2023.04.16

Rd. 1 Final GT300: UPGARAGE NSX GT3 wins for the first time in five years after reading the changing conditions well! SUPER GT Rookie Koide wins debut race

The opening round of the 2023 AUTOBACS SUPER GT series, the OKAYAMA GT 300km RACE took place on April 16th at the Okayama International Circuit (one lap 3,703m×82laps). It started raining just before the start of the race, and as the track conditions changed with the amount of rainfall, it was the teams in both classes that read these changes best that would emerge as winners. In the GT500 class it was the No. 23 MOTUL AUTECH Z (Tsugio Matsuda/Ronnie Quintarelli), and in the GT300 class the No. 18 UPGARAGE NSX GT3 (Takashi Kobayashi/Syun Koide) each took their first wins of the season.

 

 

 

 

 

Starting from pole position, the No. 65 LEON PYRAMID AMG (Takuro Shinohara) took the lead through the first corner. It was followed by the No. 2 muta Racing GR86 GT (Yuui Tsutsumi) and the No.7 Studie BMW M4 (Bruno Spengler), while the middle group faced fierce battles. On the 7th lap, the GT500 class began to catch up with the GT300 cars from behind, intensifying the competition in the pack. However, after the 11th lap, the rain started to fall more heavily. The No. 31 apr LC500h GT (Kazuto Kotaka), which was running in 9th position in the early stages, was the first to return to the pit and change to rain tires. Shortly after that, however, the No. 6 DOBOT Audi R8 LMS (Yoshiaki Katayama), which was running around 16th position, ran off the track at the first corner.

　Immediately after this, heavy rain mixed with hail started falling. In addition, the No. 11 GAINER TANAX GT-R (Keishi Ishikawa) lost a tire while running on the back straight and then came to a stop. Also, the No. 360 RUNUP RIVAUX GT-R (Takayuki Aoki) came to a stop at the exit of the pit road. Due to this series of problems, an FCY (full course yellow) was issued and then switched to Safety Car (SC) intervention. The cars of the GT300 class made their pit stops before and after this FCY and SC run and changed to rain tires. The No. 9 PACIFIC VSPO NAC AMG (Ryohei Sakaguchi) and the No. 52 SAITAMATOYOPET GB GR Supra GT (Kota Kawaai) made big gains here. The No.18 UPGARAGE NSX GT3 (Syun Koide) was also able to move up.

　On the 22nd lap, the SC departed, and the race restarted, but although it was raining at this point, the sun came out and the track surface began to dry rapidly. After the 37th to 40th laps, the lap times of the cars on wet-use and slick tires started to change. As a result, car No. 18, which was running in 4th position pitted and changed drivers from Koide to Takashi Kobayashi, while also changing to slick tires. Also, car No. 65, which was running in the lead, changed drivers from Shinohara to Naoya Gamou after 38 laps, and there were a series of driver changes and slicks.

 

 

 

 

 

　On lap 44, the No. 61 SUBARU BRZ R&D Sport (Hideki Yamauchi) ran off the track at the hairpin turn. An FCY was called when it came to a stop on the gravel, and soon after that, the rain began to intensify again. On lap 47, the race was restarted, but car No. 9 and the No. 88 JLOC Lamborghini GT3 (Takashi Kogure) ran off the track while battling for 6th position, and car No. 9 came to a stop on the track. As the rain intensified, the race was once again controlled by an SC run. Furthermore, when the GT500 class entered the 54th lap, a Red Flag was raised due to lightning strikes around the circuit, which caused the race to be suspended.

　The race resumed at 3:35 p.m., but the rain was still heavy and after 53 laps almost all of the teams pitted to change tires. The SC run continued as it was, and it seemed that the race would be resumed from the 58th lap of the GT500 race, but then the left rear tire of car No. 2 running in 8th position came off. While the vehicle was being recovered, a second Red Flag was shown due to the deteriorating conditions. The race was finally restarted at 4:20 p.m. with the SC leading the way. However, the rain was quite strong, and when a third Red Flag came out during the SC run at 4:25 p.m., the decision was made to end the race at that point.

　As a result, the GT300 class was won by the No. 18 UPGARAGE NSX GT3 (Takashi Kobayashi/Syun Koide). It was the second victory for Kobayashi and for the team since the season opener at Okayama in 2018, and also their first victory in the NSX GT3. With this, Koide won his debut race in the SUPER GT. The No. 65 LEON PYRAMID AMG (Naoya Gamou/Takuro Shinohara), which had led the race from the start, finished in 2nd place, and the No. 244 HACHI-ICHI GR Supra GT (Kimiya Sato/Atsushi Miyake), which had moved up significantly after the pit stop before the Red Flag, came in 3rd.

 

 

 

 

 

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