After 12 hours of the Fuji Super TEC 24 Hour Race, the #1 Zhongsheng ROOKIE Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 leads overall, and has completed 385 laps.
This year’s race began under dry and cloudy conditions. But after sunset, it’s been raining steadily over Fuji Speedway – and there’s even been a 4.8 magnitude earthquake in Ibaraki Prefecture that could be felt in Shizuoka.
Through it all, the #1 ROOKIE AMG of Ryuta Ukai, Giuliano Alesi, Naoya Gamou and Tatsuya Kataoka has run up front throughout. At the halfway mark, Kataoka had driven past the #81 Daishin GTNET Nissan GT-R NISMO GT3 for the race lead and was holding a 13-second advantage. But all five ST-X cars are still within reach of the overall lead, spaced within 2-3 laps.
Kiyoto Fujinami grabbed the lead on the first lap, driving the #81 Daishin GT-R from fourth to first past the pole-sitting #33 Craft-Bamboo Racing Mercedes of Jeffrey Lee. Fujinami built a big lead while Kataoka had a great battle for second with the #23 TKRI AMG. After the first round of pit stops, co-driver Noboyuki Oyagi continued to lead the race – but after a Full Course Yellow and restart, Ukai in the #1 ROOKIE AMG took advantage of a slow-starting Oyagi to regain the race lead after one hour and 45 minutes.
Hiroaki Nagai in the #31 apr Lexus RC F GT3 followed Ukai through into second and then pressured the leading Mercedes for the lead, before Nagai overtook him before the end of the second hour. ROOKIE Racing regained the overall lead after the next round of routine pit stops and held the lead into sunset.
The #1 ROOKIE AMG continued to lead until the most recent round of pit stops, when Natsu Sakaguchi took the lead back for the #81 Daishin GT-R. Kataoka had relieved Alesi after a driver change and then chased down a lead of nearly 15 seconds until Kataoka took the lead just 18 minutes from halfway. The #23 TKRI AMG was running third overall, followed by the #31 apr Lexus, and #33 Craft-Bamboo Mercedes.
Currently sixth overall is the ST-Q class #230 NISMO Nissan Z Racing Concept, the carbon-neutral fuel, GT4-based challenger with its Nissan all-star line-up. It has completed 362 laps and was running ahead of the ST-Z class-leading #22 Porsche Team EBI 718 Cayman GT4.
The #22 EBI Porsche of Shota Kitazono, Rintaro Kubo, Naoya Gamou, Yugo Iwasawa, and Tsubasa Kondo emerged with the class lead after six hours and 35 minutes of racing, when Kondo overtook the #885 SHADE Racing Toyota GR Supra GT4 of Eijiro Shimizu for the class lead.
The #885 SHADE Toyota continues to run second in class followed by the #52 Saitama Green Brave Toyota in third, and the #20 Naniwa Denso Team Impul Nissan Z NISMO GT4 in fourth. These cars complete the overall top ten.
Team ZeroOne’s #26 Nissan led virtually all the first six hours until Seiji Ara pulled off course with a gearbox issue. Its sister car, the #25, was taken out early after Tsugio Matsuda was hit from behind by the ST-Q class #92 GR Team Spirit Toyota GR Supra Racing Concept of Keizo Kato. The #25 Nissan retired with terminal damage while the #92 Toyota served a 60-second penalty stop for incident responsibility, and now runs 13th overall, 11 laps behind the #230 NISMO Z.
Hitotsuyama Racing was poised to take the lead until the #21 Mercedes-AMG GT4 stopped with an electrical failure after six and a half hours – right as Shintaro Kawabata was chasing the #885 SHADE Toyota of Shimizu for the race lead. The #555 Autofactory Mercedes has also spent several hours in the garage after brake issues that began after the first four hours.
Another car that’s had significant trouble is the sole ST-1 class entry, the #2 K’s Frontier KTM Cars X-Bow GTX, which has lost over six hours of racing due to mechanical problems.
The #13 Endless Sports Toyota GR Yaris leads ST-2 by 11 seconds over the #743 Honda R&D Challenge Civic Type R, running 15th and 16th overall behind the ST-3 leader, the #39 Tracy Sports with Delta Lexus RC 350 in 14th.
The #884 SHADE Racing Toyota GR86 has a sizeable lead of over two laps in ST-4 and runs 22nd overall. In ST-5, the #17 Team NOPRO Mazda2 Diesel Turbo leads by over a lap.
Leading the six production-based ST-Q cars is the #55 Mazda Spirit Racing Mazda3 Bio Concept, which is 20th overall and has completed 338 mostly trouble-free laps through 12 hours.
The #32 ORC ROOKIE Racing Toyota GR Corolla H2 Concept is 55th overall and has completed 151 laps, but has spent significant time in the garage after a mechanical issue during Jari-Matti Latvala’s stint. The car also had a smaller problem during Masahiko Kondo’s first stint in the car earlier.
Feature image © ROOKIE Racing
