The SUGO GT 300km RACE, Round 6 of the 2018 AUTOBACS SUPER GT series was held on September 16 at Sportsland SUGO (one lap: 3,704 m x 81 laps) in Miyagi Prefecture. In the GT500 class the pole-starting No. 100 RAYBRIG NSX-GT (Naoki Yamamoto/Jenson Button) was victorious. For the former F1 champion Button it was a memorable first GT win. In the GT300 class as well, it was the No. 61 SUBARU BRZ R&D SPORT (Takuto Iguchi/Hideki Yamauchi) starting from pole position that went on to take a perfect win.
It was fair weather on race day at Sportsland SUGO. After the Parade Lap led by five Miyagi Prefectural Police motorcycles and one patrol car and the Formation Lap the race was off and running. The air temperature was 26℃ and the track surface temperature was a hotter-than-expected 37℃, which made matching with the same tires as the previous day’s qualifying a touchy prospect. As Naoki Yamamoto, first driver in the No. 100 RAYBRIG NSX-GT would say later that the tires made it difficult to pick up the pace. However, he was able to hold his position in the lead after a good start. Chasing No. 100 from 2nd position was the No. 12 CALSONIC IMPUL GT-R (Jann Mardenborough), until it was passed by the No. 8 ARTA NSX-GT (Takuya Izawa) on the ninth lap. But No. 12 was able to regain the 2nd spot on the 19th lap. Then, on lap 23, No. 12 succeeded in passing the leader, No. 100. It was at the end of the 27th lap that the No. 1 KeePer TOM'S LC500 (Nick Cassidy) became the first car to make its routine pit stop. That started the other cars making their respective pit stops, with car No. 100 running in 2nd place making its pit stop at the end of the 34th lap. The leading car No. 12 and car No. 8, running in 3rd position, ran on before making their pit stops on the 38th lap.
When the No. 12 CALSONIC IMPUL GT-R (Daiki Sasaki) returned to the race after its pit stop, it had succeeded in entering in front of the No. 100 RAYBRIG NSX-GT (Jenson Button). But since No. 100 had completed it pit stop and tire change four laps earlier, its tires were already warmed up, unlike No. 12, whose tires were still cold on its first lap out of the pit. No. 100 pulled even with No. 12 on the in-side of the Hi-Point Corner and succeeded in passing it to take over the lead again. By the time all the GT500 cars had finished their pit stops, the order was No. 100 in the lead, followed by No. 12 and then the No. 8 ARTA NSX-GT (Tomoki Nojiri). By the last turn of the 45th lap of the race, machine trouble caused No. 12 to over-run the corner and go off the track, which made it fall well behind No. 100, but soon car No. 8 cam up from 3rd place to pass No. 12 on the first turn of lap 57 to move into 2nd place. But car No. 100 now had a lead of over 10 seconds. But on this same lap, while he should have been feeling some relief with such a lead, Button in car No. 100 ran off the track at the last turn while trying to pass a GT300 car. Fortunately he was able to quickly recover, it had been a moment that made all the spectators gasp in anticipation.
As the race entered its final stages, a GT300 car ran off the track at the SP Corner of the 67th lap, bringing out the Yellow Flag for an FRO (fast rescue operation). The cars ran on for a while, but at 3:35 the Safety Car came out to control the race. This erased car No. 100’s big lead all at once. In contrast, it became a fortuitous Safety Car run for car No. 12, which had been struggling to keep pace. When the race was restarted on the 75th lap, car No. 100 maintained its lead, with car No. 8 on its tail in an exciting match-up. Meanwhile, car No. 12 was battling the No. 16 MOTUL MUGEN NSX-GT (Daisuke Nakajima) for 3rd place. In the resulting super-sprint race over the last six laps, car No. 1 (Ryo Hirakawa) ran off the track at the fourth corner of the 77th lap and No. 64 Epson Modulo NSX-GT (Bertrand Baguette) the ran off at the last turn of the 80th lap, resulting in two more points in the race when the Yellow Flag came out and overtakes were temporarily forbidden. This made things difficult for No. 8 in its attempt to pass No. 100.
In the end, the No. 100 RAYBRIG NSX-GT (Naoki Yamamoto/Jenson Button) was first to take the checkered flag and the win, while the No. 8 ARTA NSX-GT (Tomoki Nojiri/Takuya Izawa) came home 2nd to give the Honda NSX-GT a 1-2 finish. The No. 12 CALSONIC IMPUL GT-R (Daiki Sasaki/Jann Mardenborough) successfully held out to take 3rd place. The top finisher among the LEXUS LC500 cars was the No. 38 ZENT CERUMO LC500 (Yuji Tachikawa/Hiroaki Ishiura) in 5th place.
