From 15th and last on the grid, few could have expected the #12 Calsonic Impul Nissan Z of Kazuki Hiramine and Bertrand Baguette to be a factor for a podium, let alone the victory in the Suzuka GT 450km Race.
Yet, at the end of the fifth round of the 2022 Autobacs SUPER GT Series at Suzuka Circuit, the world-famous Calsonic Nissan was the first to take the chequered flag. Hiramine and Baguette each overcame near-misses with disaster during their respective stints at the wheel, caught a lucky break with a Safety Car intervention, before charging through the field for their first win of the season.
Sunday’s Fujimaki Group Suzuka GT 450km Race was the third and final round of SUPER GT’s semi-endurance format events. And while this event won’t officially count as part of the lineage of the Suzuka 1000km/10 Hour endurance races, the prospect of a 77-lap race in late August had to feel nostalgic and comforting, particularly for SUPER GT fans who miss having the 1000km as the series’ cornerstone event.
On a beautiful late summer afternoon in Mie Prefecture, the green flag waved at just after 2:30 PM local time. Polesitter Ronnie Quintarelli in the #23 Motul Autech Z led the GT500 field into turn one, followed by the #17 Astemo Honda NSX-GT of Nobuharu Matsushita, and the #16 Red Bull Motul Mugen NSX-GT of Ukyo Sasahara. Quintarelli did well enough to pull out a margin of up to four seconds over Matsushita after 15 laps, despite the fact that the Motul Z’s Michelin tyres were struggling with the high track temperatures.
Behind them, the action was hot and heavy. Baguette was trying to get past the #37 KeePer TOM’s GR Supra of Sacha Fenestraz for 12th place, and on lap 11, his race nearly ended when he ran wide trying to pass Fenestraz around the outside of the high-speed 130R Corner. Baguette missed the gravel trap to his right by millimetres. He returned to the track without incident, then on lap 17, Baguette passed Fenestraz with a tidy move at the Triangle Chicane.
Yuji Tachikawa was also making strong moves in his #38 ZENT Cerumo GR Supra, overtaking the #19 WedsSport Advan GR Supra of Yuji Kunimoto around the outside of turns one and two to grab fourth position. And Katsumasa Chiyo in the #3 CraftSports Motul Z was also moving up the order, into the top six after only a handful of laps.
But the Michelin-clad Nissans would soon see their pace diminish, forcing them to make their first pit stops early. Quintarelli brought the Motul Z in on lap 17, and Chiyo pitted two laps later in the CraftSports Z. This cycled Matsushita and Sasahara to the front of the field in a Honda 1-2, followed by the ZENT Supra of Tachikawa in third. The rest of the leaders would pit between laps 26 and 30, while Baguette stretched his opening stint all the way to lap 33, as one of the last cars to make their first pit stop. Hiramine took over the Calsonic Z for the remainder of the race.
The Red Bull NSX pitted on lap 27, and changed drivers from Sasahara to Toshiki Oyu after the pit stop. Oyu rejoined on cold tyres just ahead of Quintarelli, nearly causing a collision before Quintarelli eventually overtook Oyu. Two laps later, the Astemo NSX pitted, and Koudai Tsukakoshi took over for the second stint, rejoining behind Quintarelli and Oyu. With the Dunlop tyres underneath the Red Bull NSX back up to temperature, Oyu overtook Quintarelli on lap 31 for the net lead of the race, which became the official lead from lap 34 once all cars had made their first pit stops.
While the Red Bull NSX led the way, the Motul Z still continued to struggle to maintain its pace in high temperatures. Hiroaki Ishiura took over the ZENT Supra and passed Quintarelli for second, and soon afterwards, Tsukakoshi would overtake Quintarelli through lapped traffic to take third. Quintarelli pitted early again on lap 41, handing the wheel over to local hero Tsugio Matsuda for the final laps, hoping the track could cool off and bring them back into podium contention.
Oyu soon found himself having to fight through traffic, which brought the veteran Ishiura within striking distance of the lead. And soon, Tsukakoshi would join in to what had become a thrilling three-way battle for the lead, with the top three all running tail-to-nose! Ishiura tried with all his might to slipstream past Oyu, but the young Honda driver’s defense was impenetrable, if a bit on the edge of recklessness. All in all, it was a battle many hoped would never end. Tsukakoshi bailed out at the end of lap 48, pitting from third in an attempt to undercut Oyu and Ishiura ahead of him.
As the GT500 leaders were completing lap 49, however, the GT300 class #244 Hachi-Ichi GR Supra of Kimiya Sato crashed out at 130R, due to a tyre issue. Sato was uninjured, but the impact and the damage to the sponge barriers necessitated a Safety Car. This was a lethal blow to the Mugen and Cerumo teams’ chances of victory, as they were the two leading cars that hadn’t pitted when the Safety Car was deployed.
On the other hand, Real Racing were now in a position to take the win once the remaining cars made their final pit stops. The Safety Car was also fortunate for the Motul Z of Matsuda – as well as the Calsonic Z of Hiramine, who came in just before the Safety Car was deployed on lap 49. Another benefactor was the #39 Denso Kobelco SARD GR Supra (Yuhi Sekiguchi/Yuichi Nakayama), which made its final pit stop at the same time as the Calsonic Z.
The restart came on lap 55, with the ZENT Supra making its final pit stop and falling out of contention. Their race came to an end when Ishiura ran wide at 130R trying to overtake a GT300 vehicle, resulting in grass lodging itself into the grille which caused terminal overheating. Tachikawa and Ishiura had fought back after mechanical issues in the morning warm-up session, only to retire short of the goal.
Around that time, the Red Bull NSX made its second pit stop, and Oyu lost the right to win the race.
Tsukakoshi had cycled back into the lead, but the man in the action after the restart was Hiramine. He got past Matsuda through the Snake complex, then overtook Nakayama around the outside of the hairpin. This should have cycled Hiramine up to second once Oyu made his last pit stop. But while trying to overtake the lapped #14 Eneos X Prime GR Supra (Kazuya Oshima/Kenta Yamashita), Hiramine overshot 130R and nearly caught the gravel trap in an identical incident to the one Baguette had early on. This allowed Matsuda, who got past Nakayama into third place, to move up another position into second.
Both of the Nissans eventually caught up to Tsukakoshi and the three ran tail-to-nose with 15 laps left. On lap 65, Tsukakoshi began to pull away while Matsuda and Hiramine hit traffic. As both Nissans came up to lap a GT300 car out of Degner II, Matsuda moved over to the right to try and clear the backmarker, but lost track of Hiramine in his blind spot – pushing the Calsonic Z off into the grass around the right-hand bend before the Hairpin, and nearly into the barriers!
Only the masterful car control from Hiramine prevented an accident, and the stewards came down hard on Matsuda for an unnecessary block. The Motul Z was given a drive-through penalty for dangerous driving, taking Matsuda out of the fight for victory at his home race.
On lap 69, the #55 ARTA Honda NSX GT3 Evo22 (Hideki Mutoh/Iori Kimura) lost power and came to a stop at Gyaku Bank Corner. This brought out a brief Full Course Yellow which was cleared by the end of the lap. Tsukakoshi had a lead of over four seconds to Hiramine when the race restarted, but as the laps ticked down, Hiramine was slashing into the lead by nearly a second per lap.
And with three laps to go, Hiramine brought the gap down to less than a second, while Tsukakoshi continued to haemorrhage time. Hiramine saw his chance to grab the lead up the inside of the Hairpin Curve, outbraked the Honda, then got the drive out to pull away.
It was the move that sealed a fantastic win for Team Impul at Suzuka. The result echoed the October 2020 race at Suzuka, when Matsuda and Quintarelli rode the wave of a fortunate Safety Car intervention to win from last on the grid. But it wasn’t just luck that brought the Calsonic Z the victory, their path to the win was not straightforward – not with the number of accidents they dodged along the way.
“I really owe this win to everyone. Thank you so much!” Hiramine said, after picking up his second career GT500 win. “During the battle with car No. 23, there was one moment when I felt the pressure after running off the track. But the rest of the time I thought about Manager Hoshino, and the voices of the fans cheering us on – and just drove on with all the determination and strength I could muster. I feel as if I don’t have an ounce of fight left in me right now.”
“The truth is that I didn’t even know I was battling for the lead until about the last three laps. That is how spent I was. But the car and the tyres’ performance were everything. I have nothing but gratitude for it all!”
This is also Baguette’s first win since transferring from Honda to Nissan in the offseason (and the fifth of his GT500 career), and to do so, Impul had to beat Baguette’s old team at Real Racing to get the job done.
“It was really a tough survival race,” remarked the Belgian. “Although we started from the very back of the pack, we were able to put together a very strong race effort. The job that Hiramine-san did for us was especially fantastic. I am so glad that the two of us, together with the team, were able to get this win.”
This win completes a season sweep for the new Nissan Z GT500 at Suzuka in 2022. Nissan have now won the last five races at Suzuka in GT500, dating back to the August 2020 race.
For Tsukakoshi and Matsushita, their second place finish is a bittersweet ending. On the one hand, Real Racing have vanquished their long-standing “Suzuka Curse” by taking two podiums at two races at the venue that constantly dealt them misfortunes over the years.
On the other, the Astemo NSX-GT being short on fuel at the end of the race, with Tsukakoshi having to almost limp home in the final laps just to get the car over the line – it certainly makes one think that they’ve not yet conquered the circuit.
Nakayama nearly overtook Tsukakoshi for second in the closing laps, but ran out of time. However, he and Sekiguchi will happily take a first podium of the season for TGR Team SARD, the first podium for the team since they won at Fuji Speedway in October 2020, and the first since bringing reigning GT500 co-champion Sekiguchi on board.
With this, all three of the GT500 manufacturers were represented on the podium for the fourth time in five races.
After a quiet day, the CraftSports Z roared into life over the closing laps of the race. Mitsunori Takaboshi took over from Chiyo and brought the car home in fourth place, half a second behind Nakayama for the last podium position. It was always going to be a difficult task for them to replicate their Suzuka 300km victory with the “Stage 1” fuel flow restrictor tamping down their power output, but they still managed solid points after hanging on through the early stages.
Fifth over the line should have been the #100 Stanley NSX-GT (Naoki Yamamoto/Tadasuke Makino), which gained track position by taking fuel only on their final pit stop. But while battling Matsuda on the final lap, Yamamoto ran wide at 130R and crashed into the barriers. The two-time GT500 Champion was not physically injured, but his pride was wounded after a final lap incident which dropped Team Kunimitsu to 11th in the final results. Matsuda, after his drive-through penalty, somehow consolidated fifth place with Quintarelli in the Motul Z.
The Red Bull NSX of Sasahara and Oyu finished sixth, and can only be left to wonder what could have been had their race not taken a downward turn after the Safety Car. If there is an encouraging sign, it is their clear improvement in pace on their Dunlop tyres this weekend.
Rounding out the points finishers, are the #19 WedsSport Supra of Kunimoto and Sena Sakaguchi in seventh, followed by the #37 KeePer GR Supra of Fenestraz and Miyata in eighth. The #36 au TOM’s GR Supra (Sho Tsuboi/Giuliano Alesi) came home in ninth, and after an issue with the right front tyre, the #24 Realize Corporation Advan Z (Daiki Sasaki/Kohei Hirate) got all four Nissan Z-cars into the points.
With three races left, Hiramine and Baguette now lead the GT500 Drivers’ Championship on 44.5 points. Behind them, there is a three-way tie at 33 points, with the drivers of the KeePer Supra (Fenestraz/Miyata), the CraftSports Z (Chiyo/Takaboshi), and the Astemo NSX (Tsukakoshi/Matsushita). After finishing 14th, Oshima and Yamashita fall to fifth in the standings on 30 points, ahead of Sekiguchi and Nakayama on 27.
After five years, four months, 1,967 days in total, the #4 Goodsmile Hatsune Miku Mercedes-AMG GT3 of Nobuteru Taniguchi and Tatsuya Kataoka returned to the top step of the podium in GT300. Their long awaited win came just three weeks after a puncture cost them a sure victory in the Fuji GT 100 Lap Race.
The GT300 race was a battle of many different strategies, but it began with the front row starters battling it out on track. Class polesitter Riki Okusa led early aboard the Dunlop-clad #10 TanaX Gainer Nissan GT-R GT3, followed by Atsushi Miyake in the #244 Hachi-Ichi GR Supra, on Yokohama rubber. It seemed like Okusa would be able to make a breakaway after pulling out a two-second gap, but he couldn’t get any further ahead of Miyake.
Soon the top two in GT300 were running tail-to-nose, and with a committed move up the inside of Dunlop Corner, Miyake took the lead on lap 10, trying to give Max Racing their first win since the passing of team founder Tsuyoshi Oono. Yuya Motojima ran third in the #88 Weibo Primez Lamborghini Huracán GT3, while Kiyoto Fujinami was paying no mind to the maximum 100kg of Success Weight on board his #56 Realize/Nissan Mechanic Challenge GT-R, running a strong fourth.
After 16 laps, Kataoka brought the Hatsune Miku AMG into the pits, behind the #55 ARTA NSX GT3 of rookie Iori Kimura, who was enjoying his best SUPER GT weekend to date. Kimura rejoined behind the #52 Saitama Toyopet GreenBrave GR Supra of Kohta Kawaai, who made his first of two compulsory fuel stops at the end of the first lap – as well as the #2 muta Racing Toyota GR86 of Yuui Tsutsumi, who made a similar stop after just five laps.
On lap 23, the #244, #10, and #56 cars pitted from the top three in class, and lost out on track position compared to the early stoppers. At the same time, Kimura overtook Kawaai to grab the net lead.
Behind them, Kataoka cleared Kawaai to slot into virtual third position and closed right in on the two virtual leaders. Kataoka overtook Tsutsumi around the outside of the Hairpin on Lap 32, before the final GT300 car made its routine stop. On the following lap, Kataoka positioned himself on the outside of Gyaku Bank Corner to overtake Kimura up the inside of Dunlop, officially taking the class lead in the process.
Kataoka pulled out a lead of over five seconds over Kimura, who pitted after 39 laps and yielded to his senior co-driver Hideki Mutoh. On lap 42, the Miku AMG made its final pit stop, and Taniguchi took over for the final stint.
While running sixth in class, the Hachi-Ichi GR Supra that led earlier in the hands of Miyake, crashed on the out lap as Kimiya Sato began his second stint.
All of the top runners in GT300 at the time had already made their second pit stops, though a big loser of the Safety Car intervention was the #50 Arnage MC86 (Masaki Kano/Ryohei Sakaguchi/Takeshi Suehiro), which was on the cusp of a top-ten finish before the incident. The Arnage MC86 stayed out, cycling to the lead until they finally pitted on lap 60.
Taniguchi cycled back to the lead with a small advantage over the second-placed #10 TanaX GT-R of Ryuichiro Tomita, but the three-time GT300 Champion was able to gradually stretch his lead out, and took the chequered flag after 72 laps for the first Goodsmile Racing victory since the 2017 season opener at Okayama International Circuit.
It was a moment that some Goodsmile Racing supporters feared they may never have seen again, after five years since their last GT300 class win and championship. The team have been open about their frustrations with the Mercedes-AMG GT3’s Balance of Performance. After Fuji, they thought they’d lost their one and only chance to return to the top step of the podium.
An emotional Taniguchi said afterwards: “I am just so happy! At the goal I didn’t have any tears left to cry. In the last race we had gone from elation to complete despair. So, I am so glad to get this first win in five years.”
“And it is especially rewarding since this is our first win at Suzuka,” Taniguchi added. “Until now, everyone had said that we were no good at Suzuka, but now that has proven to be a lie.”
“After my stint all I could do was to watch the race, and since we had suffered such a disappointment last time, I was on the edge of my seat with my heart pounding all the way to the checkered flag,” remarked Kataoka. “I am still so full of thoughts about what happened in the last race – and the fact that this is our first win in five years, that I guess I won’t be able to really savor this win until sometime tomorrow,” he laughed.
“And since many of us on the team have individual sponsors, I want to have a big celebration for everyone who has waited with us for this victory.”
This is the 18th career win for Taniguchi, who still ranks third all-time in the GT300 career wins list. Kataoka becomes the latest member of the GT300 “double-digits club” with his tenth career win, one of only nine drivers that has reached that threshold.
While they may have lost out on the win, Tomita helped pull the #10 TanaX GT-R back onto the podium once the race resumed after the Safety Car. He overtook the #56 Realize GT-R of João Paulo de Oliveira, then the ARTA NSX GT3 of Mutoh, to take second position. Tomita would bring the car home in second, 3.4 seconds behind the Hatsune Miku AMG.
That adds another 15 points to the tally of Tomita and Okusa. Third driver Yusuke Shiotsu did not run, and as was the case at the abbreviated Fuji 450km, Shiotsu does not receive series points.
Rounding out the podium, in a big surprise, was the #30 apr GR86 GT of Manabu Orido, Hibiki Taira, and Yuta Kamimura, from 21st on the grid. apr Racing’s Pro-Am team suddenly became an all-Pro lineup when Hiroaki Nagai withdrew from the weekend on Saturday due to illness, and was replaced by his long time Super Taikyu team mate Kamimura.
A searing final stint from 2020 F4 Japanese Champion and TGR-DC prospect Taira made the difference, as he made his way from 15th after the Safety Car restart, all the way into third place with eight laps remaining. This is the first podium for the new GT300-spec Toyota GR86, which is constructed by apr for themselves and for customer teams – who all scored points on the day!
Converting their effective one-stop strategy into a fourth place finish was the #52 GreenBrave Supra of Kawaai and Hiroki Yoshida, who couldn’t quite hold onto the podium in the end but still scored their best finish of the season. In fifth, matching their best finish of the year, was the #6 Team LeMans Audi R8 LMS GT3 (Yoshiaki Katayama/Roberto Merhi). It was the first points finish for Team LeMans since the bizarre split with legendary driver Satoshi Motoyama after the season-opener, with Merhi showing genuine speed more represenative of a driver with his CV.
In sixth was the #65 LEON Pyramid AMG (Naoya Gamou/Takuro Shinohara), followed by the #20 SHADE Racing GR86, which scored its maiden SUPER GT points in seventh place courtesy of owner/driver Katsuyuki Hiranaka and rookie Eijiro Shimizu (third driver Shinnosuke Yamada did not run). The #2 muta GR86 of Tsutsumi and Hiroki Katoh was eighth, followed by the #87 Bamboo Airways Huracán (Kosuke Matsuura/Natsu Sakaguchi) in ninth.
The Realize GT-R of Fujinami and Oliveira finished tenth on the road following a drive-through penalty assessed to Oliveira. Off-camera, Oliveira made contact with the #88 Weibo Huracán at the Triangle, just as Yuya Motojima was ready to hand off to Takashi Kogure. Also, Oliveira nearly hit the barriers at 130R after running wide through the gravel, but he managed to avoid a crash.
Then, after the race, Oliveira was given an additional 40 second time penalty for overtaking under the Full Course Yellow, which dropped them from tenth to 13th in the final classification. That penalty elevated the #60 Syntium LMcorsa GR Supra (Hiroki Yoshimoto/Shunsuke Kohno) to tenth.
Further back, the #88 Weibo Huracán dropped out of podium contention to 17th after a puncture suffered in Kogure’s closing stint, while the #55 ARTA NSX GT3 broke down while running in third place, and was classified 24th.
Fujinami and Oliveira still maintain their lead in the GT300 Championship, a seven point advantage over Tomita and Okusa in second. The #61 Subaru BRZ R&D Sport (Takuto Iguchi/Hideki Yamauchi) was a non-factor this weekend and finished 18th – but their drivers still hold on to third in the standings, 8.5 points behind the Realize GT-R drivers.
GT鈴鹿観戦終了！
これから帰ります。#supergt pic.twitter.com/1s0WeN3O9q— Shinsuke.N (@n_mode_log) August 28, 2022
The Autobacs SUPER GT Series returns to action in just three weeks time for the final leg of the Mid-Summer Triple, the Sugo GT 300km Race at Sportsland SUGO.
Images © GTA
