【SUPER GT Round 3 / Suzuka】

Realize Corporation ADVAN GT-R Cereblates Podium Finish By Taking Third Place
Yokohama Tire Users Lockout GT300 Top Six

SUPER GT Round 3

Date	2021/08/21-22
Venue	Suzuka Circuit
Weather	Cloudy
Surface	Dry
Race Lap	52Laps (1Lap = 5,807m)

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The third round of the 2021 Super GT series at Suzuka, originally planned to be held in late May, finally took place after three months of delay.

Japan’s main islands had a long spell of rain since the previous week. While it eased off in the race week, the track surfaces were still partly wet when the official practice session got underway on Saturday. Bright sunshine came back on Sunday morning, but then some rain clouds were seen during the race. Thus, there was weather instability throughout the event.

The postponement from May to August usually means a race in the scorching heat. However, the temperatures were much lower than expected throughout the weekend, as the air/track temperatures were at 27/31 degrees centigrade when the qualifying session began on Saturday. So, it was indeed surprisingly cooler than the average temperature at this time of the year.

Even under such unexpected conditions, the products of Yokohama Tire worked well. In the GT300 class, thirteen Yokohama shoed cars – seven from Group A and six from Group B – survived the battle for Q2. Although they lost the fight for the pole position, Yuya Hiraki at the wheel of Mach Syaken GTNet MC86 Mach Go snatched the second grid, and Atsushi Miyake in Takanoko-no-yu GR Supra GT followed in third in Q2. At the end of the session, seven cars out of the top 10 were Yokohama Tire users.

The trend was the same in the GT500 class. Daiki Sasaki behind the wheel of Realize Corporation ADVAN GT-R set the third-fastest time in Q1, partly helped by the fact that the car had no Success Weight – the only example in the class, as a result of its struggle in the first three race meetings of the season. And Mitsunori Takaboshi secured the fourth grid in Q2.

On the other hand, WedsSport ADVAN GR Supra, which celebrated the second-place finish in the Motegi round last month, failed to advance to Q2, as Yuji Kunimoto ended the Q1 session in ninth. The 40kg Success Weight it had to carry must have adversely affected their qualifying performance, but the car was still the fastest GR Supra.

In contrast to the previous days, the early part of Sunday was favored by fine weather. When the start procedures began, a burst of blinding sunshine came, and the air/track temperatures reached 31/43 degrees, significantly higher than those from the qualifying session.

Realize Corporation ADVAN GT-R with Sasaki in the driver’s seat kept its position from the start. On Lap 5, he automatically moved up to third because the race leader retired due to a mechanical problem, which caused a 20-minute Safety Car period.

Sasaki remained in third after the restart and, when his opponents visited their pit box one after another, he even became the interim race leader. Then he made the stop on Lap 25, but it was untimely, so Takaboshi had to begin his stint from the sixth in the class as a result. Still, the performance was there, and he managed to overtake his rivals on Lap 28, 30, and 36 to regain third place.

There was a shower after that, but Yokohama’s tires didn’t have any problem with the temperature drop because of it. Thus, Takaboshi easily kept his position until the end, and Kondo Racing achieved the first podium finish since 2016 when they won a race at Motegi.

Despite the hope of Yokohama’s double point finish, WedsSport ADVAN GR Supra couldn’t show a good race pace, especially after the race’s halfway point. So, the car ended a tough race in lowly 13th, but the team at least gained valuable experience.

In the GT300 class, Miyake at the wheel of Takanoko-no-yu GR Supra GT, starting from the third grid, came up to second before the field completed the first lap. Then, on Lap 12, two laps later from the restart after the Safety Car period, he finally became the race leader.

Miyake handed the car to his co-driver, Yuui Tsutsumi, on Lap 24, but when the latter rejoined the race after the stop, Reiji Hiraki in Mach Syaken GTNet MC86 Mach Go just overtook him at Turn 1. This was possible because the Mach Go made its pit stop three laps earlier than Miyake’s GR Supra did, changing to Yuya Hiraki to his brother Reiji, and they didn’t replace any tire at the stop to save time.

Sure enough, these two cars were in a fight for the lead when all GT300 cars had done their mandatory driver change. However, while the top two were in a stalemate, Takashi Kogure driving JLOC Lamborghini GT3 and Nobuteru Taniguchi in GoodSmile Hatsune Miku AMG closed in from behind. It was thanks to the consistent driving of their starting drivers, Yuya Motojima and Tatsuya Kataoka, respectively, to stay within striking distance.

Unfortunately, Hiraki lost his concentration due to the relentless heat and made a huge mistake at Degner Curve on Lap 38. Consequently, he dropped to fifth, and now Tsutsumi took over the position of race leader. For the remaining laps, Tsutsumi played safe but even pulled away from the rest of the field to secure the maiden victory in Super GT for him and Miyake.

JLOC Lamborghini GT3 came in second, followed by GoodSmile Hatsune Miku AMG in third, which rounded out a Yokohama Tire’s podium lockout. Moreover, the following three places were also swept by Yokohama Tire users, as Kei Cozzolino / Naoki Yokomizo in Pacific NAC Carguy Ferrari finished in fourth, Mach Syaken GTNet MC86 Mach Go in fifth, and Hiroaki Nagai / Manabu Orido in Toyota GR Sport Prius apr GT in sixth.