2022.10.02

Rd. 7 Race GT500: Consolidated team effort gives the Astemo NSX-GT a first win of the season! Six teams to contest the season titles in the final round

Round 7 Autopolis : Race GT500

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.

 

 

 

 

 

Sunday brought clear blue skies to AUTOPOLIS, with air temperature at 25℃. and the track temperature at 40℃. in the afternoon, for unseasonably warm conditions in early October. Due to a Red Flag stoppage of the pre-race warm-up session after noon, the race was started five minutes behind schedule at 1:35 in the afternoon.

Due to damage sustained in the qualifying to the tires it was supposed to start the race with, the No. 37 KeePer TOM'S GR Supra (Sacha Fenestraz/Ritomo Miyata) that had qualified in 15th position elected to change the tires in the pit before the start. This meant that No. 37 could not take its place on the grid and instead had to start the race from the pit lane.

On the first lap of the race, the pole-starting No. 24 Realize corporation ADVAN Z (Daiki Sasaki) held its lead position unthreatened. It was followed by the No. 100 STANLEY NSX-GT (Tadasuke Makino), the No. 19 WedsSport ADVAN GR Supra (Yuji Kunimoto/Sena Sakaguchi), and the No. 17 Astemo NSX-GT (Nobuharu Matsushita). During the early going, car No. 24 maintained a strong pace and began to pull away from No. 100 and the following pack until it had built up nearly a 5-sec. lead by the 10th lap of the race.

Car No. 100 running in 2nd position also proceeded to widen its margin of lead over 3rd place and the pursuing pack. Meanwhile, a close-fought battle for 3rd developed between cars No. 19, No. 17 and the No. 14 ENEOS X PRIME GR Supra (Kazuya Oshima/Kenta Yamashita). Soon this battle was joined by the No. 12 CALSONIC IMPUL Z (Kazuki Hiramine/Bertrand Baguette) that had moved up to 6th position from a 9th-position grid start. Also, the No. 3 CRAFTSPORTS MOTUL Z (Katsumasa Chiyo/Mitsunori Takaboshi) had also moved up from a 13th-position grid start to 10-position with a shot at season points, showing that the 1st and 2nd teams atop the point standing were eager to advance their title chances.

On the 16th lap of the race, a GT300 car came to a stop, which brought a FCY (Full Course Yellow) call that lasted until the 18th lap, at which point car No. 17 had moved up from 4th to 3rd position. From here, car No. 100 running in 2nd position was the first to make its pit stop on the 22nd lap, which was the minimum distance for making driver changes. On the 23rd lap, car No. 17 also made its pit stop. In contrast, the leading car No. 24 that continued to hold a good pace, held off on its pit stop until the 27th lap.

 

 

  

 

 

By the time all of the cars had finished their routine pit stops, the team that had the fastest pit work among the top three, No. 17 (Koudai Tsukakoshi) was now leading the race. Car No. 100 (Naoki Yamamoto) continued to run in 2nd position. Car No. 24 (Kohei Hirate), which lead the race in the early stages had now dropped to 3rd position.

Now running in the lead, car No. 17 continued to hold a strong pace. It gradually built up its lead over car No. 100, and as the race entered its final stages from around the 55th lap, No. 17 was running away to victory with a roughly 8-sec. lead. After having run off the track and damaged its front end in the final stages of yesterday’s official practice session, thus endangering its chances of missing the official qualifying the No. 17 team mechanics had worked hard to get the repairs finished in time to join the qualifying, where it eventually finished in 4th position. Wise decisions by the team leaders and fast pit work that had brought them the lead, truly made this a fantastic victory by the entire team.

After running alone for most of the race in 2nd place, car No. 100’s pace began to slow in the closing stages. And with 10 laps remaining to the finish car No. 24 was closing in on the tail of car No. 100, which began a nose to tail battle between the two former GT500 champions Yamamoto and Hirate.

With this battle going on behind it, the No. 17 Astemo NSX-GT (Koudai Tsukakoshi/Nobuharu Matsushita) ran on comfortably to victory with a lead of more than 10 sec. This gave the team their first win of the season, after having just missed a win at the previous Round 5 at Suzuka. Finishing 2nd after holding off a fierce charge by car No. 24 was the No. 100 STANLEY NSX-GT (Naoki Yamamoto /Tadasuke Makino). This meant that Honda NSX-GT cars finish 1st and 2nd in Rd. 7 race at AUTOPOLIS. Third place went to a Nissan Z GT500 car, the No. 24 Realize corporation ADVAN Z (Daiki Sasaki/Kohei Hirate). 4th place was taken by a TOYOTA GR Supra GT500 car, the No. 14 ENEOS X PRIME GR Supra (Kazuya Oshima/Kenta Yamashita).

The No. 3 CRAFTSPORTS MOTUL Z (Katsumasa Chiyo/Mitsunori Takaboshi) team that had stood in 1st position in the season ranking going into this race managed to finish 7th and barely hold on to its top-ranked spot. The holder of 2nd place in the season ranking prior to the race, the No. 12 CALSONIC IMPUL Z (Kazuki Hiramine /Bertrand Baguette) tried to move up to 4th place by passing car No. 14, but instead of succeeding in that attempt, the No. 12 driver Hiramine ran off the track and unfortunately had to settle for a 6th-place finish. But this was enough for No. 12 to move up to within 2.5 points of No. 3 in the standings. In all, six teams still have a shot at the title in the season’s final round, which besides these top two, include the No. 17 Astemo NSX-GT (Koudai Tsukakoshi/Nobuharu Matsushita), the No. 100 STANLEY NSX-GT (Naoki Yamamoto /Tadasuke Makino), the No. 37 KeePer TOM'S GR Supra (Sacha Fenestraz/Ritomo Miyata) and the No. 14 ENEOS X PRIME GR Supra (Kazuya Oshima/Kenta Yamashita).

 

 

 

 

 

 

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