GT500 Wildcard Entry Granted For Super GT Malaysia In 2026

A special press conference was held jointly by GT Association and Haro Sports & Entertainment on Saturday just before the Main Race event revealong the special GT500 class wildcard for 2026.

In a surprise move, Japan’s GT Association, organisers of the Super GT racing championship, have awarded a rare and special Wildcard entry for Super GT Malaysia in 2026.

This was officially revealed via a special press conference held at the PETRONAS Sepang International Circuit (SIC) jointly by both GT Association and Haro Sports & Entertainment shortly before the Super GT Malaysia Festival 2025 Main Race event on Saturday.

Local drivers Adrian D'Silva and Jazeman Jaafar (left) who wildcarded in last weekend GT300 race, as well as Earl Bamber Motorsports (EBM) head Earl Bamber (right) were also present.

L-R: GT Association chairman Masaaki Bandoh, Haro Sports & Entertainment managing partner Fahrizal Hasan, and Earl Bamber.

Present here too were local drivers Jazeman Jaafar and Adrian D’Silva who both entered last weekend’s race as wildcards in the GT300 class piloting a GT3-spec Aston Martin and and Porsche machines respectively prepared by Earl Bamber Motorsports (EBM).

“It’s not a Malaysian wildcard entry; it’s a Super GT Malaysia (Haro Sports) wildcard entry, meaning the drivers line-up [may or may not be] Malaysian,” clarified Fahrizal Hasan, managing partner of Haro Sports & Entertainment, to local press present last weekend.

Fahrizal elaborating on the special GT500 class wildcard was awarded to Super GT Malaysia (Haro Sport) for 2026 during this press conference.

Fahrizal then elaborated that the preference is of course to have Malaysian drivers for the wildcard participation. For this to materialse though, the exec also stressed that this greatly depends on the level and type of support garnered.

“This will be a full works (factory) entry next year, not a privateer or customer team entry,” Fahrizal detailed further.  “The manufacturer will have a big say in the driver line-up,” adds the exec, who then stressed “there will be no other way for them (wildcard drivers) to race.”

In Super GT, its premier GT500 class sees carmakers Honda (top), Toyota (left) and Nissan (right) participate with machines built under FIA Class 1 Touring Car regulations.

For now, the manufacturer for this special wildcard entry remains unconfirmed. Currently, just Honda, Nissan and Toyota are present in the GT500 class, though we’ll add that there are other manufacturers outside Japan and Super GT to consider.

The latter stems from the fact that GT500 machines comply with second-gen FIA Class 1 Touring Car regulations formulated when Super GT and Germany’s Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters (DTM) series jointly agreed to share these rules and base prior.

However, DTM lasted just two seasons (2019 and 2020) using the Class 1 prototype regulations mentioned before switching to the more popular production-based LMGT3 class – essentially identical to the widely adopted FIA GT3 class regulations.

Outside Japan, just BMW (top, left), Aston Martin (top, right) and Audi (above) have successfully built and ran Class 1-spec machines when the German DTM series ran under its rules. Status of and access to these ex-DTM machines remains unclear for the moment.

Despite its short span, three non-Japanese manufacturers successfully built and ran Class 1-spec machines in DTM – Aston Martin, Audi and BMW. Each also ran silhouettes of their production-based Vantage, RS5 Turbo and M4 Turbo nameplates respectively.

Presently, the status or even access to these three ex-DTM Class 1 machines mentioned are unclear. Additionally, given its ‘prototype’ chassis status, Class 1 machines are arguably more akin to open-wheel Formula racecars, thus warranting drivers with specific skillsets.

“For now, nothing is set in stone yet, but stay tuned. We’ll announce and reveal more details in due time,” concluded Haro Sport’s Fahrizal at the end of the special press conference mentioned.