2024.06.02

Rd. 3 Race GT500: Win from pole position for Deloitte TOM'S GR Supra! A gratifying first win for drivers Sasahara and Alesi

　Round 3 of the 2024 AUTOBACS SUPER GT series, the “SUZUKA GT 3Hours RACE” took place at Suzuka Circuit in Mie Prefecture (one lap 5,807m × 3 hrs.) on June 2nd (Sun.). In the GT500 class, the No. 37 Deloitte TOM'S GR Supra (Ukyo Sasahara/Giuliano Alesi) that started from pole position would give up the lead to rivals at one point but eventually regain the lead to take a gratifying first win. In the GT300 class, the No. 777 D'station Vantage GT3 (Tomonobu Fujii/Charles Fagg) took an impressive win from pole position.

 

 

 

 

 

　Just before the start of the pre-race warm-up session from 12:00 in the afternoon, rain began to fall, but soon after, the weather would improve. In the race as well, there were moments of drizzling rain, but all the cars ran the entire 3-hour race on dry-use tires through fierce competition.

　Taking the lead from the start was the pole-sitting No. 37 Deloitte TOM'S GR Supra (Ukyo Sasahara/Giuliano Alesi). As the starting driver, Sasahara held off the attack of the No. 16 ARTA MUGEN CIVIC TYPE R-GT #16 (Hiroki Otsu/Ren Sato) starting from 2nd position on the grid, and from the third lap began to increase its margin of lead.

　As for No. 16 running in 2nd position, it soon had Fukuzumi closing in from behind on the the No. 14 ENEOS X PRIME GR Supra (Kazuya Oshima/Nirei Fukuzumi) that had started from 3rd position on the grid and was soon passed by Fukuzumi on the 5th lap. Coming from behind, the No. 8 ARTA MUGEN CIVIC TYPE R-GT (Tomoki Nojiri/Nobuharu Matsushita) was also putting pressure on No. 16. Meanwhile, after moving into 2nd position, No. 14 maintained its momentum in closing on the leading No. 37. By the end of the 5th lap, the margin between the two had closed to just under one sec. But from there, No. 37 also increased its pace and widened the gap to just over two sec. by the 10th lap. After that, the two TOYOTA GR Supra GT500 machines continued a touch-and-go battle as they began maneuvering between the GT300 class back-markers. After that, No. 14 made its first pit stop on the 32nd lap, and No. 37 made it’s pit stop on the 33rd lap, where both teams completed their first refueling and tire changes. Here, No. 14 changed drivers from Fukuzumi to Oshima, while No. 37’s strategy was to have Sasahara continue driving for a second straight stint.

　On the 40th lap of the race, an accident occurred when the No. 23 MOTUL AUTECH Z (Katsumasa Chiyo/Ronnie Quintarelli) collided with the No. 38 KeePer CERUMO GR Supra (Hiroaki Ishiura/Toshiki Oyu) in the Hitachi Astemo Chicane, which caused No. 23 to spin out, though it was quickly able to return to the race. As for No. 38, it suffered serious damage to its rear end that made it return to the pit on the 41st lap. Due to this accident, No. 23 was given a drive-through penalty.

　In order to clear the track of scattered car parts from this accident, an FCY (Full Course Yellow) was declared as the lead cars entered the 42nd lap of the race. The race was resumed from the 43rd lap, and when it did, car No. 14 immediately began an all-out charge to catch No. 37, after which the two cars continued to lap the track with a gap of 0.3 to 0.4 sec. between them. Furthermore, when a GT300 car came to a stop in the western sector of the course on the 52nd lap, it caused the declaration of the second Full Course Yellow of the race. But this was to have no effect on the positions of the two lead cars, as they continued their nip-and-tuck battle until No. 37 made its second pit stop on the 60th lap to refuel and change drivers.

 

 

 

 

 

 

　As soon as No. 14 saw that No. 37 had returned to the pit, Oshima decided that this was a chance and picked up the pace. He ran aggressively through each turn and returned to his pit on the 62nd lap. With the final stint now left in the hands of Fukuzumi, the team was able to get him back into the race in front of No. 37. And from there he steadily began to increase his lead.

　However, as No. 14 was leaving the pit area, it nearly collided with the No. 100 STANLEY CIVIC TYPE R-GT (Naoki Yamamoto/Tadasuke Makino) that was already in the pit road. Since the right-of-way in the pit lane belongs to the car running in the first lane, No. 14 was given a drive-through penalty. This penalty dropped No. 14 back to 4th position in the race order.

　But still, Fukuzumi in car No. 14 continued to chase the leaders at a high pace. On the 72nd lap, he caught the No. 36 au TOM'S GR Supra (Sho Tsuboi/Kenta Yamashita) in front of the 130R curve, and at the chicane of lap 78 he pulled up on the in-side of car No. 16 and emerged in 2nd place. However, at this point the gap between him and No. 37 was just under 13 sec.

　In the leading car No. 37, Alesi was also running at a pace comparable to car No. 14, and he was able to hold off No. 14 and take the checkered flag in the lead.

　With this, the No. 37 Deloitte TOM'S GR Supra took its first win of the season. For Sasahara and Alesi it was their first SUPER GT win. The No. 14 ENEOS X PRIME GR Supra finished 2nd to give the TOYOTA GR Supra GT500 its second 1-2 finish of the season, following the one at the opening round at Okayama. Following them in 3rd place came the No. 16 ARTA MUGEN CIVIC TYPE R-GT, which gave the Honda CIVIC TYPE R-GT its third podium finish in a row. Also, among the Nissan Z NISMO GT500 teams, the No. 12 MARELLI IMPUL Z (Kazuki Hiramine/Bertrand Baguette) that had steadily worked up through the field from an eighth-position grip start managed to finish in 4th place.

　What’s more, the No. 36 au TOM'S GR Supra finished in 5th place to enable its driver pair of Sho Tsuboi/Kenta Yamashita to maintain their lead in the Drivers standing. They were followed by the Drivers standing is the No. 3 Niterra MOTUL Z driver pair of Mitsunori Takaboshi/Atsushi Miyake that finished in 8th place in this race, while standing third is the No. 37 Deloitte TOM'S GR Supra driver pair of Sasahara/Alesi that won this race.

 

 

 

 

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