2022 SUPER GT Round 1 Report

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The 2022 Super GT series got underway at Okayama International Circuit. As all cars can race without any Success Weight in this season-opening round, each car’s and team’s true performance could become more apparent. It was the race that no one could blame the weight, so to say.

Under the clear sky, Pacific Hololive NAC Ferrari amazed everyone in Q1 (Group A) of the GT300 class, as Kei Cozzolino in the car broke the existing course record by 0.5 seconds.

Takashi Kobayashi / Kakunoshin Ohta pair in UpGarage NSX GT3 got the best grid among the eight Yokohama Tire user cars that went on to Q2, as they ended the session in fourth. Ohta is a rookie in the Super GT, but his drive in Q2 was impressive.

Kiyoto Fujinami and Joao Paolo de Oliveira, driving Realize Nissan Mechanic Challenge GT-R, secured the fifth grid, followed by Pacific Hololive NAC Ferrari, which finished Q2 in sixth. Weibo Primez Lamborghini GT3, shared by Takashi Kogure and Yuya Motojima, sat on the eighth grid. After a remarkable performance on the official testing day, the pair set out to get a better result in the race.

In the GT500 class, Sena Sakaguchi, behind the wheel of WedsSport ADVAN GR Supra, was the second-fastest in Q1. As Daiki Sasaki in the brand-new Realize Corporation ADVAN Z was fifth in the session, both Yokohama shoed cars easily survived the fight for Q2.

Yuji Kunimoto, driving the Supra, was in the top slot in Q2 for a while, but he had to settle for eighth because his best time was deleted due to a track limit violation. On the other hand, Kohei Hirate in the Z set the fifth-fastest time in the session. So both cars secured respectable starting grids, and a point finish was well within their sights at least.

On Sunday, the weather conditions became even better since the cold wind that blew on the qualifying day had ceased. Fujinami in REALIZE NISSAN MECHANIC CHALLENGE GT-R shone in the GT300 race’s first half. He made a nearly perfect getaway and soon moved up to third in the early stage. But he didn’t stop there, as the Japanese driver was in second on Lap 17 and finally gained the lead six laps later.

But Kobayashi’s pace in UpGarage NSX GT3 was almost equal to Fujinami’s. Starting the race from the fourth grid, he could keep the leaders in sight for the first 20 laps and gain the third-place position on Lap 21. While some of their rivals opted for the earliest possible stops, Fujinami and Kobayashi could extend their stints to the halfway point or so. Thus, the NSX was handed to Ohta on Lap32 and the GT-R to Oliveira on Lap 37.

When all GT300 crew completed their driver changes, Fujinami was still leading the race, and Ohta followed in second. In addition to that, Cozzolino at the wheel of Pacific Hololive NAC Ferrari also emerged to third. The reason for this top three lockout at the time was that Yokohama Tire’s products were better suited to the temperature conditions, which became a bit higher during the race.

Helped by the margin that Fujinami built, Oliveira could control his pace and still pull away from the rest of the field. So, they won the race for the first time since last year’s opening round, taking the first step to regaining the championship title that they missed out on defending last year.

UpGarage NSX GT3 came in second. The debutant Ohta drove consistently and resisted the heavy pressure from Cozzolino. Unfortunately, the Cozzolino’s Ferrari had a mechanical problem with only seven laps to go and had to settle for finishing in fourth. But it was clear that the car and crew had a huge potential.

In the GT500 class race, Sasaki in Realize Corporation ADVAN Z and Kunimoto in WedsSport ADVAN GR Supra kept the positions from where they started for a while. However, both of them soon struggled to keep a good pace.

Therefore, the teams opted for early stops, and Kunimoto changed to Sakaguchi on Lap 30 and Sasaki to Hirate three laps later. But the strategy didn’t work. And the Realize Corporation backed Z had a further mishap in the closing stage, as the car was hit from behind by a GT300 car. So while Hirate could continue, all he could do was finish in lowly 14th, just behind the Yokohama shoed GR Supra, which ended the race in 13th.

Still, the positive side of the results is that both cars will be allowed to race in the next Fuji round carrying zero Success Weight, which means the chances of better results will be higher.