2024.06.01

Rd. 3 Qualifying GT500: Deloitte TOM'S GR Supra sheds past struggles to win Pole Position

Round 3 SUZUKA CIRCUIT : Qualifying GT500

The qualifying for the SUZUKA GT 300km RACE, Round 3 of the 2024 AUTOBACS SUPER GT series took place at Suzuka circuit (one lap: 5,807 m) in Mie Prefecture on June 1st (Sat). In the GT500 class, Sasahara got his first pole position since moving to the TOYOTA camp in the No. 37 Deloitte TOM'S GR Supra (Ukyo Sasahara/Giuliano Alesi) and Alesi got his first-ever SUPER GT pole. In the GT300 class, the No. 777 D'station Vantage GT3 (Tomonobu Fujii/Charles Fagg) got its first class pole position for the drivers and the team. These two cars will start from the front grid positions in their respective classes in final race tomorrow on June 2nd.

 

　　The 10-minute GT500 class Q1 started at 3:33 in the afternoon. As usual, the teams started to go out on the track one after another when the session’s remaining time reached the 8-minute point. Still, three cars continued to wait in the pits, and it was only with less than seven minutes remaining in the session that the No. 19 WedsSport ADVAN GR Supra (Yuji Kunimoto), and the No. 16 ARTA MUGEN CIVIC TYPE R-GT #16 (Ren Sato) went out on the track. As for the No. 8 ARTA MUGEN CIVIC TYPE R-GT #8 (Nobuharu Matsushita), it waited until just five minutes remained before finally being the last to head out on the track.

　 After the cars had taken time to warm up their tires they began to increase their pace. At this point, the teams divided into ones that decided to take two warm-up laps and ones that started their flying laps after just one warm-up lap. Among those that started their flying laps after one lap were the three teams that had delayed their entry onto the track and the No. 24 REALIZE CORPORATION ADVAN Z (Teppei Natori) which had been the first to begin its flying laps after just one warm-up lap. The rest of the cars chose to take two warm-up laps.

　 The first to record a lap time of 1’46.332 was Natori in car No. 24. Then the No. 3 Niterra MOTUL Z (Mitsunori Takaboshi) fell just short of that with a time of 1’46.512, soon after which the No. 37 Deloitte TOM'S GR Supra (Ukyo Sasahara) came off two warm-up laps to use the full width of the course and run a top time of 1’45.434.

　 With no other cars able to beat this time by car No. 37, it became the top time of Q1. As for the last car to take to the track, No. 8, it recorded the second fastest time of 1’45.700 after one warm-up lap. The third fastest time of Q1 went to the No. 17 Astemo CIVIC TYPE R-GT (Kakunoshin Ohta) with a 1’45.753.

 

 

 

 

 

 

　 In the GT500 class Q2 that began at 4:29 in the afternoon, the cars finally began to move out onto the track with about six minutes remaining in the session. The last to take to the track with just 3-min. 30 sec. remaining was car No. 24 (Tsugio Matsuda). After its first lap on the track, Matsuda immediately began his time attacks. Most of the other cars began their time attacks after one warm-up lap. The first to record a time of 1’46.532 was the No. 12 MARELLI IMPUL Z (Kazuki Hiramine). Next, Atsushi Miyake in car No. 3 beat the time of No. 12 with a time of 1’46.468.

Then it was Giuliano Alesi in car No. 37, which had run the fastest time in Q1, who now recorded a time of 1’46.439 to move into the top spot at that point in the session. Then car No. 16 ARTA MUGEN CIVIC TYPE R-GT #16 (Hiroki Otsu) ran a time of 1’46.450 to move into 2nd position behind No. 37.

　 However, in the closing stages of the session, the No. 14 ENEOS X PRIME GR Supra (Nirei Fukuzumi) ran a time of 1’45.836 after two warm-up laps to move into the top position. Then, after one warm-up lap and a slight delay, the No. 23 MOTUL AUTECH Z (Katsumasa Chiyo) recorded a time of 1’46.309 to move into 2nd position, just ahead of No. 37 in 3rd position as the Q2 session came to an end.

Besides car No. 14, the No. 38 KeePer CERUMO GR Supra (Hiroaki Ishiura) also opted for two warm-up laps before running a somewhat disappointing time of 1’46.798. Also, car No. 24, which had delayed its entry to the track, only managed to finish in 9th position with a time of 1’47.079.

　 With these results, the No. 37 Deloitte TOM'S GR Supra (Ukyo Sasahara/Giuliano Alesi) got a combined time of 3’31.873 to win pole position for this Round 3 of the series. Unlike its fellow TOM'S team car No. 36 that won three rounds last season to take the title, the driver pair of Sasahara and Alesi of car No. 37 had been unable to experience such success, and they had also had to watch as No. 36 went on to take a win from pole position in the first round of this season. In these circumstances, former two-time GT500 champion, Michael Krumm, was brought in this season as the new team manager, and the positive results began to appear almost immediately. For Alesi, this was his first pole position in SUPER GT, and for Sasahara it was his second pole since the one he won driving the No. 16 NSX-GT at round 6 in the 2021 season at Autopolis, and also his first pole driving the GR Supra.

Finishing 2nd in the qualifying this time by finishing 4th in both Q1 and Q2 was the No. 16 ARTA MUGEN CIVIC TYPE R-GT #16 (Hiroki Otsu/Ren Sato) with a combined time of 3’32.209. The car No. 14 that finished on top in Q2 ended the qualifying in 3rd position with a combined time of 3’32.223. Among the Nissan Z NISMO GT500 teams, the winner of the last round at Fuji, car No. 3, finished best in 6th position. As for car No. 23 that had finished 2nd in Q2 ended the qualifying in 7th place.

 

 

 

 

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