Completing the global Aston Martin Racing powered package for this weekend will be by no means least, the #777 D’Station Racing AMR Vantage GT3 of Tomonobu Fujii and Charlie Fagg as they chase their domestic Super GT Series GT300 championship crown.

Competing this weekend at round six of the series revised 2026 calendar for Sugo, the AMR powered crew find themselves second within the class championship table so far just one point behind the leaders after a comeback race last time out at Suzuka saw the crew deliver a vital thirteen points after the non-scoring round at their home round at Fuji Speedway the round before that.

 

The entry list for Sugo shows another usual twenty-nine strong GT300 class entry but with the #777 again carrying a near maximum success ballast of 96kg to (presumably) go alongside their fuel flow restriction during the mandatory pitstops over the last two rounds.

This 300km event will again see Free Practice and Qualifying take place on Saturday with the race on Sunday.

Photo credits – Team / social media

 

 

 

Rounding off the Aston Martin Racing powered involvement around the world this weekend is another significant GT series kicking off its 2026 campaign as the Japanese Super GT season gets underway at Okayama.

Formerly running as part of an eight-round calendar but some new released by the series earlier in the week saw there long haul to Sepang get postponed indefinitely with the series citing increasing travel costs as the reason.

 

Despite that, the headlining Japanese GT series continues to be in rude health both in the topflight GT500 class as well as the GT3 based GT300 class which is where we will find the D’Station Racing Aston Martin Raving Vantage GT3 again.

This time familiarity will be the case as drivers Tomonobu Fujii and Charlie Fagg reunite for another campaign in the class, something that the team excelled at during the middle of last season before unfortunately falling away at the end after crashing out of an important round.

 

Another non-points scoring finish to the penultimate round of the Super GT Series season earlier today effectively consigns the D’Station Racing Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT3 season to what might have been.

With Tomonobu Fujii and Charlie Fagg again combining well this season, this weekend’s visit to Autopolis needed the #777 crew to be on top form again in order to cut the points deficit to those crews ahead of theme within their GT300 class going into the final round of the season but poor pace from their car took them in the opposite direction.

 

Two more series with Aston Martin Racing powered crews competing over in Asia this weekend completes our preview of events as both the Japanese Super GT Series goes again with their sixth round of the season from Sugo whilst the Thailand Super Series races their penultimate round to their season from Sepang.

First and foremost, will of course be the Super GT Series as the D’Station Racing AMR Vantage GT3 of Tomonobu Fujii and Charlie Fagg look to rekindle that rich vein of success that sadly alluded them last time out at Suzuka.

That’s now pre-season testing over with for the D’Station Racing Aston Martin Racing team as their prepare for their next chapter within their domestic Super GT Series this season.

Testing their AMR Vantage GT3 Evo again at their home track of Fuji International Speedway, the #777 only had Tomonobu Fujii on hand again to do what was necessary over two opposing days as in track running conditions.

 

This weekend sees the Japanese Super GT Series race out this seventh round of their eight-round season from Autopolis although a weather induced cancellation at Suzuka earlier in the year still leaves two further rounds to go after this one.

Within the GT300 class is of course the #777 Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT3 from the D’Station Racing team who are in the midst of something approaching a rich vein of success within their topflight GT series after another podium finish last time out at Sugo.

Japanese Aston Martin Racing Partner team, D’Station Racing certainly saved their best till last with their best performance of the season at the finale of the 2020 Super GT Series from the Fuji International Speedway earlier today.

Having endured what could only be described as a ‘difficult’ season with their AMR Vantage GT3 competing in the GT300 class, circumstance finally allowed the green liveried #9 car to race its own race at a chilly Fuji circuit to end the year with a magnificent P5 result. 

Having raced the opening two races of their much adjusted Japanese Super GT Series from the Fuji Speedway, last weekends third round of the eight round season at least took the GT500 and GT300 machinery across to Suzuka.

Amongst the still very healthy grid of thirty GT300 cars was the #9 Pacific D'Station Racing Aston Martin Racing V8 Vantage GT3 of Tomonobu Fujii and stand-in driver Kei Cozzolino. Due to the countries on going strict control measures on non-nationals arriving and then leaving the country, it has been up till now almost impossible for any other national to compete within the Series without having to continue living there in between races.


With the AMR factory driver Nicki Thiim originally due to race alongside Fujii in the car, the Danes inability to travel forced the team to seek out a short to medium term replacement driver from those who live within the country - for which they came up with Cozzolino.

Racing in hot conditions for Sundays 52 lap race, it was Fujii 's turn to start the race from where he Qualified the car on Saturday - down in P22 position on the grid but throughout his stint, he seemed unable to lift the cars race position despite the numerous Safety Car intervention periods that blighted the opening half of the race. Such as the rules of Super GT, that the GT300 cars were stopped on the start straight to allow all of the faster GT500 cars to pass before the race went back to green and all of that made for some very disjointed racing.


Progress was eventually made once Cozzolino had his turn behind the wheel which then saw the green livered AMR Vantage slowly creep up the timing board to ultimately claim yet another P10 finishing position by the close of the race. P10 was where the dup finished in races one and two of the season although for the second race, the car was later demoted to P19 on the grounds of a post race penalty.

Usually with technical support from Prodrive being at the circuit with the team, we understand that that technical assistance is continuing by remotely from the Prodrive factory.


The next round of the season takes the teams to Motegi in three weeks time but with that now 'clashing' with the 24 Hours of Le Mans on the following weekend we don't know whether or not Cozzolino will be in the D'Station car as he is due to race with MR Racing at La Sarthe?

Photo credits - Pacific D'Station Racing 

Whilst many (too many) sporting events across many parts of the world are facing public access sanction or usually cancellation in the continuing wake of COVID-19 pandemic, the Japanese Super GT Series are continuing with their two day official test from the Okayama International Circuit.

Entered into the expected near thirty GT300 car grid will again be the D'Station Racing AMR Aston Martin Racing V8 Vantage GT3 but this season competing under the title sponsorship name of Pacific D'Station Racing with a new driver line up of team regular Tomonobu Fujii and AMR works driver Nicki Thiim.


With Thiim having been due to be at the WEC/IMSA double header test and race at Sebring in Florida this weekend and next (both events have now subsequently been cancelled), it has been left to Fujii to conduct the test on the car that now bears Michelin tyres for the first time.

Last seasons efforts with Fujii and Joao Paulo de Oliviera at the wheel of the then Yokohama shod car suffered from both accident damage and tyre related issues that made the team swap to the French brand having raced them in the Asian Le Mans Series.


With other Japanese series already suffering from a (so far) delayed start, we will have to wait and see what happens with their premier GT series which is still scheduled for the 11-12 April.

Photo credits - D'Station Racing

This weekends sixth round of the Japanese Super GT Series was looking quite promising for the green liveried #7 Aston Martin Racing V8 Vantage GT3 of D'Station Racing AMR and its driver JP de Oliveira and Tomonobu Fujii from the 4.7km circuit of Autopolis in southern Japan.

Running something against expectation, the #7 car qualified third in its GT300 ahead of Sundays 65 lap - 300km race.

With de Oliveira taking the start for the team, the car looked quick in the opening laps before the first of the Safety Car periods was called to recover a stricken car but once race restarted the Brazilian driver elevated his running position to P2 in class by the 33% race distance and before the rains came.


As the paddock sections of the track got soaked, the farthest and more technical sections of the track remained dry with many teams deciding to stay out on slicks (which D'Station did) although the gap between the #7 car and the class leader did extend from one to six seconds during this difficult period on track.

At the halfway mark of the race de Oliveira pitted from P2 in class to hand over to co-driver Fujii but their stop was heavily compromised by the wheel nut on the rear drivers side refused to budge despite the persistence of the mechanic. Feverish pounding with a mallet eventually released the nut and the car was finally released having lost over thirty seconds in pit lane.


From that point forward the race became more of a test session for the team with the pit lane issue dropping Fujii down to P20 in class and even the repeated Safety Car and grid realignments between the two racing classes failed to improve their position much above P18 by the time of the chequered flag.

Its of course hard to say just where the car may have finished without the wheel issue but everything leading up until then showed that the turbo charged V8 AMR had the pace to take the challenge to the more established chassis in the class.


Despite the disappointment, the team now have to prepare themselves for round 7 at Sugo in just over two weeks time.

Photo credits - D'Station / Super GT

After the five hundred mile endurance round from Fuji International Speedway earlier in August this weekend sees the Japanese Super GT Series move down to the Autopolis Circuit on the southern island of Japan for round six and the Autobacs Super GT Autopolis 300Km.

D'station Racing AMR will be there with their Aston Martin Racing V8 Vantage GT3 for drivers Tomonobu Fuji and JP de Oliveira.


Last time out at Fuji, these regular drivers were joined by AMR factory driver Darren Turner and progress in that event for the team was good with a P3 finish in Free Practice before ultimately Qualifying in P10 for the extended race. A mixture of tyre degradation, race contact and untimely Safety car intervention eventually lead to the #7 car finishing P11 in their GT300 class.


For Autopolis, it is back to a two driver line up with Fujii and de Oliveira both keen to make up for lost ground after unattributed accident damage and general bad luck at previous rounds affected their position in the series despite their best of efforts.

Photo credits - Super GT

It's onwards to (hopefully) the land of the rising sun for Aston Martin Racing factory driver Darren Turner this weekend as he returns to the D'Station Racing AMR team for the latest round of Japanese Super GT Series at Fuji Speedway.

Having already supported the team earlier this year in opening rounds of the Pirelli Super Taikyu Series with podium winning success, Fuji will be the first time that Turner has raced with team regulars Tomonobu Fujii and JP de Oliveira in the Super GT Series side of the teams operations although he has previously tested with them.


Since swapping to the new 2019 specification AMR Vantage GT3, D'Station Racing AMR have endured a very testing re-introduction into the second tier of the Japanese national GT series with both accident damage and technical issues blighting their race performances so far.

Indeed, the series last race in Buriram, Thailand ticked all the right boxes in performance terms until after the compulsory pit stop when a rear puncture at the start of the lap robbed the team of what would have been a very much deserved podium finish with only minutes remaining.


The fifth round of the Series at Fuji is the 500mile endurance round (hence the third driver) and is something that Turner has posted that he is very much looking forward too having missed the World Endurance Championship race at the circuit last season when drivers Marco Sorensen and Nicki Thiim posted the new Vantage GTE's first WEC class pole position.

With the GT300 cars racing with the faster GT500 cars from a staggered rolling start, Fuji will see 15 GT500 cars and 29 GT300 cars take the start on Sunday.


As a full AMR Partner team, D'Station get the full help from the AMR factory in UK and have all been working tirelessly to help resolve some of the previous performance issues. With the team also having recently acquired another brand new Vantage GT3 (which won them another podium last time out in the Super Taikyu Series) we wonder if they will be running that new car in preference to their other Super GT chassis that has been involved in a couple of sizeable accidents already?

Photo credits - D'Station Racing 

After a significant amount of investment by the team and its stakeholders looking into every aspect of their racing performances so far, D'Station Racing AMR were hopeful of a good points finish as the Japanese Super GT Series made its way over to Thailand for the Chang Super GT Race from Buriram at the weekend.

For the team of the #7 Aston Martin Racing V8 Vantage GT3, everything was looking promising as drivers JP de Oliveira and Tmonobu Fuji brought the car back second fastest in Free Practice before Qualifying on the second row (P3) of the GT300 grid ahead of Sundays sixty six lap race.


With de Oliveira taking the start for the team, it was clear that the car had the pace to at least maintain its track position in class in the opening laps of the race with the passing GT500 cars giving rise for opportunist moves. Not being able to make any head way against the class leading Realize GT-R car, Oliveira was at least able to take the Hoppy Racing car for P2 by lap twenty and that extended to an overall class lead by the time the leading #56 car pitted ahead of the halfway point.

A Safety Car for the effects of three tangling GT500 cars temporally delayed the stop for the #7 car before Fujii re-emerged P5 in class by the time all the GT300 cars had made their stop after the race went back to green on lap forty three.


Pushing between P4 and P5, Fujii remained in racing contact with three of the cars ahead giving the potential of an exciting last few laps but that was all dashed on lap 60 when debris on track left the #7 car with a rear right puncture right at the worst position of the lap - in the first sector leaving the Japanese driver a slow and painful return to the pits for repairs. By the time he had reached pit lane the car had already dropped to P15 and that dropped again to P19 by the time it re-joined the track for the last couple of laps.



Utterly devastating for the team to have come so far in performance improvement only for a stray piece of track debris to let it all come crashing back down to zero again. They do however take confidence from their performances on track and will be ready again as the Series returns to the Japanese mainland for round five at Fuji - the endurance round in early August.


Photo credits - D'Station Racing AMR

The fourth round of the Japanese Super GT Series takes place this weekend with D'Station Racing AMR hoping that the change in country changes their fortunes in the series as attention turns to the Chang Super GT race from the Buriram International Circuit in Thailand.

Having turned their allegiances to Aston Martin Racing for this season, D'Station Racing AMR have suffered a dreadful introduction to the GT300 category aboard their AMR Vantage GT3 with both accident damage and most recently technical issues thwarting all endeavours of a point finish at the first three rounds of the series so far in Japan.


Round four features a smaller twenty four car entry including the #7 car of Tomonobu Fuji and JP de Oliveira both of whom were racing at last weekends ADAC Total 24H race in separate Nissan GT-R GT3. Presently, the team features at the foot of the GT300 Series table.


If there is a team out there who need a little bit of luck and support to kick off their 2019 season - its these guys. Fingers crossed.

Photo credits - D'Station Racing AMR

This weekend saw the opening round of the Japanese national Super GT Series where one of Aston Martin Racings latest team recruits, D'Station Racing AMR were competing in the GT300 events with their new AMR Vantage GT3.

Early tyre testing in the season had placed the new Vantage GT3 in good stead amongst their more established teams and cars within the Series and there were realistic high hopes going into the opening race weekend at Okayama in western Japan.


Reportedly struggling with balance, drivers JP Oliviera and Tomanobu Fujii finished P22 in Saturdays practice - some 1.8 seconds off the pace setting Toyota Mark X MC but that improved slightly to P19 during Qualifying.

Like the rain falling upon much of the motor racing in Southern Europe this weekend, race day today saw for very wet track conditions. What happened to their #7 car can unfortunately be summed up in the following video clip. Thankfully nobody was injured in the incident but the car did suffer significant damage which will need repairing in time for the endurance round at Fuji in early May - the race in which the able driving services of Darren Turner will be employed.


Photo credits - D'Station Racing / video - Super GT

Just a couple of weeks from announcing their participation within the Japanese Super GT GT300 series with their recently acquired Aston Martin Racing V8 Vantage GT3, Japanese based D’Station Racing AMR have today confirmed their participation in the Pirelli Super Taikyu Series.

What makes this new more interesting to us in Europe is the inclusion of Aston Martin Racing factory driver Darren Turner for the first two rounds of the series with first driver nominee Toshinori Hoshino before second local driver Tomonori Kondo takes over.



These races with the team for Turner are in addition to the endurance round of the Super GT GT300 at Fuji later this year and reflects the importance of the Asian racing theatre to AMR.

Photo credits - D'Station Racing / DT