For the second time in three rounds, the #62 HELM Motor Sports Nissan GT-R NISMO GT3 of Yutaka Toriba, Yuya Hiraki, and Reiji Hiraki won in the Eneos Super Taikyu Series powered by Pirelli. The Fuji 24 Hours winners picked up the victory in Sunday’s five hour Super Taikyu Race in Autopolis, after a 50-second time penalty was given to the #777 D’station Racing Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3 (Satoshi Hoshino/Tomonobu Fujii/Tsubasa Kondo) for overtaking under yellow flags.
It was a race of constantly changing weather conditions from the start of the race at 11:00 AM local time on Sunday, with rain clouds hovering over the Autopolis International Racing Course. For the third time this season, the #16 Porsche Center Okazaki 911 GT3-R qualified on pole position, and gentleman driver Hiroaki Nagai led the field of 45 cars into the first corner.
But it was the #23 TKRI/Matsunaga Construction Mercedes-AMG GT3 of Yuya Motojima that settled into an advantage in the first hour of the race, taking the lead from Nagai just five laps into the race. Meanwhile, the #777 D’station Vantage GT3 of Fujii had moved up from seventh on the grid, and overtook Nagai for second place. The reigning ST-X champions were immediately settling back into a groove in their first Super Taikyu race of the season.
Half an hour into the race, there was a brief rain shower – enough to turn the windshield wipers on, but not enough to soak the course. A Full Course Yellow (FCY) was deployed to retrieve the stranded ST-3 class #25 raffinée/Nissan Mechanic Challenge Z34 (Teppei Natori/Kimiya Sato/Takuya Shirasaka) 45 minutes into the race. When action resumed, Motojima continued to lead ahead of Fujii at the conclusion of the first hour.
But just minutes later, the right-rear tyre came off of the leading #23 TKRI Mercedes, resulting in a very brief second FCY intervention. This handed the lead to the #777 D’station Vantage, which made its first pit stop on lap 39. Kondo took over for the second stint and resumed with the overall lead.
Once the first round of pit stops were completed, the #62 HELM GT-R, which started in the hands of their am driver Toriba, was now second after an early pit stop, a change of drivers to Yuya Hiraki, and a drive-through penalty for cutting the white line at the entrance of pit lane on the first pit stop. Yuta Kamimura was third in the #16 Porsche.
Kondo would build up his advantage to around thirty seconds before the #62 HELM GT-R made its second scheduled pit stop on lap 59, changing drivers to younger brother Reiji. On lap 80, just past half time, Kondo pitted and Hoshino took over for his compulsory stint, now with a lead of just under 45 seconds.
Then, with an hour and 45 minutes left, the rain began to fall again. The #62 HELM GT-R made its final driver change on lap 104, back to older brother Yuya. Meanwhile, the #777 D’station Vantage maintained a gradually shrinking advantage, as 2007 GT500 champion Daisuke Ito aboard the #16 Porsche rapidly closed in on Hoshino. Ito took the lead on lap 111, and that same lap, Hoshino came to the pits and Kondo took over for the final stint.
Yuya Hiraki was now leading from Kondo, and the two battled tail-to-nose as the rain began to fall harder. The #16 Porsche made the call to change to wet tyres with an hour left in the race, as Kamimura began his second and final stint. But the rain lifted, and Hiraki and Kondo continued to run quick enough on the dry tyres, while Kamimura couldn’t close in on wets. Then the rain fell heavier once more, and with 40 minutes left, Kondo overtook Hiraki for the race lead.
HELM Motor Sports brought their car in with 33 minutes left to change to wet tyres, and three laps later, D’station Racing made the same call to go to wets. Fast pit work from the HELM crew got Hiraki back out in front of Kondo with a five-second margin, but Kondo was determined to drive right back to the front, and with less than 15 minutes to go, Kondo overtook Hiraki for the lead again.
With ten minutes remaining, the fourth FCY of the race was called for when the #31 apr Denso Lexus RC F GT3 (Hideki Nagai/Koki Saga/Kazuto Kotaka) went off course and retired. The ensuing restart came with just two minutes left, and Hiraki got a perfect getaway to pass Kondo for the lead. But later that lap, Kondo caught up and overtook Hiraki at the hairpin turn 10, and this time he drove away swiftly.
On the road, the #777 D’station Vantage GT3 took the chequered flag 7.8 seconds ahead of the #62 HELM GT-R. But after the podium ceremonies, a 50 second time penalty was given to the D’station Vantage for overtaking in a yellow flag zone, demoting them to second as HELM Motor Sports inherited their second win of the 2022 season with a final margin of 42.1 seconds!
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While D’station Racing were obviously disappointed at the final outcome in the overall and ST-X results, they were at least able to take away a victory in the ST-1 class as the #47 D’station Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT8R driven by Tatsuya Hoshino, Manabu Orido, Kenji Hama, and Jake Parsons took its first victory on Japanese soil with a ninth place overall finish!
It was their first ST-1 class win of the season, with a six-lap advantage to the second-ranked #2 K’s Frontier KTM Cars X-Bow GTX (Taiyo Ida/Kazuho Takahashi/Hiroki Katoh/Hiroki Yoshimoto), which lost its lead after having to go to the garage with mechanical issues.
The Vantage GT8R takes its first victory of the season in ST-1 at Super Taikyu R4 Autopolis. The GT3 battled and took the checker flag in ST-X, but a post-race penalty dropped us to P2. A great weekend nonetheless! Thank you for all your support. #AstonMartinRacing #SuperTaikyu pic.twitter.com/oOEZhU33Gk
— D’station Racing (@dstation_racing) July 31, 2022
Running down the rest of the ST-X finishing order, the #16 Porsche of Nagai, Kamimura, and Ito finished third overall, ahead of the debuting #555 PLUS Racing BMW M4 GT3 (Tomohide Yamaguchi/Seiji Ara/Yuya Sakamoto), which drove to a respectable fourth place. As it turned out, the three GT3 cars that were racing in GT World Challenge Asia’s Fuji Speedway round just a week ago, finished second, third, and fourth.
The #23 TKRI AMG GT3 of Motojima, Daisuke Matsunaga, and Yuhki Nakayama recovered from their lost wheel and a drive-through penalty to finish in fifth, followed by the #9 MP Racing GT-R (Joe Shindo/Yusaku Shibata/Masami Kageyama/Takuro Shinohara) in sixth, and the #81 Daishin GTNET GT-R (Nobouyki Oyagi/Takayuki Aoki/Kiyoto Fujinami) in seventh.
The #888 Grid Motorsport AMG GT3 (Martin Berry/Shinichi Takagi/Haruki Kurosawa/Daisuke Yamawaki) took the chequered flag in eighth place, but after the race, they too received a penalty – a 10 lap deduction for exceeding Platinum-rated Kurosawa’s maximum drive time during the race. The penalty took them down to 16th overall but did not impact their ST-X class standings, for better or worse.
With three races left, HELM Motor Sports retake the lead in the ST-X championship on 91 points, with Grid Motorsport dropping back to second on 79.5 points, and GTNET Motor Sports third on 69 points. The lowest score from each team will be dropped at the end of the season.
The ST-Q class #3 Endless Mercedes-AMG GT4 (Ryo Ogawa/Shintaro Kawabata/Togo Suganami) finished eighth overall after penalties, completing 138 laps.
In the ST-Z class, the #500 5Zigen Mercedes-AMG GT4 of Ryuichiro Otsuka, Kakunoshin Ota, and Toshihiro Kaneishi retook the championship lead with their second class win of the season, as two of Toyota’s top challengers suffered hardships during the race.
The #310 GR Garage Mito Inter Supra GT4 (Manabu Yamazaki/Sho Tsuboi/Seita Nonaka/Shinya Hosokawa) had taken the lead after the first round of routine pit stops, but then had to go to the garage due to a right front suspension issue. They finished 18 laps down, seventh in class.
That elevated the championship-leading #885 SHADE Racing GR Supra (Hiro Hayashi/Katsuyuki Hiranaka/Eijiro Shimizu) to the lead, but they went to the garage with a drivetrain issue, then stopped on course with 70 minutes left in the race and retired from the race.
All the while, the 5Zigen Mercedes continued to run a trouble-free race to capture the victory in tenth place overall. Taking home a season-best second place in ST-Z was the #19 BRP/Sunrise Blvd Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 Clubsport MR (Kenji Suzuki/Takeshi Suehiro/Kohei Fukuda/Tatsuya Tanigawa), followed by the #111 Hiroshima Toyopet Racing GR Supra (Toshiyuki Matsuda/Yuga Furutani/Yoshiaki Nakamura/Yasutaka Hinoi), with their second straight podium in third.
The #21 Hitotsuyama Audi R8 LMS GT3 (Masaki Ano/Ritomo Miyata/Seiya Jin/Yuki Ano) was fourth in class, the #22 Porsche EBI Waimarama Cayman GT4 RS (Kizuna/Katsumasa Chiyo/Naoya Yamano/Riki Okusa) was fifth, and the #505 Red Seed R8 LMS GT4 (Takeshi Okamoto/Ryosuke Kagami/Shozo Tagahara) was sixth.
Sadly for Ginetta supporters, the #34 Techno First G55 GT4 of Masaki Kano, Hironobu Yasuda, and Kazuki Oki retired from the race due to mechanical trouble, completing just 55 laps after taking their first pole of the season.
Team 5Zigen now holds a 28 point lead in the standings after four races, with second-ranked SHADE Racing receiving nul points.
In the ST-3 class, the #52 Saitama Toyopet GreenBrave Toyota Crown RS (Naoki Hattori/Hiroki Yoshida/Kohta Kawaai) finished 14th overall and took its third class win of the season, from pole position. They now lead the ST-3 standings by 17 points over the #39 Air Buster/Winmax Lexus RC 350 (Yusuke Tomibayashi/Takuya Otaki/Hirotaka Ishii/Takashi Itoh) which finished in second. The #311 Team Fukushima Nissan Z34 (Yusuke Shiotsu/Tsugio Matsuda/Ai Miura/Kazuki Hiramine) finished third in class.
For the third time this season, ST-2 was won by the #225 Kobe Toyopet Motor Sports Toyota GR Yaris of Hibiki Taira, Rin Arakawa, and Jiei Okuzumi. The KTMS GR Yaris remains perfect in 2022, overhauling the pole winning #6 Shinryo Racing Team Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution X (Tomohiro Tomimasu/Yasushi Kikuchi/Masazumi Ohashi) during the race to take the victory.
The #13 Endless GR Yaris (Reimei Ito/Mizuki Ishizaka/Masaya Hanazato) finished second, less than 20 seconds behind the class winner, while the #6 Shinryo Lancer Evo X finished third in class.
Also maintaining their perfect record was the ST-4 winning #86 TOM’s Spirit Toyota GR86 driven by Shunsuke Kohno, Takamitsu Matsui, and Kenta Yamashita. They won their class by a minute and 31 seconds from the #884 SHADE Racing GR86 (Keishi Ishikawa/Yuji Kunimoto/Shinnosuke Yamada) in second.
Both ST-TCR entries had trouble on their way to the chequered flag, but good fortune shined upon the #75 Team Noah Honda Civic TCR in their home race. Toshiro Tsukada, Yoshikazu Sobu, Yasuhiro Ogushi, and Yuji Kiyotaki won the class by two laps, their third of the season in as many entries.
Of the innovative cars in the ST-Q class, the #61 Team SDA Engineering Subaru BRZ CNF Concept (Takuto Iguchi/Hideki Yamauchi/Koichi Hirota) ranked highest, finishing 29th overall out of 39 classified finishers. The #244 Max Racing Nissan Z Racing Concept (Tetsuya Tanaka/Toru Tanaka/Atsushi Miyake) finished 33rd overall after mechanical issues. And the #32 ORC Rookie Racing Toyota GR Corolla H2 Concept (Masahiro Sasaki/Akio “Morizo” Toyoda/Hiroaki Ishiura/Yasuhiro Ogura) completed 24 more laps than in last year’s race, taking the chequered flag with the #55 Mazda Spirit Racing Mazda2 Bio Concept (Kazuhiro Terakawa/Kaoru Ijiri/Yutaka Seki/Ikuo Maeda).
The #28 ORC ROOKIE GR86 CNF Concept (Naoya Gamou/Daisuke Toyoda/Kazuya Oshima/Ryuta Ukai) stopped with less than 90 minutes left, retiring after 84 laps completed.
The Eneos Super Taikyu Series hosts round five of the championship at Mobility Resort Motegi on 3-4 September.
Images © Nissan, D’station Racing, and Team 5Zigen
