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Race Report
2021.07.18
Rd. 4 Race GT500: STANLEY NSX-GT Wins from Pole Position! The 2020 Champions celebrate a close-fought but satisfying win with joy

Rd. 4 Race GT500: STANLEY NSX-GT Wins from Pole Position! The 2020 Champions celebrate a close-fought but satisfying win with joyの画像

The MOTEGI GT 300km RACE, Round 4 of the 2021 AUTOBACS SUPER GT series was held on the afternoon of July 18 (Sun) at Twin Rings Motegi (one lap 4,801m x 63 laps) in Tochigi Pref. In the GT500 class, the No. 1 STANLEY NSX-GT (Naoki Yamamoto/Tadasuke Makino) came from behind after giving up the lead once to take its first win of the season. In the GT300 class, the No. 2 muta Racing Lotus MC (Hiroki Kato/ Ryohei Sakaguchi) took its first win as a new team.

 

□Weather:clear | Track:dry | Air/Track temperature: 33℃/51℃ before start; > 34℃/46℃ early stages; > 33℃/45℃ mid-race; > 34℃/49℃ at goal

 

 

■In the early going, WedsSport ADVAN GR Supra takes lead with amazing speed

 On this race day, the true summer blue skies over Twin Rings Motegi showed that the rainy season had ended at last. Under these fair skies the air temperature had climbed to 33℃ by 1:00 in the afternoon, and with the track temperature 51℃, it was clearly going to be mid-summer race conditions.

When the race started, the pole-sitting No. 1 STANLEY NSX-GT (Tadasuke Makino) pulled ahead into the lead. But right on its tail followed the 2nd grid position starter, the No. 19 WedsSport ADVAN GR Supra (Yuji Kunimoto). Following them in the 3rd spot came the 4th-position grid starter, the No. 36 au TOM'S GR Supra (Yuhi Sekiguchi), which had passed the slow-starting No. 16 Red Bull MOTUL MUGEN NSX-GT (Ukyo Sasahara).

With No. 1 clearly in his sights, Kunimoto in car No. 19 made his move to pass No. 1 from the outside at the 130R curve of the seventh lap to take the lead. With its faster pace, No. 19 gradually pulled away from No. 1, building up a nearly 4-sec. lead by the 20th lap. Meanwhile, car No. 36 was closing in on No. 1. In this situation, No. 1 opted for an early routine pit stop on the 24th lap. After this it would be up to the team’s ace driver, Yamamoto Naoki to catch up in the second half.

Seeing this move by No. 1, car No. 19 picked up the pace for four laps before making its routine pit stop. This decision should have giving No. 19 an even bigger lead over No. 1. However, some time was lost in changing the right front tire, making its pit stop nearly five seconds slower than No. 1’s. With this, No. 1 was able to regain the lead.

 

 

 

■A breath-taking battle between Yamamoto in car No. 1 and Miyata in No. 19

 By the time No. 19 was back in the race and had thoroughly warmed up its tires, No. 1 had already built up a lead of more than three seconds, but on this day, car No. 19 clearly had a speed advantage. In No. 19, Miyata recorded the fastest lap of the day on the 36th lap and was closing the gap to car No. 1. With his machine’s speed and his youthful exuberance, No. 19’s Miyata was aiming to retake the lead. Meanwhile, the GT500 champion Yamamoto in car No. 1 used his lines skillfully to block Miyata and try to put increasing wear the No. 19’s tires. For some 20 laps the two battled it out nose to tail.

 

 

 

 In the meantime, a GT300 machine had suffered mechanical trouble and came to a stop, which led to a Full Course Yellow declaration to slow the race. By the time the FCY ended, the No. 8 ARTA NSX-GT (Tomoki Nojiri) had moved up on the tail of the No. 64 Modulo NSX-GT (Hiroki Otsu) running in 5th position. Perhaps due to this pressure, No. 64 collided with a GT300 car on the “Victory Corner” and came to a stop at trackside. Once again this cause an FCY to be enacted.

As the race entered its final stages, the tense battle between No.1 and the No. 19 challenger continued. Behind these two leaders, car No. 36 (Sho Tsuboi) and No. 16 (Toshiki Oyu) were both running alone in 3rd and 4th positions respectively. In 5th position came car No. 8. The winner of the previous round, the No. 17 Astemo NSX-GT (Koudai Tsukakoshi) held 9th position at this point, with the prospect of winning some series points, but on the 48th lap of the race, machine trouble forced No. 17 to return to its pit and finish the race with no points.

 

 

 In the end, Yamamoto was able to hold off Miyata in car No. 19, and over the final seven laps, No. 1 was actually able to pull away and widen its lead. Eventually it was the No. 1 STANLEY NSX-GT (YamamotoNaoki/Tadasuke Makino) that took the checkered flag first and the win. Having played out his cards perfectly according to plan and taken his first pole-to-victory win at Honda’s home track of Motegi, Yamamoto hugged his teammate Makino after getting out of the car and turned to the stands to pump his fist in the air in a show of overwhelming joy.

Finishing the race in 2nd position was the No. 19 WedsSport ADVAN GR Supra (Yuji Kunimoto / Ritomo Miyata), while 3rd position went to the No. 36 au TOM'S GR Supra (Yuhi Sekiguchi/Sho Tsuboi), meaning that just as in the previous round, the podium was occupied by one Honda NSX-GT and two TOYOTA GR Supra GT500s. The top finisher among the NISSAN GT-R NISMO GT500 teams was the No. 3 CRAFTSPORTS MOTUL GT-R (Kohei Hirate/Katsumasa Chiyo), which had qualified in 7th position and finished the race in 6th position.

 

 

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