2021.09.12

Rd. 3 Race GT300: SUBARU BRZ R&D SPORT shows its consistent speed by winning from pole position!

The SUGO GT 300km RACE, Round 5 of the 2021 AUTOBACS SUPER GT series, was held at Sportsland SUGO circuit (one lap: 3.704 km x 84 laps) in Miyagi Prefecture on the afternoon of September 12 (Sun.). In the GT500 class, the winner was the No. 12 CALSONIC IMPUL GT-R driven by Kazuki Hiramine and Nobuharu Matsushita, taking their first GT500 class race win since 2016. In the GT300 class, after taking their third pole position of the season, the No. 61 SUBARU BRZ R&D SPORT (Takuto Iguchi/Hideki Yamauchi) went on to take their first win in three years.

 

 

 

 

Taking a clear lead in the opening lap was Takuto Iguchi in the pole-starting No. 61 SUBARU BRZ R&D SPORT. Meanwhile, the No. 55 ARTA NSX GT3 (Shinichi Takagi) jumped up rapidly from 5th position on the starting grid. Putting pressure on the 3rd-position starter, the No. 60 SYNTIUM LMcorsa GR Supra GT (Hiroki Yoshimoto), No. 55 finally overtook No. 60 on the third lap. Not stopping there, Takagi next set his sights on the No. 18 UPGARAGE NSX GT3 (Takashi Kobayashi) running in 2nd position and on the 20th lap of the race he managed to overtake it as well to move into 2nd place.

While the cars from 2nd downward engaged in heated competition, the leading car No. 61 built up a roughly 5-sec. lead by the 19th lap. But soon, after breaking free in 2nd position, car No. 55 began to close the gap on the leader, and by the 30th lap that margin was down to the 1-sec. range.

Reaching the point in the race where routine pit stops could be made, the first to return to its pit was the No. 4 GOODSMILE HATSUNE MIKU AMG (Tatsuya Kataoka). The leading car No. 61 made its pit stop on the 37th lap. Around that time, most of the leading cars in the GT300 class were making their pit stops one after another.

While some GT300 cars held off on their routine pit stops until as late as the 40th lap, remaining in the with their exception was the No. 61 SUBARU BRZ R&D SPORT. Following the leader in 2nd position came the No. 55 ARTA NSX GT3, while car No. 4, which had made an early pit stop and changed only it two left tires to save time, had by now risen to 3rd position.

 

 

 

Just as the leading GT500 cars were entering the 47th lap of the race, one of the GT500 class cars came to a stop and caught on fire at the exit to the last turn. This brought out the Safety Car.

With this, most of the margin that the leaders had built up was nearly erased. When the race was resumed from 53rd lap of the race overall, the No. 61 SUBARU BRZ R&D SPORT still led the GT300 race, but the No. 55 ARTA NSX GT3 was now close on its tail. The two cars bumped each other lightly on the straight, but No. 61 SUBARU BRZ R&D SPORT (Hideki Yamauchi) managed to hold its lead position. After that, No. 61 would gradually pull away and rebuild its lead again.

Another upset in the tumultuous second half struck the GT300 leaders this time. The No. 4 GOODSMILE HATSUNE MIKU AMG (Nobuteru Taniguchi) running in 3rd position suffered a puncture in its left front tire, causing it to lose ground drastically. This left the No. 60 SYNTIUM LMcorsa GR Supra GT (Shunsuke Kohno) in 3rd position, but it eventually got caught up in another car’s accident and fell back to 6th position as a result. Taking over 3rd position after this was the No. 56 Realize Nissan Automobile Technical College GT-R (Joao Paulo de Oliveira), which had steadily worked up from 10th position at the start of the race.

 

 

As the leading car No. 61 continued to build its lead over car No. 55 in 2nd position, that margin had reached approximately 10 seconds by the 65th lap of the race. Yamauchi was able to race on from there without giving up that lead all the way to the end of the race. With this, the team was finally able to make good on their third pole position of the season. For the No. 61 SUBARU BRZ R&D SPORT team, this was their first win since Round 6 at SUGO in September of 2018. This win also propelled the two drivers Iguchi and Yamauchi to the top of the Drivers ranking.

Behind them, the No. 55 ARTA NSX GT3 (Shinichi Takagi/Ren Sato) held on to take 2nd place. Despite carrying a heavy load of 81 kg in Success Weight, the No. 56 Realize Nissan Automobile Technical College GT-R (Kiyoto Fujinami/Joao Paulo de Oliveira) had narrowed the gap on car No. 55 but fell short in the end. With its podium finish in 3rd place, however, the team was able to return to 2nd position in the Drivers ranking.

 

 

 

Page Top