2024.11.03

Rd. 8 Race GT300: After qualifying 17th a great charge to the front! The VENTENY Lamborghini GT3 comes from behind for its 3rd win of the season

The MOTEGI GT 300km RACE, Round 8 of the 2024 AUTOBACS SUPER GT Series, took place on November 3rd (Sun.) at Mobility Resort Motegi (4,801m x 63 laps) in Tochigi Prefecture. In the GT500 class, the No. 36 au TOM'S GR Supra (Sho Tsuboi/Kenta Yamashita) took its second win of the season to bring it a step away from winning the series title. In the GT300 class, the No. 88 VENTENY Lamborghini GT3 (Takashi Kogure/Yuya Motojima) put on a magnificent charge to come from a 17th-place grid start to take its second win in a row. These two cars were also the winners of last year’s race at Motegi. The next round that will decide the season champions will be the Round 5 race at SUZUKA that was postponed from September and has been rescheduled to be held on December 7th and 8th.

 

 

 

 

 

　One day after heavy rain for the qualifying, race day at Mobility Resort MOTEGI brought fair skies from the morning.

　The GT300 class pole-sitter, the No. 31 apr LC500h GT (Kazuto Kotaka/Jin Nakamura) ran a successful hole-shot to take the lead in the race. Following it came the No. 7 Studie BMW M4 (Seiji Ara/Niklas Krütten), the No. 65 LEON PYRAMID AMG (Naoya Gamou/Takuro Shinohara), and the No. 61 SUBARU BRZ R&D SPORT (Takuto Iguchi/Hideki Yamauchi). From the early stages, the competition was fierce in the GT300 class, with hard-fought battles taking place at points all around the track.

　Then, on the 6th lap, the No. 11 GAINER TANAX Z (Ryuichiro Tomita/Keishi Ishikawa) that had started from 13th position on the grid developed chassis trouble on the main straight of the 6th lap and came to a stop. What’s more, on the next lap, the No. 25 HOPPY Schatz GR Supra GT (Togo Suganami) that had started from 14th position on the grid had a tire come off at the S Curve, which brought it to a stop as well. This caused the second FCY (Full Course Yellow) of the race to be declared.

　Although that didn’t bring any changes in the order of the top five cars, there were battles being fought at close quarters. Behind them, Yuya Motojima, who had started from 17th position on the grid in the No. 88 VENTENY Lamborghini GT3, was rising through the pack at a very fast pace. Amazingly, he had risen to 6th place by the 10th lap, and then succeeded in joining in the battle of four cars led by No. 65 running in 3rd position.

　The earliest teams made their pit stops to change drivers at the end of the 19th lap. The first one to return to its pit was the No. 2 muta Racing GR86 GT (Yuui Tsutsumi/Hibiki Taira) that was anxious move up in the field in order to remain in contention for the title. What’s more, it opted for a no-tire-change strategy in an attempt to move up in position. Among the leaders, it was the leading car No. 31 and the 2nd place No. 65 that made their pit stop on the 20th lap and opted for no tire change. In contrast, cars like No. 88 changed only their two rear tires. In this way, the teams’ strategies varied based on factors like their respective car characteristics and the team conditions. Finally, it was at the end of the 26th lap that all of the leading cars in the GT300 class had finished their pit stops.

 

 

 

 

 

　After around the 30th lap, a second group including car No. 88 and No. 65 were closing quickly in on No. 31, which had continued to run in the lead after leaving the pit. By the 31st lap, this developed into a 3-way battle. The outcome was decided at the 90-degree Corner of the 34th lap. Kogure in car No. 88 overtook No. 31 to finally take the lead after starting the race from 17th position. After being passed, No. 31 was next threatened by car No. 65. What’s more, the No. 18 UPGARAGE NSX GT3 (Takashi Kobayashi/Syun Koide) and the No. 87 METALIVE S Lamborghini GT3 (Kosuke Matsuura/Natsu Sakaguchi) were also closing in.

　The race had become one in which the second drivers had to run longer stints. Among the resulting battles, the one for 6th place saw car No. 61 allow the No. 777 D'station Vantage GT3 (Charlie Fagg) to get ahead of it, and just after that it ran off the track at the 1st corner, which caused the calling of the third Full Course Yellow of the race.

　Meanwhile, the No. 31 car that had held the lead in the middle stages, was having trouble maintaining pace after being passed and ended up being passed by others as well. What’s more, while trying to avoid a battle between two GT500 cars by moving to the out-side, it still ended up being pushed off the track, which unfortunately led to a further drop in position.

　With such fierce battles playing out behind it, the No. 88 VENTENY Lamborghini GT3 (Takashi Kogure/Yuya Motojima) had run a solid defensive race after taking the lead to build up a margin of nearly 20 sec. over 2nd place and carried it all the way to the checkered flag to take its second straight win at Motegi. It was also the team’s second straight win of the season, after the previous round at AUTOPOLIS.

　Finishing 2nd was the No. 65 LEON PYRAMID AMG (Naoya Gamou/Takuro Shinohara). This finish meant that the Gamou pair maintained their lead in the Drivers ranking, while the race’s winners, the No. 88 Kogure pair moved up into 2nd place in the ranking as they go into the final round.
　Finishing 3rd was the No. 18 UPGARAGE NSX GT3 (Takashi Kobayashi/Syun Koide), giving the team its first podium finish of the season. The 4th place finishers were the No. 87 METALIVE S Lamborghini GT3 (Kosuke Matsuura/Natsu Sakaguchi).

　In addition, because the No. 2 muta Racing GR86 GT that had been 2nd in the ranking before this race ended up finishing in 13th place, its driver pair of Yuui Tsutsumi and Hibiki Taira dropped to 3rd position in the standing with only the slightest chance of winning the title. These three teams, No. 65, No. 88, and No. 23 will battle for the title in the final Round 5 at SUZUKA that was postponed from September and re-scheduled to be run on December 7th and 8th.

 

 

 

 

 

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