggests its late entry will be one to watch, and not least given its driver combination is already familiar with the team. Song Jiajun and Brendan Leitch share the same car in GT World Asia where Liu Kaishun won a race in the team’s sister machine earlier this year.
Bronze also features five of IGTC’s Independent Cup entrants, including runaway championship leader Li Kerong who remains in the familiar company of High Class Racing and Anders Fjordbach. Two victories and a second place from the first three events leaves the Chinese driver 33 points ahead of Spa winner Ibrahim who must win and rely on the Porsche finishing third at best to retain any hope of overturning his deficit.
The same goes for Zelger who starts 45 adrift, while Habul must win the remaining two events and hope Li doesn’t score if he’s to retain the title on countback. Jonathan Hui (Ziggo Sport Tempesta Racing), Ralf Bohn (Herberth Motorsport) and Adrian D’Silva (EBM Giga Racing) complete the record seven-strong Independent Cup roster at Suzuka.
SUZUKA 1000KM TIMETABLE
Friday 11 September
09:10 – 10:10: Test 1
12:10 – 13:10: Test 2
17:50 – 19:20: Night Practice
Saturday 12 September
10:40 – 12:10: Pre-Qualifying – LIVE
17:40 – 17:55: Qualifying 1 – LIVE
18:02 – 18:17: Qualifying 2 – LIVE
18:25 – 18:40: Qualifying 3 – LIVE
Sunday 13 September
12:50 – 19:20: Suzuka 1000km – LIVE