Team Impul rescued Nissan’s 2026 SUPER GT GT500 campaign at Motegi, where Bertrand Baguette and Kazuki Hiramine converted a sixth-place start into victory in the penultimate race of the season. The result ended Nissan’s run without a win, halted Honda’s four-race winning streak and revived Team Impul’s own championship hopes before the finale.

The No. 12 Nissan Z NISMO GT500 crossed the finish line approximately 20 seconds clear of the field after Hiramine produced the decisive second stint. The victory was especially significant for the pairing because it was their first since the Suzuka round of their title-winning 2022 season, when they also secured Team Impul’s GT500 championship.

Hiramine turns a difficult strategy into a dominant finish

Team Impul did not begin the 53-lap race as the leading Nissan entry. Nakajima Racing’s Honda started from pole and controlled the opening phase, with Igor Fraga extending the advantage after an early safety-car period. The Honda was also chasing Dunlop’s first GT500 victory since 2017, adding another layer to what initially appeared to be a race controlled by Nakajima and its tires.

Baguette made his pit stop on lap 21, one lap before the leading Honda and the Rookie Racing Toyota GR Supra. That timing allowed him to climb from sixth on the grid to third during his stint. Nakajima Racing’s Fraga handed the Honda over to Riki Okusa on lap 22, while Nirei Fukuzumi’s Toyota passed to Kazuya Oshima.

Hiramine then inherited a car in position to attack. The SARD Toyota of Sacha Fenestraz had gained track position by stopping without changing tires, but Hiramine passed it on lap 29. Six laps later, he moved ahead of Oshima’s Toyota and began closing on Okusa.

The Honda had built a five-second lead, but its advantage disappeared rapidly as the Dunlop tires faded. Hiramine completed the winning move at Turn 1 on lap 39, passing Okusa and immediately establishing control. The Nissan driver was able to pull away from the recovering Honda rather than merely defend the lead, turning a strategic opportunity into a comfortable victory.

Honda remains central to the championship fight

Although Nakajima Racing missed out on victory, Okusa and Fraga still secured third place and scored the car’s first race points of the season. The result followed a difficult opening phase for the No. 8 ARTA Honda, which had run last early in the race before adopting an aggressive pit strategy.

ARTA delayed its stop until lap 35 and changed only the front-left tire when Hiroki Otsu handed the car to Kaku Ohta. Ohta emerged in fourth, then passed Oshima and Okusa to run second. As the stint progressed, however, the Honda’s performance declined, allowing Oshima to reclaim second for the Rookie Racing Toyota.

That result gave Fukuzumi and Oshima their first podium since the second round at Fuji. Ohta held fourth for ARTA, while Fenestraz and Yuhi Sekiguchi brought the SARD Toyota home fifth after defending successfully against the title-contending Team Kunimitsu Honda of Tadasuke Makino and Naoki Yamamoto.

The championship picture changed substantially. Makino and Yamamoto moved into the lead by two points after Sho Tsuboi and Kenta Yamashita finished 11th in the No. 36 TOM’S Toyota and failed to score. Real Racing Honda’s Koudai Tsukakoshi and Yuto Nomura recovered from last to seventh and remained in contention, although they trailed the leaders by 14 points.

Rookie Racing and Team Impul were still mathematically alive, 17 points behind heading into the decider. Both would need to win the finale to have a realistic chance of taking the title, making Team Impul’s Motegi victory valuable beyond Nissan’s long-awaited return to the top step.

K-tunes Lexus strengthens GT300 title challenge

K-tunes Racing delivered the other major story of the weekend in GT300. Morio Nitta and Shinichi Takagi converted a front-row start into their second consecutive victory with the Lexus RC F GT3, moving themselves firmly into the championship battle.

The race was disrupted immediately when Tsubasa Kondo, substituting for the banned Tomonobu Fujii in the D’station Racing Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo, appeared to brake too late for Turn 3 and collided with Miki Koyama’s apr Lexus LC500h. Kiyoshi Umegaki’s CarGuy MKS Racing Ferrari 296 GT3 Evo was also caught in the incident, damaging his outside title prospects.

Polesitter Kazuki Oki initially controlled the restart in the Gainer Nissan Z, but a drive-through penalty for a safety-car restart procedure ended the team’s hopes of a first victory. Seven x Seven Racing’s Porsche 911 GT3 R Evo emerged as K-tunes’ principal rival after Taichi Watarai made a rapid start from 14th and efficient pit work placed Sven Mueller in the effective lead.

Mueller could not hold off Takagi’s Lexus in the closing stages. The 56-year-old driver secured his 23rd GT300 win, while the result marked the 24th class victory for Nitta, who is retiring after the weekend. K-tunes won by almost 12 seconds over the Anest Iwata Racing Gainer Z, with Mueller third in the Porsche.

The No. 88 JLOC Lamborghini Huracan EVO2 finished fourth with Daniil Kvyat, its best result of the season, while the PONOS Racing Ferrari completed the top five. Oki and Ryuichiro Tomita recovered to seventh after their penalty.

GT300 finale remains wide open

Kondo Racing’s Nissan GT-R NISMO GT3 endured a difficult race. Joao Paulo de Oliveira and Iori Kimura finished 15th after a drive-through for pit-lane speeding and an additional five-second penalty for contact, scoring only one point. They nevertheless retained an eight-point championship advantage over Nitta and Takagi.

Mueller remained third in the standings, 16 points behind the leaders, with 26 points available in the finale. K-tunes’ back-to-back victories have therefore transformed the GT300 title fight, while Nitta’s impending retirement adds a personal dimension to the Lexus team’s late-season charge.

Motegi ultimately produced two different but connected outcomes: Nissan finally returned to GT500 victory through a disciplined Team Impul drive, while K-tunes turned consistency and late-race pace into a serious GT300 championship challenge. Both classes now head into the finale with the title still dependent on strategy, tire management and execution under pressure.

Sources: Sportscar365; Team Impul official racing history; Speedsport Magazine.