Katsumasa Chiyo and Mitsunori Takaboshi had to conquer changing weather conditions, and wait out a 45-minute red flag – but their persistence was rewarded at Fuji Speedway as they drove the #3 Niterra Motul Nissan Z to victory in Sunday’s Fuji GT 450km Race.
The fourth round of the 2023 Autobacs SUPER GT Series marked the championship’s return after a two-month absence, kicking off the series’ crucial “mid-summer triple.” The sunny skies of Saturday’s practice and qualifying gave way on Sunday to clouds and morning rainfall, but that didn’t deter a crowd of over 30,000 spectators who came to see their favourite drivers and teams fight for victory.
While the rain had stopped, the track was still wet enough for all cars to start on rain tyres. The race began under the control of the Safety Car, and after two laps, the race properly began with a single-file start led by the pole-winning #24 Realize Corporation Advan Z of Daiki Sasaki.
But in these wet conditions, the strength of Michelin’s wet-weather tyre combined with the excellent opening-stint racecraft of Chiyo came to the forefront. Chiyo drove past both the ARTA Honda NSXes on the third lap to move up into second place, and with a textbook pass up the inside of Dunlop Corner, Chiyo took the lead on lap four.
The Niterra Z opened up a six-second gap as the track began to dry out, prompting teams to change over to slick tyres. The #24 Realize Z of Sasaki came in on lap 11, and Chiyo continued to lead until he brought the #3 Nissan in at the end of lap 15. Meanwhile, the #16 ARTA Mugen NSX-GT of Nirei Fukuzumi, which started second and dropped to third in the opening laps, pitted on lap 12 for slicks – and the timing worked out perfectly, allowing Fukuzumi to drive to the lead after the first round of pit stops.
As the track had dried completely and the clouds gave way to sunlight, another car that was on the move was the #14 Eneos X Prime Toyota GR Supra of Kazuya Oshima. Oshima had a slow start to the race, falling from 11th to 14th after the first green flag lap. The timing of his first pit stop helped move him up to second place, and Oshima closed down the seven-second gap to Fukuzumi. Out of Panasonic Corner (turn 16), Oshima drew alongside Fukuzumi, edged ahead of him over the start/finish line to begin lap 24 and then decisively took the lead around TGR Corner (turn one).
On lap 32, the Safety Car was deployed after the #244 Hachi-Ichi Toyota GR Supra GT300 (Kimiya Sato/Atsushi Miyake) caught fire coming out of TGR Corner and came to rest near an escape road. Sato walked away without injury from the fire, caused when a piece of the exhaust fell off at Panasonic Corner the lap before.
Shortly after the restart on lap 41, the #39 Denso Kobelco SARD GR Supra of Yuhi Sekiguchi overtook second-placed Fukuzumi to make it a Toyota 1-2, and quickly the two drivers were chasing one another for the lead. Surprisingly, both cars came in for their second pit stops fairly quickly – the #14 on lap 46, and the #39 on lap 47, both cars changing drivers to Kenta Yamashita and Yuichi Nakayama respectively. The other GT500 cars wouldn’t make their next pit stops until between laps 53 and 59.
Once the pit cycle was completed, Yamashita was leading, Nakayama was second – and ten some ten seconds behind them, the #37 Deloitte TOM’s GR Supra (Ukyo Sasahara/Giuliano Alesi) was in third with Alesi fending off the #3 Niterra Z in what could have developed into a battle for the win, assuming the top two couldn’t make it to the end without another pit stop. Indeed, TGR Team Eneos ROOKIE mechanics were ready to service the #14 Eneos Supra until another vehicle fire interrupted the race on lap 66.
Caused by another exhaust component failure, the #25 Hoppy Schatz GR Supra (Togo Suganami/Seita Nonaka) rapidly caught fire. Nonaka pulled the car off at turn 13 and escaped any injuries. But the fire had ruptured the fuel line, which caused a horrific blaze that spread to the nearby tyre barriers, and destroyed the car beyond repair. That resulted in a red flag, the third race to be red-flagged this season.
And as luck would have it, after the fire was finally extinguished and the race was five minutes away from restarting, a terrifying dark cloud began to pelt Fuji Speedway with rain.
This delayed the restart of the race by twenty minutes. Cars were allowed to change to wet tyres during the interim, and once the rain had eased off, the race resumed behind the Safety Car at 4:30 PM local time, with an hour to complete the remaining scheduled distance before the 5:30 PM cut-off. Yamashita restarted from the lead, Nakayama second, Alesi third, all on Bridgestone tyres – with Takaboshi, wearing Michelins, in fourth.
It seemed inevitable once the race went green again with 29 laps to go that Takaboshi would carve through the field on the wet-weather Michelin tyres. The only question was how long that drive would take. Takaboshi passed Alesi on lap 72, passed Nakayama at TGR Corner on lap 74, then hunted down Yamashita and passed him out of Panasonic Corner at the end of the lap.
While Takaboshi opened up a stunning gap on the field, positions changed rapidly behind him. The #16 ARTA NSX, now in the hands of Hiroki Otsu, overtook the sister #8 ARTA NSX of Tomoki Nojiri, along with Yamashita and Nakayama, to regain second.
Neither Yamashita nor Nakayama could make it to the end on fuel after all, so they pitted and changed back to slicks with the track drying out. Nojiri spun while trying to chase down a podium position of his own, and the #8 ARTA NSX-GT dropped out of the points – a devastating blow after Toshiki Oyu’s strong 58-lap double stint, weeks after sustaining a broken collarbone.
Alesi ceded third place to the #17 Astemo NSX-GT of Koudai Tsukakoshi, but then out of nowhere, the #100 Stanley NSX-GT came roaring into podium contention as Naoki Yamamoto passed three cars in the space of just one lap, getting around the outside of Tsukakoshi at 100R.
And amid the melee erupting behind him, Takaboshi cruised along effortlessly. The Niterra Z took the chequered flag, after opening up a 45-second margin of victory in the 27 laps since gaining the lead. All 100 laps were completed before the 5:30 PM curfew. And after the frustration of losing their win in the spring race at Suzuka Circuit two months ago due to a sporting regulation infringement that wasn’t the drivers’ fault, this time, Chiyo and Takaboshi got to keep the winner’s trophy to themselves, the third of their careers.
Chiyo said after the race: “The race started in the rain, but once again I was able to drive with confidence because of the outstanding performance of the Michelin wet-use tyres. Later, with the change in the weather, the going was hard for us because of an inability to predict the weather as the track dried out. But when the track became wet again, Takaboshi-san ran strongly to keep us in the lead. The team also applied their strategy well, and everyone worked hard to get us this win.”
“We were able to overwhelm the other competitors this time by taking good advantage of the strength of the Michelin tyres we use, which is their performance in the rain,” said Takaboshi. “So, I am simply very happy with this result.”
For Takaboshi, a win at Fuji also represented closure after his monstrous crash in the 2022 Golden Week race.
“There were dry conditions at the time of the race’s second restart, so I didn’t know what would happen. But since things had gone well in yesterday’s qualifying, and for that reason we knew we could get good results in both dry and wet conditions, but I guess the rain made things easier for us,” he laughed.
NDDP Racing was leading at Suzuka when the race was red-flagged after 58 laps following Tsugio Matsuda’s horrific crash at 130R. The race did not resume, and the #3 Niterra Z was provisionally declared the winner. They had only made one of their required pit stops at that time, however, and they were demoted to fourth in the final classification following a protest from ten other teams.
“There were a number of problems with our last race at Suzuka,” Chiyo added, “but I’m glad to say that there was nothing to complain about this time.” Chiyo and Takaboshi will also have no complaints about gaining the GT500 championship lead with their victory.
Honda occupied the rest of the GT500 podium with cars in second and third place, but not in the order that they finished on the road!
The #16 ARTA NSX of Fukuzumi and Otsu took the chequered flag in second, and the #100 Stanley NSX-GT of Yamamoto and Tadasuke Makino was third on the road. But after the race, both cars were given 40-second time penalties, both of them for changing tyres while refuelling – a fundamental “no-no” in most sports car championships including SUPER GT.
Modulo Nakajima Racing, Honda’s perpetually forlorn GT500 challenger, would admirably come forward from fourth to second in the final classifications after the #64 Modulo NSX-GT of Takuya Izawa and Kakunoshin Ohta restarted 14th after the red flag. Despite all of the struggles in dry weather, Dunlop (Sumitomo)’s wet tyre has always been effective. And the GT500 rookie Ohta drove a magnificent final stint in his own right to capture his first GT500 podium.
This was, also, the first podium for Nakajima Racing and their ace driver Izawa since the November 2020 race at Mobility Resort Motegi, 21 races ago.
The 40-second penalty for Fukuzumi and Otsu would still keep them on the podium in third place – Otsu’s first podium since that November 2020 round at Motegi, and the first for the number 16 crew since the technical alliance between ARTA and Mugen was formed this off-season.
On the opposite end of the scale, the penalty to the #100 Stanley NSX-GT dropped Yamamoto and Makino down to sixth in the final classification.
Toyota would settle for fourth and fifth-place finishes from their two best cars, but fourth place for the #36 au TOM’s GR Supra (Sho Tsuboi/Ritomo Miyata) was quite the achievement.
The championship leaders going into the weekend were laden with 41 kilogrammes of physical Success Weight and a Stage 2 fuel flow restrictor that reduced their maximum horsepower, resulting in a last-place start.
Even with these setbacks, Tsuboi and Miyata brought home a fourth-place finish to stay within five points of the championship lead.
And behind them, the #38 ZENT Cerumo GR Supra finished in fifth in Yuji Tachikawa’s final race around Fuji, alongside co-driver Hiroaki Ishiura.
Behind the Stanley NSX, the #17 Astemo NSX of Tsukakoshi and Nobuharu Matsushita overcame an early drive-through penalty for a start procedure violation to finish seventh despite fading out of podium contention. Sasahara and Alesi finished eighth in the #37 Deloitte Supra, followed by Sekiguchi and Nakayama in the #39 Denso Supra in ninth, and the pole-winning #24 Realize Z of Sasaki and Kohei Hirate, which slumped to tenth.
One other car that finished outside the points was the #23 Motul Autech Z of Matsuda and Ronnie Quintarelli, which had to serve a five-second penalty stop for changing chassis mid-season. The duo never recovered and were pinned down to 13th place, behind the #14 Eneos Supra, and the #19 WedsSport Advan GR Supra (Yuji Kunimoto/Sena Sakaguchi) that came crashing down to earth after its win at Suzuka, finishing 12th.
Yamamoto and Makino now sit third in the championship table, ahead of Matsuda/Quintarelli in fourth, and Kunimoto/Sakaguchi in fifth.
In the GT300 class, a brave call to change to slick tyres in the final laps of the race, coupled with perfect driving from Ryuichiro Tomita, propelled the #11 Gainer TanaX Nissan GT-R GT3 of Tomita, Keishi Ishikawa, and Yusuke Shiotsu to its first win of the season in stunning fashion.
The #11 Gainer GT-R was a factor early in the race. As the green flag was waved for the first time, Tatsuya Kataoka in the pole-sitting #4 Goodsmile Hatsune Miku Mercedes-AMG GT3 led the way, but had trouble getting his Yokohama tyres up to temperature in the wet conditions. The #61 Subaru BRZ R&D Sport of Takuto Iguchi grabbed the lead. Ishikawa followed through, got the slipstream down Fuji’s 1.475 kilometre front stretch, and took the lead from Iguchi on the next lap.
Once Kataoka’s tyres were in their optimal window, though, he got past both Dunlop-clad cars and retook the lead, and soon, Yuya Motojima in the new #88 JLOC Lamborghini Huracán GT3 EVO2 moved up into second.
With the track dry enough for slicks, the leaders responded by making their first pit stops to make the change off of wet tyres. Goodsmile Racing & Team UKYO got Kataoka back out with the lead after this first pit cycle, ahead of Motojima and Ishikawa – while Seiji Ara, in the Michelin-clad #7 Studie BMW M4 GT3, moved up into fourth place after starting 16th in class. Kataoka had a three-second lead when the #244 Hachi-Ichi GR Supra caught fire to bring out the first Safety Car.
He held that advantage after the ensuing restart, while the other Gainer GT-R, the #10 Ponos Gainer GT-R of Riki Okusa leapt into the top four. As the field made their final pit stops, the #4 Hatsune Miku AMG maintained its lead, now in the hands of Nobuteru Taniguchi. Both the #10 and #11 cars, now piloted by Hironobu Yasuda and Ryuichiro Tomita, leapt in front of the #88 JLOC Huracán into second and third.
Then, the second Safety Car, and subsequent red flag, brought the action to a halt. As the race resumed, one car made an expected early retirement: The #65 LEON Pyramid AMG lost ace driver Naoya Gamou on the morning of the race due to illness. With Gamou unfit to race, Takuro Shinohara ran to two-thirds distance, then retired from fifth place in the class.
Just like the initial start of the race, the Dunlop-clad cars were better at getting their tyres up to temperature quickly. Yasuda and Tomita each pounced as Taniguchi had a bobble through Coca-Cola Corner, and Gainer’s two Nissans now ran first and second. Tomita would eventually grab the lead from Yasuda on lap 72, while Taniguchi got back in the groove, getting past Yasuda the next lap – and then, after a thrilling chase between the two, Taniguchi ran around the outside of Tomita to retake the lead.
Then, with the track just dry enough for slicks, the #11 Gainer crew made the call to bring Tomita in for slicks on lap 81. Taniguchi followed suit and came in three laps later. But at that moment, it all unravelled for Goodsmile Racing: Taniguchi made a rare mistake and spun out exiting Coca-Cola Corner. After leading nearly two-thirds of the race, Taniguchi and Kataoka dropped out of the points and ultimately finished in 12th.
The new leader was the #61 Subaru BRZ, which had completely fallen to the wayside after the first cycle of pit stops but was now leading. Instead of coming into the pits, Hideki Yamauchi stayed out on his wet-weather tyres, holding a five-second lead over the #60 Syntium LM corsa GR Supra of Hiroki Yoshimoto.
Tomita was 45 seconds behind the leader after lap 85. But in one of the best drives of Tomita’s career across multiple continents, he tore that deficit to ribbons. With the wet tyres no longer as effective, the #11 Gainer GT-R took no less than six seconds per lap out of the deficit, catching the leaders in just seven laps. He grabbed second place from Yoshimoto with ease out of Panasonic Corner, and as he closed in on Yamauchi, the Subaru offered little resistance as Tomita went sailing past through TGR Corner.
Tomita drove the #11 Gainer GT-R across the finish line to take his third career victory, while Ishikawa ended a 32-race winless drought of his own, dating back to his first win at Chang International Circuit in 2019.
“It was good that we started out on wet-use tires, but we were quickly passed,” Ishikawa recalled of his opening stint. “But since we were able to keep up with the two leaders, I thought that we would have a good chance in the long run if we kept on that way. This time, since Tomita-san has been driving well for so long, I thought he would do the job for us in the second half.”
Tomita recalled, “There were a number of upsets from the beginning of the race, which made it a very difficult race. Despite the conditions, Keishi drove very well for us.”
“The team decided on the change in tires with perfect timing, and I am very happy that we were able to take the lead in the last few laps and win the race.”
Spare a thought for third driver Shiotsu: It was his second trip to the top step of the podium to collect a winner’s trophy in his SUPER GT career – but since he didn’t drive during the race, he officially still does not have a race win to his name.
Another car that made the call to switch to slicks at just the right moment was the #7 Studie M4. Masataka Yanagida came to the pits with nine laps left, and like Tomita, he also closed in rapidly on the #60 Syntium GR Supra and #61 Subaru BRZ. This set up a mad scramble in the last sector of the last lap, where Yanagida passed both Yoshimoto and Yamauchi with four corners left to finish in second.
That second-place finish, coming off a win at Suzuka, moves Ara into the lead of the GT300 Drivers’ Championship.
Also sneaking through in the closing laps was the #6 Dobot Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo II (Yoshiaki Katayama/Roberto Merhi/Seiya Jin). Merhi climbed into the top five before he too came in for a new set of slicks, and just one corner after Yanagida took second place, Merhi slipped through into third.
It was the first podium for Team Le Mans in the two and a half years since they returned to SUPER GT as a privateer GT300 team, over a year after Merhi arrived parallel to the shock dismissal of legendary driver Satoshi Motoyama – and weeks after the announcement that Audi would sunset its customer racing activities starting next year. Jin did not run during the race, so his first “official” podium and points will have to wait for at least another round.
And behind them, Yoshimoto collided with Yamauchi coming out of the final corner, which sent the #61 Subaru spinning. Yoshimoto and Shunsuke Kohno provisionally finished fourth, but a 40-second time penalty was given after the race for avoidable contact, which dropped the #60 Syntium GR Supra to tenth.
That moved the #56 Realize/Nissan Mechanic Challenge GT-R (João Paulo de Oliveira/Teppei Natori) from fifth to fourth. A top-five finish while carrying 90 kilogrammes of Success Ballast was another remarkable feat for Kondo Racing’s GT300 side.
Oliveira and Natori are just two points behind Ara in the championship standings, and three points ahead of Yanagida, who has two more races remaining this season but will now take on the role of third driver as Bruno Spengler makes his return to the series.
Another impressive feat was achieved by the #31 apr Lexus LC500h, which went from 27th on the grid after being excluded from qualifying for using the wrong fuel, to a fifth-place finish – the car’s best result of the season. Perhaps of equal significance for the team’s future is that Koki Saga, the veteran ace of the apr hybrid vehicles since 2012, did not drive for the second race in a row – instead entrusting young Kazuto Kotaka and Yuki Nemoto to lead the way.
The collision at the last corner dropped the #61 Subaru of Iguchi and Yamauchi to sixth, followed by the #10 Ponos GT-R of Yasuda and Okusa in seventh, and the #88 JLOC Huracán EVO2 of Motojima and Takashi Kogure, eighth in its Japanese debut.
The #52 Saitama Toyopet GreenBrave GR Supra (Hiroki Yoshida/Kohta Kawaai) finished ninth, ahead of the #60 Syntium GR Supra, while the #2 muta Racing GR86 (Yuui Tsutsumi/Hibiki Taira) was denied a top-ten finish by fractions of a second.
Finally, Miki Koyama at last took the wheel for the closing stint of the race aboard the #50 Anest Iwata Racing RC F GT3, completing 25 laps and holding out on wet tyres while the track had already dried. Already just the seventh woman in JGTC/SUPER GT history to ever enter a race, Koyama became the sixth woman to drive in a JGTC/SUPER GT race, the first since Cyndie Allemann raced in 2012.
This achievement far outweighs the 19th-place result for Koyama, Igor Fraga, and Yuga Furutani in the race – and hopefully, will be just the first of many more stints for Koyama in SUPER GT for several years to come.
The Autobacs SUPER GT Series returns on 27 August, for a race many wish was 550 kilometres longer – but even so, the summer version of the Suzuka GT 450km Race promises to be a thrilling race in its own right.
Images © GTA
