2023.09.17

Rd. 6 Race GT300： Repeated upsets until the very end! SAITAMATOYOPET GB GR Supra GT gets its first win of the season

　The SUGO GT 300km RACE, Round 6 of the 2023 AUTOBACS SUPER GT series, was held at Sportsland SUGO (one lap: 3,586 m x 84 laps) in Miyagi Prefecture on September 17 (Sun.). In the GT500 class race, two Honda NSX-GT teams battled for their first win of the season, and the No. 8 ARTA MUGEN NSX-GT (Tomoki Nojiri/Toshiki Oyu) emerged the winner for the first time this year. In the GT300 class race, car No. 18 came from behind to apparently take the win on the last lap but was later disqualified due to results of the post-race car inspection, thus giving the victory to the No. 52 SAITAMATOYOPET GB GR Supra GT (Hiroki Yoshida/Kohta Kawaai) for the first time this season, despite having initially finished 2nd running slow due to machine trouble.

 

 

 

 

 

　Race day for Round 6, Sept. 17 (Sun.) at Sportsland SUGO changed from cloudy skies to fair weather with intermittent sunshine.
　The two cars that had suffered crashes in the Official Practice and been unable to run in the Official Qualifying, namely the No. 31 apr LC500h GT (Koki Saga/Kazuto Kotaka) and the No. 48 Shokumou K's Frontier GT-R (Taiyo Ida/Yuki Tanaka), were able to have their cars repaired with great effort from the teams. They were thus able to start the race from the back of the pack.

　To begin with, the Pole Position starter, the No. 96 K-tunes RC F GT3 (Morio Nitta), took the initial lead. It was followed by the No. 20 SHADE RACING GR86 GT (Eijiro Shimizu), the No. 61 SUBARU BRZ R&D SPORT (Takuto Iguchi) and the No. 52 SAITAMATOYOPET GB GR Supra GT (Kohta Kawaai).

　By the 7th lap of the race, car No. 20 had closed in on No. 96. Furthermore, by the 13th lap cars No. 61 and No. 53 closed in to join the top group of four. From there, the No. 6 DOBOT Audi R8 LMS (Yoshiaki Katayama) that had charged hard from 7th position, moved in to make it a battle of five for the lead. In this battle, car No. 6 moved up to 4th position and No. 20 overtook No. 96.

　What’s more, the No. 56 REALIZE NISSAN MECHANIC CHALLENGE GT-R (Teppei Natori) and No. 18 UPGARAGE NSX GT3 (Syun Koide), both carrying the maximum limit of 100 kg of Success Weight were also running strong to move up and pass No. 61 and approach the lead group.

　Among the leaders, car No. 52 made an early pit stop at the 23rd lap. The team changed drivers from Kawaai to Hiroki Yoshida. And they also adopted a strategy of changing only the two rear tires to shorten their pit time. After this, the other cars began to make their pit stops one after another, but when car No. 56 changed lanes to enter the pit road on the 39th lap, it collided with the No. 100 GT500 class car. Car No. 100 spun out, went off the track on the out-side and crashed. In response to this the Safety Car was brought in. It was at that time that No. 18 also returned to the pit. The timing of the two cars was impeccable, but in order to rescue the crashed driver and repair the guard rail, the Red Flag was shown, stopping the race temporarily.

 

 

 

 

 

　The race resumed at 3:20 in the afternoon running in formation behind the Safety Car. Just after that, the cars that had not yet made their pit stops returned to the pit and the race order began to be revealed. In the lead at this point was car No. 52 (Hiroki Yoshida) that had completed its pit work early. In 2nd position was No. 56, but it was now subjected to two drive through penalties, one for dangerous driving resulting in the collision with car No. 100, and the other for a pit work violation during the Red Flag period. This meant it would not finish within the series point range.

　This put No. 18 in 2nd position, followed by No. 20, No. 6 and No. 61 in 3rd to 5th positions. Meanwhile, the leading car No. 52 was pursued by No. 18 into the final stages of the race with a margin of 2 to 4 sec. between them. Finally, keeping that lead, it cleared the last corner of the last lap.

　But just as the goal line was in sight, No. 52 suddenly began to slow down. Shifting the car from right to left, Yoshida tried his best to keep the slowing machine moving forward. But soon, No. 18 was able to slip past it and cross the goal line first. Carried by its momentum alone, No. 52 crossed the goal line in 2nd place, but the machine didn’t even reach the first corner before coming to a stop.

　Just as it looked as if No. 18 had won a dramatic second victory in a row, a violation of ground clearance was found in car No. 18 in the post-race inspection, and it was thus disqualified.

　As a result, the No. 52 SAITAMATOYOPET GB GR Supra GT (Hiroki Yoshida/Kohta Kawaai) got its first win of the season, following one reversal after another. And its driver pair rose to the top of the standings, above the Kobayashi/Koide pair of No. 18. Finishing 2nd in the race was the No. 20 SHADE RACING GR86 GT (Katsuyuki Hiranaka/Eijiro Shimizu), and for the team it was their first podium finish in SUPER GT. Third place went to the No. 6 DOBOT Audi R8 LMS (Yoshiaki Katayama/Roberto Merhi Muntan), giving the team its second 3rd-place finish of the season.

 

 

 

 

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