75 Express will return to the Suzuka 1000km with a Pro class Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo as Kenny Habul, Philip Ellis and Mikael Grenier join forces for the 11-13 September event.
The appearance will mark the team’s first Intercontinental GT Challenge outing since February’s season-opening Meguiar’s Bathurst 12 Hour, where team owner Habul shared the car with Jules Gounon and Luca Stolz.
However, Suzuka holds significant history for both Habul and Grenier. The pair have previously achieved class success together at the Japanese circuit and will now return with Ellis as 75 Express targets outright honours in the Pro category.
75 Express steps back into IGTC competition
The Suzuka weekend will end a lengthy gap between IGTC appearances for 75 Express.
The team last competed in the championship at Bathurst in February, when Habul, Gounon and Stolz formed its driver line-up. Since then, it has remained absent from the series before confirming its return for the penultimate round in Japan.
This time, 75 Express will enter the Pro class rather than the Bronze category it contested at Suzuka last season.
Habul raced alongside Yannick Mettler and Dominik Baumann during the 2025 event, with the trio finishing fourth in class.
The shift to Pro therefore raises the competitive benchmark considerably for the team’s latest Suzuka appearance.
Habul and Grenier renew successful Suzuka partnership
While Ellis joins the line-up for this year’s race, Habul and Grenier already share a strong history at Suzuka.
Under the team’s SunEnergy1 Racing identity, the pair competed together at the Suzuka 10 Hours in both 2018 and 2019.
In 2018, Habul and Grenier joined Stolz to win the Pro-Am class. One year later, Habul and Grenier partnered Nico Bastian and secured Silver class honours. Those results give the returning pairing a proven record at the circuit and valuable experience of the challenges that Suzuka presents.
Grenier also brings particularly extensive recent knowledge of the venue, having competed there every year since 2018.
“I’m really looking forward to returning to Suzuka,” said Grenier. “The Suzuka Circuit is one of the best race tracks in the world. Having competed there every year since 2018 will certainly help me, although I’m not the only driver in the field with that experience.
“Kenny and I have already raced together there twice and achieved some strong results. It’s always a pleasure to share a car with him, and he consistently puts together a very competitive line-up.
“We’ll be racing in the Pro class, so it’s going to be an extremely intense event. As always, our goal is the victory.”
Grenier’s comments underline the scale of the task ahead. Although familiarity with Suzuka provides an advantage, the Pro field will feature numerous drivers and teams with similarly deep experience.
Ellis adds further strength to Pro line-up
Ellis completes a line-up that combines previous Suzuka success with considerable GT3 experience. His inclusion gives 75 Express another proven Mercedes-AMG driver as the team takes on the Pro category.
Rather than targeting a class result within an amateur-based division, Habul, Ellis and Grenier will compete directly against some of the strongest professional combinations in the field. That step makes outright pace, consistency and clean execution even more important across the 1000km distance.
For Grenier, however, the objective remains straightforward: victory.
Suzuka continues long relationship with team
The 2026 race adds another chapter to 75 Express’ long connection with Suzuka. The operation first competed there under its SunEnergy1 identity during the Suzuka 10 Hours era, before returning more recently under the 75 Express banner.
Across those appearances, the team has collected Pro-Am and Silver victories as well as last year’s fourth-place Bronze finish.
Consequently, the circuit represents one of the more familiar international endurance venues for Habul’s operation.
This year’s move into Pro, though, gives that history a new context.
Instead of chasing success within a class defined partly by driver categorisation, 75 Express will measure itself directly against the leading professional entries.
Mercedes-AMG expands Suzuka presence to three cars
The arrival of 75 Express takes Mercedes-AMG’s confirmed Suzuka representation to three GT3 cars.
Craft-Bamboo Racing will field the other two entries, giving the German manufacturer multiple opportunities across the event.
Its No. 77 car will feature Luca Stolz, Maxime Martin and Kakunoshin Ohta, while Kevin Tse, Daisuke Yamawaki and João Paulo ‘JP’ de Oliveira will share the No. 28.
Meanwhile, GruppeM will not return after running a Mercedes-AMG-backed Pro entry in last year’s race and finishing sixth.
As a result, 75 Express joins Craft-Bamboo as Mercedes-AMG concentrates its Suzuka effort across two teams.
75 Express targets outright success at Suzuka
The return to Suzuka gives 75 Express an opportunity to build on a history that already includes multiple class successes at the circuit.
Habul and Grenier know what it takes to win there together, while Ellis adds further professional strength as the team moves into the Pro category.
However, the step up also creates a much tougher challenge.
The trio will face an intense field, and previous results alone will offer no guarantee of another strong finish. Nevertheless, 75 Express arrives with circuit knowledge, a familiar Mercedes-AMG platform and a driver combination built to fight at the front.
After its absence from IGTC competition since Bathurst, the team will return with a clear ambition when the championship reaches Suzuka: turn previous class success into an outright Pro challenge.
