For the first time since 2018, and for the first time in Red Bull colours, Team Mugen will start on pole for an Autobacs Super GT Series race. The #16 Red Bull Motul Mugen Honda NSX-GT of Ukyo Sasahara and Toshiki Oyu took the top spot in qualifying for Sunday’s Autopolis GT 300km Race.
The start of qualifying was delayed 15 minutes due to several red flags in the morning practice session, all caused by incidents involving GT300 cars. The first phase of GT500 qualifying got underway just before 2:30 PM local time, under excellent weather conditions. That was welcome news for anyone worried about the recent eruption of nearby Mount Aso on Wednesday, which thankfully caused no serious injuries or disturbance to the race meeting.
In Q1, Oyu led the way with a fantastic lap time of 1’31.389, breaking Tomoki Nojiri’s 2018 course record by less than a tenth of a second. Hiroki Otsu, fresh off his first Super Formula win at Motegi a week ago, also broke the old course record with a 1’31.438 in the #64 Modulo NSX-GT, to go second in the session.
Ryo Hirakawa in the #37 KeePer TOM’s Toyota GR Supra bumped his way into Q2 with his final flying lap, and pushed the #24 Realize Corporation Advan Nissan GT-R (Mitsunori Takaboshi/Daiki Sasaki) out of the top eight by just 0.027 seconds. The championship-leading #1 Stanley NSX-GT of Naoki Yamamoto and Tadasuke Makino, which is carrying the maximum 100 kilogrammes of effective Success Ballast this weekend, could not advance to Q2 and qualified 13th – with Yamamoto ending up three-tenths behind the cut line.
Four Hondas, three Toyotas, and one Nissan advanced into Q2.
The temperature dropped slightly before the start of GT500’s Q2, and there was frantic action with one minute to go. Newly crowned Super Formula champion Nojiri went to the top of the timesheets first in his #8 ARTA NSX-GT, setting a 1’32.128. Then Takuya Izawa in the #64 Modulo NSX-GT went quicker, with a 1’32.068.
But on his final attack lap, it was Sasahara in just his second GT500 season who snatched pole position. His best lap of 1’31.770 was four tenths off the record time by Oyu, but it was enough to secure his first career GT500 pole position by the slimmest of margins. It’s also the fourth straight pole of the season for Honda in GT500, and their fourth consecutive pole at Autopolis (dating back to 2017).
“Oyu-san ran a fantastic time attack in Q1 that gave me confidence that the car was in good condition. Because of that, I am really relieved that I was able to get pole position,” remarked Sasahara. “This is also the first pole position since we became Team Red Bull Mugen, and I am so happy that I was the one who won it for us.”
“I am just so grateful to everyone. We don’t want to finish any lower than this top position in the race tomorrow, so the whole team is going to work as hard as we can to defend our lead.”
It has been over nineteen years since Mugen have won a race in GT500 under their own banner, their last premier class victory was in 2002 at Mine Circuit. They have just one podium finish since returning to the top flight in 2017, but a win tomorrow would certainly cap off their comeback efforts.
Just after the chequered flag, the #14 Eneos X Prime GR Supra of Kenta Yamashita leapt to second place, with a time of 1’31.777 that brought him within seven-thousandths of a second of displacing Sasahara from the top spot.
However, TGR Team Eneos ROOKIE and their drivers, Yamashita and Kazuya Oshima, will have a tough time trying to finish on the podium. They are one of three Toyota teams that will need to serve a five-second penalty stop at the beginning of Sunday’s 65 lap race after unapproved engine change-outs. The other two are the #37 KeePer TOM’s GR Supra of Hirakawa and Sacha Fenestraz – the latter of whom qualified sixth in his first race of the season, and the #38 ZENT GR Supra (Yuji Tachikawa/Hiroaki Ishiura) which qualified tenth.
It’s an all-Honda second row, with the #64 Modulo NSX of Izawa/Otsu in third, and the #8 ARTA NSX of Nojiri and Nirei Fukuzumi in fourth.
The #23 Motul Autech GT-R (Tsugio Matsuda/Ronnie Quintarelli), which topped the practice session, qualified fifth ahead of the aforementioned #37 KeePer Supra of Hirakawa/Fenestraz. The #17 Astemo NSX-GT (Koudai Tsukakoshi/Bertrand Baguette) qualified seventh, and the #39 Denso Kobelco SARD GR Supra (Heikki Kovalainen/Yuichi Nakayama) was eighth.
It’s been a long, difficult season for apr Racing’s hybrid-powered #31 Toyota GR Sport Prius PHV apr GT, but after a recent testing breakthrough, Koki Saga and Yuhki Nakayama have shown incredible pace this weekend and taken pole position for the first time this year in GT300.
Good pace in practice translated into a top time during Q1 Group A, as Nakayama led the session with a time of 1’42.687. GT300 originals and Mother Chassis locked out the top five places in Group A, with the #61 Subaru BRZ R&D Sport of Takuto Iguchi finishing second, and the #30 Toyota Prius of Manabu Orido in third.
In Group B, the #18 UPGarage Honda NSX GT3 of newly crowned Super Formula Lights champion, Teppei Natori, led the way with a 1’42.710. This was a relief for Team UPGarage, whose car brought out two red flags in practice after stopping on track both times.
Sena Sakaguchi in the #96 K-Tunes Lexus RC F GT3 bumped the #56 Realize/Nissan Automobile Technical College GT-R GT3 of Joao Paulo de Oliveira out of a Q2 berth just after the chequered flag for the Group B session. Oliveira and Kiyoto Fujinami, who are second in the championship table, will start 18th. Another top title contender, the #244 Takanoko-no-yu GR Supra (Atsushi Miyake/Yuui Tsutsumi), will start 25th after being knocked out in Q1 Group A.
In the final minutes of Q2, it looked as if the #61 Subaru BRZ of Hideki Yamauchi would take pole position for the second straight race, setting a time of 1’42.316 that eclipsed the previous course record. But soon after, it was Koki Saga – apr Racing’s senior driver – who put his stamp on qualifying, setting a 1’42.039 for the number 31 Prius’ first pole since Round 3 of the 2020 season at Suzuka. This is Saga’s fourth career pole position. And, this ends a streak of five consecutive pole positions for Dunlop in GT300, with Bridgestone getting their first of the year.
“Lately, my only chance to stand out was at the driver appearance sessions held before the starts of the races,” admitted Saga, “so I am glad to appear here today after winning pole position. I was confident coming into this round, so we asked Nakayama-san to run in Q1 and I was determined to get pole position in Q2.”
“Nakayama-san ran a fantastic time in Q1, and that inspired me. We have been struggling so far this season, so I believe that the fact that we both ran top times today show that the steady work we have continued until now has finally produced results. Right now I am just relieved to be here.”
Even 100 kilogrammes of Success Weight, the #61 Subaru BRZ of Iguchi and Yamauchi has looked incredible all day, and backed up that pace with a second place qualifying result.
Completing an all GT300 originals’ top three from qualifying was the #52 GreenBrave Supra, which qualified third in the hands of Hiroki Yoshida. The fastest FIA GT3 car was the #65 LEON Pyramid Mercedes-AMG GT3 (Naoya Gamou/Togo Suganami) in fourth, followed by the #96 K-Tunes RC F of Morio Nitta and Sena Sakaguchi in fifth, then the #60 Syntium LM Corsa GR Supra GT300 (Hiroki Yoshimoto/Shunsuke Kohno) in sixth, and the #88 JLOC Lamborghini Huracan GT3 (Takashi Kogure/Yuya Motojima) in seventh.
The #2 muta Racing Lotus Evora MC (Hiroki Katoh/Ryohei Sakaguchi) qualified eighth, ahead of local favourites Team Mach and their #5 Mach Syaken GTNET Toyota MC86 (Yuya Hiraki/Reiji Hiraki) in ninth. Takashi Kobayashi in the #18 UPGarage NSX GT3 completed the top ten in Q2.
The Autopolis GT 300km Race goes green tomorrow at 13:30 JST (local time) / 5:30 BST / 6:30 CEST / 00:30 EDT.
Images courtesy of the GT Association (GTA)
