Round 2 Fuji Speedway : Qualifying GT500

　 The Official Qualifying for the FUJI GT 3 Hours RACE, Round 2 of the 2024 AUTOBACS SUPER GT series, took place on May 3rd (Friday/national holiday) at Fuji Speedway (one lap 4,563 m) in Shizuoka Prefecture. In fine weather with a clear view of Mt. Fuji, the GT500 class Pole Position was won by the No. 17 Astemo CIVIC TYPE R-GT (Koudai Tsukakoshi/Kakunoshin Ohta), giving the CIVIC TYPE R-GT that debuted this season its first pole position. The GT300 class pole was taken by the No. 88 JLOC Lamborghini GT3, and for the drivers Takashi Kogure and Yuya Motojima it was their rewarding first pole in the class. These two cars will start from the front of their respective class grids in tomorrow’s race on May 4th.

　 The 10-minute GT500 class Q1 started at 2:58 in the afternoon. The cars took to the track one after another as soon as the track was opened, but the No. 3 Niterra MOTUL Z (Mitsunori Takaboshi) was one of the last to go out. The No. 64 Modulo CIVIC TYPE R-GT (Riki Okusa) also waited in the pit until there were just six minutes left in the session. Meanwhile, the No. 24 REALIZE CORPORATION ADVAN Z (Teppei Natori) suddenly returned to its pit after just three laps without recording a flying lap. It eventually stayed there until the end of Q1 without returning to the track.

　 On the track, the No. 12 MARELLI IMPUL Z (Bertrand Baguette) recorded a time of 1’27.243 after two warm-up laps, followed by the No. 3 Niterra MOTUL Z (Mitsunori Takaboshi) also with a time of 1’27.134 to better its time from the morning’s Official Practice. However, the fastest car from the Official Practice, the No. 17 Astemo CIVIC TYPE R-GT (Kakunoshin Ohta) was the first of the day to get a time in the 1’26 range, running a top time of 1’26.737 to move into 1st position.

Next, the No. 8 ARTA MUGEN CIVIC TYPE R-GT #8 (Tomoki Nojiri) also ran a time of 1’26.973, followed by the No. 16 ARTA MUGEN CIVIC TYPE R-GT #16 (Hiroki Otsu) with a lap of 1’26.944, marking successive laps in the 1’26 range. The leading Ohta improved further on his time on the next lap with a time of 1’26.709, and car No. 8 also recorded a time of 1’26.825 on its second flying lap.

　 With these results the fastest time in Q1 went to car No. 17, with car No. 8 following in 2nd position and No. 16 in 3rd position, thus giving the Honda CIVIC TYPE R-GT a sweep of the top three places in Q1 in its debut season to surprise the gathered fans at Fuji. Also, two TOYOTA GR Supra GT500 cars, the No. 14 ENEOS X PRIME GR Supra (Nirei Fukuzumi) finishing in 4th position with a time of 1’27.050 and car No. 3 in 5th position with a time of 1’27.134, while the Nissan Z NISMO GT500 cars also followed close behind.

　 Next it was time for the 10-minute Q2 session starting at 3:54 in the afternoon. The No. 16 ARTA MUGEN CIVIC TYPE R-GT #16 (Ren Sato) that had placed 3rd in Q1 suffered a costly spin-out on the first turn. It was able to recover quickly and record a lap of 1’27. 366 on the next lap, but at that time the Yellow Flag was shown on the course, which unfortunately meant that lap time was disqualified.

Next, the No. 8 ARTA MUGEN CIVIC TYPE R-GT #8 (Nobuharu Matsushita) steadily improved on its times with laps of 1’27.969 and 1’27.573, while the No. 3 Niterra MOTUL Z (Atsushi Miyake) turned in a time of 1’27.205 after one warm-up lap to beat those times. Then, the No. 23 MOTUL AUTECH Z (Katsumasa Chiyo) ran a flying lap of 1’27.077 on its second lap to take the top spot in the session, giving the Nissan Z NISMO GT500 cars the top two positions in Q2.

　 However, the No. 17 Astemo CIVIC TYPE R-GT (Koudai Tsukakoshi) that had been fastest in Q1 also managed to record a time of 1’27.222 to move into 3rd position behind the two leaders, while achieving a combined time of 2’53.931 for Q1 and Q2 that was fast enough to put it in the lead. With this, the No.17 Astemo CIVIC TYPE R-GT (Koudai Tsukakoshi/Kakunoshin Ohta) won pole position for Round 2 of the series.

　 For the Astemo REAL RACING and for Tsukakoshi, this was their first pole position since the September of 2019 in Round 7 at SUGO (No.17 KEIHIN NSX-GT), five years earlier, while for Ohta it was his rewarding first-ever pole position in SUPER GT. 　 Finishing the qualifying in 2nd and 3rd positions respectively were the No. 3 Niterra MOTUL Z (Mitsunori Takaboshi/Atsushi Miyake), with a combined time of 2’54.339, and the No. 23 MOTUL AUTECH Z (Katsumasa Chiyo/Ronnie Quintarelli), with a combined time of 2’54.359. The fastest qualifier among the TOYOTA GR Supra GT500 cars was the No. 14 ENEOS X PRIME GR Supra (Kazuya Oshima/Nirei Fukuzumi) in 7th position. As for the winner of the previous round, the No. 36 au TOM'S GR Supra (Sho Tsuboi/Kenta Yamashita), it finished in 14th position, from which it will be aiming for a come-from-behind win in tomorrow’s 3-hour race on the May 4th.