2022.10.02

Rd. 7 Race GT300: SAITAMATOYOPET GB GR Supra GT beats last year’s champions to take first win in two tears!

Round 7 Autopolis : Race GT300

The FAV HOTEL AUTOPOLIS GT 300km RACE, Round 7 of the 2022 AUTOBACS SUPER GT series, was held at the AUTOPOLIS (one lap 4.674 km x 65 laps) in Oita Prefecture on October 2. (Sun). In the GT500 class race, some fast pit work helped the No. 17 Astemo NSX-GT (Koudai Tsukakoshi/Nobuharu Matsushita) come from a 4th-postion start on the grid to come from behind and take their first win of the season. In the GT300 class, the No. 52 SAITAMATOYOPET GB GR Supra GT (Hiroki Yoshida/Kouta Kawaai) managed to take their first win since the final round of the 2020 season.

 

 

 

 

 

Machine trouble was discovered in the No. 18 UPGARAGE NSX GT3 (Takashi Kobayashi/Kakunoshin Ohta) before the race that forced it into a pit start. As for the No. 6 Team LeMans Audi R8 LMS (Yoshiaki Katayama/Roberto Merhi Muntan) that had been unable to participate in the official qualifying, after completing repairs, it started the race from the last position on the grid.

At the start of the race, the pole-sitting No. 61 SUBARU BRZ R&D SPORT (Takuto Iguchi) managed to keep its lead, but it was chased by the No 52 SAITAMATOYOPET GB GR Supra GT (Kohta Kawaai), and a nose-to-tail battle developed between the two cars. A shorth distance behind them followed in 3rd position the Weibo Primez LAMBORGHINI GT3 (Takashi Kogure/Yuya Motojima), and then the No. 65 LEON PYRAMID AMG (Naoya Gamou/Takuro Shinohara) and the No. 55 ARTA NSX GT3 (Hideki Mutoh/Iori Kimura).

On the 10th lap of the race the GT500 class cars began to come through the GT300 leaders, causing confusion on the track. Car No. 52 managed to make skillful use of the passing GT500 cars to get past car No. 61 and take the lead. On the 15th lap of the race, there was a collision at the first turn between the No. 5 MACHSYAKEN AIR BUSTER MC86 MACH GO (Yusuke Tomibayashi/Reiji Hiraki) and the No. 87 Bamboo Airways Lamborghini GT3 (Kosuke Matsuura/Natsu Sakaguchi) as they battled for 15th position. When car No. 5 ran off the track and came to a stop, an FCY (Full Course Yellow) was called for the first time in the race.

The FCY ended when GT500 class was entering the 18th lap of the race. The gap between the leading car No. 52 and No. 61 in 2nd position had grown in the meantime and these two cars were running away from the pack. But a close battle for 3rd position had now developed between cars No. 88 and No. 65, as well as the No. 56 REALIZE NISSAN MECHANIC CHALLENGE GT-R (Kiyoto Fujinami/Joao Paulo de Oliveira) and the No .4 GOODSMILE HATSUNE MIKU AMG (Nobuteru Taniguchi/Tatsuya Kataoka).

 

 

 

 

 

After all of the cars had finished their routine pit stops by the 40th lap of the race, car No. 52 (Hiroki Yoshida) was running at a steady pace to hold its lead since the early stages. Running in 2nd position continued to be the No. 61 (Hideki Yamauchi), but a considerable margin had opened up between them from 5 sec. to now 8 sec. In third position came car No. 65, which had successfully made an early pit stop.

From here, a closely fought 5-car battle for 4th position developed between car No. 88 in front of cars No. 55, No. 56 and the No. 2 muta Racing GR86 GT (Hiroki Katoh/Yuui Tsutsumi) and car No. 4.

This battle for 4th position continued into 47th lap as the race entered its final stages. It was there that car No. 2 developed machine trouble and came to a stop at trackside. This brought the second FCY call of the race, and then on the 51st lap car No. 55 running in 5th position suffered trouble in its right rear tire that caused it to slow down. Forced to return to its pit as a result, it lost its chance to score any series points.

Meanwhile, the No. 52 SAITAMATOYOPET GB GR Supra GT (Hiroki Yoshida/Kohta Kawaai) had continued to run at a solid pace and expand its margin of lead at the front and eventually go on to take its first win of the season and its first since the final round of the 2020 season. Finishing the race in 2nd place came the No. 61 SUBARU BRZ R&D SPORT (Takuto Iguchi/Hideki Yamauchi). Third place went to the LEON PYRAMID AMG (Naoya Gamou/Takuro Shinohara), having emerged on top in the fierce battle for 3rd in the final stages of the race.

The leader in the Drivers title race, the No. 56 REALIZE NISSAN MECHANIC CHALLENGE GT-R (Kiyoto Fujinami/Joao Paulo de Oliveira), managed to finish this race in 5th position and keep its lead in the standings. By finishing 2nd in this race, the defending champion No. 61 (Iguchi/Yamauchi) closed to within 2.5 points of No. 56 to stand 2nd in the standings. In addition to these two, a total of six teams with be in contention for the season titles in the final round to be held at Mobility Resort Motegi. They include the No. 10 TANAX GAINER GT-R with drivers Riki Okusa and Ryuichiro Tomita (who did not compete in this round), the No. 52 SAITAMATOYOPET GB GR Supra GT (Hiroki Yoshida/Kohta Kawaai), the No. 11 GAINER TANAX GT-R (Hironobu Yasuda/Keishi Ishikawa) and the No. 65 LEON PYRAMID AMG (Naoya Gamou/Takuro Shinohara).

 

 

 

 

 

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