2022.05.04

Rd. 2 race GT300: TANAX GAINER GT-R gets the win after taking the lead early in a race full of upsets!

Round 2 Fuji Speedway : Race GT300

The FAV HOTEL FUJI GT 450km RACE, Round 2 of the 2022 AUTOBACS SUPER GT series was held on May 4th (Wed. holiday) at Fuji Speedway (one lap 4,563m x 100 laps). Big accidents caused the race to be stopped twice, resulting in its finish at the end of 62 laps, which saw the GT500 class victory go to the No. 8 ARTA NSX-GT (Tomoki Nojiri/Nirei Fukuzumi), while the GT300 class win went to the No. 10 TANAX GAINER GT-R (Ryuichiro Tomita/Riki Okusa/Yusuke Shiotsu).。

 

 

 

 

 

In the opening lap of the GT300 class race, the No. 10 TANAX GAINER GT-R (Ryuichiro Tomita) starting from 2nd position on the grid attacks and steals the lead from the pole-starting No. 61 SUBARU BRZ R&D SPORT (Hideki Yamauchi). After that, the No. 96 K-tunes RC F GT3 (Shinichi Takagi) also moved forward but No. 61managed to hold of its charge and keep 2nd position. The early stages of the race continued with this order among the top three. But after about the 14th lap car No. 96’s pace began to slow, and on the 15th lap it was passed by the No. 34 BUSOU raffinee GT-R (Masataka Yanagida/Yuji Ide), which thus moved into 3rd position.

The race this time was run with a requirement that the teams make two refueling pit stops. Some teams decided to make their first pit stop in the early stages of the race when there was greater congestion on the track. After the first lap of the race, the No. 5 MACHSYAKEN AIR BUSTER MC86 MACH GO (Yusuke Tomibayashi/Reiji Hiraki) made its first pit stop. Also, the No. 244 HACHI-ICHI GR Supra GT (Kimiya Sato/Atsushi Miyake) made its pit stop after the 2nd lap. Furthermore, the No. 4 GOODSMILE HATSUNE MIKU AMG (Nobuteru Taniguchi/Tatsuya Kataoka) and the No. 52 SAITAMATOYOPET GB GR Supra GT (Kohta Kawaai/Togo Suganami) that were battling near the front, made their pit stop after the 5th lap.

The leading group began to make their first routine pit stops after the 20th lap of the race. The leading car No. 10 made its pit stop after the 29th lap and changed drivers from Tomita to Okusa. The 3rd position car No. 34 entered the pit after the 30th lap and made its driver change. By the time all of the leaders had finished their first pit stop, car No. 52, which had made its first stop early in the race, the No. 60 SYNTIUM LMcorsa GR Supra GT (Hiroki Yoshimoto/Shunsuke Kohno), which had made its pit stop earlier that the other leaders on the 20th lap and car No. 5, which had made its pit stop after the 1st lap, all had managed to move up in the field.

 

 

 

 

 

A major accident occurred as the GT500 class race was entering its 43rd lap. The No. 22 R’Qs AMG GT3 (Hisashi Wada) went out of control while coming out of the 100R curve and approaching the ADVAN Corner and crashed violently into the tire barrier. This immediately led to the call of a Full Course Yellow, after which the Safety Car was brought out to control the race. When it was apparent that further reinforcement of the track-side barrier was necessary, the Red Flag was shown to stop the race for the first time since 2019.
After the repairs were completed, another Safety Car run was implemented to restart the race at 4:25 in the afternoon. After the restart, there was a big crash by a GT500 class car on the main straight. Once again, the race was stopped with a Red Flag. At this point, the GT300 class race was in its 55th lap.

At 6:10 in the afternoon, the Safety Car was brought in again to restart the race. But due to the fact that the designated maximum extension time for the race was set at 6:20 in the afternoon, the checker flag brought an end to the race with the Safety Car still on the track. Considering the occurrence of the two accidents, the requirement of two refueling pit stops was not enforced.

During the final Safety Car run, the lead car behind the Safety Car was car No. 10 driven by the rookie Okusa, who ran on steadily to finish 1st despite pressure from behind by the closing cars No. 34 and No. 61. For the No. 10 TANAX GAINER GT-R (Ryuichiro Tomita/Riki Okusa/Yusuke Shiotsu), this was their first win as a GAINER team since 2020, and the first win as car No. 10 since the 4th round of the 2019 season. For Tomita it was his second win and for Okusa it was his first win in just his second GT race. Shiotsu did not have a chance to drive in this race. Finishing 2nd was the No. 34 BUSOU raffinee GT-R (Masataka Yanagida/Yuji Ide), while 3rd place went to the No. 61 SUBARU BRZ R&D SPORT (Takuto Iguchi/Hideki Yamauchi).

 

 

 

 

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