Miedecke Motorsport by Team MPC will lead the 30-car field away for the 50th running of the Suzuka 1000km after a series of penalties transformed the order established during Saturday evening’s three-part Qualifying session.
Christopher Mies, Frédéric Vervisch and Dennis Olsen initially produced the second-fastest average aboard the #64 Ford Mustang GT3 EVO. However, the #77 Craft-Bamboo Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo that topped Qualifying subsequently lost all of its lap times after post-session scrutineering found the car underweight, promoting the Ford to pole.
PONOS Racing’s #45 Ferrari 296 GT3 Evo will join the Mustang on the front row, while the #7 Absolute Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R Evo and the Bronze-class #89 Team KRC BMW M4 GT3 EVO form the second row. Further penalties have moved Team 5ZIGEN’s Nissan into fifth, while the #77 Craft-Bamboo Mercedes-AMG will start only 28th.
Miedecke Motorsport inherits landmark Suzuka 1000km pole
The #64 Miedecke Motorsport by Team MPC Ford had already put itself in position to benefit from any problem for the cars ahead. Mies, Olsen and Vervisch combined for a 1:59.277 average, initially placing them second behind Craft-Bamboo.
The #77 Mercedes-AMG of Kakunoshin Ohta, Maxime Martin and Luca Stolz had comfortably led the three-session averages with a 1:58.696, almost six tenths clear of the Ford. Ohta also produced the quickest individual lap of Qualifying with his 1:58.455.
However, the car was subsequently found 2.5kg below its required minimum weight. Officials deleted every lap set by the #77 across the three Qualifying sessions, sending it to the rear of the classified order.
That handed Miedecke Motorsport and Ford a first Intercontinental GT Challenge pole position. The Mustang will therefore lead the field at the start of its first Suzuka 1000km appearance.
PONOS and Absolute move onto first two rows
PONOS Racing benefits directly from Craft-Bamboo’s exclusion, with Seita Nonaka, Takuro Shinohara and Tadasuke Makino moving the #45 Ferrari onto the front row.
The trio qualified with a 1:59.313 average, just 0.036 seconds slower than the Ford. Nonaka had already demonstrated the Ferrari’s speed by topping Qualifying 1, while Makino and Shinohara maintained the car’s position near the front across the remaining sessions.
The #7 Absolute Racing Porsche starts third. Ayhancan Güven, Alessandro Ghiretti and Dorian Boccolacci had featured prominently throughout the weekend, with Güven topping both wet Paid Test sessions before the Porsche remained near the front in dry running.
Team KRC’s #89 BMW moves onto the outside of the second row in fourth. Maxime Oosten, Max Hesse and Tony Ruan had qualified as the leading Bronze-class entry and now gain further through the penalties affecting cars ahead.
Team 5ZIGEN promoted into Suzuka top five
The #500 Team 5ZIGEN Nissan GT-R NISMO GT3 will start fifth after Katsumasa Chiyo, Atsushi Miyake and Kazuki Hiramine qualified ninth on the original average times.
Chiyo had already underlined the Nissan’s dry-weather speed by topping Pre-Qualifying with the only lap below two minutes. The penalties ahead now put the Japanese Pro entry firmly inside the leading group before the race begins.
AO by Absolute Racing’s #8 Porsche follows in sixth. Laurin Heinrich, Alessio Picariello and Julien Andlauer had qualified fifth before Craft-Bamboo’s exclusion, but the ‘Bushi Rex’-themed car carries a two-place grid drop for failing to appear during the scheduled pit walk.
The entry, which marks AO Racing’s first IGTC appearance alongside Absolute Racing, had shown increasingly competitive pace as the weekend progressed after spending much of the first Paid Test bedding in brakes.
LM Corsa gains as 75 Express and JMR serve penalties
The #80 LM Corsa Ferrari will start seventh after benefiting from the penalties around it. The Bronze-class Ferrari had qualified 10th in the amended order but moves forward as several cars ahead drop back.
The #75 75 Express Mercedes-AMG starts eighth. Mikaël Grenier, Kenny Habul and Philip Ellis had qualified seventh following Craft-Bamboo’s exclusion, but the car carries a three-place grid drop.
The team had already demonstrated its dry pace when Grenier topped Friday evening’s Night Practice. The 75 Express Mercedes-AMG moved into the Pro class for this Suzuka weekend, giving Mercedes-AMG another outright contender alongside Craft-Bamboo.
High Class Racing’s #86 Porsche moves into ninth, while the #2 Johor Motorsports Racing Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R completes the top 10 after also serving a three-place grid penalty.
Team WRT falls to 11th after five-place penalty
Team WRT’s #69 BMW M4 GT3 EVO receives the largest drop among the leading qualifiers.
Anthony McIntosh, Parker Thompson and Dan Harper had placed the Bronze-class BMW near the front on average times, but a five-place grid penalty for speeding under red flags moves the car to 11th.
The penalty removes the reigning Suzuka-winning organisation from the leading rows despite another competitive weekend for the BMW. The 2026 field remains unusual for the manufacturer because, unlike last year, none of its entries competes in the Pro category.
With the #89 Team KRC BMW starting fourth, however, the marque still has a strong opportunity to fight near the front and for Bronze honours.
Craft-Bamboo drops from fastest to P28
The most dramatic movement belongs to the #77 Craft-Bamboo Racing Mercedes-AMG.
Martin, Stolz and Ohta had been comfortably fastest across the three-driver average and entered Suzuka with significant championship implications. Stolz and Martin both remain involved in the IGTC Drivers’ Championship battle, making the Qualifying exclusion particularly costly.
Even before the car failed post-Qualifying scrutineering, it already faced a three-place grid penalty after Ohta exceeded the permitted speed during a red-flag period in Friday’s Night Practice.
Deleting all of its Qualifying times proved far more damaging. Instead of starting near the front, the #77 will line up 28th, forcing the crew to work through almost the entire 30-car field if it wants to recover a strong result.
Porsche Centre Okazaki and Tomei Sports set for pit-lane starts
Two entries will not take up normal grid positions.
The #18 Porsche Centre Okazaki Porsche will start from the pit lane after the team completed an overnight engine change. Hibiki Taira had stopped at Degner during Qualifying 2 with flames visible from the rear of the car, preventing the entry from completing the full three-session Qualifying programme.
The #360 Tomei Sports Nissan will also start from the pit lane after Atsushi Tanaka’s heavy accident at 130R during Pre-Qualifying. The team has rebuilt the car around a replacement monocoque and will complete a hardship lap before the race.
That leaves Craft-Bamboo’s #77 Mercedes-AMG as the final car taking a conventional grid position in 28th, with the two rebuilt entries joining from pit lane.
Confirmed 2026 Suzuka 1000km leading grid
- #64 Miedecke Motorsport by Team MPC Ford Mustang GT3 EVO
- #45 PONOS Racing Ferrari 296 GT3 Evo
- #7 Absolute Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R Evo
- #89 Team KRC BMW M4 GT3 EVO
- #500 Team 5ZIGEN Nissan GT-R NISMO GT3
- #8 AO by Absolute Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R Evo
- #80 LM Corsa Ferrari 296 GT3 Evo
- #75 75 Express Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo
- #86 High Class Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R Evo
- #2 Johor Motorsports Racing Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R
- #69 Team WRT BMW M4 GT3 EVO
- #77 Craft-Bamboo Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo
Pit lane: #18 Porsche Centre Okazaki Porsche 911 GT3 R Evo
Pit lane: #360 Tomei Sports Nissan GT-R NISMO GT3
Suzuka 1000km set for six-and-a-half-hour contest
The penalties leave a considerably different starting order from the raw Qualifying classification, but the front of the field still features a broad manufacturer spread.
Ford leads Ferrari, Porsche and BMW across the opening two rows, with Nissan fifth and Mercedes-AMG still represented inside the top 10 through 75 Express. Craft-Bamboo’s rapid #77 car, meanwhile, faces a completely different challenge from 28th.
The 50th Suzuka 1000km forms the fourth round of the 2026 Intercontinental GT Challenge and is scheduled to begin at 12:50 local time. The race will run for six and a half hours regardless of the total distance completed.
