Eight manufacturers will feature across a 28-car provisional entry list when the 2026 Intercontinental GT Challenge (IGTC) heads to Japan for the 50th anniversary Suzuka 1000km from 11-13 September.
The penultimate round of the 2026 season brings together international IGTC contenders and a strong collection of Asian teams, with more than two-thirds of the field coming from regional operations. Twelve Japanese entries will compete, while seven of the eight represented manufacturers have cars in the Pro class.
Chevrolet, Ferrari, Ford, Lexus, Mercedes-AMG, Nissan and Porsche all feature in the fight for outright honours. BMW, which won the revived Suzuka 1000km in 2025, returns with four M4 GT3 Evos but does not have a Pro-class entry this time around.
Nissan and Lexus join fight for 2026 IGTC Suzuka 1000km outright victory
Nissan and Lexus add significant local interest to the Pro-class battle as both manufacturers field all-Japanese driver combinations.
Team 5ZIGEN will run the No. 500 Nissan GT-R NISMO GT3 for Katsumasa Chiyo, Kazuki Hiramine and Atsushi Miyake. Chiyo’s return to the GT-R provides one of the standout storylines of the weekend, with the Super GT racer returning to machinery closely associated with his rise through international GT competition.
K-tunes Racing will represent Lexus with the No. 96 RC F GT3. Hideki Yamauchi, Sena Sakaguchi and Takumitsu Matsui form another all-Japanese Pro line-up.
Neither Nissan nor Lexus can score points towards the IGTC manufacturers’ or drivers’ championships because they are not registered manufacturers in the global series. However, both remain eligible to fight for the race victory itself.
Runup Sports adds a second Nissan to the field in the Am class, with Masaaki Nishikawa, Atsushi Tanaka and Tetsuya Tanaka sharing the No. 360 GT-R NISMO GT3.
Mercedes-AMG duo targets Engel’s championship lead
Mercedes-AMG arrives at Suzuka with an important opportunity in the drivers’ championship.
Maro Engel leads the standings but will miss the Japanese round because of a DTM clash. His absence gives Luca Stolz and Maxime Martin the chance to reduce deficits of 17 and 18 points respectively.
The two ADAC Ravenol 24h Nürburgring winners will share Mercedes-AMG Team Craft-Bamboo Racing’s No. 77 car with Super Formula championship leader Kakunoshin Ohta.
Craft-Bamboo also enters the No. 28 Mercedes-AMG for Kevin Tse, Daisuke Yamawaki and João Paulo de Oliveira in Pro-Am. Meanwhile, 75 Express provides Mercedes-AMG with a second outright contender as Kenny Habul, Mikaël Grenier and Philip Ellis step into the Pro category.
The strength of those two Pro crews could also prove important in the manufacturers’ championship, where Mercedes-AMG enters Suzuka eight points behind Porsche.
Absolute Racing brings two potent Porsche line-ups to 2026 IGTC Suzuka 1000km
Porsche has the largest numerical presence on the provisional entry list and will field two particularly strong Pro entries through Absolute Racing.
Ayhancan Güven will make his first racing appearance in Japan in the No. 7 Porsche 911 GT3 R Evo alongside Alessandro Ghiretti and Dorian Boccolacci.
The sister No. 8 AO by Absolute Racing entry combines Alessio Picariello, Laurin Heinrich and Julien Andlauer. The car will also attract attention through its ‘Bushi Rex’ identity, which brings another variation of AO Racing’s dinosaur-themed liveries to the grid.
Absolute enters the weekend with strong recent form at Suzuka after its Porsches finished second and fourth in 2025.
A further collection of Porsche entries stretches across the Bronze and Pro-Am categories, including cars from Bingo Racing with LM Corsa, Porsche Center Okazaki Nine Racing, Porsche Center Okazaki NK Racing, EBM Giga Racing, Tsunami RT, High Class Racing, Herberth Motorsport and Ziggo Sport Tempesta Racing.
JMR reunites podium-finishing Corvette trio
Johor Motorsports Racing returns with an unchanged Pro line-up in its No. 2 Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R.
Nicky Catsburg, Alexander Sims and IndyCar racer Scott McLaughlin will share the car for the first time since last year’s Suzuka 1000km, when the trio finished third. That result remains Chevrolet’s strongest IGTC finish.
JMR also fields its No. 99 Corvette in Pro-Am for Prince Jefri Ibrahim, Prince Abu Bakar Ibrahim and Ben Green.
The returning Pro combination gives Chevrolet another opportunity to build on its 2025 podium against an even more varied manufacturer field.
PONOS Racing leads Ferrari’s outright 2026 IGTC Suzuka 1000km challenge
PONOS Racing provides Ferrari with its sole Pro entry.
The Japanese squad has selected Seita Nonaka, Takuro Shinohara and former Super GT500 champion Tadasuke Makino for the No. 45 Ferrari 296 GT3 Evo.
Nonaka also arrives as the current Super GT300 championship leader, adding further domestic strength to a line-up built around drivers with extensive experience in Japanese competition.
Ferrari has several additional entries across the other classes. LM Corsa fields two cars, while Norik Racing and Maezawa Racing also join the grid.
Ford Mustang makes first Suzuka 1000km appearance
Ford will bring the Mustang GT3 to the Suzuka 1000km for the first time through Miedecke Motorsport by Team MPC.
Christopher Mies, Dennis Olsen and Frédéric Vervisch form the No. 64 car’s all-professional line-up. The trio already shares major endurance success after winning the 2025 Rolex 24 together.
Vervisch also knows how to win at Suzuka after claiming the Summer Endurance Race with Audi in 2019. Olsen stood on the podium at the same event that year.
Their experience gives Ford a strong single-car challenge as the Mustang joins a Pro field featuring seven different manufacturers.
BMW returns without Pro-class entry
BMW won the Suzuka 1000km in 2025 through Team WRT, with Kelvin van der Linde, Raffaele Marciello and Charles Weerts taking victory.
However, none of the four M4 GT3 Evos on the 2026 provisional list competes in Pro.
Max Hesse remains BMW’s highest-placed driver in the IGTC standings and sits sixth overall, 30 points behind Engel with two rounds remaining. He will share Team KRC’s Bronze-class No. 89 car with Ruan Cun Fan and Maxime Oosten.
Team WRT also returns to Suzuka, although its No. 69 entry competes in Bronze with Anthony McIntosh, Parker Thompson and Dan Harper.
PLUS with BMW M Team Studie completes another Bronze combination, while Team KRC also fields the No. 10 M4 GT3 Evo in Pro-Am for Brian Lee, Augusto Farfus and Marcelo Tomasoni.
Record Independent Cup field set for Suzuka
Suzuka will also feature a record seven IGTC Independent Cup contenders.
Championship leader Li Kerong returns alongside Kenny Habul, Jefri Ibrahim, Ralf Bohn, Johannes Zelger and Jonathan Hui, who all appeared together at the Bathurst season opener. Adrian D’Silva expands the group to seven for the Japanese round.
Their entries span several manufacturers and classes, adding another championship contest within the wider 28-car field.
D’Silva shares EBM Giga Racing’s Porsche with Leo Ye Hongli and Mathieu Jaminet, while Li joins Anders Fjordbach and Joel Sturm at High Class Racing. Habul forms part of 75 Express’ Pro entry, and Jefri Ibrahim competes in JMR’s Pro-Am Corvette.
28-car field set for 50th anniversary race
The provisional entry list combines nine Pro cars with a broad range of Pro-Am, Bronze and Am entries, reflecting the mix of factory talent, international operations and regional teams that defines the IGTC format.
It also places significant emphasis on Japanese motorsport. Twelve home teams feature among the 28 entries, while Nissan and Lexus add two manufacturers that can challenge for outright victory even without participating in the IGTC championship itself.
Porsche and Mercedes-AMG, meanwhile, will carry their manufacturers’ championship fight into the penultimate round, while Stolz and Martin have an opportunity to capitalise on Engel’s absence in the drivers’ standings.
The Suzuka 1000km weekend begins with two test sessions and Night Practice on Friday, 11 September. Pre-Qualifying and the three-part Qualifying session follow on Saturday before the 1000km race begins at 12:50 local time on Sunday, 13 September and runs into the evening.
With eight manufacturers, a record Independent Cup entry and an unusually strong collection of Japanese and international teams, the 50th anniversary Suzuka 1000km is set to provide one of the most diverse fields of the 2026 IGTC season.
