2022.08.07

Rd. 4 Race Report: KeePer TOM'S GR Supra team come from behind magnificently to win their first GT500 race with the youngest driver pair ever in the class!

Round 4 Fuji Speedway : Race GT500

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.

 

 

 

 

 

While the previous day’s qualifying had been run with the air temperature unseasonable cool for August in the low 20℃ range, and at 1:00 I the afternoon on this race day as well, the air temperature of 26℃ and track temperature of 31℃ were once again lower than the teams had expected. What’s more, there were light rain showers around this time that made the track wet, much to the concern of the teams. But since the rain soon stopped and the track began to dry, the teams decided to start the race with slick (dry condition) tires. However, when the race started at 2:00 in the afternoon, there was still some puddles of water on the track in places, and out of concern for safety the race marshals decided to add a second lap to the formation run, which reduced the race distance from the originally scheduled 100 laps to 99 laps.

Prior to the formation laps, a Traffic Safety Awareness Parade was held for the first time in three years led by nine motorcycles and four patrol cars of the Shizuoka Prefectural Police, much to the delight of the 29,000 spectators gathered at Fuji Speedway this day.

At the start of the race, the No. 19 WedsSport ADVAN GR Supra (Yuji Kunimoto/Sena Sakaguchi) starting from pole position made a good start to maintain its lead through the first turn, the TGR Corner. However, by the TGR Corner of the 3rd lap the No. 24 Realize corporation ADVAN Z (Daiki Sasaki/Kohei Hirate) that had started from 2nd spot on the grid managed to pass car No. 19 and take the lead. Unable to pick up the pace, No. 19 was eventually passed also by the No. 37 KeePer TOM'S GR Supra (Sacha Fenestraz/Ritomo Miyata) and the No. 12 CALSONIC IMPUL Z (Kazuki Hiramine/Bertrand Baguette). Throughout the early stages of the race, these three cars formed the top group, running consistently spread out over a space of two to three seconds.

Following this lead group in 4th position came the No. 38 ZENT CERUMO GR Supra (Yuji Tachikawa/Hiroaki Ishiura) that had suffered machine trouble in the previous round and was forced to switch to a new chassis and a new engine exceeding the number allowed by the regulation for this race. This meant the allotment of a penalty requiring the team to make a 10-sec. penalty stop at some point during the race. When car No. 38 returned to the pit to fulfill this penalty requirement, the No. 8 ARTA NSX-GT (Tomoki Nojiri/Nirei Fukuzumi) moved into 4th position. However, the lead group of three gradually began to pull away from No. 8.

The regulation for the 450-km race this time required the participating teams to make two pit stops over the course of the race for refueling and pit work. On the 19th lap, the No. 17 Astemo NSX-GT (Koudai Tsukakoshi/Nobuharu Matsushita) that had started the race in 15th spot on the grid made an early first pit stop. As for the rest of the teams, most waited until around the 33rd lap, which was roughly 1/3rd of the race distance, before making their it stops. First among these to make their pit stops were the No. 23 MOTUL AUTECH Z (Tsugio Matsuda/Ronnie Quintarelli) and the No. 36 au TOM'S GR Supra (Sho Tsuboi/Giuliano Alesi), running in 5th and 7th positions respectively. However, No. 23 would later develop machine trouble and be forced to make an emergency pit stop that dropped it out of contention for the lead.
After making their first pit stops, the same group of three maintained their positions at the front. They were followed, about 10 sec. behind by car No. 8 in 4th place and No. 36 in 5th.

 

 

 

 

 

The deadlock among the leading group of three was finally broken after around the 65th lap of the race. The gaps between the top three gradually began to narrow until they were only roughly one second apart. It was in this situation that the three made their second pit stops, with No. 24 returning to the pit on the 72nd lap, No. 37 on the 73rd lap and No. 12 the 74th lap. It was here that car managed to get back on the track with the tentative lead ahead of the other two thanks to some fast pit work. Following in 2nd position came car No. 12, while No. 24 dropped to 3rd position. In short, these pit stops would be the deciding factor in the race.

In car No. 37, it was Miyata who continued to drive after the previous stint. He would later say that he had trouble keeping a strong pace in the earlier stint, but in the final one it was possible to keep a good pace, and indeed he was then gradually able to increase his margin of lead over car No. 12. Meanwhile the gap was also increasing between No. 12 and No. 24 running in 2nd and 3rd places respectively. Eventually, this was the way that the three cars finished the 99 laps of the race and took the checkered flag.

The result was a fabulous come-from-behind win for the No. 37 KeePer TOM'S GR Supra (Sacha Fenestraz/Ritomo Miyata). Both drivers are, at the age of 23, the youngest driver pair in the GT500 class, and for both of them this was their laudable first win in GT500 class competition. What’s more, with the 20 series points that came with this win, they have moved to the top of the season standings.

Finishing 2nd and 3rd respectively were the No. 12 CALSONIC IMPUL Z (Kazuki Hiramine/Bertrand Baguette) and the No. 24 Realize corporation ADVAN Z (Daiki Sasaki/Kohei Hirate), thus putting two Nissan Z GT500 cars on the winners’ podium as with the previous round. Finishing 4th was the No. 36 au TOM'S GR Supra (Sho Tsuboi/Giuliano Alesi), while 5th place went to a Honda NSX-GT car, the No. 8 ARTA NSX-GT (Tomoki Nojiri/Nirei Fukuzumi).

 

 

 

 

 

 

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