SUPER GT 2025 SERIES

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Rd. 6 Qualifying Flash Day: The Official Qualifying had to be cancelled due to the bad weather at the time. The front positions for the two classes were allotted to the KeePer CERUMO GR Supra and the SHADE RACING GR86 GT.

Rd. 6 Qualifying Flash Day: The Official Qualifying had to be cancelled due to the bad weather at the time. The front positions for the two classes were allotted to the KeePer CERUMO GR Supra and the SHADE RACING GR86 GT.

Round 6 Sportsland SUGO : Qualifying Day

 

 The official qualifying for the “SUGO GT 300km RACE,” Round 6 of the 2024 AUTOBACS SUPER GT series, was scheduled to be held at Sportsland SUGO circuit (one lap 3,586 m) in Miyagi Prefecture on September 21, but due to the bad weather at the time, the qualifying had to be cancelled. As a result, it was decided that the front position on the GT500 class starting grid would go to the No. 38 KeePer CERUMO GR Supra (Hiroaki Ishiura / Toshiki Oyu) and on the GT300 class grid to the No. 20 SHADE RAXING GR86 GT (Katsuyuki Hiranaka / Eijiro Shimizu) for the race on the 22nd.

In the town of Murata town where Sportsland SUGO is located, rain was falling from the morning hours. Initially, the Official Qualifying was scheduled to start at 2:45 in the afternoon, but by that time the amount of rain had not decreased. While waiting for the rain to let up, the start of the qualifying was postponed twice, at 2:55 and 3:05. But when it was seen that no letup in the rain could be expected, a meeting was held between the race organizers and the team managers, and it was decided to cancel the qualifying for this round.

As for the starting grid positions for the race on the 22nd. The best times from the participants in the morning’s official practice on the 21st were used to decide the positions. This meant that for the GT500 class, the No. 38 KeePer CERUMO GR Supra (Hiroaki Ishiura / Toshiki Oyu) would be given the front position on the grid. However, it was also decided that no series points (for drivers only) for the top positions on the starting grid would be given for this round.

The remaining top grid positions from 2nd to 4th positions went to the No. 14 ENEOS X PRIME GR Supra (Kazuya Oshima / Nirei Fukuzumi), the No. 19 WedsSport ADVAN GR Supra (Yuji Kunimoto / Sena Sakaguchi) and the No.3 6 au TOM'S GR Supra (Sho Tsuboi / Kenta Yamashita), meaning that the two front rows of the grid would be filled by TOYOTA GR Supra GT500 cars. The top place for the Nissan Z NISMO GT500 cars went to the No. 12 MARELLI IMPUL Z (Kazuki Hiramine / Bertrand Baguette) in 5th position on the grid. For the Honda CIVIC TYPE R-GT cars, the No. 64 Modulo CIVIC TYPE R-GT (Takuya Izawa / Riki Okusa) took top position in 6th place.

For the GT300 class, the front position on the class grid went to the No. 64 Modulo CIVIC TYPE R-GT (Takuya Izawa / Riki Okusa). Following this, 2nd to 4th positions went to the No. 61 SUBARU BRZ R&D SPORT (Takuto Iguchi / Hideki Yamauchi), the No. 777 D'station Vantage GT3 (Tomonobu Fujii / Charlie Fagg) and the No. 7 Studie BMW M4 (Seiji Ara / Niklas Krütten).

 

 

 

 

Top finisher in the GT500 Official Practice

 

GT500 Class

No.38 KeePer CERUMO GR Supra
Toshiki Oyu
“From the results of the initial laps, we made repeated adjustments in the settings, but I couldn’t say that we were satisfied with the results of the adjustments that had been made. Given the circumstances, to begin with we considered the possibility that we would be able to continue running (because the rain was getting worse), so we knew that we should try to get fast times as soon as possible. Although the conditions were not the best, I felt that the adjustments we had made had some positive affect. When I ran my time, the amount of rain wasn’t all that bad, so it was a good chance for me to get the best time. But as the rain got heavier, the conditions made it quite hard to run. It was not only the tires but there was also the effect on the minimum ground clearance, which meant that it increased the chance of the car losing its grip on the road, which also made things difficult. Although we were able to make some good adjustments with the tires, because of today’s temperature, I have to admit that it wasn’t good enough. To sum it up, I think the top time we got was a result of the adjustments that were possible in these conditions by the drivers, the team and with the car.”

 

 

Top finisher in the GT300 Official Practice

 

GT300 Class

No.20 SHADE RACING GR86 GT
Katsuyuki Hiranaka
「“When we ran tests here at Sportsland SUGO, it was also in wet conditions, and at that time things went well, so it gave me a lot of confidence. Watching the weather reports this time, I thought that if it was a level of rain that made it possible to run, I was confident that we could compete well. And since there were times when I was able to run in this official practice, I was glad for it. Since we knew that if the official qualifying had to be cancelled, the times from the official practice would determine the qualifying positions, so I was pushing hard from the very beginning of the session. Although we also wanted to work on the machine’s setup, we didn’t know what would happen with the rain, but the feeling wasn’t bad, so I kept running.”

AUTOBACS
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