2023.06.04

Rd. 3 Race GT300: A big come-from-behind victory from 16th position on the grid! Studie BMW M4 wins again at Suzuka this year with a keen strategy

The SUZUKA GT 450km RACE, Round 3 of the 2023 AUTOBACS SUPER GT series, was held on June 4th (Sun.) at Suzuka Circuit (one lap 5,807 m × 77 laps) in Mie Prefecture. A serious accident in the later stages of the race caused the race to be terminated as of end of the 58th lap. This led to the declaration of the No. 19 WedsSport ADVAN GR Supra（Yuji Kunimoto/Sena Sakaguchi）as winners (provisional decision as of June 4th). In the GT300 class race, the No. 7 Studie BMW M4 (Seiji Ara/Masataka Yanagida) took its first win since Round 3 at Suzuka in last year’s series.

 

 

 

 

 

　From the opening lap, the No. 61 SUBARU BRZ R&D SPORT (Hideki Yamauchi) ran away at a fast pace, and by the 5th lap it had built a lead of 7.193 sec. over the No. 11 GAINER TANAX GT-R (Keishi Ishikawa) in 2nd position. Meanwhile, differences began to emerge in the teams’ strategies regarding the requirement of two pit stops with refueling in this long 450km race. At the end of the 1st lap of the race, Seiji Ara in the No. 7 Studie BMW M4 that had to start from 16th position on the grid brought the car back to the pit for an early stop. Also, the No. 52 SAITAMATOYOPET GB GR Supra GT (Kohta Kawaai) and the No. 5 MACHSYAKEN AIR BUSTER MC86 MACH GO (Takamitsu Matsui) followed suit with a quick early pit stop. On the next lap, the No. 2 muta Racing GR86 GT (Hibiki Taira) running in 4th position also returned for a pit stop.

　There were also other teams that made early pit stops with refueling, and the No. 18 UPGARAGE NSX GT3 (Syun Koide) made a tire change as well. But when it returned to the track a nut came off the right rear tire and the wheel came off. With this, No. 18 came to a stop on the track which prompted a Full Course Yellow call and then an intervention by the Safety Car. For the leading car No. 61, this meant it would lose all the lead it had built up. After the race was restarted, No. 61 sought to pick up the pace again, but after its first pit stop, its position had dropped back to a tentative 5th or 6th.

 

 

 

 

 

　After the 30th lap of the race, car No. 2, which had made its first pit stop early on was now in the lead, followed by car No. 52 as well as car No. 7 and the No. 60 Syntium LMcorsa GR Supra GT that had made its pit stop immediately after the restart from the Safety Car break.

After this the cars would be making their second pit stop, and once again the lead group all made the stops at the same time. Here, car No. 52 lost some time in making its rear tire change, and when it returned to the race, now with Masataka Yanagida at the wheel, it brought a change in the order, with No. 7 now running in front of No. 52. What's more, on the next lap car No. 2 also made its pit stop, but it would over-run the turn at the first corner after coming out of the pit. This put car No. 7 in the tentative lead with ease.

　By the time all of the GT300 cars had completed their second pit stop, Yanagida in car No. 7 was now in the lead. However, car No. 2 was close behind in 2nd place, and No. 52 had also joined the battle for the lead. Behind these three came the No. 56 REALIZE NISSAN MECHANIC CHALLENGE GT-R (Joao Paulo de Oliveira/Teppei Natori), which had been following a more orthodox race pattern regarding its pit stops. It looked as if a fierce battle for the lead would develop in the final stages.

　First to develop was a three-way battle for the lead with car No. 7 in front, but at this point a GT500 class car tried to come up from behind to pass two GT300 cars and ended up crashing violently into the tire barrier. This accident brought out the Safety Car and then the Red Flag to suspend the race. After that, at 4:10 in the afternoon it was announced that the race was over.

　For the GT300 class cars, the race finishing order would be determined by their running order at the end of their 54th lap. This meant that the No. 7 Studie BMW M4 (Seiji Ara/Masataka Yanagida) took its first win of the season. For the team, for Ara and the BMW M4 GT3, it would be their second win, following the one in Round 3 at Suzuka the year before, while for Yanagida it was his first win since 2020 and his fifth overall in the GT300 class. Finishing in 2nd place was the No. 2 muta Racing GR86 GT (Yuui Tsutsumi/Hibiki Taira/Hiroki Katoh*), while 3rd place went to the No. 52 SAITAMATOYOPET GB GR Supra GT (Hiroki Yoshida/Kohta Kawaai).

*The No. 2 team’s Katoh didn’t drive in this race and thus received no series points from this race.

 

 

 

 

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