At the first day of Super GT official pre-season testing from Okayama International Circuit, defending champions TGR Team au TOM’s and driver Sho Tsuboi picked up right where they left off in 2021, right at the top of the standings.
The #36 au TOM’s Toyota GR Supra of Tsuboi and new team mate Giuliano Alesi clocked the fastest time of the first session on Saturday morning, and the fastest outright time of the day for the GT500 class.
Before the start of Session 1 at 10:00 AM local time, a minute’s silence was held in memory of former NISMO team director Yutaka Suzuki, and Tomei Sports founder Keikichi Nakano, who both passed away in December.
Suzuki, 57, had managed the flagship NISMO team to consecutive GT500 championships in 2014 and 2015. Nakano, 77, founded the current iteration of Tomei Sports in 1985 after working for the original Tomei Powered garage, and later Yokohama Rubber. Nakano managed a number of GT300 teams including Team Gaikokuya, before entering as Tomei Sports beginning in 2007.
Conditions were perfect for testing all throughout the day. Session 1 was halted just two minutes after the start, when the GT300 class #22 R’Qs Mercedes-AMG GT3 of Hisashi Wada went off at the first corner. The session resumed at 10:08 with no further stoppages, and R’Qs were able to complete the session without incident.
The #100 Stanley Honda NSX-GT of Naoki Yamamoto was quickest in the first hour, posting a time of 1’18.218. But with 25 minutes left in the session, Tsuboi rose to the top of the standings, setting a 1’18.150.
Tsuboi, who also set the fastest times during two days of Super Formula testing at Suzuka last week, commented after the afternoon session: “We have only just completed the first day of official testing, so there are still many aspects of our competitors and other factors that we do not know. Still, I am happy to have marked the best time on the first day of the first official test.”
“In the afternoon, Giuliano spent his time learning the GR Supra GT500, so I did not drive the car myself. He has experience in GT300, and I hope I can help him learn to drive in the GT500 class, since I have experience in GT500.” Tsuboi and Alesi combined for 123 laps, most of any team in the first day.
Tomoki Nojiri in the #8 ARTA NSX wasn’t far behind Tsuboi’s top time, clocking a 1’18.184 to go second-fastest and best of the Honda camp, followed by Yamamoto in third.
Full course yellow calibrations were conducted at the end of Session 1, before an intermission at the start of Session 2 at 14:00 JST. The ambient temperature rose during the afternoon, with ambient temps peaking at 22°C, and track temps at a high of 28°C.
The first hour of Session 2 had two red flags: The #22 R’Qs AMG spun off course for a second time, this time it was Masaki Jyonai who went off at Revolver Corner (turn six). Twenty minutes after the first red flag ended, the #18 UPGarage Honda NSX GT3 came to a stop along the backstretch between Piper and Redman (turns seven and eight).
By then, Nobuharu Matsushita in the #17 Astemo NSX-GT had taken the top spot with a time of 1’18.467. With the final ten minutes of the session reserved for the GT500 ‘exclusive run’, Honda’s prodigal son was able to improve to a best time of 1’18.215. Matsushita’s best time of Session 2 was good enough for third overall on the combined day one leaderboards, behind Tsuboi and Nojiri’s best times from Session 1.
The new Nissan Z GT500 also made its mark during the afternoon session. Mitsunori Takaboshi in the #3 CraftSports Motul Z set a 1’18.407 during the GT500 ‘exclusive run’, good enough for second-fastest in Session 2, and seventh in the overall day one standings.
Tsugio Matsuda in the #23 Motul Autech Z finished third in Session 2. After the session, the all-time GT500 wins leader remarked: “We have had a good run so far. This time we brought tyres that we expected to have lower temperatures and track surface temperatures (than at the Okayama Official Test in previous years), so we were a bit off kilter. But even taking that into account, I think it was a good test,” Matsuda said. “It is difficult to judge because we don’t know what kind of menus our rivals are using and under what conditions they are testing, but the programme and test menus that we have devised are being executed smoothly.”
“As for our rivals, Honda seems to be as fast as ever, and Toyota is also fast at Fuji. The Z has a new cowl and aero, and during our test at Fuji I could feel that the drag was reduced – but the downforce must have decreased as well, so it’s a question of how to balance that. However, at the Suzuka test (where we were able to confirm the downforce), the feeling was not bad, so we’re going to try to improve as much as possible from now on.”
While testing times won’t be fully indicative of the season to come, seeing the top 12 cars in GT500 within 0.552 seconds after the first day of testing should serve as an indicator of a great fight between the Toyota, Honda, and Nissan fleets.
In the GT300 class, JLOC led both sessions with their pair of Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo Is, and 2010 GT500 champion Takashi Kogure was the fastest overall for the day, aboard the flagship number 88 JLOC Huracán.
Kogure’s set his best lap of 1’25.210 during the second hour of Session 1, a time which would have been good enough for pole position in last year’s Okayama GT 300km Race. “Today, we concentrated on tyre choice (for the season opener in Okayama). It was a good test,” said Kogure.
“The machine was in good shape, having been built up from last year, and the tyres were very good. Yokohama did a great job and brought in good tyres. I didn’t run in the afternoon, so I don’t know about the conditions, but the other car had the top time, and our #88 was a close third, so I think we are showing consistent performance.”
Second in Session 1 and on the overall leaderboard was Shinichi Takagi in the #96 K-Tunes Lexus RC F GT3, the two-time champion posted a best lap of 1’25.555.
Kei Cozzolino in the #9 Pacific Hololive NAC Ferrari 488 GT3 Evo was third-fastest.
And, in the afternoon, the second JLOC Huracán topped the timesheets.
Eager to bounce back after a tough first season with JLOC, Natsu Sakaguchi led Session 2 with a best time of 1’26.149. His co-driver Kosuke Matsuura set a 1’25.918 in Session 1, good enough for fourth overall.
The first official pre-season test was also a chance for fans to see some new GT300 cars for the first time.
Two of the three apr-constructed Toyota GR86 GT300s are in action this weekend. The #20 SHADE Racing GR86 GT was 12th quickest overall, just ahead of the #30 apr GR86 GT in 13th. Katsuyuki Hiranaka clocked a 1’26.470 for SHADE Racing – but even more surprising was that apr’s gentleman driver, Hiroaki Nagai, had set a 1’26.571, and was fourth place in Session 2.
The new #7 Studie BMW M4 GT3 also took to the track for the first time in its racing livery. Seiji Ara set a time of 1’26.989, which was 17th quickest out of 25 cars.
Just ahead of them were the reigning GT300 champions, the #61 Subaru BRZ GT300 from R&D Sport. Hideki Yamauchi set a 1’26.926, ninth-fastest in Session 2, and 16th overall – likely not where many expected them to be after the first day of testing.
Testing resumes Sunday at 9:00 JST with Sessions 3 and 4.
Images courtesy of the GT Association (GTA)
