2023.05.04

Rd. 2 race GT300: After losing the lead once, REALIZE NISSAN MECHANIC CHALLENGE GT-R recovers it at the end! Natori gets a rewarding first SUPER GT win

The FUJIMAKI GROUP FUJI GT 450km RACE, Round 2 of the 2023 AUTOBACS SUPER GT series was held on May 4th (Thur, holiday) at Fuji Speedway (one lap 4,563m × 100 laps).
In the GT500 class, the No. 36 au TOM'S GR Supra (Sho Tsuboi / Ritomo Miyata) came from 6th position on the starting grid to take the lead in the middle stages of the race and run on to victory. In the GT300 class, the No. 56 REALIZE NISSAN MECHANIC CHALLENGE GT-R (Joao Paulo de Oliveira / Teppei Natori) started from pole position and prevailed in a close battle at the end to claim the win.

 

 

 

 

 

　Joao Paulo de Oliveira drove the pole-sitting No. 56 REALIZE NISSAN MECHANIC CHALLENGE GT-R to keep the lead at first. Following him in 2nd place came the No. 31 apr LC500h GT (Koki Saga), but it was soon overtaken by the No. 4 GOODSMILE HATSUNE MIKU AMG (Tatsuya Kataoka) on the second lap of the race. As No. 56 ran away in the lead, behind car No. 4 a fierce battle developed for 3rd place.

　For the race of this round, all of the cars were required to make at least two pit stops with refueling. In response to this, some of the teams opted to make their first refueling stop just a few laps into the race. On the second lap of the race, the No. 2 muta Racing GR86 GT (Yuui Tsutsumi) that had started from 5th position on the grid made its pit stop. This was followed by another early pit stop and refueling by the No. 52 SAITAMATOYOPET GB GR Supra GT (Kohta Kawaai) with the intent of undercutting the field in the latter half of the race.

　While there had been a collision and spin-out between cars in the first lap of the race, it was not serious enough to prompt a Full Course Yellow (FCY) or a Safety Car appearance. During the first half of the race, car No. 56 continued to hold its lead. However, by the time all of the cars had finished their first refueling stop, the cars No. 2 and No. 52 that had made early refueling stops were now in the lead. In the middle stages of the race, these two cars were followed by De Oliveira who had continued to drive in consecutive stints in car No. 56, while car No. 4, which had been running in second position in the early stages of the race, began to emit white smoke from just after the 39th lap of the race, and this forced it to make an emergency pit stop on the 42nd lap. It appeared as if an oil leak had developed due to damage when it started to run off the track, and this caused No. 4 to withdraw from the race.

 

 

 

 

 

　The No. 2 car that had succeeded in taking the lead thanks to an early pit stop still managed to hold the lead after the second pit stop. Meanwhile, car No. 52 continued to run in 2nd or 3rd place, and other teams that had attempted the same strategy were prominent near the front. On the other hand, car No. 56 held off on its second pit stop until the 61st lap before turning the wheel over to Teppei Natori for the final stint. But when Natori started his stint from a tentative 2nd place, there was still a more than 5-sec. gap ahead to the leading car No. 2. After the race entered its 66th lap, with its fresher tires than the one car No. 2 was running on, car No. 56 suddenly began to close the gap to the leading car No. 2.

　For both Taira in the fleeing car No. 2 and Natori in the chasing car No. 56, a win here would be their first in SUPER GT. From around the 70th lap of the race, the gap between the two leaders was down to around one second, which promised to make for an exciting final stage of the race. Behind these two there was some distance to the rest of the field, where car No. 52 and the No. 65 LEON PYRAMID AMG (Naoya Gamou / Takuro Shinohara) followed. In 5th position came the No. 6 DOBOT Audi R8 LMS (Yoshiaki Katayama / Roberto Merhi Muntan / Seiya Jin) that had held off on its pit stop until the 64th lap.

　In the tense competition between the two leaders, the appearance of overtaking GT500 class cars around the 80th lap caused the pace of car No. 2 to fluctuate, which allowed car No. 56 to quickly close in. Then, when Natori saw a chance to make a move on the 81st lap, he succeeded in overtaking No. 2 at the TGR Corner. With this, car No. 56 was finally back in the lead. From there, it looked as if No. 56 would continue to build its lead, but Taira in car No. 2 continued to give chase and keep the gap within one second while looking for a chance to retake the lead. However, Natori continued to hold him off and ran on to give the win to the No. 56 team with a margin of victory of just 0.579 sec.

　With this, the reigning GT300 champion team, No. 56 REALIZE NISSAN MECHANIC CHALLENGE GT-R (Joao Paulo de Oliveira / Teppei Natori) took its first win of the 2023 season. For Natori, who would be credited with the come-from-behind victory, this was also his first-ever SUPER GT win. Finishing in 2nd was the No. 2 muta Racing GR86 GT (Yuui Tsutsumi / Hibiki Taira / Hiroki Katoh). Third place went to the No. 52 SAITAMATOYOPET GB GR Supra GT (Hiroki Yoshida / Kohta Kawaai). And although it didn’t get a place on the podium, the No. 65 LEON PYRAMID AMG (Naoya Gamou / Takuro Shinohara) finished in 4th place to retain its place at the top of the new season’s ranking.

 

 

 

 

 

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