2024.04.13

【Rd. 1 Qualifying GT500】 Showing a champion’s strength. the au TOM'S GR Supra comes from behind in combined time to take pole position!

Round 1 Okayama International Circuit : Qualifying GT500

The official qualifying sessions for the opening round of the 2024 AUTOBACS SUPER GT series, the “OKAYAMA GT 300km RACE,” was held on April 13 at the Okayama International Circuit (one lap 3.703 km) in Okayama Prefecture. From this year, the SUPER GT qualifying has been changed to a new Q1 and Q2 combined best time format. Under the new format, in the GT500 class the No. 36 au TOM’S GR Supra driver pair of Sho Tsuboi/Kenta Yamashita won pole position. In the GT300 class, the No. 65 LEON PYRAMID AMG diver pair of Naoya Gamou/Takuro Shinohara qualified 1st. With this result, these two teams will start from front position on their respective class starting grids in tomorrow’s race on April 14.

 

This season brings big changes in the qualifying format, with all cars running in both Q1 and Q2. A new qualifying format competed on the basis of the combined best times of each team’s two drivers in Q1 and Q2 has been adopted. What’s more, only one set of tires (4 tires) can be used per team throughout Q1 and Q2 of the qualifying. Furthermore, that same set of tires will also be used for the start of the race, which makes it vital for the teams to use strategies with effective techniques for preventing loss of tire grip.

The 10-minute GT500 class Q1 session started at 2:34 in the afternoon. Both the air temperature and track surface temperature were at higher levels incomparable to those of the Official Tests held here at Okayama the previous month. This meant that all the drivers had to deal with the difficult task of running their time attacks with a concern for preserving tire grip.

First to take the top position after two warm-up laps was the No. 36 au TOM'S GR Supra (Kenta Yamashita), with a time of 1’17.813. Following this in 2nd position with a time of 1’17.841 was the No. 100 STANLEY CIVIC TYPE R-GT (Tadasuke Makino), while the No. 12 MARELLI IMPUL Z (Kazuki Hiramine) took 3rd position with a time of 1’18.033. Soon after that, however, it was the No. 38 KeePer CERUMO GR Supra (Toshiki Oyu) that beat Yamashita’s time with a time of 1’17.649 after three warm-up laps.

But that wouldn’t be the end of it all. Just after that, the No. 23 MOTUL AUTECH Z (Katsumasa Chiyo) ran a time of 1’17.489 after two warm-up laps, and then Oyu in car No. 38 came in with a time that beat Oyu’s time to take top position. Following this came the No. 8 ARTA MUGEN CIVIC TYPE R-GT #8 (Nobuharu Matsushita), which ran at a faster pace than any car up to that point in the first sector of the track but then lost control just before the final turn and ran the off the track. This caused No. 8 to finish in 10th position, and it was also penalized for running off the track by having it best time disqualified, so it finally ending up in 15th position. What’s more, it also failed to get a minimum qualifying lap time, which meant a pit start for the team in the race.

With these results, the No. 23 MOTUL AUTECH Z got the top time in Q1. The No. 38 KeePer CERUMO GR Supra finished in 2nd position, while 3rd position went to the No. 14 ENEOS X PRIME GR Supra when its driver, Nirei Fukuzumi, recorded a lap of 1’17.788 in the final stages. This meant that all three drivers in the top three were recently transferred from other teams, and it also meant that the 2nd and 3rd places went to drivers who moved this season from the Honda camp to drive the Toyota GR Supra GT500 with immediate success. This raised expectations for their performances in the next day’s race and the future. Meanwhile, car No. 36 moved up to 5th position behind the No. 39 DENSO KOBELCO SARD GR Supra (Yuichi Nakayama) to finish Q1.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The GT500 class Q2 started at 15:29 in the afternoon. Because all the cars would be running on the same tires used in Q1, each team had to work to minimize the drop in lap times during this 10-minute session.

　The first to take the top spot on the time board was the GT500 rookie Atsushi Miyake in the No. 3 Niterra MOTUL Z with a time of 1’18.301 (for a combined time of 2’36.434). This was beaten by the No. 38 KeePer CERUMO GR Supra (Hiroaki Ishiura) with a time of 1’18.504 (combined time of 2’36.151). What’s more, the No. 39 DENSO KOBELCO SARD GR Supra (Yuhi Sekiguchi) then recorded a time of 1’17.995 (combined time of 2’35.787) and the No. 100 STANLEY CIVIC TYPE R-GT (Naoki Yamamoto) came in with a time of 1’18.042 (combined time of 2’35.883) to beat the time of No. 38 in quick succession.

　 Just after that, Sho Tsuboi in the No. 36 au TOM'S GR Supra put on a show of amazing driving that kept just short of running off the track. His time of 1’17.748 was faster than that run by his teammate of the same age, Yamashita in Q1. This gave the team a combined time of 2’35.561 that put them in the top spot. Next, Ishiura in car No. 38 ran successive time attacks and recorded a time of 1’18.337 (combined time of 2’35.986) to end up in 4th position.

　With these results, the driver pair of Sho Tsuboi and Kenta Yamashita in the No. 36 au TOM'S GR Supra won pole position. Also, with the increase in the number of series points awarded to qualifying leaders this season, the pair each received 3 series points. Finishing 2nd in the qualifying was the No. 39 DENSO KOBELCO SARD GR Supra driver pair of Yuhi Sekiguchi and Yuichi Nakayama. As for new Honda CIVIC TYPE R-GT car, the No. 100 STANLEY CIVIC TYPE R-GT driver pair of Naoki Yamamoto and Tadasuke Makino finished 3rd overall. This means that these 2nd and 3rd position finishers also won series points of 2 pts. and 1 pt. respectively.

　As for car No. 23 that had finished fastest in Q1, when driven in Q2 by Ronnie Quintarelli its best time of 1’18.757 meant a combined time of only 2’36.246. That made them the top finisher among the NISSAN Z NISMO GT500 teams in 6th position overall. This means they will be looking to come from behind in tomorrow’s race.

 

 

 

 

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