The #16 Porsche Center Okazaki 911 GT3-R of Hiroaki Nagai, Yuta Kamimura, and Yuichi Nakayama won Group 1 pole position for the Super Taikyu Race in Okayama, their third pole of the 2021 season.
This weekend is a double-header comprised of two three-hour races, the second of which will be led by PC Okazaki’s bright red 911 GT3-R.
The aggregate time of 2’59.473 from Nagai and Kamimura was enough to topple the #290 Floral Racing with Uematsu McLaren 720S GT3 (Tadao Uematsu/Keita Sawa/Shintaro Kawabata) for the top spot. Uematsu led the first round of aggregate qualifying with a lap of 1’29.793, four tenths ahead of Nagai. But Kamimura was able to overturn the deficit in the second round, going faster than Sawa by more than half a second. 0.179 seconds was the final margin that decided pole position for the ST-X class.
Third on the grid will be the #31 Denso Lexus RC F GT3 (Hideki Nagai/Koki Saga/Kazuto Kotaka), ahead of the returning #9 MP Racing Nissan GT-R GT3 (Joe Shindo/Yusaku Shibata/Masami Kageyama/Ryuichiro Tomita). Shibata set a new course record in the second round of qualifying with a 1’28.703. The #81 Daishin GTNET GT-R (Noboyuki Oyagi/Takayuki Aoki/Kiyoto Fujinami/Ryuichiro Oyagi) starts from fifth, ahead of the ST-Q class #28 ROOKIE Racing Toyota GR Supra (Naoya Gamou/Daisuke Toyoda/Kenta Yamashita/Yasuhiro Ogura) in sixth.
Tracy Sports’ #38 muta Racing Toyota GR Supra (Yuui Tsutsumi/Ryohei Sakaguchi/Makoto Hotta) qualified seventh and won the pole for the ST-1 class, two tenths of a second ahead of the #71 Akiland Racing Porsche 911 GT3 Cup (Masayoshi Oyama/Ken Yamamoto/Makio Saito). The surprise of the session was the ST-1 championship winning #2 KTM Cars Japan X-Bow GTX (Taiyou Iida/Kazuho Takahashi/Hiroki Katoh/Hiroki Yoshimoto) not taking the pole in class. Iida set the fastest time in the first round, but Takahashi crashed at Attwood Curve trying to improve his time in the second round. The #71 Porsche starts eighth, and the #2 KTM starts tenth.
Qualifying in ST-Z class was a Toyota GR Supra 1-2-3, led by C.S.I Racing’s #311 Fabulous/GRMI GR Supra GT4 (Hirokazu Suzuki/Rintaro Kubo/Yusuke Shiotsu/Kimiya Sato) who will line up ninth on the grid in the Group 1 race. It is the fourth pole of the year for Corolla Shin-Ibaraki Racing’s new Supra, which has been fast in its first season running to GT4 homologation in Super Taikyu.
Suzuki and Kubo won the pole by nearly a full second from the #108 Future GPX Cyber Formula Racing with RFC GR Supra (Toshio Suzuki/Takeshi Matsumoto), which was second in class; and the #885 Hayashi Telempu Shade Racing GR Supra (Hiro Hayashi/Katsuyuki Hiranaka/Ai Miura) was third.
The #47 D’station Racing Aston Martin Vantage GT4 (Tatsuya Hoshino/Manabu Orido/Takuro Shinohara/Kenji Hama) starts 14th on the grid and fifth in class. They need to finish first or second to have a chance at winning the ST-Z Championship tomorrow. The #3 Endless Sports Mercedes AMG GT4 (Yudai Uchida/Hideki Yamauchi/Togo Suganami) can clinch the title by finishing fourth in class or better; they’ll start seventh in class, 16th overall.
The Hitotsuyama-prepared #33 Audi Driving Experience Japan RS3 LMS (Daisuke Imamura/Yuki Ano/Hideki Nakahara) took pole in the ST-TCR class in its only appearance of the season. They’ll go from 22nd on the grid, after outqualifying the series champions, Team Noah, and their #75 Otoginokuni Honda Civic TCR (Toshiro Tsukada/Yoshikazu Sobu/Shigetomo Shimono/Yuji Kiyotaki) by two-tenths.
ST-2 class pole position went to the #6 Shinryo Racing Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution X (Tomohiro Tomimasu/Yasushi Kikuchi/Masazumi Ohashi), who start 25th in the Group 1 race. It’s the second straight pole for the #6 Mitsubishi, the sister car to the championship-winning #7 Shinryo Lancer Evo X (Yoshiki Fujii/Masato Narisawa/Keisuke Anzai/Shingo Imai) which will start fourth in its class.
The #225 Kobe Toyopet Motorsports Toyota GR Yaris (Seita Nonaka/Hibiki Taira/Miki Onaga) qualified second in class, ahead of the debuting #13 Endless Sports GR Yaris (Ryo Ogawa/Masaya Hanazato), in third.
The Group 1 Race begins Sunday at 13:30 JST (local time) / 4:30 GMT / 5:30 CET / 23:30 EST.
The first race of Sunday will be the Group 2 race, featuring three production classes plus two ST-Q cars showcasing new technologies. Leading the field to green in the Group 2 race is the ST-3 class championship-winning #39 Air Buster/Winmax Lexus RC 350 of Yusuke Toimibayashi, Kazuya Oshima, and Hirotaka Ishii.
Tomibayashi led the first round of qualifying handily, and Oshima had enough of a margin to secure pole by 0.124 seconds, their third consecutive pole position in the class.
The #52 Saitama Toyopet GreenBrave Toyota Crown RS (Naoki Hattori/Hiroki Yoshida/Kohta Kawaai) will start second, ahead of the #244 Max Racing Nissan Fairlady Z34 (Tetsuya Tanaka/Atsushi Miyake) in third. In fourth is the #15 Okabe Jidosha Motorsports Z34 (Masaaki Nagashima/Kazuomi Komatsu/Masaya Kohno), ahead of the #62 HELM Motorsports RC 350 (Yuya Hiraki/Reiji Hiraki/Tomoki Takahashi), a car that has been rebuilt after a crash in practice earlier in the weekend.
In ST-4, C.S.I Racing took a double pole position with the #310 GR Garage Mito Inter Toyota 86 of Sho Tsuboi, Shinya Hosokawa, and Fuma Horio, ahead of the #884 Hayashi Telempu Shade Racing 86 (Yuji Kunimoto/Keishi Ishikawa/Eijiro Shimizu).
A whopping aggregate margin of 3.2 seconds was the product of an engine issue for Kunimoto in the first round of qualifying, leaving him unable to approach Tsuboi’s top time of 1’42.927.
Because only the five largest race scores out of six are counted in the final championship standings, Shade Racing are unable to improve upon their current total of 130 points. C.S.I Racing can win the ST-4 championship by finishing first or second in class. However, if the #310 Toyota finishes third in class, the #884 will hold on to win the championship by just half a point.
The championship has already been decided in the ST-5 class, however, as the #72 Nihon Automobile College (NATS) Mazda Roadster (Makoto Kanai/Anna Inotsume/Mamoru Okada) took pole position in its class by three-tenths over the #456 odula Star5 Roadster (Riku Hashimoto/Kousei Kanto/Tatsuya Osaki). Kanai’s class lap record of 1’47.531 proved to be an unassailable margin for Hashimoto and Kanto to overcome.
With the #456 Over Drive/Avantech Racing Team entry unable to secure pole position, their sister car from the Over Drive stable, the #66 Odula/Tone/Motul Roadster of Takayuki Takechi, Tatsuya Ota, Takahisa Ohno, and Kyosuke Inomata has won the ST-5 championship for 2021, giving the Osaka-based Mazda tuning shop their first Super Taikyu championship.
Of the two ST-Q class entries: The #32 ROOKIE Racing Toyota Corolla H2 Concept (Takuto Iguchi/Masahiro Sasaki/Akio “Morizo” Toyoda/Takamitsu Matsui) demonstrated its vastly improved pace, setting an aggregate time of 3’30.377. Iguchi and Sasaki were within a second of the ST-4 class 86es on their qualifying runs.
The newest ST-Q car is the #37 Mazda Spirit Racing Bio Concept Demio, driven by Kaoru Ijiri, Ikuo Maeda, Kazuhiro Terakawa, and Yutaka Seki. Ijiri and Maeda qualified 24th in Group 2, with times that were representative of a traditional diesel-powered ST-5 car.
The Group 2 race begins Sunday at 8:30 JST (local time), 00:30 CET, and Saturday at 23:30 GMT / 18:30 EST.
Images courtesy of Naoyuki Hata / Super Taikyu Organisation (STO)
