Manabu “MAX” Orido, a two-time GT300 champion, will stop racing in Super GT after the season finale at Motegi on 7-8 November 2026. He has raced in the series since 1996, back when it was still called JGTC.
Orido shared the news on his social media on 19 October, one day after the Autopolis round. He is 57. In his message he said he will race with pride and give everything until the very end (our translation).
Quick facts
- Driver: Manabu “MAX” Orido, born 3 December 1968 in Funabashi, Chiba
- Super GT (JGTC) debut: 1996, in GT300
- GT300 titles: 1997 (RS☆R Silvia, Team Bandoh) and 2009 (Weds Sport IS350, with Tatsuya Kataoka)
- GT500 years: 2000 to 2007, on Yokohama tyres
- 2026 role: third driver of the No. 30 apr GR86 GT, with Hiroaki Nagai and Hibiki Taira
- Last Super GT weekend: Mobility Resort Motegi, 7-8 November 2026
- Announced: 19 October 2026, on his social media
A title in only his second season
Orido started in JGTC in 1996 as a part-time GT300 driver. One year later he was champion. In 1997 he won the GT300 title in the RS☆R Silvia for Team Bandoh, sharing the car with Hideaki Fukuyama.
Before all that he was a street and touge driver. He won a drift contest run by CARBOY magazine in 1990 and then moved to circuit racing with Yokohama in the Fuji Freshman series.
Eight years in GT500 Supras
From 2000 to 2007 Orido raced in GT500, the top class, for teams running Yokohama tyres. For most of those years he drove the Toyota Supra, the car many JDM fans still picture when they hear his name. His last two GT500 seasons were in a Lexus SC430.
He won GT500 races at Autopolis in 2003 and at Okayama in 2005. Then in 2008 he went back to GT300 with Racing Project Bandoh.
The second title, in the Weds Sport IS350
In 2009 Orido and Tatsuya Kataoka won the GT300 title in the yellow and blue No. 19 Weds Sport Lexus IS350. Photo 2 in our gallery shows that car, with both of their names on the fender.
From 2011 to 2017 he raced Lamborghinis for JLOC and won at Sugo in 2014. He took 2018 off as an adviser to the Bandoh team, then joined apr later that year. With apr he drove the Prius PHV GT, and since 2022 the GR86 GT, a GT300 car that uses a Toyota V8.
More than a racing driver
A lot of fans outside Japan know MAX Orido from the Hot Version videos, which he co-hosted with Keiichi Tsuchiya and Nobuteru Taniguchi. He became a D1 Grand Prix judge in 2001, and from 2005 he drove in D1 himself, in a JZA80 Supra and later a Toyota 86.
His RIDOX parts for the A80 Supra made his own car famous. It even shows up as a rival in the Tokyo Xtreme Racer games.
His last season
In 2026 Orido was not a full-time driver. He was the third driver of the No. 30 apr GR86 GT and raced at Fuji in round 2 and at Autopolis on 17-18 October. At Autopolis he started the race, and the car finished 21st.
One day later he made his announcement. The final Super GT weekend of 2026 is at Motegi, and autosport web reports that his Super GT career ends there.
Our take
This is our opinion. Orido is one of the few drivers who links the street drift and video scene with real championship racing. Two titles twelve years apart, plus eight years in GT500 Supras, is a career most drivers would love.
The bad side: his apr years brought few points, and in 2026 he only raced part-time. Still, it is good to see him choose his own exit at 57, and we hope he gets a proper send-off at Motegi.
Your turn
What is your favourite MAX Orido moment: the RS☆R Silvia, the Yokohama Supra, Hot Version or his D1 runs? Tell us in the comments.
Sources: autosport web (Orido to retire from Super GT at Motegi, 19 Oct 2026), Wikipedia (Manabu Orido career), Wikipedia (2026 Super GT entry list).
Photos: Tokumeigakarinoaoshima (CC BY-SA 4.0), MATSUOKA Kohei (CC BY-SA 2.0) and CANNIK (CC BY 2.0), via Wikimedia Commons. Photos 1 and 3 show the No. 30 apr GR86 GT at Suzuka in 2022, photo 2 the 2009 No. 19 Weds Sport IS350, photo 4 Orido’s Toyota 86 at a drift event in 2013 (cropped).
