The FUJIMAKI GROUP SUZUKA GT 300km RACE, Round 3 of the 2021 AUTOBACS SUPER GT series took place at Suzuka Circuit (one lap 5,807m × 52 laps) in Mie Prefecture on the afternoon of August 22 (Sun). In the GT500 class, the No. 23 MOTUL AUTECH GT-R (Tsugio Matsuda/Ronnie Quintarelli) displayed fantastic tactics to take a come-from-behind win, its third straight victory at Suzuka. In the GT300 class race, the No. 244 Takanoko-no-yu GR Supra GT (Atsushi Miyake/Yuui Tsutsumi) got their first win, for the team and the drivers.
Unlike the previous day’s qualifying that saw drizzling rain fall off and on, race day at Suzuka dawned with patches of blue sky overhead and the air temperature after noon rose to 30℃, as the usual summer heat returned. The warm-up session before the start of the 52-lap Rd. 3 race saw a big crash by one of the GT300 cars that required some clean-up of the track that delayed the start by 10 minutes to 2:40 in the afternoon. In the GT500 class, the pole-sitting No. 64 Modulo NSX-GT (Takuya Izawa) got off to a good start to enter the first corner in the lead. It was followed by the 2nd-position starter, the No. 16 Red Bull MOTUL MUGEN NSX-GT (Toshiki Oyu), giving the Honda NSX-GT cars a 1-2 lead. These two were chased by the 3rd position starter, the No. 23 MOTUL AUTECH GT-R (Ronnie Quintarelli).
But entering the Hitachi Astemo Chicane on the fifth lap of the race, car No. 64 was struck by brake trouble and the machine ran into the urethane barrier. Izawa was unhurt, but the rear tire of No. 64 was beyond repair. This accident brought on a Full Course Yellow (FCY) and eventually the Safety Car was called out. When the race restarted on the 12th lap, it was car No. 16 that was in the lead. Chasing it now was not only car No. 23, but a total of three NISSAN GT-R NISMO GT500 cars, including the No. 3 CRAFTSPORTS MOTUL GT-R (Katsumasa Chiyo) and the No. 24 Realize corporation ADVAN GT-R (Daiki Sasaki). Aiming to be the first to complete their routine pit stop, the No. 12 CALSONIC IMPUL GT-R (Matsushita) and No. 1 STANLEY NSX-GT (Tadasuke Makino) headed back to the pit after the 18th lap of the race. They were followed by car No. 16 on the 24th lap and cars No. 23 and No. 24 on the 25th lap. By the time all 14 cars had completed their pit stops, car No. 3 (Hirate) was in the lead and No. 12 (Hiramine) was in 2nd place. Behind them had been car No. 16 (Oyu), but it was passed by car No. 23 (Matsuda) to give the top three places to NISSAN GT-R NISMO GT500 cars.
The second half of the race became a contest between the GT-R cars, but it was Matsuda in car No. 23 who moved ahead with the fastest pace. First he passed No. 12 on the 31st lap, and then he closed the gap of more than four sec. to car No. 3 lap by lap. By the end of the 37th lap, Matsuda was closing in on the tail of the leading No. 3, and on the main straight of the 41st lap the two cars were head-to-tail. At the NISSIN Brake Hairpin, Matsuda edged his car No. 23 into the inside alongside No. 3. After grabbing the lead, No. 23 continued on at pace and pulled away from No. 3. After that, car No. 24 (Takaboshi) moved up into 3rd position, keeping the GT-Rs’ hold on the top three. Car No. 12, which had gained ground among the leader by making its tire change early, now began to lose ground, and moving up in its place were two TOYOTA GR Supra GT500 cars that had started the race in the 11th and 12th grid positions, car No. 1 (Yamamoto) and the No. 36 au TOM'S GR Supra (Sho Tsuboi). However, in the final stages of the race they were unable to close the gap on car No. 24 running in 3rd place. Early in those final stages, light rain had begun to fall, but not enough to make any difference in the track surface condition. Thus, the 52-lap race ended on a dry track.
The victory went to the No. 23 MOTUL AUTECH GT-R (Tsugio Matsuda/Ronnie Quintarelli), which had also won two rounds of the previous year at Suzuka, thus making them the first team in GT500 history to win three straight races at the same track with the same [driver] team. With this, Matsuda extended his record for most GT500 class wins to 23. Finishing 2nd was the No. 3 CRAFTSPORTS MOTUL GT-R (Kohei Hirate/Katsumasa Chiyo), while 3rd went to the No. 24 Realize corporation ADVAN GT-R (Mitsunori Takaboshi/Daiki Sasaki), thus giving the GT-R its first sweep of the podium since Rd. 3 at AUTOPOLIS in the 2014 season. Finishing 4th was the winner of the previous round, the No. 1 STANLEY NSX-GT (Naoki Yamamoto/Tadasuke Makino), which moved Yamamoto to the top of the Drivers ranking. Finishing in 5th place was the No. 36 au TOM'S GR Supra (Yuhi Sekiguchi/Sho Tsuboi).
