Sportsland Sugo was the site of the second round of the 2021 Super Taikyu Series Powered by Hankook, contested as a double-header made up of two three-hour races where the 54-car field was split into two groups.
The first race on Sunday morning was the Group 2 race. The field comprised of the 29 cars in the four pure production classes, from ST-2 through ST-5. In the afternoon, the Group 1 race was held, with a 25 car field including the GT3 and GT4 cars of the ST-X and ST-Z classes, respectively.
Group 2 Race Report: Saitama Toyopet GreenBrave takes a confident Sugo victory
Masahiro Sasaki in the all-wheel drive #32 ROOKIE Racing Toyota GR Yaris led the field to green, but in the dry conditions, the rear-wheel drive cars in the ST-3 class would soon make their way to the head of the pack. Despite the best defense of the veteran Sasaki, young Tomoki Takahashi in the #62 HELM Motor Sports Lexus RC 350 took the overall lead on Lap 6, while Sasaki still held the ST-2 class lead.
Soon it was another young charger, Kohta Kawaai, who entered the picture in the #52 Saitama Toyopet GreenBrave Toyota Crown RS – and after several laps of chasing down Takahashi, Kawaai took the lead on Lap 13. When the Safety Car was brought out on Lap 26, the #52 Toyota and #62 Lexus made their first pit stops to change drivers, and Yuma Shoji took the race lead in the #41 Air Buster/55 Garage RC 350. The race restarted on Lap 31, with Reiji Hiraki in the #62 Lexus ahead of the #15 Okabe Jidosha Nissan Fairlady Z33 of Masaya Kono, and then Hiroki Yoshida in the #52 Toyota.
Yoshida was able to pick his way past both Kono and the younger Hiraki brother for the net lead in the space of two laps, and that became the true lead on Lap 39 when Yoshida passed Shoji in the #41 Lexus – the latter car picking up a drive-through penalty for cutting the pit exit line after they made their first stop. Up at the front, Yoshida quickly began to pull out a margin over the rest of the field – leading by 17 seconds by the end of Lap 46, and ultimately extending the gap to 29 seconds when he came into the pits on Lap 74.
Once the rest of the field made their second stops, it was the living legend Naoki Hattori who held onto the lead until the chequered flag, giving Saitama Toyopet GreenBrave the overall and ST-3 class victory in the Group 2 race, their first of the season.
Yoshida, Hattori, and Kawaai (fourth driver Takayuki Hiranuma did not drive) completed 111 laps over three hours, actually more than the Group 1 Race winner was able to complete due to a red flag during their race. 2nd overall and 2nd in ST-3 was the #39 Air Buster/Winmax RC 350 of defending series champions Yusuke Tomibayashi, Kazuya Oshima from Osaka, and Hirotaka Ishii (DNR), finishing 20 seconds back of the winning #52 Toyota. Then it was another 45 seconds back to the #62 HELM Lexus of Yuya Hiraki, Reiji Hiraki, and Tomoki Takahashi, which finished in 3rd.
The #225 Kobe Toyopet Motorsports (KTMS) Toyota GR Yaris of Seita Nonaka, Hibiki Taira, and Miki Onaga came away with the ST-2 class victory and a 6th overall finish, overcoming the early advantage of the #32 ROOKIE Racing GR Yaris through the stellar driving of Toyota prodigies Taira and Nonaka, and top woman driver Onaga, who closed out the race to take KTMS’ second straight win of the 2021 season.
Shinryo Racing Team’s two Mitsubishi Lancer Evolutions completed the ST-2 podium, with the #6 (Tomohiro Tomimasu/Yasushi Kikuchi/Masazumi Ohashi) finishing 2nd in class and 8th overall, and the #7 (Yoshiki Fujii/Masato Narisawa/Keisuke Anzai/Shingo Imai, DNR) finishing 3rd in class and 9th overall.
Hayashi Telempu Shade Racing scored their second straight ST-4 win with the #884 Toyota 86 of Yuji Kunimoto, Keishi Ishikawa, and Eijiro Shimizu finishing 12th overall, and winning the class by two laps over the #18 WedsSport 86 (Takeo Asano/Daiki Fujiwara/Kota Matsui). Shade Racing’s primary challengers, the #310 GR Garage Mito Inter 86 (Sho Tsuboi/Shinya Hosokawa/Fuma Horio), dropped from contention in the second half after going to the garage due to overheating, losing ten laps in the process.
ST-5 was an all-Mazda Roadster podium, and Avantech Racing Team’s #456 odula Star5 Roadster of Riku Hashimoto, Kousei Kanto, and Tatsuya Osaki scored the victory (15th overall) after battling with their sister car, the #66 odula/Tone Roadster (Takayuki Takechi/Tatsuya Ota/Takahisa Ohno/Kyosuke Inomata, DNR), during the first portion of the race.
Second was Nihon Automobile College’s #72 NATS Roadster of Makoto Kanai, Tatsuya Ishii, Tatsuya Okahara, and Anna Inotsume (who did not drive, but will still be credited as the second woman on a class podium today), ahead of the #66 odula/Tone Roadster in 3rd.
Group 1 Race Report: Porsche Center Okazaki holds on to win back-to-back Sugo 3 Hour races
The #16 Porsche Center Okazaki 911 GT3-R of Hiroaki Nagai, Yuta Kamimura, and Yuichi Nakayama held on to win their second straight Sugo 3 Hour Race, following a red flag in the last hour and a nine-minute sprint to the finish with the #777 D’station Aston Martin AMR Vantage GT3 of Satoshi Hoshino, Tomonobu Fujii, and Tsubasa Kondo shadowing them all the way to the chequered flag.
In the first hour of the race, however, two different protagonists were at the front of the field. The pole-sitting #31 apr Racing Lexus RC F GT3 of Kazuto Kotaka led early on, only to be caught and passed by the #9 MP Racing Nissan GT-R GT3 of Masami Kageyama on Lap 15. The #31 Lexus pitted on Lap 45 and changed drivers to Koki Saga, while the #9 Nissan stayed out for three more laps before pitting and changing drivers to Yusaku Shibata on Lap 48. Saga used the undercut to his advantage and took the lead on Lap 50, but once Shibata’s tyres were up to temperature, he fought back and took the lead once again on Lap 58.
The two drivers remained deadlocked in a battle for the lead until lap 88, when the #31 Lexus made its second stop. Gentleman driver Hideki Nagai had to do his mandatory 50-minute stint, as did Joe Shindo, who got aboard the #9 Nissan on Lap 89. The younger Nagai brother had a half-spin early in his stint that cost him time, and Shindo was lapping steadily at the head of the pack.
Approaching from behind was a pack of three cars that had all started the race with their Gentleman drivers – the #16 Porsche of Kamimura (who had just relieved Nakayama on Lap 91), his Carrera Cup Japan rival Kondo in the #777 Aston Martin, and the #290 Floral Racing with ABSSA McLaren 720S GT3 of Shintaro Kawabata, all closing in on race leader Shindo with 45 minutes remaining. It seemed as if a pass for the lead was inevitable, but it would be forced out of Shindo’s hands when he tried to get around a slow-moving #70 Comet Racing Mercedes-AMG GT4, got onto the kerb at the SP Corner-Out, lost control and crashed into the sponge barriers.
According to MP Racing, Shindo suffered minor injuries to his jaw and body but was able to get out of his stricken Nissan under his own power. The race was put under Safety Car for ten minutes before the Red Flag was displayed after 100 laps, to repair the barriers at the crash site.
After 18 minutes, the Red Flag was withdrawn, and the race went back to green on Lap 103, with nine minutes left on the clock, and Kamimura leading Kondo and Kawabata. Kamimura was perfect off the restart and gradually pulled away from Kondo, who now had to fight off Kawabata to keep 2nd place.
With 109 laps completed, Kamimura took the chequered flag, and the ARN Racing/Porsche Center Okazaki squad won at Sugo for the second consecutive season, winning in 2020 as a part-time entry.
A solid opening stint from the elder of the Nagai brothers, and a strong middle stint from Nakayama, set Kamimura up in a great position to take the chequered flag by a final margin of 5.041 seconds over the #777 D’station Vantage of Hoshino, Fujii, and Kondo, who retain their lead in the ST-X Championship standings with a second-place finish. Completing the ST-X and overall podium was the #290 McLaren of Tadao Uematsu, Keita Sawa, and the aforementioned Kawabata (fourth driver Yuji Ide did not drive), just 1.8 seconds behind the D’station Vantage.
The #81 Daishin GTNET GT-R (Noboyuki Oyagi/Takayuki Aoki/Kiyoto Fujinami/Ryuichiro Oyagi, DNR) drove to a fourth-place finish, ahead of the #31 Lexus of Hideki Nagai, Saga, and Kotaka in 5th.
6th overall, and winners in the ST-1 class from pole, was Tracy Sports’ #38 muta Racing Toyota GR Supra of Yuui Tsutsumi, Ryohei Sakaguchi, and Makoto Hotta, which completed 103 laps – and finished two laps ahead of the second-placed ST-1 car, the #71 Akiland Racing Porsche 911 GT3 Cup of Masayoshi Oyama and Ken Yamamoto (16th overall). KTM Cars Japan made a heroic effort to fix the #2 X-Bow GTX (Taiyou Iida/Kazuho Takahashi/Hiroki Katoh) after a Saturday Free Practice accident, but they were forced to retire after just 30 laps with a mechanical issue.
In another fierce fight for the ST-Z class victory, Mercedes-AMG struck back with a 1-2 finish for their customer Mercedes-AMG GT4s – but with a first-time winner leading the way: Tatsuya Kataoka’s TK Racing Invitation (TKRI) team and the #23 TKRI/Matsunaga Construction AMG GT4 of Daisuke Matsunaga and Yuya Motojima scored their first-ever Super Taikyu class victory, finishing 7th overall.
Motojima worked his way up through the ST-Z field from 7th on the grid, until he caught up to the pole-sitting #311 Fabulous GRMI Toyota GR Supra GT4 of Yusuke Shiotsu by Lap 20. Manabu Orido, in the #47 D’station Aston Martin AMR Vantage GT4, was right with Motojima, and passed Motojima while Motojima was trying to pass Shiotsu for the lead. On Lap 23, Orido took the class lead, which he held all the way until the end of his stint on Lap 53.
Motojima had pitted on Lap 36, and Matsunaga did an admirable job to maintain his position until the end of his 39-lap stint. Motojima got back on board the #23 Mercedes after the second stop on Lap 75, and by the time the Safety Car was deployed for Joe Shindo’s accident, the #23 TKRI Mercedes was back out in front, where it would stay until the chequered flag, as Motojima and Matsunaga completed 103 laps en route to the class win.
Following a difficult race in Motegi, the #3 Endless AMG GT4 of Yudai Uchida, Hideki Yamauchi, and Togo Suganami bounced back to the podium, finishing 2nd with a 4.8-second deficit to the #23 TKRI Mercedes. It was almost a Mercedes podium sweep, as the #500 5Zigen AMG GT4 (Ryuichiro Otsuka/Toshihiro Kaneishi/Jake Parsons) was running 3rd, but the #47 Aston Martin, now driven by Takuro Shinohara, made a blazing run to the chequered and overtook Kaneishi over the line to snatch 3rd by just 0.102 seconds – another podium for the crew of Tatsuya Hoshino, Orido, and Shinohara (Kenji Hama did not drive). The #500 Mercedes would finish 4th, just 0.334s ahead of the #311 Toyota of Hirokazu Suzuki, Rintaro Kubo, and Shiotsu (plus Kimiya Sato, DNR).
The #20 SS/YZ Studie BMW M4 GT4 (Tomohide Yamaguchi/Seiji Ara/Yuya Sakamoto) finished 6th in class as the last lead-lap car. The #30 B-Max Engineering AMG GT4 (Nobuhiro Imada/Yuhi Sekiguchi/Ryuji “Dragon” Kumita) recovered from a drive-through penalty to finish 7th, ahead of the #885 Hayashi Telempu Shade Racing GR Supra GT4 (Hiro Hayashi/Katsuyuki Hiranaka/Ai Miura) in 8th, the Motegi-winning #22 EBI Waimarama Porsche Cayman GT4 MR (“Kizuna”/Katsumasa Chiyo, DNR/Naoya Yamano/Riki Okusa) 9th, and the #34 Techno First Ginetta G55 GT4 (Yuki Tanaka/Hironobu Yasuda/Shinnosuke Yamada) rounding out the top ten in ST-Z.
Finishing 15th overall was the sole ST-Q class #28 ROOKIE Racing Toyota GR Supra (Naoya Gamou/Daisuke Toyoda/Kenta Yamashita, DNR/Yasuhiro Ogura), and the lone ST-TCR class #75 Team Noah Honda Civic TCR (Toshiro Tsukada/Yoshikazu Sobu/Shigetomo Shimono/Yuji Kiyotaki, DNR) took the chequered flag in 20th overall.
In just under five weeks’ time, the Super Taikyu Series Powered by Hankook will hold its crown jewel event of the season – the sixth annual Fuji Super TEC 24 Hours at Fuji Speedway, on 22-23 May.
Images courtesy of the Super Taikyu Organisation (STO) / Photographer: Naoyuki Hata
