2021.10.23

Rd. 6 Qualifying GT500: No. 16 Red Bull MOTUL MUGEN NSX-GT fastest in both Q1 and Q2, as Sasahara takes first pole position of the season! Oyu sets course record in Q1

The official qualifying for the AUTOPOLIS GT 300 km RACE, Round 6 of the 2021 AUTOBACS SUPER GT series, was held at the AUTOPOLIS circuit (lap = 4.674 km) in Oita Pref. on the afternoon of October 23 (Sat.). In the GT500 class, the No. 16 Red Bull MOTUL MUGEN NSX-GT (Ukyo Sasahara/Toshiki Oyu) won pole position driven by Sasahara in his first-ever pole win. In the GT300 class, the pole position went to the No. 31 TOYOTA GR SPORT PRIUS PHV apr GT (Koki Saga/Yuhki Nakayama) for the first time since Round 3 of last year driven by Saga.

 

 

 

　In 2020, an Autopolis round couldn’t be held due to the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic, making this the first SUPER GT series round at Autopolis circuit in two years. The qualifying day brought clear skies at the circuit for a perfect day for viewing the competition. Being the latter half of October, however, the air temperature stayed a chilly 14℃ even after 1:00 in the afternoon.

The GT500 class qualifying’s 10-minute Q1 session started at 14:28 in the afternoon. The No. 17 Astemo NSX-GT (Koudai Tsukakoshi) was the first to take to the track, to be followed gradually by the other cars beginning about a minute later. With six minutes remaining in the session, the No. 14 ENEOS X PRIME GR Supra (Kenta Yamashita), No. 38 ZENT CERUMO GR Supra (Hiroaki Ishiura) and finally the No. 39 DENSO KOBELCO SARD GR Supra (Yuichi Nakayama) entered the track. These three cars made their second timed lap their target lap, while the 11 other cars made it their third lap.

As the machines began their flying laps with just under two minutes remaining in the session, the average lap times dropped from around 1’ 37 down to the 1’32 range. Showing outstanding speed at this point by breaking the course record (1’31.441) was the No. 64 Modulo NSX-GT (Hiroki Otsu) with a lap of 1’31.438 to take the lead.
After that, the No. 16 Red Bull MOTUL MUGEN NSX-GT (Toshik Oyu) bettered No. 64’s new course record with an even faster time of 1’ 31.389. This gave the NSX-GT cars a 1-2 finish in Q1. During the checkered flag lap, the No. 14 ENEOS X PRIME GR Supra　(Kenta Yamashita) moved into 3rd position with a lap of 1’31.985, while 4th and 5th positions went to the No. 8 ARTA NSX-GT (Nirei Fukuzumi) and No. 39 DENSO KOBELCO SARD GR Supra (Yuichi Nakayama). The fastest NISSAN GT-R NISMO GT500 in Q1 was the No. 23 MOTUL AUTECH GT-R (Tsugio Matsuda), finishing in 6th position to move the team on to Q2.

As for the leader in the Driver standings, the No. 1 STANLEY NSX-GT (Naoki Yamamoto), a heavy load of 100 kg in Success Weight was surely part of the reason for a disappointing showing of 13th position, which kept it out of Q2. The previous round’s winner, the No. 12 CALSONIC IMPUL GT-R (Nobuharu Matsushita), also failed to move on to Q2 by finishing in 11th position in Q1.

 

 

 

　The Q2 session for the top eight qualifiers from Q1 began at 3:06 in the afternoon. This session was also run for 10 minutes. Again, it was the No. 17 Astemo NSX-GT (Bertrand Baguette) that took to the track first, to be followed in turn by the other seven cars. The last to enter the course were the No. 14ENEOS X PRIME GR Supra (Kazuya Oshima) and the No. 39 DENSO KOBELCO SARD GR Supra (Heikki Kovalainen). By this time the air temperature had dropped slightly to 13℃.

With one minute of running time in the session remaining, the cars began their serious time attacks. As in Q1, the first to set top times were the NSX-GT cars. First to top the time board was the No. 8 ARTA NSX-GT (Tomoki Nojiri) with a time of 1’32.128. Immediately after that, the No. 64 Modulo NSX-GT (Takuya Izawa) bettered No. 8’s time with a lap of 1’32.068. Then it was the No. 16 Red Bull MOTUL MUGEN NSX-GT (Ukyo Sasahara) that raised the bar further with a time of 1’31.770. Although this time didn’t beat the record set by Oyu in Q1, it was No. 16 that ended the session with the top time.

 

 

　With this, it was looking as if the NSX-GT cars would sweep the top three qualifying position, but at the very end of the session the No. 14 ENEOS X PRIME GR Supra (Kazuya Oshima) recorded a lap of 1’31.777 to move into 2nd position. The only NISSAN GT-R NISMO GT500 to make it to Q2, No. 23 MOTUL AUTECH GT-R (Ronnie Quintarelli), ended the qualifying in 5th position.

These results gave the pole position to the No. 16 Red Bull MOTUL MUGEN NSX-GT (Ukyo Sasahara/Toshiki Oyu), and for Sasahara it was his first ever GT500 class pole position. For the NSX-GT, this was the fourth pole position in a row at AUTOPOLIS. Qualifying in 2nd position was the No. 14 ENEOS X PRIME GR Supra (Kazuya Oshima/Kenta Yamashita). The 3rd and 4th positions respectively went to the No. 64 Modulo NSX-GT (Takuya Izawa/Hiroki Otsu) and No. 8 ARTA NSX-GT (Tomoki Nojiri/Nirei Fukuzumi).

 

Page Top