2021.08.22

Rd. 3 RACE GT300：Takanoko-no-yu GR Supra GT take its first win in a brilliant come-from-behind victory!

Round 3 Suzuka Circuit : Race GT300

The FUJIMAKI GROUP SUZUKA GT 300km RACE, Round 3 of the 2021 AUTOBACS SUPER GT series took place at Suzuka Circuit (one lap 5,807m × 52 laps) in Mie Prefecture on the afternoon of August 22 (Sun). In the GT500 class, the No. 23 MOTUL AUTECH GT-R (Tsugio Matsuda/Ronnie Quintarelli) displayed fantastic tactics to take a come-from-behind win, its third straight victory at Suzuka. In the GT300 class race, the No. 244 Takanoko-no-yu GR Supra GT (Atsushi Miyake/Yuui Tsutsumi) got their first win, for the team and the drivers.

 

 

 

 

 

During the 20-minute warm-up session before the start of the race, the right front tire of the No. 18 UPGARAGE NSX GT3 (Takashi Kobayashi/Teppei Natori) came off, causing the car to crash violently at the 130R curve. The driver Natori wasn’t injured but car No. 18 was unable to take part in the race. This reduced the number of GT300 class competitors to 28 and caused a 10-minute delay in the Rd. 3 race at Suzuka to 2:40 in the afternoon.

At the GT300 class start, the pole position No. 61 SUBARU BRZ R&D SPORT (Hideki Yamauchi) went through the first turn in the lead. No. 61 was followed by the 3rd position grid starter, the No. 244 Takanoko-no-yu GR Supra GT (Atsushi Miyake) and the No. 9 PACIFIC NAC CARGUY Ferrari (Kei Cozzolino) that had made a fine dash up from 5th position on the grid. The No. 5 MACHSYAKEN GTNET MC86 MACH GO (Yuya Hiraki) that had started from the 2nd grid spot was dropped back to 4th position by these charges, while the No. 88 JLOC LAMBORGHINI GT3 (Yuya Motojima) followed in 5th. On the fifth lap of the race, the leading GT500 car crashed on the Hitachi Astemo Chicane. This brought a Full Course Yellow (FCY) and then the Safety Car also came out. During the Safety Car run, eight of the GT300 cars back in the middle of the pack made their pit stop and changed tires.

When the race was restarted on the 12th lap of the race, the leading car No. 61 was unable to pick up the pace and soon being hunted down by cars No. 244 and No. 9. At the Dunlop Corner of the13th lap these two cars passed the leading No. 61. With this a battled for the lead ensued between No. 244 and No. 9.

After the 20th lap of the race, the lead group cars began to make their routine pit stops. The No. 5 MACHSYAKEN GTNET MC86 MACH GO that had been running in 4th position made its driver change from the Hiraki brothers Yuya to Reiji, while the team decided to save time by foregoing a tire change. As for the leading No. 244 Takanoko-no-yu GR Supra GT, it made its pit stop at the end of the 24th lap and changed drivers from Miyake to Tsutsumi.

 

 

 

 

Entering the second half of the race, car No. 5 was technically in the lead, but having changed all four tire, car No. 244 had a faster pace and had closed the gap. The two cars battled head-to-tail for 10 laps. And while this duel was going on, car No. 88 (Kogure) caught up to make it a 3-way fight.

Reiji [Hiraki] in car No. 5 was battling hard to take the win, but on the 38th lap, Tsutsumi in car No. 244 finally passed him. Then, on lap 39, car No. 88 also passed No. 5. And now, Taniguchi in the No. 4 GOODSMILE HATSUNE MIKU AMG (Nobuteru Taniguchi/Tatsuya Kataoka) was closing in on No. 5. Perhaps it was this pressure that caused No. 5 to spin out at the Degner Curve on the 43rd lap, thus putting No. 4 in position for a podium finish.

 

 

 

 

Running alone now in the lead, the No. 244 Takanoko-no-yu GR Supra GT suffered a brush-up with a GT500 car that sent it momentarily off the track. Fortunately, however, it was able to quickly recover and return to the race with no difficulties. Tsutsumi managed to hold the lead and take the win, which was the momentous first GT300 victory for both the Max Racing team and the drivers Atsushi Miyake and Yuui Tsutsumi. Finishing 2nd was the No. 88 JLOC LAMBORGHINI GT3 (Takashi Kogure/Yuya Motojima), while 3rd went to the No. 4 GOODSMILE HATSUNE MIKU AMG (Nobuteru Taniguchi/Tatsuya Kataoka), both getting their first podium finish of the season. This Rd. 3 win gave No. 244’s drivers Miyake and Tsutsumi 34 season points to move them to the top of the Drivers standings. As for the No. 56 Realize Nissan Automobile Technical College GT-R (Kiyoto Fujinami/Joao Paulo de Oliveira) that had dropped to 27th place after their mishap in the early going, still showed fine form by battling back to an 8th-place finish despite carrying 72 kg of Success Weight and hold on to 2nd position in the ranking.

 

 

 

 

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