2024.09.22

Rd. 6 Race GT300: LEON PYRAMID AMG comes back from a 15th position start to take its second win of the season!

　The SUGO GT 300km RACE, Round 6 of the 2024 AUTOBACS SUPER GT series, was held at Sportsland SUGO (one lap: 3,586 m x 84 laps) in Miyagi Prefecture on September 22 (Sun.). The rain that had continued all through yesterday’s qualifying until noon on this race day let up enough to allow the race to start in a light drizzle. The constantly changing track conditions made for a difficult competition, and in the GT500 class, the No. 37 Deloitte TOM'S GR Supra (Ukyo Sasahara/Giuliano Alesi) came from behind to take its second win of the season. In the GT300 class, the No. 65 LEON PYRAMID AMG (Naoya Gamou/Takuro Shinohara) also took its second win of the season following its win in the previous round at Fuji.

 

 

 

 

 

　The No. 52 Green Brave GR Supra GT (Hiroki Yoshida/Seita Nonaka) that suffered serious damage in a crash in the early stages of yesterday’s Official Practice was unable to be repaired in time and unfortunately had to retire before the race.

　The weather in the morning of race day brought heavy rain, which brought concern that the race originally scheduled for 1:30 in the afternoon could not be held. However, by delaying the afternoon schedule by one hour it was possible to start the race behind the Safety Car from 2:22 in the afternoon.

　At the time of the start, due to factors like the small amount of sunlight, the track was not yet dry. Still, the No. 18 UPGARAGE NSX GT3 (Takashi Kobayashi/Syun Koide) starting from 16th position and the No. 4 GOODSMILE HATSUNE MIKU AMG (Nobuteru Taniguchi/Tatsuya Kataoka) in 19th position opted for a strategy of starting the race on slick tires. All the other cars opted to start the race on wet-use tires.

　Starting from the front position on the grid, the No. 20 SHADE RACING GR86 GT (Katsuyuki Hiranaka/Eijiro Shimizu) was able to take the lead for a while, but it was soon caught by the pursuing group led by the No. 61 SUBARU BRZ R&D SPORT (Takuto Iguchi/Hideki Yamauchi) No. 777 D'station Vantage GT3 (Tomonobu Fujii/Charlie Fagg).

　In the early stages of the race, it was the 4th and 5th position starters, the No. 7 Studie BMW M4 (Seiji Ara/Niklas Krütten) and No. 45 PONOS FERRARI 296 (Kei Cozzolino/Lilou Wadoux) that were able to run at an especially fast pace. In the second group, they were able to make good use of their Michelin tires that are known for their good performance in wet conditions to move up gradually in position. Cars No. 45 and No. 7 were able to move into 2nd and 3rd positions to give chase to the leading car No. 20.

　In the early stages there were times when sprinkles of rain passed through in the weak sunlight. At the end of the 20th lap, the No. 25 HOPPY Schatz GR Supra GT (Tomomitsu Matsui) that had started in 21st position returned to the pit to change to slick tires.

　On the same Michelin tires, car No. 20 was unable to maintain a good pace and lost the lead position by being passed by No. 45 and No. 7. Still, it was able to hold 3rd position until its right rear tire came off. Although it was able to return to the pit, when it was found that the parts holding the wheel in place had been damaged, No. 20 had to retire from the race. Furthermore, an accident occurred involving car No. 25 and the No. 96 K-tunes RC F GT3 (Morio Nitta/Shinichi Takagi) and No. 11 GAINER TANAX Z (Ryuichiro Tomita/Keishi Ishikawa). No. 25 came to a stop at track-side and the Safety Car was brought out.

 

 

 

 

 

　As the race entered its middle stages, perhaps because the track had dried out enough, the lap times of the cars running on slick tires gradually got better than those the on wet-use tires. Seeing this, the GT300 class cars running in the middle of the pack began returning to the pits. During this period, car No. 11, which had made a tire change, ran off the track and crashed. When it was clear that the car was unable to move from the spot at track-side, the leaders rushed to return to their pits, and shortly after that the Safety Car was brought out to control the race.

　The race was restarted when the GT300 class leaders were in their 48th lap. After its pit stop, car No. 45 was able to maintain its lead. However, closing in behind it now was the No. 65 LEON PYRAMID AMG (Takuro Shinohara) that had made an early pit stop and had worked its way up through the pack. Wadoux in car No. 45 was running for her first time at SUGO and was competing to become the first woman driver ever to win in SUPER GT/JGTC, while her opponent, Shinohara in car No. 65, was a driver with plenty of experience in SUPER GT races in Japan and determine to fight fiercely for the lead. A slight distance behind these two in third position came cars No. 7 and No. 777 in a battle of their own for a podium finish.

　The battle for the lead between cars No. 45 and No. 65 was one between Wadoux in car No. 45 with her superior speed on the straights facing car No. 65. Wadoux had plenty of experience in overseas GT racing, but her opponent Shinohara refused to be beaten. However, on 68th lap, coming out of the last corner, Shinohara in car No. 65 pulled up alongside on the in-side in the straight and held on to emerge in the lead.

　After that, No. 65 widened its margin of lead over No. 45 and went on to reach the goal first. For the No. 65 LEON PYRAMID AMG (Naoya Gamou/Takuro Shinohara) it was the second straight win following the one in Round 4 at Fuji (with Rd. 5 at Suzuka postponed until December). In the Drivers standing, the team passed the No. 2 muta Racing GR86 GT (Yuui Tsutsumi/Hibiki Taira) team that finished 8th in this race.

　Finishing today’s race in 2nd place came the No. 45 PONOS FERRARI 296 (Kei Cozzolino/Lilou Wadoux), which gave the team its first podium finish. This set a new record of for the highest finishing place for a woman since 1995. And it was the No. 777 D'station Vantage GT3 (Tomonobu Fujii/Charlie Fagg) that won the duel with car No. 7 to finish third.

 

 

 

 

 

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