2020.07.19

KeePer TOM'S GR Supra Runs from Pole Position to Victory! GR Supra GT500 sweeps top five places in its debut race

The Takanokono Hotel FUJI GT 300km RACE, round 1 of the 2020 AUTOBACS SUPER GT series was held on the afternoon of July 19 at Fuji Speedway (one lap 4,563m × 66 laps). That rain that had been reared never fell and the opening round of the 2020 season was held under fair skies. In the GT500 class, the No. 37 KeePer TOM'S GR Supra (Ryo Hirakawa/Nick Cassidy) started from pole position and ran on to win unchallenged. This was a victory for the GR Supra GT500 in its debut race. In the GT300 class as well, victory went to the GR Supra-based car No. 52 SAITAMATOYOPETGB GR Supra GT (Hiroki Yoshida/Kohta Kawaai) for the team’s first win ever.

 

 

 

　Starting from pole position, Cassidy in the 37 KeePer TOM'S GR Supra (Ryo Hirakawa/Nick Cassidy) moved into the early lead followed by 2nd position grid starter, Fukuzumi in the 8 ARTA NSX-GT (Tomoki Nojiri/Nirei Fukuzumi). Behind it in 3rd position came Fenestraz in the No. 36 au TOM'S GR Supra (Yuhi Sekiguchi/Sacha Fenestraz) and then Yamamoto in the No. 100 RAYBRIG　NSX-GT (Naoki Yamamoto/Tadasuke Makino). After fierce battling through the TRG (1st) Corner, it was No. 100 that emerged in 3rd position.

　Meanwhile, near the end of the GT500 class pack, an accident occurred when Sasaki in the No. 12 CALSONIC IMPUL GT-R (Daiki Sasaki/Kazuki Hiramine) and Izawa in the No. 64 Modulo NSX-GT (Takuya Izawa/Hiroki Otsu) collided in the 100R curve.　Car No. 12 ran off the track with severe damage to its rear body. Sasaki got out of the car and left it as it was. As for car No. 64, it was able to run on, but damage to its left front end forced Izawa to head straight to the pit for repairs. When it finally returned to the race, No. 64 was now three laps behind the pack. This accident caused the Safety Car to be brought out on the second lap and it remained in control of the race until car No. 12 had been cleared at the end of the fifth lap. Thus, the race was resumed from lap six.

 

 

　After the restart, the GT500 rookie Fukuzumi in car No. 8 pulled up alongside car No. 37 on the outside in the TRG Corner, but the former champion Cassidy in car No. 37 wouldn’t give an inch, and gradually began to pull away from the pack until he had built up a 9-second lead by the 20th lap. Meanwhile, car No. 8 was unable to pick up the pace and was passed in succession by cars No. 100 and No. 36 at the TRG Corner of lap 12, and next it allowed Tachikawa in car No. 38 ZENT GR Supra (Yuji Tachikawa/Hiroaki Ishiura) to get past it as well, thus dropping to 5th position. On the 25th lap No. 8 made its routine pit stop and changed drivers to Nojiri.

　On the 23rd lap a battle for 2nd place developed. The GT500 rookie Fenestraz in car No.　36 pulled up alongside former champion Yamamoto in car No. 100 from the outside at the TRG Corner. Going into the following Coca-Cola Corner, Fenestraz succeeded in passing Yamamoto to move into 2nd place. Car No. 36 then made its pit stop on the 29th lap and changed drivers to Yuhi Sekiguchi. Car No. 100 also made its pit stop on the 30th lap, turning over the wheel to Tadasuke Makino.

 

 

The leading car No. 37 made its routine pit stop on the 31st lap. The driver change was made from Cassidy to Hirakawa and it returned to the race tentatively in 3rd position. No. 37 would resume leading the race when the two cars that had not yet pitted, the No. 3 CRAFTSPORTS MOTUL GT-R (Kohei Hirate/Katsumasa Chiyo) driven by Hirate and the No. 19 WedsSport ADVAN GR Supra (Yuji Kunimoto), made their pit stops. At this point, No. 37’s lead over car No. 36 (Yuhi Sekiguchi) in 2nd place was a large 18.8 seconds.

　It appeared then to be clear sailing in the lead for No. 37, but then Matsuda in the No.　23 MOTUL AUTECH GT-R　(Tsugio Matsuda/Ronnie Quintarelli), who was running in 8th position, collided with a GT300 car in the 13th turn. This caused car No. 360 to spin out and come to a stop on the track, which brought out the Safety Car for a second time on the 38th lap. This immediately erased the lead built up by No. 37 to virtually nothing.

　The SC left the track on the 42nd lap and the race restarted from lap 43. Now chasing the leader Hirakawa in car No. 37 was Sekiguchi in car No. 36 just one second behind in close and tense proximity. Behind these two leaders, Tsuboi in the No. 14 WAKO'S 4CR GR Supra (Kazuya Oshima/Sho Tsuboi) appeared to be closing fast. On the last corner of the 49th lap, Tsuboi moved past car No. 38 (Ishiura) on the inside to take 4th position, and then on the home straight at the end of the 50th lap he passed car No. 100 (Makino) to move into 3rd place. On the 51st lap, Ishiura in car No. 38 passed car No. 100 at the Coca-Cola Corner to move up to 4th place. Then Yamashita in the No. 39 DENSO KOBELCO SARD GR Supra (Yuichi Nakayama/Kenta Yamashita) also passed No. 100 on the first turn of the 63rd lap. This meant that in the closing stages of the race all of the top five cars were now GR Supra GT500s.

 

 

　From around the 50th lap, the leading car No. 37 began to gradually pull away from car No. 36 in 2nd place, and by the end 60th lap the lead had opened to 5 seconds. From there on, Hirakawa kept the field at a distance and ran on unchallenged to victory at the end of the 66th lap. This gave the No. 37 KeePer TOM'S GR Supra (Ryo Hirakawa/Nick Cassidy) a perfect win from pole position in the opening round of the 2020 season.

　Meanwhile, car No. 36 (Sekiguchi) running in 2nd place through the final stages was facing a challenge from Tsuboi in car No. 14. On the 64th lap the gap between the two cars was down to no more than 0.6 sec. Nonetheless, Sekiguchi managed to block every attempt by Tsuboi to get past him all the way to the checkered flag. Thus the No. 36 au TOM'S GR Supra (Yuhi Sekiguchi/Sacha Fenestraz) finished the race in 2nd place. For TEAM TOM'S this was their first 1-2 finish since Round 3 of last year at Suzuka. And the high level of overall strength of the new GR Supra GT500 was clearly shown by its sweep of the top five places in its debut race.

　Among the Honda NSX GT teams that had shown dominance both in the Official Practice and the Qualifying, the highest finisher was the No. 100 RAYBRIG NSX-GT (Naoki Yamamoto/Tadasuke Makino) in 6th place. Seventh place went to the No. 3 CRAFTSPORTS MOTUL GT-R (Kohei Hirate/Katsumasa Chiyo), which was the best finish among the NISSAN GT-R NISMO GT500 cars.

 

 

 

 

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