Round 2 of the 2025 AUTOBACS SUPER GT series, the “FUJI GT 3 Hours RACE GW Special” was held on May 4th (Sun./Holiday) at Fuji Speedway (one lap 4,563m × 3 hours) in Shizuoka Prefecture. In fair weather with a clear view of Mt. Fuji, the GT500 class pole-starting No. 38 KeePer CERUMO GR Supra (Hiroaki Ishiura/ Toshiki Oyu) completed the 3-hour race without ever giving up the provisional lead to take a pole-to-finish win for the first time six years. In the GT300 class, when machine trouble struck the lead car on the last lap of the race, the No. 6 UNI-ROBO BLUEGRASS FERRARI (Yoshiaki Katayama/ Roberto Merhi Muntan) that had managed to move up to 2nd position in an unbelievable climb from a 28th position start won a dramatic first victory.

With SUPER GT now an anticipated fixture of Golden Week, some 49,200 spectators flock to Round 2 at FUJI. Starting from pole position, the No. 777 D’station Vantage GT3 (Tomonobu Fujii/Charlie Fagg) is first to come through the opening lap, but right on its tail was the 2nd position grid starting No. 61 SUBARU BRZ R&D SPORT (Takuto Iguchi/Hideki Yamauchi). In 3rd position came the No. 7 CARGUY FERRARI 296 GT3 (Zak O’ Sullivan/Rikuto Kobayashi/Keita Sawa), followed in 4th position by the No. 45 PONOS FERRARI 296 (Kei Cozzolino/Takuro Shinohara).

However, confusion soon erupted behind these leaders. Starting from 22nd position on the grid, the 2024 champions, the No. 0 VENTENY Lamborghini GT3 (Takashi Kogure/Yuya Motojima) suffered damage to its left rear wing and quickly returned to its pit. Eventually, this would end No. 0’s race after just three laps. Also, a three-car accident occurred at the TGR Corner. What’s more, a collision caused the No. 666 seven × seven PORSCHE GT3R (Kiyoto Fujinami) to come to a stop on the track. After starting from 7th position, the No. 52 Green Brave GR Supra GT (Seita Nonaka) also suffered damage to its rear wing, which forced it also to return to its pit and lose a lot of ground as a result.

Meanwhile, numerous battles broke out over positions in the top ten, giving the spectators plenty of action to watch. On the 20th lap, a battle for 12th position was taking place between the No. 26 ANEST IWATA RC F GT3 (Igor Omura Fraga/Hironobu Yasuda), the No. 87 METALIVE S Lamborghini GT3 (Kosuke Matsuura/Natsu Sakaguchi) and when the No. 62 HELM MOTORSPORTS GT-R (Yuya Hiraki/Reiji Hiraki) joined the fray it resulted in a collision at the TGR Corner. The resulting machine damage brought (No. 62) to a stop at the green of the 2nd corner, which took it out of the race.

Repairing the damage to the course brought on an FCY (Full Course Yellow) and anticipating it two cars, the No. 45 running 6th position and the winner of Round 1 running in 10th position, the No. 65 LEON PYRAMID AMG (Naoya Gamou/Togo Suganami/Haruki Kurosawa) returned to the pit just prior to the FCY call. This greatly reduced the time loss of one pit stop for these two cars. As a result, this greatly reduced the time loss of one pit stop for these two cars. As a result, they were able to move far to the front in the second part of the race.

Meanwhile, the restart of action after the FCY, allowed car No. 61 to move up considerably on the leading car No. 777 but not enough to lose its lead, which it held until making its pit stop on the 32nd lap. On the next lap, car No. 61 also made its pit stop. This gave an advantage to cars No. 45 and No. 65 that had made their pit stops during the FCY, as well as to the No. 5 MACHSYAKEN AIR BUSTER MC86 MACH GO (Yusuke Shiotsu/Iori Kimura) that had opted for no tire change in its first pit stop. This made these three cars the new top three and left cars No. 777 and No. 61 to chase them.

With its superior speed, car No. 777 was able to pass No. 65 on the 39th lap, and it was also able to outrun No. 45 on the 52nd lap to recapture the lead. Car No. 61 was also able to follow suit. However, on the 55th lap, No. 777 suffered a problem with its left rear tire that made it slow down. Fortunately, this trouble occurred at the Panasonic Automotive (last) Corner, so No. 777 was immediately able to return to its pit and change tires, and at the same time it was able to make its second required driver change. Although this caused it to drop to 11th position, it began to move toward the front once again. During this delay for No. 777, No. 61 took the lead. After making its second pit stop on the 69th lap, it started out on its final stint. Here it was followed by car No. 65.

However, now closing in behind No. 65 was the No. 6 UNI-ROBO BLUEGRASS FERRARI, which had made an amazing push to the front after starting the race from 27th position. It was driver Roberto Merhi Muntan who had shown his speed in car No. 6 by moving up to 6th position in the first 20 laps of the race. What’s more, his teammate Yoshiaki Katayama had also moved up to top position in the middle stages before turning the car over to Merhi again for the final stint.

Furthermore, among the top group there was also the No.　2 HYPER WATER INGING GR86 GT (Yuui Tsutsumi/Hibiki Taira/Kazuhisa Urabe) that had held off on making its final pit stop and then gained time by opting for a no-tire-change strategy. This put it effectively in 4th position. Also, with a second strike of tire trouble, that made it take its 2nd pit stop early, car No. 777 was now joined in a battle with cars No. 61, No. 65, No. 2, and No. 6.

Just 11 minutes now remained in the race. The leading car No. 777 now made its third pit stop. Because the previous pit stops had been earlier than hoped for, it didn’t have enough fuel to go all the way, so this allowed car No. 61 to move into the lead. Just as it began to look as if No. 61 was going to get its first win since the 2022 Round 4 at FUJI, halfway through the final lap of the race, its machine began spouting out white smoke. With this, No. 61 pulled off the track and tragically came to a stop.

With this, the lead once again fell into the hands of none other than the 27th position grid starting car No. 6. For the final driver Merhi, the gap of more than 15 seconds between him and cars No. 777 and No. 61 in front looked to make the prospect of catching up too difficult. However, the fact that he didn’t give up may have kept a good amount of pressure on the two cars in front.

After going past the now stopped car No. 61, the No. 6 UNI-ROBO BLUEGRASS FERRARI (Yoshiaki Katayama/Roberto Merhi Muntan) now found itself pushing hard in the lead. Having changed its team name from VELOREX this would be the long-awaited first GT300 win for Katayama and Merhi, after having mounted the podium numerous times but never to the top step.

Finishing the race in 2nd position came the No. 777 D’station Vantage GT3 (Tomonobu Fujii/Charlie Fagg). Finishing the race in 3rd position was the No. 7 CARGUY FERRARI 296 GT3 (Zak O’Sullivan/Rikuto Kobayashi/Keita Sawa), but a 10-sec. penalty for a pit work violation would drop it to 4th place. Instead, 3rd place went to the No. 2 HYPER WATER INGING GR86 GT (Yuui Tsutsumi/Hibiki Taira/Kazuhisa Urabe).

*Note: The No. 2 driver Urabe and the No. 7 driver Sawa did not run in the race, so they receive no series points.