LONDON, UK (7 June 2025)— The new season of the Gran Turismo World Series has officially begun. On Saturday, 7 June, Round 1 unfolded at London’s storied Television Centre in White City—just a stone’s throw from the Westfield shopping centre. The action commenced with the Manufacturers Cup, setting the stage for what would become an unforgettable day of racing.

The Manufacturers Cup brings together the world’s top-ranked manufacturer teams from the Online Qualifiers, along with Official Partners Toyota and Mazda, to form a grid of 12 contenders. Each team is represented by a trio of drivers—one from each of the Europe/Middle East/Africa, Americas, and Asia-Oceania Regions—handpicked based on their performances during the Qualifiers. At Round 1 in London, all eyes turned to the Asia-Oceania drivers, each eager to prove themselves on the global stage as they launched the season’s opening battle.

A sold-out crowd held its breath as Team BMW’s Seiya Suzuki delivered a scorching lap around the fast and unforgiving Tokyo Expressway circuit, edging out Team Subaru’s Takuma Miyazono (Kerokkuma_ej20) to seize pole position for the Grand Final. Just behind them, Porsche’s Shota Sato and the defending champion Team Lexus, with Kanata Kawakami behind the wheel, settled into the second row.

Grand Final: Tokyo Expressway - South Counterclockwise, 20 Laps

The audience sat in hushed anticipation, eager for the first live race of the season to begin. As always, tyre strategy loomed large in determining the final outcome. Teams had the option to run either soft- or medium-compound tyres as often as they liked, but with the softer option prone to faster degradation, careful planning was essential. Each team would be required to make at least one pit stop, although drivers opting for the grippier softs throughout would face the prospect of two stops.

Predictably, the two drivers at the front of the grid elected to start on softs, aiming to break free from the pack and build a commanding lead before their stops. The rest of the field played it safe on mediums, hoping for consistent pace, before switching to softs.

When the green flag dropped, the cars thundered off the line, forming a single, disciplined formation as they streamed into Turn 1. Just as expected, by the third lap, Seiya Suzuki (Half-SpiritCRV86) in the BMW M6 GT3 and Takuma Miyazono (Kerokkuma_ej20) in the Subaru BRZ GT300 had begun to distance themselves from the pack, carving out a lead of more than two seconds. Behind them, a fierce battle for position ensued, featuring Kanata Kawakami (QTD_Kawakana) in the Lexus RC F GT3, Shota Sato’s (anchovy_sand_) Porsche 911 RSR, Kenta Morimoto (HeAvN_RB26) in the Toyota Supra, and Ryota Kokubun (Akagi_1942mi) in the Mazda RX-Vision GT3. Every driver was pushing to the limit, the gap between 3rd place and last place measuring just a handful of seconds, keeping the tension palpable with every turn.

From P3 to P12, the battle raged on, with drivers trading slipstreams down the straights and dicing for position under braking. This fierce contest played perfectly into the hands of the leaders, allowing them to steadily extend their advantage. By lap six, Suzuki and Miyazono had stretched their lead to more than four seconds.

At the end of lap 7, their soft-compound tyres spent, both Suzuki and Miyazono dove into the pits to switch to the more durable mediums—enough to see them through to the finish without another stop. Meanwhile, Porsche, Toyota, and Mazda moved into the top three positions, their medium tyres poised to last another five or six laps before their own pit strategies came into play.

At the halfway point, just a second separated the top five drivers, keeping the race wide open. On lap ten, Porsche ducked into the pits for fresh tyres, opting once again for the medium compound. The following lap, Kokubun seized the lead for Mazda, but his RX-Vision—and all of the frontrunners—still needed to make their stops.

The field now faced a critical decision: when to pit and which compound to choose. On lap 12, the race leaders made their move, all of them switching to the softs in a bid to reel in Miyazono and Suzuki, who were running on mediums. When the pit stops cycled through, Suzuki emerged ahead of Miyazono, the pair holding a commanding lead of more than five seconds over the chasing pack.

Lap 16 delivered the most electrifying moment of the race as Sato’s Porsche, running on mediums, came under relentless pressure from Kokubun’s Mazda and Yusuke Goto’s (SZ_Goto25) Lamborghini Huracán GT3, both shod with the faster softs. Goto found a sliver of daylight on the inside of both Sato and Kokubun through the hairpin, snatching 3rd place. But the battle was far from over—Morimoto made a bold move of his own, reclaiming the position from Goto. As the pack barrelled toward the next hairpin, Kawakami’s Lexus bumped the rear of Sato’s 911, sending the Porsche spinning hard into the wall and effectively ending Sato’s race. For the misstep, Kawakami was handed a hefty three-second penalty, extinguishing any hopes of a strong finish.

With all the skirmishing behind them, Suzuki and Miyazono turned the race into a two-horse battle. The pair fought valiantly, swapping the lead in the final two laps. But when the dust settled, it was Team Subaru that crossed the line first, capturing the chequered flag and six championship points. Suzuki’s flawless drive in the BMW earned him a well-deserved 2nd place and five points, while Kokubun’s steady performance secured the final podium spot for Mazda.

It was a hard-fought contest, a showcase of talent and determination from every driver—proving once again why they stand among the world’s top twelve competitors.

Miyazono said after the race: "My pace wasn’t great, but I managed to secure P2 in qualifying. I practice a lot with Seiya Suzuki, and he was much faster than me during the race, so I decided to adopt a similar strategy to his. I thought that if I could stay close to him throughout, maybe I’d have a chance. In the end, I think my victory was thanks in large part to Suzuki’s impressive speed."

Gran Turismo World Series 2025 Round 1 - Manufacturers Cup
Results

Qualifying Time Trial 1

Car Category: Gr.3
Track: Tokyo Expressway - South Counterclockwise

Qualifying Time Trial 2

Car Category: Gr.3
Track: Tokyo Expressway - South Counterclockwise

Grand Final

Car Category: Gr.3
Track: Tokyo Expressway - South Counterclockwise　20 Laps

Fastest Lap: Toyota Kenta Morimoto　1'55.633