Defending GT500 champions Sho Tsuboi and TGR Team au TOM’S led a rainy first day of official SUPER GT pre-season testing from Fuji Speedway.
Wet conditions persisted from sunrise and continued through to the end of today’s two sessions. Tsuboi set the fastest lap of the day halfway into Session 1 on Saturday morning, clocking in at 1:36.174 aboard the #36 au TOM’S Toyota GR Supra.
Behind him in second place was Nirei Fukuzumi in the #14 Eneos X Prime GR Supra, who set his best time of 1:36.576 before the session was called off due to a red flag in the final hour.
Lilou Wadoux, in her first test back in Japan after running the Sebring 12 Hours last weekend, aquaplaned out of control exiting the TGR Corner complex (turns one and two). The white #45 PONOS Racing Ferrari 296 GT3 crashed head-on into the tyre barriers, bringing out an immediate red flag.
Wadoux walked away from the crash without any serious injuries. As for the car itself, though, it suffered severe front-end damage and did not run for the rest of the day – and almost certainly won’t run tomorrow.
ワドゥーがクラッシュ！
かなりのダメージで今回のテスト中の復帰は難しそう。#SUPERGT pic.twitter.com/7clYlLNNbf— Yoshitaka Nakamura (@defD11) March 23, 2024
PONOS Racing now has to determine whether or not the damage to the frame can be repaired in the next three weeks, or if the team will need a replacement vehicle for the opening round of the season at Okayama International Circuit on 14 April.
The ensuing barrier repairs led race control to cancel the remaining 50 minutes of Session 1.
Behind the two leading GT500 Toyotas, Hiroki Otsu in the #16 ARTA Mugen Honda Civic Type R-GT was third-fastest, followed by Tsugio Matsuda in the #24 Realize Corporation Advan Nissan Z.
A surprising leader emerged at the top of the GT300 leaderboard: Yusuke Tomibayashi in the #9 Pacific VSpo NAC Mercedes-AMG GT3 set the fastest time of the day with a 1:44.009. The four-time Super Taikyu champion joined the team this off-season after failing to score a point last year at Team Mach.
His best time was just 12 milliseconds better than second-placed Takashi Kogure in the #88 JLOC Lamborghini Huracán GT3 EVO2. Yoshiaki Katayama was third in the #6 Velorex Ferrari – and the top GTA-GT300 car was the #61 Subaru BRZ R&D Sport in fifth, driven by Hideki Yamauchi.
In the afternoon, came the second simulation of SUPER GT’s new aggregate qualifying format – though, the wet conditions would have specific implications for GT300.
GT500 qualifying proceeded as normal with Otsu in the #16 ARTA Mugen Civic finishing with the fastest time in Q1, followed by the #23 Motul Autech Z of Katsumasa Chiyo in second, and the #39 Denso Kobelco SARD GR Supra of Yuichi Nakayama in third.
In Q2, the showdown for pole was between the #36 au TOM’S Supra and #16 ARTA Mugen Civic. Tsuboi in the #36 set the best time in Q2, but thanks to a late personal best from Ren Sato in the #16, he could secure the “pole position” with a combined time of 3:13.604 for Otsu and Sato.
Tsuboi and Kenta Yamashita were second-fastest with a combined time of 3:13.744, just a tenth and a half back of first place. The #39 Denso Supra of Nakayama and Yuhi Sekiguchi qualified in third place, while the fastest Nissan was the #3 Niterra Motul Z (Mitsunori Takaboshi/Atsushi Miyake) in fourth.
GT300 Qualifying started with the 26 cars being split into two groups based on lap times from Session 1 – minus the absent PONOS Ferrari in Q1 Group A. Takuro Shinohara, who was driving solo today in the #65 LEON Pyramid AMG, set the fastest time in Group A.
In Group B, 18-year-old rookie Jin Nakamura continued to surprise many by going fastest in the #31 apr Lexus LC 500h. The top eight cars from each group would be re-ordered into Q2 Group 1 (Upper 16), and the rest would be placed into Group 2 (Lower 17).
However, the new qualifying regulations state that if the track is declared wet at any time during the session, the GT300 grid order will be determined by Q2 times only. Also, Q2 Group 1 cars would occupy positions 1-16, and Group 2 cars would take up the remaining positions, with no re-ordering between them.
The #88 JLOC Huracán of Kogure finished Q2 with the fastest time and won “pole position” in GT300. In second place was Yamauchi in the #61 Subaru BRZ, who was just 15 milliseconds behind Kogure.
And in third place was the new-for-2024 #777 D’station Racing Aston Martin Vantage GT3, which made the most of its Dunlop wet-weather tyres. Aston Martin works driver Marco Sørensen ran both phases of the qualifying simulation: He was fifth-fastest in his Q1 group, then improved to third in Q2, just 0.085 seconds off the best time from Kogure.
GT500 QUALIFYING SIMULATION RESULTS >>
GT300 QUALIFYING SIMULATION RESULTS >>
Testing resumes Sunday where conditions are expected to be cloudy but dry throughout. Both sessions will be three hours long and begin at 9:00 and 14:00 JST (local time).
Images © GTA
