2022.08.07

Rd. 4 Race GT300: Final stages of the race come down to a fierce battle between cars with contrasting strengths! The GT300 champion SUBARU BRZ R&D SPORT comes from behind for its first win of the season

Round 4 Fuji Speedway : Race GT300

The FUJIMAKI GROUP FUJI GT 100 Lap RACE, Round 4 of the 2022 AUTOBACS SUPER GT series, took place on August 7th at Fuji Speedway (one lap 4,563 m x 99 laps) in Shizuoka Prefecture. In the GT500 class, the two young drivers of the No. 37 KeePer TOM'S GR Supra (Sacha Fenestraz/Ritomo Miyata) got a felicitous first win, while the GT300 class the No. 61 SUBARU BRZ R&D SPORT (Takuto Iguchi/Hideki Yamauchi) got their first win of the season.

 

 

 

 

 

Both the No. 5 MACHSYAKEN AIR BUSTER MC86 MACH GO (Yusuke Tomibayashi/Reiji Hiraki) that had been hit by machine trouble in the Q1 session of the previous day’s qualifying and the No. 9 PACIFIC hololive NAC Ferrari (Takeshi Kimura/Kei Cozzolino/Shintaro Kawabata) that had been unable to run at all fortunately got their repairs done in time for all 26 contestants to fine up on the staring grid for the Round 4 GT300 race.

At the start of the race, the pole-sitting No. 65 LEON PYRAMID AMG (Naoya Gamou/Takuro Shinohara) was able to hold its lead position in the early going, while the No. 61 SUBARU BRZ R&D SPORT (Takuto Iguchi/Hideki Yamauchi) followed in 2nd position, until it was passed on the 7th lap by the No. 4 GOODSMILE HATSUNE MIKU AMG (Nobuteru Taniguchi/Tatsuya Kataoka), after which the leading car No. 65 increased its margin of lead, while cars No. 4 and No. 61 battle for 2nd position in the early stages of the race.

Meanwhile, farther back in the pack, the No. 52 SAITAMATOYOPETGB GR Supra GT (Hiroki Yoshida/Kohta Kawaai) and the No. 5 MACHSYAKEN AIR BUSTER MC86 MACH GO (Yusuke Tomibayashi/Reiji Hiraki) opted to make their first pit stop after finishing the first lap of the race. And by limiting their pit work to refueling only, they planned to get the first of the required two pit stops over with in as short a time as possible. Also, the No. 31 apr GR SPORT PRIUS GT (Koki Saga/Yuhki Nakayama/Kazuto Kotaka) and the No. 55 ARTA NSX GT3 (Hideki Mutoh/Iori Kimura) and others likewise moved to get their the first refueling out of the way early.

In the early stages of the race, car No. 65 was quick to build a lead of more than 10 sec. over 2nd place, but at the end of the 18th lap, it suddenly made an emergency pit stop. There seemed to be trouble with the part that held the right front tire in place, which unfortunately caused the team to retire from the race. This gave the lead to car No. 4, followed by car No. 10 TANAX GAINER GT-R (Ryuichiro Tomita/Riki Okusa/Yusuke Shiotsu) in 2nd position.

As the race passed the 20th lap, the leaders made their first pit stop. Among them, car No. 10 put off its pit stop until the end of the 38th lap. But then there was trouble getting the engine to restart. The car had to be taken into the garage for repair work, which cause this winner of the race at Fuji Speedway in Round 2 of the season to fall out of contention for the win here in Round 4.

 

 

 

 

 

As the race entered its middle stages, the leading car No. 4 ran strongly to develop a nearly 10-sec. lead over the pack. Running in 2nd position at this stage was the No. 55 ARTA NSX GT3 (Iori Kimura) hat had made one of the early pit stops, but from the 43rd lap of the race it began to slow down. After managing to return to the pit for some emergence work, it was able to rejoin the race but eventually ended up coming to a stop at trackside. A Full Course Yellow (FCY) was put in effect for about a minute while the car was removed.

After continuing to run strongly in the lead, car No. 4 finally made its second pit stop at the end of the 61st lap. With this, the 2nd-place running No. 11 GAINER TANAX GT-R (Hironobu Yasuda/Keishi Ishikawa) assumed the lead. Following in 3rd position came car No. 61.

Next it was car No. 4’s turn to be the victim of trouble. While leading the race in the 77th lap, its left front tire suddenly burst. Although it was able to return to the pit and replace the tire, it would not finish the race in the points.

With this, Yasuda in car No. 11 took over the lead in the closing stages but closing in on his tail came Yamauchi in car No. 61. This began the start of a fierce 2-way battle to the finish.　Here, car No. 61 would use its advantage in cornering speed through the repeated curve at the end of the Fuji course to move up alongside and then ahead of No. 11 a number of times. But with its higher top speed, No. 11 would take the advantage back on Fuji Speedway’s long straights. This side-by-side battling thrilled the crowds in the grandstand, until No. 61 managed to pass No. 11 on the 86th lap and pull away in the lead.

After this Yamauchi managed to hold his lead to the finish and bring the reigning GT300 champions, the No. 61 SUBARU BRZ R&D SPORT (Takuto Iguchi/Hideki Yamauchi) its first win of the season. As the hero of the final battle, Yamauchi was able to end his 100th SUPER GT race with a victory. Finishing 2nd came the No. 11 GAINER TANAX GT-R (Hironobu Yasuda/Keishi Ishikawa). Third place went to the 5th-position starting No. 18 UPGARAGE NSX GT3 (Takashi Kobayashi/Kakunoshin Ohta) that had held off on its second pit stop and managed to sneak away with a podium finish.

Also, despite carrying the largest load of Success Weights in the class with 99 kg, the No. 56 REALIZE NISSAN MECHANIC CHALLENGE GT-R (Kiyoto Fujinami/Joao Paulo de Oliveira) succeeded in working up from a 10th position grid start to finish the race in 6th place.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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