The #24 Realize Corporation Advan Nissan Z of Daiki Sasaki and Kohei Hirate finished SUPER GT Qualifying as the fastest GT500 car for the second straight weekend, but after losing the pole for the spring race at Suzuka Circuit just two months ago, this time, Sasaki, Hirate, and Kondo Racing get to keep the pole position for the fourth round of the 2023 season, the (second) Fuji GT 450km Race.
To win the pole, they’d have to overcome the imposing challenge of the entire Honda NSX-GT fleet, all five cars advanced to Q2 with Nirei Fukuzumi leading Q1 in the black #16 ARTA Mugen NSX-GT, followed closely by Hirate, and Tomoki Nojiri in the orange #8 ARTA Mugen NSX-GT. All three were within two-tenths of Fukuzumi’s benchmark time of 1:27.858.
The two ARTA Hondas looked strong all day and appeared to have it all under control when Hiroki Otsu in the #16 grabbed provisional pole with a 1:27.831, ahead of the #8 of Toshiki Oyu, just 21 milliseconds behind him in his first competitive drive since suffering a broken collarbone in a non-motorsport training accident.
Sasaki, however, was keen to spoil the ARTA party. He put together a blinding first sector and carried that throughout the rest of his pole-winning lap time of 1:27.763.
It was a surprise for Sasaki, who said after qualifying: “For me, this felt like the worst time attack I had made in about the last year and a half, so I never expected to get the pole position with it.”
“But it was the result of the great car set-up the team put together for us and the great tires that Yokohama Tire prepared for us. These are the tires we chose with tomorrow’s race in mind, so I am confident that they will perform well for us in the long run.”
“The team has come together with great determination to get a good result this weekend, so I think we can make up for our failure in the last round at Suzuka, where we were unable to take advantage of our good speed. The car is fast, and we will be prepared if tomorrow (the race) will be run in dry weather. And if, as the forecast calls for rain, we will have good wet-use tires that Yokohama has proven progress in with its test results. So, our feeling is that we can give it a good go in the rain as well. We hope that everyone will be looking forward to the performance of car #24.”
Otsu improved at the chequered flag, but came just 0.050 seconds short of his first pole position. Instead, it’s Sasaki’s second career pole in GT500 within the last six SUPER GT races, and for Kondo Racing, a slice of redemption after Hirate’s pole run at Suzuka was stripped for violating the maximum fuel cell capacity by 600cc.
The #16 of Fukuzumi and Otsu will line up second – the best start for the team this season – ahead of the #8 of Nojiri, Oyu, and third driver Iori Kimura. Kimura, of course, was on standby for Oyu this weekend, but last year’s GT300 race winner at Motegi didn’t run in Practice and Qualifying – and may only be needed for observation and training once tomorrow’s 100-lap race gets underway.
The #3 Niterra Motul Z (Katsumasa Chiyo/Mitsunori Takaboshi) starts fourth with the other three Hondas behind him: The #17 Astemo NSX-GT (Koudai Tsukakoshi/Nobuharu Matsushita), the #100 Stanley NSX-GT (Naoki Yamamoto/Tadasuke Makino), and the #64 Modulo NSX-GT (Takuya Izawa/Kakunoshin Ohta) in fifth, sixth, and eighth.
Q1 couldn’t have gone much worse for Toyota in contrast: Five of the six GR Supras missed the cut to advance to Q2. The #19 WedsSport Advan GR Supra (Yuji Kunimoto/Sena Sakaguchi) only managed ninth, while championship leaders Sho Tsuboi and Ritomo Miyata were saddled with 15th and last on the grid in their #36 au TOM’s GR Supra.
But the one car that did make it through was the #38 ZENT Cerumo GR Supra – which gave Yuji Tachikawa one more shot to win his 12th pole at Fuji Speedway in his final time attack at the circuit he loves most. Seventh place wasn’t good enough for the pole, but Tachikawa and Hiroaki Ishiura will surely be a sentimental pick to win together tomorrow!
Another sentimental pick, starting 13th, is the new #23 Motul Autech Z (Tsugio Matsuda/Ronnie Quintarelli), in Matsuda’s first race back after sustaining injuries to his thighs and ankle in the horrific crash at Suzuka two months ago.
The #23’s uphill battle will continue further still as they’ll have to serve a five-second penalty stop at the beginning of the race for an unapproved chassis change. They’ll at least have company in their frustration: Not only did the #1 Marelli Impul Z (Kazuki Hiramine/Bertrand Baguette) get stuck down in 14th after Baguette was held up on his attack lap in Q1, but they also had to change the engine after a problem in Practice that morning.
Over in GT300, Nobuteru Taniguchi and Tatsuya Kataoka were without peers. The two took turns leading their respective sessions aboard the #4 Goodsmile Hatsune Miku Mercedes-AMG GT3. Ultimately, it was Taniguchi whose Q2 run secured the first GT300 pole position for Goodsmile Racing & Team UKYO since the 2017 Golden Week race at Fuji.
Kataoka led the way in Q1 Group B, catching the slipstream of the leading #360 RunUp Rivaux Nissan GT-R GT3 ahead of him and using it to his advantage. He set a 1:36.896 as the only driver to break the one-minute 37-second barrier in his group.
Then it was Taniguchi’s turn to live up to his nickname – “No One Better”. With just over two minutes remaining in Q2, he took provisional pole, then improved on his next lap to put it out of everyone’s reach with a time of 1:36.395.
The 52-year-old legend couldn’t believe the result. “Is this really my first pole in six years? I’ve forgotten!” laughed Taniguchi.
“After I was finished driving, the team staff was telling me to “Hurry, hurry,” (to this interview). That was even more tiring for me than running my time attacks in the qualifying! I want to win again tomorrow, but I just hope it doesn’t rain. In Round 2 at Fuji, we had a good feeling too until the car broke down, so I want to work together with Kataoka-san and the team to do our best.”
Individually, this was Taniguchi’s seventh career pole position, one that’s been a long-time coming for one of GT300’s best teams.
Not even GT300’s current qualifying maestro Hideki Yamauchi could surpass that, in his pursuit of his record 14th pole position – as he and Takuto Iguchi consolidated the outside front row in the #61 Subaru BRZ R&D Sport.
The #31 apr Lexus LC500h GT (Koki Saga/Kazuto Kotaka/Yuki Nemoto) looked as if it put together another strong qualifying run at Fuji to qualify third. But then their times were deleted and the #31 apr LC500h was sent to the back of the grid for an unusual violation – using petrol provided at Suzuka Circuit at Fuji Speedway!
Instead, the second row will have the #11 Gainer TanaX GT-R (Ryuichiro Tomita/Keishi Ishikawa/Yusuke Shiotsu) on the inside, and in its Japanese debut, the new #88 JLOC Lamborghini Huracán GT3 EVO2 (Takashi Kogure/Yuya Motojima) on the outside. Tomita was the quickest driver in Q1 Group A.
Further back, GT300 Championship leaders João Paulo de Oliveira and Teppei Natori qualified tenth in the #56 Realize/Nissan Mechanic Challenge GT-R despite carrying a sizeable 90 kilogrammes of Success Weight.
That same breakthrough could not be had for their two nearest championship rivals: The #52 Saitama Toyopet GreenBrave Toyota GR Supra (Hiroki Yoshida/Kohta Kawaai), and the #2 muta Racing GR86 GT (Yuui Tsutsumi/Hibiki Taira), will start 21st and 22nd respectively after failing to advance from their Q1 groups. The GreenBrave Supra was carrying +84kg, and the muta GR86 was carrying +90kg
Another car that missed the cut was last round’s winner, the #7 Studie BMW M4 GT3 (Seiji Ara/Masataka Yanagida), pushed below the cut line in the final seconds of Q1 Group B. They’ll start 16th, the same position where they won from at Suzuka.
Round four of the 2023 Autobacs SUPER GT Series begins Sunday at 13:45 JST (local time), 5:45 BST.
Images © GTA
