The 2025-season consisted of 8 rounds is already reaching the midpoint of the second-half after completing the Round 5 Suzuka in August, and the title contention is intensifying even more. Next stop is the AUTOBACS SUPER GT Round 6 SUGO GT 300km RACE. The event will be held at Sportsland SUGO on September 20th (Sat) and 21st (Sun). SUGO has many mid-speed corners and narrow track width, making it prone to accidents especially for SUPER GT where more than 40 race cars run at same time. There is a higher chance for the cars in the upper group of the point standing to get stranded in congestion since many of them are loading heavier success weight (SW) for the round held in later half of the season that even a single trouble can change the entire race. Some say with a straight face that there is a devil at SUGO. History also tells that SUGO races can always become a turning point of the year. The teams in the middle group of the ranking can still hang in the title contention if they can climb on the podium here whereas the upper teams would need to focus on picking as many points as possible. Competition can escalate at every location of Round 6 SUGO as teams and drivers will be fighting hard for even one point to stay eligible for the title.
※Above photo is from 2024 Round 6 SUGO.
■Sportsland SUGO information ◎Track details Length: 3,586m Width: 10 to 12.5m Elevation difference:69m
◎Track records GT500 1’09.413 Toshiki Oyu / No. 8 ARTA MUGEN NSX-GT 2023 Round 6 Qualifying – Q2 (September 16)
GT300 1’16.834 Hideki Yamauchi / SUBARU BRX R&D SPORT 2019 Round 7 Qualifying – Q2 (September 21)
■Top ranked GR Supra squad playing safe for securing title!? Top or nothing for No.37 and 19 cars?!
The GR Supra squad lost for the first time of this season at the previous race of Round 5 Suzuka. Nonetheless, the squad’s dominance is spanning from the top with No.1 au TOM’S GR Supra (Sho Tsuboi / Kenta Yamashita) to the fourth position in the point ranking. No.1 car as well as No.14 ENEOS X PRIME GR Supra (Kazuya Oshima / Nirei Fukuzumi) and No.38 KeePer CERUMO GR Supra (Hiroaki Ishiura / Toshiki Oyu), second and third positions, respectively, would rather want to target points than the win or podium since they are having SW (success weight) above 86kg and the fuel flow restrictor narrowed to level 3 or 4. No.14 car, though, could be looking for a chance to win because they have not won a race yet this season. No.37 Deloitte TOM’S GR Supra (Ukyo Sasahara / Giuliano Alesi) ranked fourth should be hoping for their second win of the season at SUGO where they won last year. They nailed a come-from-behind win at last year’s SUGO race after qualifying in 14th, by benefiting from wet race. However, the team could not add up enough points in next 3 rounds from there and allowed No.36 car (No.1 car of this season) to get away in the championship. This year, they would want to stack up points in the SUGO and beyond races so they can be square with No.1 car at the final race of the season. They must aim for the victory or a podium finish at least for that. If to pick up another car out of the GR Supra squad, it would be No.19 WedsSport ADVAN GR Supra (Yuji Kunimoto / Sena Sakaguchi). Although the GR Supra squad occupied the first and second positions at the SUGO race last season, they only have been on the podium in 4 races (7 cars) out of 8 races in the past, thus, SUGO is not exactly a favorable circuit to them. Nonetheless, this would be a great opportunity for No.19 loading only 23kg of SW and carrying good momentum of the GR Supra squad.
■Expectation is high for No.8 and 17 cars for clinching first SUGO win for CIVIC TYPE R-GT!
With the cornering speed being a critical factor on the track of SUGO, the Honda fleet was enjoying success during their NSX-GT era, but CIVIC TYPE R-GT debuted last year, contrarily to the benefit it gains from its speed on straightaways, has been having a hard time on a circuit like SUGO. Their engineering team has worked on the car so it can maintain the speed on technical circuits this season, so they would want to prove their hard work with the final classification of the race. Strategies and ability to make right decisions are required from all teams under the umbrella to make it happen, especially when SUGO being an accident-prone circuit. In that sense, expectation should be put on No.100 STANLEY CIVIC TYPE R-GT (Naoki Yamamoto / Tadasuke Makino) ranked highest among the Honda fleet at eighth, but the team may want to put more focus on trying to surely add points at upcoming Round 6 so to be in a better position for the last two races. Attention, then, should be poured on No.8 ARTA MUGEN CIVIC TYPE R-GT #8(Tomoki Nojiri / Nobuharu Matsushita). Their SW is at 43kg against 54kg of No.100 car. The difference is only 11kg, but, actually, No.100 has its fuel flow restrictor narrowed for having SW over 51kg while No.8 doesn’t. It depends on the setup, but No.8 car could be having unexpected advantages at SUGO that has up and down slopes in the circuit layout. Fans are hoping for the team to win again this season but with CIVIC TYPE R-GT this time. No.17 Astemo CIVIC TYPE R-GT (Koudai Tsukakoshi / Syun Koide) and No.16 ARTA MUGEN CIVIC TYPE R-GT #16 are also bearing expectations because of their light SW. Tsukakoshi in No.17 car would want to grab a win again at memorable SUGO where he engraved his first win in 2010.
■Nissan’s recent success at SUGO is just prominent! Need to keep eyes on former SUGO winners No.3 and 24 with light SW.
There was a time when victory turned its back to Nissan race cars at SUGO, referred as ‘bad luck place for Nissan’ by many, however, the squad appears to have overcome that in recent 6 races, 4 wins (2019, ’21 to ’22*) including 3 consecutive wins and 6-straight podiums, and SUGO is no longer unfavorable. No.3 car’s success is especially prominent among the fleet, scoring 2 wins, although the team organization was different, thus, No.3 Niterra MOTUL Z (Daiki Sasaki / Atsushi Miyake) of this year can also bear expectations, especially on Sasaki who has won the race in 2016 in No.24 car which was realized by Sasaki’s hard push in the first half of the race and the team’s no tire change strategy paying off after starting from the ninth position on the grid. With a light SW at 34kg and by utilizing Miyake, who has been showing a great development as a driver recently, and the data from the win at previous race by sister team No.23 MOTUL AUTECH Z (Katsumasa Chiyo / Mitsunori Takaboshi), No.3 car could be competing strongly for an upper position from the qualifying. Looking across the teams with light SW, No.24 Realize Corporation ADVAN Z (Tsugio Matsuda / Teppei Natori) enjoys the advantage of only 1kg, in addition to Matsuda’s outstanding record from his time with No.23 car, four podium-finishes at SUGO. Fans must be keen to see the team fight as one team including Yokohama Tire to bring in its first victory since 2022, like how Team Manager Masahiko Kondo’s strategy led No.24 to victory in 2016. *Event was canceled in 2020 due to COVID-19 pandemic.
■Ferrari, GR86, GT-R are firm candidates for SUGO, No.666 if rains.
Last year’s Round 6 SUGO, No.65 LEON PYRAMID AMG claimed victory in difficult track conditions with continuous off and on of rain. History tells that Mercedes AMG GT3 and SUBARU BRZ GT300 are prominently strong on SUGO track, sharing a tie most-win record of 3 wins, and the SUBARU race car itself holds the highest number of pole positions in qualifying, 5 times. Then, the attention should be focused on No.65 car (Naoya Gamou / Togo Suganami) and No.61 SUBARU BRZ R&D SPORT (Takuto Iguchi / Hideki Yamauchi), but they are burdened with pretty heavy success weight (SW) of 100kg and 88kg, respectively, hence, they might just settle for targeting top 10 to gain as many points as possible, just like other cars with a large SW, No.777 D’station Vantage GT3 (Tomonobu Fujii / Charlie Fagg), No.2 HYPER WATER INGING GR86 GT (Yuui Tsutsumi / Hibiki Taira), No.4 GOODSMILE HATSUNE MIKU AMG (Nobuteru Taniguchi / Tatsuya Kataoka), and previous Suzuka winner No.7 CARGUY FERRARI 296 GT3 (Zak O Sullivan / Rikuto Kobayashi). Of course, if the race becomes rough with bad weather, then seeing these teams in the upper group of ranking on the podium is very possible. Other than aforementioned Mercedes AMG GT3 and SUBARU BRZ GT300, the car models that could be seen engaged in victorious battle would be TOYOTA GR86, Ferrari 296 GT3, or NISSAN GT-R NISMO GT3. Considering the desirable SW would be below 70kg, the first name on the list is No.45 PONOS FERRARI 296 (Kei Cozzolino / Takuro Shinohara) that crossed the finish line at second after leading the race for a while at last year’s event. With the addition of Shinohara who has SUPER GT winning experience, the team is certainly a candidate for the win. Out of GR86, No.2 car boasts a record of winning in 2022, but its SW is bit heavy. If that is the case, we have No.20 SHADE RACING GR86 GT (Katsuyuki Hiranaka / Eijiro Shimizu). The car was the runner-up in 2023 and captured the number one spot on the starting grid last year by clocking the fastest lap time in the practice session, which was equivalent to a pole position based on the rule applied for the cancellation of qualifying. The possibility for win is there for the team especially when SW is still at 0kg this season, partly due to some unfortunate incidents. No.56 REALIZE NISSAN MECHANIC CHALLENGE GT-R (Joao Paulo de Oliveira / Kohei Hirate) is undeniably the leading force of GT-R. They may not be able to cruise at the top position due to their heavy SW of 89kg, but they are still tough to beat for the podium. Rain has always been a part of SUGO events, the race was held in rain in 2022 as well as last year, so this year could be no different and can become chaotic if it rains. On a track with steep ups and downs plus wet surface, the race cars having good traction should have advantage. No.666 seven x seven PORSCHE GT3R (Tsubasa Kondo / Harry King) fielding a Porsche GT3R meets the criteria. Both Kondo and King are champions of Porsche Cup of Japan and UK, so they may see their first victory if the conditions become favorable to Porsche.
