Suzuka 1000KM: AO Racing Takes 50th Edition Victory

The 2026 Intercontinental GT Challenge Suzuka 1000KM went the full 6.5 hours on Sunday, and it was AO by Absolute Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R that came out on top. Julien Andlauer, Alessio Picariello and Laurin Heinrich brought the car home 51.416 seconds clear of #64 Miedecke Motorsport By Team MPC Ford Mustang GT3, despite starting the race from the back of the grid.

A Busy Start Around Suzuka

Dennis Olsen led away from pole in the #64 Miedecke Motorsport By Team MPC Ford Mustang GT3, ahead of Tadasuke Makino’s #45 PONOS RACING Ferrari 296 GT3, Ayhancan Güven’s #7 Absolute Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R (992), Ruan Cunfan’s #89 Team KRC BMW M4 GT3 and Katsumasa Chiyo’s #500 TEAM 5ZIGEN Nissan GT-R NISMO GT3, with the pack running on wet tyres. Güven and Makino made contact coming into the Esses, and the Absolute Racing Porsche came out of it ahead in second.

Further back, Mikaël Grenier had already carved his way up to challenge Chiyo for fifth at the hairpin. He tried the move again, this time making contact with the 5ZIGEN Nissan and forcing Chiyo wide, which cost the car fifth place to the #75 75 Express Mercedes-AMG GT3. Grenier then picked off Bronze Cup leader Ruan Cunfan to move into fourth himself. Güven set the early fastest lap of 2:01.606 as the frontrunners began using slicks, with Prince Jefri Ibrahim’s #99 Johor Motorsports Racing – JMR Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R and the #181 Norik Racing Ferrari 296 GT3 among the later cars to make the change.

The #18 Porsche Center Okazaki Nine Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R and #25 Porsche Center Okazaki NK Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R collided at Turn 10, an incident that went under investigation, with Hiroaki Nagai handed a drive-through penalty for spinning his own teammate, Kiyoshi Uchiyama, at the hairpin. Around the same time, Alexander Sims moved the #2 Johor Motorsports Racing – JMR Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R up into sixth after being held up behind the struggling 5ZIGEN Nissan, which was running around two seconds per lap off the pace.

Half an hour in, Olsen and Güven were still running nose-to-tail at the front, with Makino around ten seconds further back in third. Grenier and Alessio Picariello’s #8 AO by Absolute Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R were locked in a fight over fourth, roughly four seconds behind the PONOS RACING Ferrari. Prince Jefri Ibrahim’s Corvette then picked up a 5-second penalty for cutting the chicane and gaining an advantage.

Further down the order, Chris Froggatt’s #93 Ziggo Sport Tempesta Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R moved up to third in the Bronze Cup after Ruan Cunfan opened the door for Maxime Martin, and Martin himself continued working the #77 Mercedes-AMG Team Craft-Bamboo Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 forward from its last-place start, passing #96 K-tunes Racing’s LEXUS RCF GT3 to crack the top ten.

First Stops and Early Incidents

As the field approached the first scheduled pit stops, Olsen held around a second over Güven, with Makino another fourteen seconds back in third. Grenier continued to hold off Picariello for fourth, with Sims closing in on the pair.

Picariello’s AO by Absolute Racing Porsche emerged ahead of Grenier’s 75 Express Mercedes-AMG for what would become fourth, and Alessandro Ghiretti took over the #7 Absolute Racing Porsche from Güven to leave the pits in the lead. Going an extra lap on strategy promoted the #2 Johor Motorsports Racing – JMR Corvette, now with Scott McLaughlin aboard, from sixth up to third, some 23 seconds behind Ghiretti and Olsen after gaining three positions in the stops. Olsen reclaimed the lead outright with 5 hours and 17 minutes still to go, passing Ghiretti into Turn 1.

Disaster then struck for #75 75 Express of Kenny Habul crashed the Mercedes-AMG GT3 into the barriers and gravel trap, breaking the right-front suspension and ending the car’s overall hopes, with the entry pushed into the garage. Olsen had pulled two seconds clear of Ghiretti at the time, with McLaughlin some twenty seconds further back fending off Makino and Julien Andlauer.

Shortly after, Alfred Renauer’s #91 Herberth Motorsport Porsche 911 GT3 R and Ruan Cunfan’s #89 Team KRC BMW M4 GT3 both slid off onto the grass exiting Turn 1, bringing out a Full Course Yellow while Cunfan’s car remained stuck, the Herberth Motorsport Porsche was later hit with a 10-second stop-and-go penalty. Olsen’s advantage had grown to almost fourteen seconds over Ghiretti by the time both cars pitted, with Christopher Mies taking over the Miedecke Motorsport By Team MPC Mustang and Dorian Boccolacci climbing into the Absolute Racing Porsche.

The Race Takes Another Turn

Bronze Cup leader Yusaku Maezawa then crashed the #555 Maezawa Racing Ferrari 296 GT3 after contact with the lapped #18 Porsche Center Okazaki Nine Racing Porsche of Hiroaki Nagai, triggering a second Full Course Yellow at the start of the third stint. Boccolacci, Nicky Catsburg, Takuro Shinohara, Laurin Heinrich and Luca Stolz all used the moment for a stint reset in positions two through six, while race leader Mies stayed out. In the Bronze Cup, Naoki Hattori’s #80 LM Corsa Ferrari 296 GT3 ran third behind Seiji Ara’s PLUS with BMW M Team Studie BMW and Joel Sturm’s #86 High Class Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R, while the LM Corsa Ferrari picked up two separate 10-second penalties for speeding under FCY.

The race restarted under Mies in the Miedecke Motorsport By Team MPC Mustang, with the #2 Johor Motorsports Racing – JMR Corvette briefly up to second before Catsburg was overtaken by both Absolute Racing Porsches. Ben Green’s Johor Motorsports Racing – JMR Corvette moved up to second in Pro-Am behind LM Corsa’s Shigekazu Wakisaka as a result.

With 3 hours and 15 minutes gone and the same left to run, Mies led Heinrich by just 0.298 seconds, with Boccolacci and Catsburg another five seconds back and Stolz 33 seconds off the front. Maxime Martin took back over the #77 Craft-Bamboo Mercedes-AMG from Stolz and slotted into fifth.

AO Holds On to Take Victory

Heinrich built more than a five-second lead over Mies before handing the #8 AO by Absolute Racing Porsche to Picariello. With three of five scheduled stops complete, Picariello led Mies by 8.338 seconds, with Boccolacci closing on the Miedecke Motorsport By Team MPC Mustang and Sims twelve seconds off the lead in the Johor Motorsports Racing – JMR Corvette; Martin’s Craft-Bamboo Mercedes-AMG was another half-minute back. Wakisaka’s Pro-Am-leading LM Corsa Ferrari and Liu Kaishun’s #72 Harmony Racing Ferrari 296 GT3 both served drive-throughs for the same yellow-flag infringement, and the #7 Absolute Racing Porsche lost thirteen seconds in a slow stop of its own.

Heinrich climbed back aboard the #8 AO by Absolute Racing Porsche, and teammate Güven set the fastest lap and outright lap record on his out-lap in the #7 Absolute Racing Porsche with a 2:00.175 — before Heinrich went two-tenths quicker still. Güven then sent his Porsche down the inside of McLaughlin’s Johor Motorsports Racing – JMR Corvette at the hairpin to move up to third. In Pro-Am, Augusto Farfus’ #10 Team KRC BMW M4 GT3 got past Taku Bamba’s Norik Racing Ferrari for third in class, only for the KRC BMW to receive a 10-second penalty for pushing the Norik Ferrari off track, to be served at the final stop. The #61 EBM Giga Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R of Mathieu Jaminet, Adrian D’Silva and Ye Hongli retired after a puncture damaged the electronics and knocked out the ABS.

Class Winners

Güven made another slow stop for fuel and tyres, allowing Catsburg to move ahead of the #7 Absolute Racing Porsche, while Frédéric Vervisch took over the #64 Miedecke Motorsport By Team MPC Mustang for the final stint and left the pits ahead of both Catsburg and Güven. Heinrich then pitted from the lead and stayed aboard for the run to the flag. With under 40 minutes remaining, Güven passed Catsburg to push the Johor Motorsports Racing – JMR Corvette off the podium. In Pro-Am, Kei Nakanishi, Wakisaka and Giancarlo Fisichella went unbeaten in the #60 LM Corsa Ferrari 296 GT3, finishing roughly a lap clear of Ben Green’s Corvette, while Farfus held on ahead of Taku Bamba despite the earlier penalty. Dan Harper’s Bronze Cup-leading #69 Team WRT BMW M4 GT3 was handed a late drive-through for pushing the #79 Tsunami RT Porsche 911 GT3 R of Fabio Babini.

At the flag, it was #8 AO by Absolute Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R — Andlauer, Picariello and Heinrich — taking the win by 51.416 seconds over #64 Miedecke Motorsport By Team MPC Ford Mustang GT3 (Vervisch, Mies, Olsen), with #7 Absolute Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R (Güven, Ghiretti, Boccolacci) completing the podium. The #2 Johor Motorsports Racing – JMR Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R (Catsburg, Sims, McLaughlin) was fourth, ahead of #77 Mercedes-AMG Team Craft-Bamboo Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 in fifth and #45 PONOS RACING Ferrari 296 GT3 in sixth. #69 Team WRT BMW M4 GT3 took the Bronze Cup win, and #60 LM Corsa Ferrari 296 GT3 claimed Pro-Am honours.

Next Round : Indianapolis 8 Hours

In the GT3 Drivers’ standings, Maro Engel remains at the top with 68 points despite sitting out Suzuka, with Winward Racing’s Mercedes-AMG GT3. Luca Stolz moved up to second on 61 points and Maxime Martin to third on 60, both flying the flag for Mercedes-AMG Team Craft-Bamboo Racing, while Suzuka winners Laurin Heinrich and Alessio Picariello climbed to sixth and seventh for AO by Absolute Racing. The championship heads to Indianapolis for the next round, October 9-11.