2023 SUPER GT Round 1 Report

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The Super GT series, which is the most popular Japanese race series in terms of attendance, raised its curtain for the 2023 season at Okayama International Circuit in western Japan. The championship in both GT500 and GT300 classes will be fought hard throughout the eight-race series again this year.

The official qualifying session was held on April 15th, Saturday. As there was a mass of cold air high above the western Japan area, it was rainy and chilly. Therefore, during free practice in the morning, many drivers had scary moments because of the very wet track surfaces. Then, as the forecast said heavier rain was coming, the practice itself was cut short before the exclusive periods for the GT500 and GT300 classes began. So most teams didn’t have enough preparation time before the qualifying session.

The official qualifying had to be extended by 5 minutes due to the low air and track temperature as the drivers would need more laps than usual to warm up their tires. But the rain was getting heavier, and the amount of water on the track pavement increased during Q1 for GT300 Group A, and the race control had to show the red flag with five minutes left. Since the session was terminated after that, more than a few leading competitors in the class were eliminated before completing a good qualifying lap.

However, two young Super GT debutants in the Yokohama-equipped teams, Yuga Furutani driving Anest Iwata Racing RC F GT3 and Reimei Ito behind the wheel of Yogibo NSX GT3, shined under the difficult conditions. In addition, Yuya Motojima in JLOC Lamborghini GT3 and Joao Paulo de Oliveira in Realize Nissan Mechanic Challenge GT-R also survived, which meant four Yokohama Tire users cleared the bar for Q2 in Group A.

Considering the intensity of the rain, the race control delayed the start of Q1 for Group B by ten minutes. However, when it began, the rain significantly eased, and the drivers were keen to go out on the track from the early stage because it was evident that the more laps they drove around, the better the track conditions would be.

Looking at Yokohama Tire users in this group, Nobuteru Taniguchi, at the wheel of GoodSmile Hatsune Miku AMG, set excellent lap times from the early minutes. Then, Kimiya Sato in Hachi-Ichi GR Supra GT and Ryohei Sakaguchi in Pacific Vspo NAC AMG picked up their speed in the middle stage, followed by Takayuki Aoki driving RunUp Rivaux GT-R jumped up to fourth by making a big improvement in his time on the final lap. So these were the four Yokohama-shoed cars that went on to Q2 from Group B.

In the fight for the pole position in Q2, Takashi Kogure placed JLOC Lamborghini GT3 on the top of the timing screen in the early stage until three opponents surpassed his time. So he had to settle for the fourth grid, but it was still a good position for aiming at the race win. And Tatsuya Kataoka improved his time on the last timed lap in the session to secure the fifth grid for GoodSmile Hatsune Miku AMG.

Regarding the GT500 class, Yuji Kunimoto in WedsSport ADVAN GR Supra continued to better his time lap after lap in the session’s closing minutes and, in his last qualifying attempt, set the seventh fastest time and survived for Q2. On that crucial lap, he shaved off 0.1 seconds from the lap before, and the gap with the fastest eliminated car was just 66 thousandths of a second. Driving the Supra in Q2, Sena Sakaguchi also made a great effort and placed the car on the fifth grid. So a podium finish was well within sight of the WedsSport-backed crew. Realize Corporation ADVAN Z, in the hands of Daiki Sasaki, ended the session in the 11th, so it was knocked out in Q1. However, he and Kohei Hirate vowed recovery in the race.

On Sunday morning, the sky over Okayama International Circuit was cloudy. But it looked quiet, and the guests of the Pit Walk event prior to the starting procedures could even enjoy some rays of sunshine. Who could imagine the dramas that would happen in the next four hours…

The air/track temperatures rose to 18/30 degrees centigrade when the 300km race started at half past 1 p.m. The dark clouds began to gather over the race track, but there was no rainfall yet. On the opening lap, Kunimoto, behind the wheel of WedsSport ADVAN GR Supra, moved up to third, gaining two positions from the fifth. Later, he reported, “I could feel the improvement of the tire’s warm-up characteristics.”

In the GT300 class, there was no significant position change during the early laps. Hence, JLOC Lamborghini with Motojima at the wheel and GoodSmile Hatsune Miku AMG with Kataoka in the driving seat kept the positions where they started, fourth and fifth. But, when the race leader was about to enter the seventh lap, the rain finally came. And the raindrops suddenly became larger several laps later, even accompanied by hail!

Thus, the track conditions quickly turned wet, and UpGarage NSX GT3 was the first to come into the pit to change to rain tires. With one of the Super GT rookies, Syun Koide, at the wheel, the car had started the race from the lowly 18th grid and made almost no progress in positions until then.

Soon after that, two GT300 cars had accidents in succession on Lap 15 and 16, which caused the Full Course Yellow (FCY), and the Safety Car period followed. Taking the opportunity, many GT300 cars rushed to the pit lane when it was opened to get their wet tires, and it meant UpGarage NSX GT3, which had already had the wets, gained a lot of positions behind the Safety Car. As four opponents also made their tire change before the SC, the NSX was running in fifth when the race restarted. And Koide overtook Yugo Iwasawa in Yogibo NSX GT3 on Lap 23 and passed another car ten laps later, so the UpGarage-backed car now came up to third.

Backing up a little, the weather began to improve immediately after the restart. While the drizzle remained, some intense rays of sunshine started to dry the track surfaces simultaneously. Here, the team that runs UpGarage NSX GT made an excellent decision and called Koide into the pit to change to Takashi Kobayashi for the remaining laps of the race and to replace the wet tires with the slicks. The decision led to a successful undercutting, and the car finally took over the lead on Lap 41.

Toward the end of the race, a GT300 car went off at Hairpin Curve, and the second FCY of the day was required. Almost at the same time, the heavy rain returned, which provoked a collision between Pacific Vspo NAC AMG and JLOC Lamborghini GT3 immediately after the FCY was cleared as they were fighting for sixth. Because of this incident, the Safety Car came out for the second time, and then the race was stopped by the red flag since the rain became much heavier and lightning strikes were observed in the nearby areas.

The race was once restarted with the Safety Car leading the field, only to be stopped again due to another accident by a GT 300 car, plus the track conditions that were getting worse. The race control tried the third restart with the Safety Car but had to decide to show the red flag for the third time for the same reasons. And then, they terminated the race before the maximum extended race time came at half past 4 p.m.

Thus, UpGarage NSX GT3, leading when the race was aborted, won in the GT300 class. For Koide, it became the winning debut in the Super GT, and it was also memorable for Kobayashi because this was his 100th race in the series. The third place went to Hachi-Ichi GR Supra. Starting from the 12th grid, the car also made massive position gains, thanks to the team’s perfect calls regarding the pit stops. So the Yokohama Tire users took two places on the podium.

Turning to the GT500 class, WedsSport ADVAN GR Supra gained a few positions in the early stage, which looked to be a good sign, but the car was tossed up and down by the fluctuating weather conditions after that. Especially at the first pit stop, they were involved in chaos on the pit lane, which happened when almost all cars rushed into their pit box to change tires. In that regard, the biggest loser in this situation was Realize Corporation ADVAN Z, which lost a lot of positions in the pit stop.

The drivers of both Yokohama-shoed cars persistently tried to recover, but Realize Corporation ADVAN Z spun in the closing stage of the race and finished as the tail-ender. WedsSport ADVAN GR Supra ended the race in tenth but was promoted to ninth in the final result as one car ahead of it was penalized. So the WedsSport-backed car at least brought valuable championship points after the race that had been absolute havoc.