In dramatic fashion, the number 8 ARTA Honda NSX-GT of Tomoki Nojiri and Nirei Fukuzumi won the seventh and penultimate round of the 2021 Autobacs Super GT Series at Twin Ring Motegi, giving Autobacs Racing Team Aguri their second straight win in the series – and moving Nojiri and Fukuzumi to within five points of GT500 Championship leader, Naoki Yamamoto, heading into the last race at Fuji Speedway on 28 November.
Sunday’s Motegi GT 300km Race was Super GT’s second visit to the venue that will be known from March 2022 as Mobility Resort Motegi. But unlike the last race at Motegi, which took place in the summer heat in July, this weekend’s race took place under milder conditions. Air temperatures were between 19-20°C for the start of the race, with track temperatures just under 30°C.
For the first time since 2017, a pair of Yokohama Advan-clad GT500 cars would lead the field to the green flag. Yuji Kunimoto started from pole in the #19 WedsSport Advan Toyota GR Supra, alongside Daiki Sasaki in the #24 Realize Corporation Advan Nissan GT-R. Kunimoto would lead the first lap of the race, but Sasaki dropped three places on the opening lap. Nobuharu Matsushita in the #12 Calsonic Impul GT-R moved from fourth to second, while Nirei Fukuzumi held third in the #8 ARTA NSX.
Kunimoto, Matsushita, and Fukuzumi ran first, second, third in that order for the first twenty laps of the race. There were two brief Full Course Yellow (FCY) interventions early in the race. The first, came on lap 10 when the #37 KeePer TOM’s GR Supra of Sacha Fenestraz collided with the GT300 class #65 LEON Pyramid Mercedes-AMG GT3 of Togo Suganami at the Hairpin Curve (turn 10), and sent Suganami into the gravel runoff. Fenestraz was given a drive-through penalty for avoidable contact.
After the second FCY, caused by a collision between the GT300 class #4 Goodsmile Hatsune Miku AMG and the #87 Granseed Lamborghini Huracán GT3, Matsushita was able to close to within a second of race leader Kunimoto. And, on lap 21, Matsushita made the move around the outside of turn three to take the lead of the race – just before the pit window had opened for routine stops.
The Calsonic GT-R and ARTA NSX pitted on lap 22, with Kazuki Hiramine taking over the wheel of the Calsonic GT-R, and the new Super Formula champion Nojiri taking over the ARTA NSX. A lap later, the WedsSport Supra pitted, and Ritomo Miyata took over for his closing stint. Hiramine was able to hold on to the net lead of the race, while Nojiri was able to move ahead of Miyata for what would become second place when all cars made their routine pit stops.
Once all cars pitted, Hiramine now led Nojiri by around three seconds and was able to stretch out his advantage to as much as 4.4 seconds at one point. But the orange Honda of Nojiri started to close in on the blue Nissan of Hiramine, cutting the lead back down to under three seconds by lap 40. And by lap 50, the gap was down to less than a second, with both drivers running tail-to-nose, leaving nothing in reserve in search of their second wins of the season, and a chance to gain major ground in the GT500 championship standings heading into the last race.
Nojiri got within two-tenths of Hiramine with six laps remaining, but still couldn’t make the pass. And at the start of the final lap, Hiramine held a slim lead of 0.564 seconds over Nojiri.
But as both cars plunged down into turn three, Nojiri easily rocketed past Hiramine to take the lead on the last lap of the race – because the Calsonic GT-R, after 42 laps, ran out of fuel on the last lap! Reminiscent of the 2020 season finale at Fuji Speedway, the dominant car for much of the race was left with heartache and an empty tank of fuel.
Nojiri could coast to the line from here, taking ARTA’s second straight win of the season by a final margin of 18.807 seconds ahead of the #19 WedsSport Supra of Kunimoto and Miyata. Miyata overtook Hiramine for second place, but the Calsonic GT-R was able to salvage third place over the line.
Nojiri was frank of his assessment of the race, saying, “We ended up running behind car number 12 for 99% of the race, so in that sense we have to admit that they beat us.”
“But because their pit time had been shortened, I intuitively sensed that if I pressed hard on them, they would eventually suffer in terms of fuel economy. So, I just kept pushing as hard as I could. There were times when I had chances to make a pass but failed to, and I am disappointed with that. And I was also thinking it would be bad for Fukuzumi-san if I couldn’t give him his third win in a row. So, I was just kept pushing on hoping that something would happen. And maybe it was my desperate prayer that somehow I could take the lead that was heard in the end.”
Fukuzumi, on the other hand, was even more harsh towards his own performance in the opening stint. “It was my lack of aggressiveness at the start that let car number 12 get in front of us and put Nojiri-san in such a difficult position in the second half of the race,” he said. “As I watched the second half, I was really sorry for what he had to go through. I am glad that we got this win, but I just want to thank Nojiri-san and the team for covering for my mistakes.”
All the same, it still counts as Nojiri’s seventh career win at the GT500 level, and the third for Fukuzumi – who became the first drivers to win back-to-back races in GT500 since Kazuya Oshima and Kenta Yamashita in 2019. As mentioned by Nojiri, this is Fukuzumi’s third consecutive win in as many weeks, including the Super GT race at Autopolis two weeks ago, and the Super Formula JAF Grand Prix at Suzuka last week.
Just as they did in July at Motegi, Kunimoto and Miyata, came away with a second-place finish for their efforts, by far the best of the Toyota fleet, who otherwise had a lacklustre outing at Motegi by their standards set early in the season. It’s the first time that TGR Team WedsSport Bandoh have scored multiple podiums in a season since 2018.
“At the start [of my stint] I was aiming to defend the lead, so I pushed from the out-lap considering the tyres I had chosen. However, the Bridgestone-shod cars behind me were very fast. It was a tough race, but I think we did the best we could,” said Miyata, who won the pole position on Saturday.
Hiramine and Matsushita were a lap away from giving Team Impul multiple wins in a season for the first time since 2008. But in their last-lap heartache, they’ve also lost out on valuable championship points that would have allowed them to stand a better chance at winning the team their first title since 1995.
“Of course I’m frustrated, but this is the first time in my racing career that I’ve felt this way, and to be able to feel this kind of frustration in a place where you can fight for the win is a luxury on the positive side,” Hiramine said after the race.
Just off the podium in fourth, the #17 Astemo NSX-GT of Koudai Tsukakoshi and Bertrand Baguette recovered from a frustrating result in qualifying to charge up the field and score eight crucial championship points. The hero of the race for them was long-time ace driver Tsukakoshi, who effectively started his stint in eighth place, but began picking his way past the cars in front of him. On lap 48, he overtook the #14 Eneos X Prime GR Supra of Kazuya Oshima for fifth place, and six laps later, he passed Toshiki Oyu’s #16 Red Bull Motul Mugen NSX-GT for fourth.
The Red Bull NSX of Oyu and Ukyo Sasahara held on to finish fifth, less than a second ahead of the Eneos Supra of Oshima and Kenta Yamashita in sixth, breaking a four-race scoreless drought. The Realize GT-R of Sasaki and Mitsunori Takaboshi finished seventh in the end, after falling away from the front on the opening laps.
A trio of Toyotas rounded out the top ten: The #36 au TOM’s GR Supra (Yuhi Sekiguchi/Sho Tsuboi) finished eighth, the #38 ZENT GR Supra (Yuji Tachikawa/Hiroaki Ishiura) was ninth, and just behind them in tenth, the #37 KeePer TOM’s GR Supra of Ryo Hirakawa and Sacha Fenestraz recovered from the drive-through penalty to finish with a single point.
Labouring to a 12th place finish, 53 seconds off the lead, was the #1 Stanley NSX-GT of Naoki Yamamoto and Tadasuke Makino. They struggled on 75kg of Success Ballast (including a Stage 1 fuel flow restrictor), couldn’t gain ground using the undercut as they’d done for the last three races, and finished outside the points for the first time all season.
Yamamoto remains on 60 points going into the final race of the season, and a 16 point lead going into the weekend has now been reduced to just five points over the second-ranked pairing of Nojiri and Fukuzumi, who have 55 points. Tsukakoshi and Baguette are eight points behind Yamamoto, with 52 points. Then there are the three long-shots: Sekiguchi/Tsuboi with 44 points, Hiramine/Matsushita with 43 (after a brutal 11-point swing on the last lap), and Oshima/Yamashita with 40. A maximum of 21 points are on offer at Fuji, including the bonus point for winning pole position.
The GT300 class saw a fascinating battle of varying strategies, and a breakthrough victory for the #21 Hitotsuyama Audi R8 LMS GT3 of Shintaro Kawabata and Takuro Shinohara.
Takashi Kobayashi started from pole in the #18 UPGarage Honda NSX GT3, but was overtaken just a few corners into the race by the championship-leading #61 Subaru BRZ R&D Sport of Hideki Yamauchi, who started in second place, and pulled away to a margin of over two seconds after five laps up front. Team UPGarage’s hopes of victory were dashed just six laps into the race, when the twin-turbo V6 engine let go in their #18 NSX GT3. Kobayashi was inconsolable as he pulled off course, got out of the car, and slumped along the guardrail.
Yamauchi now had a four second lead to the #55 ARTA NSX GT3 of Shinichi Takagi, which inherited second place. But after the first FCY on lap 10 was withdrawn, Takagi got a great restart and closed the gap down to under two seconds. And on lap 13, the 50-year-old, two-time series champion overtook Yamauchi around the outside of the downhill 90° Corner (turn 11) to take the class lead. Takagi began pulling away, stretching his lead to over six seconds after 25 laps. Instead of pitting right at the one-third distance mark of the race, the top teams in GT300 waited until closer to half-distance to make their routine stops.
This is the last race where teams would not be required to change all four tyres on their compulsory pit stops, so many teams opted to change just the rear tyres along with driver swaps and refuelling. The ARTA NSX GT3 adopted this strategy, pitting on lap 29 as Ren Sato took over for the final stint of the race. The Subaru BRZ pitted on the next lap, but they opted to change all four Dunlop tyres as Takuto Iguchi relieved Yamauchi. Then, on lap 31, the #56 Realize/Nissan Automobile Technical College GT-R of Kiyoto Fujinami pitted, and after starting seventh, Kondo Racing opted for fuel only as João Paulo de Oliveira got aboard for the final stint, allowing them to get ahead of the Subaru BRZ.
Another of the cars that opted to change just rear tyres on their stop was the #21 Hitotsuyama R8, which was running fourth in the early laps of the race. Kawabata pitted after 27 laps, yielding to rookie Takuro Shinohara. Shinohara emerged behind Sato after the ARTA NSX GT3 pitted two laps later, then overtook him on track on lap 34, giving the Hitotsuyama R8 the net lead of the race. And after 40 laps, with all GT300 cars completing their routine pit stops, Shinohara now had a lead of over five seconds.
Sato was able to close down the gap to under three seconds as the laps ticked down, but he couldn’t get much closer. And after going three-quarters of the season without even scoring a single point, Shinohara and Kawabata took the win for Audi Team Hitotsuyama at Motegi.
Kawabata and Shinohara, two of Audi Japan’s best home-grown racing drivers, celebrated a much-needed breakthrough after what had been such a disappointing 2021 season to date. It was the second career win for Kawabata, and the first for Shinohara, in his first full season as a GT300 driver.
“We have been unable to win any points since our win last year, and since I am in a position where I am supposed to lead the team, I felt a lot of pressure,” Kawabata admitted after the race. “This season I have a new driver partner in Shinohara-san, which meant that we were staring from scratch again, but he has made great progress. So, I am really glad to be able to give this win to our representative [Ryoji] Hitotsuyama-san and the team.”
“There is nothing to say but how great this first win is,” said Shinohara. “Since this is my first experience as a full-time driver, I know I caused trouble for the team in the qualifying until now. But since things went well this time and Kawabata-san ran so strongly in the first half and the team’s pit work went so well, I am very happy that I was able to take the lead in the second half and go on to take the win.”
It’s just the third win for long-time campaigners Hitotsuyama Racing in Super GT, following their win at Suzuka in the sixth round of the 2020 season, and a win at Motegi in the first race of a season-ending double header in 2016.
Sato was able to close the margin down to just 1.850 seconds as the #55 ARTA NSX GT3 finished second, taking their second runner-up finish in the last three races – and, crucially, helping Takagi and Sato gain ground in the GT300 Championship with their result.
Likewise, the fuel only strategy for Kondo Racing allowed the #56 Realize GT-R GT3 of Fujinami and Oliveira to gain track position, and Oliveira held on in the final stint to keep third place, just ahead of the hard-charging #88 JLOC Lamborghini Huracán GT3 (Takashi Kogure/Yuya Motojima), which spent most of the race battling the Subaru BRZ for the last spot of the podium after changing only rear tyres on their pit stop. Kogure finished just 0.481 seconds behind Oliveira at the end of the race.
With six laps to go, the Subaru BRZ of Iguchi spun at turn nine, right in front of Kogure and the #25 Hoppy Porsche 911 GT3-R of Kimiya Sato (which also changed rear tyres only). Sato and Takamitsu Matsui would hold on to their best finish of the season in fifth, while Iguchi and Yamauchi would consolidate a sixth-place finish at the end of the race.
Another car that had a chance at a top-five finish was the #9 NAC Pacific CarGuy Ferrari 488 GT3 (Naoki Yokomizo/Kei Cozzolino). Cozzolino put in a blistering 37-lap stint to start the race, but Yokomizo’s hopes of taking the car to the chequered flag were dashed when he suffered a left-rear puncture on lap 47, dropping them out of the points from a respectable sixth place.
Thus, the rest of the top ten comprised of the #244 Takanoko-no-yu Toyota GR Supra (Atsushi Miyake/Yuui Tsutsumi) in seventh, a tenth of a second ahead of the #11 Gainer TanaX GT-R (Katsuyuki Hiranaka/Hironobu Yasuda) in eighth; the #52 Saitama Toyopet GreenBrave GR Supra (Hiroki Yoshida/Kohta Kawaai) went from 18th to finish ninth after they elected for a fuel-only stop, and the #10 Gainer TanaX with Impul GT-R (Kazuki Hoshino/Keishi Ishikawa) was tenth.
Iguchi and Yamauchi still lead the GT300 Drivers’ Championship on 55 points, but their lead has been reduced to just six points ahead of Fujinami and Oliveira, on 49 points. Takagi/Ren Sato are on 45 points, Miyake/Tsutsumi have 40 points, and Hiranaka/Yasuda have 35.
And so, the stage is set for a thrilling season finale. The eighth and final round of the 2021 Autobacs Super GT Series, the Fujimaki Group Fuji GT 300km Race, takes place Sunday, 28 November. And if it is anything like the incredible finish to the 2020 season at Fuji, it will be a must-watch, must-follow event.
Images courtesy of the GT Association (GTA)
