2021.04.02

【Round 1 Preview】 Season opening round back to usual Okayama after 2 years! Who'll claim first 2021 victory?

Round 1 Okayama International Circuit : Preview

The stage of the 2021 AUTOBACS SUPER GT Series season opening round will be moved back to Okayama International Circuit on April 10th (Saturday, Official practice / Qualifying) and 11th (Sunday, Race) as the Takanokono Hotel OKAYAMA GT 300km RACE. Based on the outlook from the pre-season test, the new season can be unpredictably fierce competition once again, and, along with new additions of highly talented young drivers and popular car models this year, it is certainly worthy to the fans to wait for the curtain to rise. Who will claim the first winner of 2021?

 

 

　Last year's season opening race planned for Okayama was canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic. This year's season opening round will be held at Okayama as planned with spectators, and, thus, the fans in west Japan region will have long-awaited SUPER GT series back to in front of their eyes although measures to prevent the spread would be required. Event schedule will also return to the normal 2-day event with the practice and qualifying sessions on Saturday and the race on Sunday.
　This season, the restrictions on the aerodynamics parts have become stricter in both GT500 and GT300 classes. Any aerodynamics development from last year's model is prohibited on the GT500 cars and, therefore, the external appearances have not changed. Teams would need to put more effort in adjusting the car setup at more granular level at every circuit they visit. Similar restriction also exists in the GT300 class which only allows GT300 cars (former JAF-GT300 specification) and GT300MC cars (Mother-chassis: former JAF-GT300MC specification) to have one or two types of aerodynamics parts in a year. Now the flexibility of aerodynamics design of the 3 specifications, including FIA GT3, are at a similar level which would further equalize the GT300 cars in terms of performance.

 

 

 

　Last year's final round turned out to be a dramatic race that would be told for the rest of the motorsports history. Race winner as well as the season champion were decided in a dramatic come-from-behind form triggered by an overtake at the last corner of the last lap. Season opener would be the perfect place to offset the frustration for Ryo Hirakawa who lost in the dramatic battle. He has been racing at Okayama since he was a teenager. 4 podium finishes, including 2 wins, and 2 pole positions in 5 races proves that the track is one of his most successful circuits. Hirakawa is partnering with Sena Sakaguchi for the season opening round in No.37 KeePer TOM'S GR Supra since his teammate of this season Sacha Fenestraz will not be able to make it to Japan. Still, Hirakawa's No.37 car would be a top favorite even if parter changes especially after Sakaguchi showed in his single-race participation with No.39 car last year that he is competitive enough for the GT500 class.
　Other teams of TOYOTA GR Supra GT500 squad, namely No.36 au TOM'S GR Supra (Yuhi Sekiguchi / Sho Tsuboi) and No.39 DENSO KOBELCO SARD GR Supra (Heikki Kovalainen / Yuichi Nakayama), were showing good lap times at the official test in Okayama and they could be a potential top contender.

 

   

 

 

　Last year's GT500 champion Naoki Yamamoto will take on this year's season opening round with newly colored No.1 STANLEY NSX-GT. Since his comrade Tadasuke Makino who grabbed title together is still recuperating from illness, Yamamoto is partnering up with Hideki Mutoh for the Okayama race, but the substitution should not be an issue as Yamamoto and Mutoh have known each other as well as been with NSX-GT for a long time. We can continue to consider No.1 car as the leader of the Honda NSX-GT squad. However, the overall best lap time of the 2-day official test in Okayama was marked by No.16 Red Bull MOTUL MUGEN NSX-GT (Ukyo Sasahara / Toshiki Oyu). Even more, the time was recorded by a GT500 rookie, Oyu. If the 22-year-old and 24-year-old Sasahara can get the momentum going, their driving can be stunning and shocking to others around them. No.8 ARTA NSX-GT (Tomoki Nojiri / Nirei Fukuzumi) and No.17 Astemo NSX-GT (Koudai Tsukakoshi / Bertrand Baguette) are another teams to keep the eyes on since they have been strong at Okayama.

 

   

 

　On the other hand, may be their focus was on setting up the car, but we didn't see any surprising lap times from the NISSAN GT-R NISMO GT500 squad at the official test in Okayama. Nonetheless, they should not be underestimated for the one-two they captured in qualifying when the series visited Okayama last time in 2019, and, also, No.23 MOTUL AUTECH GT-R (Tsugio Matsuda / Ronnie Quintarelli) was second fastest by a mere gap from No.37 car in the afternoon session of Day 2 of the Okayama test, well deserve to be listed as a top candidate. With addition of Matsushita, who is a GT500 rookie but has produced impressive results in open-wheel races in and out of the country, No.12 CALSONIC IMPUL GT-R (Kazuki Hiramine / Nobuharu Matsushita) needs no underrating either.

 

   

 

 

　GT300 class will have the qualifying Q1 divided into 2 groups at all events again this season. For the upcoming season opener, 15 cars of odd-number position in last year's team point standing from the point leader No.56 Realize Nissan Automobile Technical College GT-R will be Group A and 14 cars of even-number position in the ranking from the second position No.52 SAITAMATOYOPET GB GR Supra GT will be Group B.

 

 

　No.87 GRANSEED LAMBORGHINI GT3 (Kosuke Matsuura / Natsu Sakaguchi) looked strong at the official test in Okayama where the team marked the top time. Both drivers are new to the team and it's their first Lamborghini, but the car they drive is definitely interesting to follow on the track at the opening round as they seem to be adapting well already. Last year's second ranker No.52 SAITAMATOYOPET GB GR Supra GT (Hiroki Yoshida / Kohta Kawaai) finished the Day 1 of testing at top overall. GR Supra GT appears to be fast again this year, but there will be two more teams fielding the car this season. These two cars were also showing good lap times at the tests in Okayama and Fuji, so they can become key players in the match. No.61 SUBARU BRZ R&D SPORT (Takuto Iguchi / Hideki Yamauchi) is competing with a new model this season and the car marked a second fastest time at Okayama test while No.31 TOYOTA GR SPORT PRIUS PHV apr GT (Koki Saga / Yuhki Nakayama) was also running at a good pace.

 

   

 

   

 

　Out of the FIA GT3 cars, the most successful at the Okayama track would be Mercedes-AMG GT3. No.65 LEON PYRAMID AMG (Naoya Gamou / Togo Suganami) was a tough title contender once again last season and No.4 GOODSMILE HATSUNE MIKU AMG (Nobuteru Taniguchi / Tatsuya Kataoka) boasts 3 titles in the GT300 class. Of course, we can never take our eyes away from the defending champion No.56 Realize Nissan Automobile Technical College GT-R (Kiyoto Fujinami / Joao Paulo de Oliveira).

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