Ukyo Sasahara and Giuliano Alesi, arguably the most scrutinised driver pairing in GT500, finally won their first Autobacs SUPER GT Series races this weekend at Suzuka Circuit. It wasn’t entirely straightforward, but the #37 Deloitte TOM’S Toyota GR Supra of Sasahara and Alesi won the Suzuka GT 3 Hours Race, leading a Toyota 1-2 finish in the premier class.
The day before, Sasahara and Alesi won their first pole position together – an encouraging start for the duo that hadn’t finished better than sixth place in their first ten races together. The remnants of Typhoon No.1 were meant to bring persistent rain throughout Sunday. The conditions were cloudy over Suzuka Circuit come Sunday. But except for some showers during the morning Warm-Up session and some light drizzle early in the race, the rain wasn’t as much of a factor as some had feared!
In front of a crowd of 25,000 spectators (weekend attendance was 42,500) Sasahara led the GT500 field to the green flag and took the hole shot into turns one and two, followed by the #16 ARTA Mugen Honda Civic Type R-GT of Hiroki Otsu in second. Otsu was one-half of the ARTA combination that won the Suzuka GT 450km Race last August – the other half was Toyota’s new man Nirei Fukuzumi, who slotted into third in the #14 Eneos X Prime GR Supra.
Once the field got into a rhythm, Fukuzumi saw an opportunity to get through to second place. He held tough around the outside of Otsu in turns one and two, which gave him the inside lane at the start of the S-Curves. The #14 Eneos Supra took the position, and Fukuzumi began chasing down Sasahara for the race lead.
Meanwhile, Otsu began to fall away from the top two as the orange #8 ARTA Civic of Nobuharu Matsushita tried to get up to third place. 38 minutes into the race, Matsushita tried to pass Otsu around the outside of turns one and two, but the two ARTA Hondas touched wheels, then clashed again and slid wide out of turn two. Most team principals would have been tearing out their hair at such a scene, but Aguri Suzuki was watching it with a smile on his face!
But it did allow Sasahara and Fukuzumi to escape further, over ten seconds away from the rest of the GT500 field. The #38 KeePer Cerumo GR Supra of Toshiki Oyu was among the first of the front-runners to pit after 40 minutes of racing. Just as the race ticked over to the second hour, the #14 Eneos GR Supra came in for its first pit stop and a driver change from Fukuzumi to Kazuya Oshima. Sasahara stayed out for another lap before coming in, and he stayed on board the #37 Deloitte GR Supra for a second stint.
The top three remained the same after the first round of pit stops: Sasahara leading, from the #14 Eneos GR Supra of Oshima and the #16 ARTA Civic of Ren Sato. The #8 ARTA Civic of Tomoki Nojiri dropped to eighth in the pit cycle, so the #38 KeePer GR Supra of Oyu moved up into fourth place initially, before tumbling down the order, struggling for pace.
At one hour and 18 minutes, Katsumasa Chiyo in the #23 Motul Autech Z was sizing up a move around Nojiri into the Hitachi Astemo Chicane. But he couldn’t get the car stopped in time and ran into the back of Oyu. Chiyo spun off, then continued – while the damaged rear bodywork of the #38 KeePer GR Supra began to shed all over the front stretch, resulting in a Full Course Yellow. Oyu would later bring the car back to the pits, and retired with damage to the diffuser. After that FCY was withdrawn, Chiyo received a drive-through penalty for avoidable contact.
With 80 minutes left, the #61 Subaru BRZ R&D Sport lost drive out of Nissin Hairpin and stopped at the side of the track, bringing out an FCY. Oshima was almost caught out, locking up the brakes to avoid driving past Sasahara. The two remained in their positions and went back to racing after the FCY was lifted. Sasahara and Oshima ran tail-to-nose for most of that second hour and it seemed inevitable that the second and final round of pit stops would decide the race.
Sasahara came in first, nearing his two-hour drive time limit. Here, he handed the #37 car to Alesi. Oshima had the flexibility to stay out and overcut the #37, and he brought the #14 into the pits two laps later, getting out of the car and entrusting Fukuzumi with the final stint.
Alesi seemingly proved his critics right once Fukuzumi left the pits with a seven-second lead, owed to fast in-laps from Oshima and a relatively slow out-lap on cold tyres from Alesi.
But when Fukuzumi peeled out of his pit box, he moved into the fast lane – and right into the path of the #100 Stanley Civic, which had to swerve left to avoid contact. With 45 minutes left, the #14 was given a drive-through penalty for an unsafe release. As Fukuzumi drove down the pits, he could only watch as Alesi drove away, back into the race lead.
And after 40 minutes of quick, steady driving, Alesi brought the black and green #37 Deloitte TOM’S GR Supra over the finish line, completing 92 laps in three hours. The celebrations amongst Alesi, Sasahara, first-year team director Michael Krumm – and everyone on the #37 crew – were a delight to see.
This was the second TOM’S win of the year – but the first for the #37 car since August 2022 when Sacha Fenestraz and Ritomo Miyata won the Fuji GT 450km Race.
Fukuzumi was fourth after the drive-through penalty – but he quickly fought back to second place, salvaging a podium for himself, Oshima, and ROOKIE Racing. It was Fukuzumi’s first podium as a Toyota GT500 driver.
Finishing third was the black #16 ARTA Civic of Otsu and Sato, another podium for the Civic Type R-GT to the delight of the Honda supporters at Honda-owned Suzuka Circuit – with the hope that the five-door machine’s first win is just around the corner. This was Ren Sato’s first podium finish in GT500.
Unfortunately the #8 of Nojiri and Matsushita retired at the halfway point with a gearbox failure.
The #12 Marelli Impul Z (Kazuki Hiramine/Bertrand Baguette) finished fourth, punctuated by Baguette’s late overtake on Kenta Yamashita with less than ten minutes left. But for Yamashita and Sho Tsuboi, a fifth-place finish for the #36 au TOM’S GR Supra was a fantastic result. As the GT500 points leaders, they had the heaviest Success Weight penalty in the field – but were still able to climb from 11th to fifth and get six crucial points.
A last-lap overtake at the “Triangle” Chicane clinched sixth place for the #17 Astemo Civic (Koudai Tsukakoshi/Kakunoshin Ohta), which started 15th and last after a spin during Q2 the day before, ahead of the #100 Stanley Civic (Naoki Yamamoto/Tadasuke Makino) in seventh. Ohta dived to the inside of Yamamoto entering the chicane and held off his senior Honda stablemate by 0.232s.
The #3 Niterra Motul Z (Mitsunori Takaboshi/Atsushi Miyake) followed up its Fuji Golden Week win with eighth place in Suzuka, ahead of the #24 Realize Corporation Advan Z (Tsugio Matsuda/Teppei Natori) in ninth, the best of the non-Bridgestone cars. The #23 Motul Autech Z (Katsumasa Chiyo/Ronnie Quintarelli) finished a lap down in tenth for the final championship point.
Heading into SUPER GT’s two-month summer break, Tsuboi and Yamashita leave with a seven-point lead over Takaboshi/Miyake. Sasahara/Alesi are ten points out of first place following their win.
D’station Racing made history in fine fashion, collecting its first-ever GT300 win, and the first win worldwide for the new-for-2024 Aston Martin Vantage GT3 – courtesy of a magnificent performance from veteran driver Tomonobu Fujii and rookie team-mate Charlie Fagg.
Fujii, D’station Racing’s ace driver and de-facto manager, started the race from pole and held his lead over the #61 Subaru BRZ of Hideki Yamauchi. Hibiki Taira slotted into third in the #2 muta Racing Toyota GR86, just ahead of Yoshiaki Katayama in the #6 Uni-Robo Bluegrass Ferrari 296 GT3.
The #777 D’station Vantage GT3 gradually built its lead while behind them, Taira overtook Yamauchi for second place at the 30-minute mark. Kazuto Kotaka was also driving quickly in the hybrid-powered #31 apr Lexus LC 500h – from seventh on the grid, he was able to work his way past the #20 SHADE Racing GR86 of Eijiro Shimizu, then Katayama, and then got past Yamauchi into third place.
Holding a 14-second lead, Fujii came into the pits after the first hour, and Fagg took over for the middle stint, while also getting fuel and four new tyres. The #2 muta GR86 also changed tyres – and drivers from Taira to Tsutsumi. But a couple of cars took this opportunity to gain track position by taking fuel only: The #52 Saitama Green Brave GR Supra of Seita Nonaka went from sixth to third, and after 70 minutes, the #31 apr LC 500h of Kotaka pitted from the lead and exited the pits with an eight-second lead over Fagg!
But the grip in Kotaka’s Bridgestone tyres soon began to diminish, and Fagg quickly reeled in the class leader. With 85 minutes left, the British rookie went up the inside of Kotaka at Spoon Curve to retake the class lead.
Yamauchi in the #61 Subaru BRZ had overtaken Nonaka for third place to the delight of the Subaru supporters – but their joy was extinguished with 80 minutes remaining after a drivetrain failure, resulting in R&D Sport’s second retirement of the year.
With 50 minutes remaining, Fagg brought the #777 D’station Vantage back to the pits for its final pit stop, and Fujii got back in for the final stint. The last car to pit was the #2 muta GR86 of Tsutsumi, which came in with 32 minutes left for fuel only. This helped keep Tsutsumi in second place.
But Fujii had a comfortable 17-second lead in hand, and that advantage continued to grow until the end of the race. The #777 D’station Vantage of Fujii and Fagg completed 85 laps en route to the victory.
This was the first SUPER GT victory for D’station Racing, who first entered the series in 2017, and came back this year after spending the last three years prioritising its new programmes in the FIA World Endurance Championship and other international series. This was Aston Martin’s first win as a manufacturer in SUPER GT since 2012, when the A Speed V12 Vantage GT3 won at Autopolis.
For Fagg, it was his first SUPER GT win in only his second appearance – and for Fujii, the 17-year veteran, his first since November 2016 at Mobility Resort Motegi.
The grip in the muta GR86’s Bridgestone tyres began to diminish at the end, but the strategy deployed helped Tsutsumi and Taira capture an impressive second-place finish despite carrying 54 kilogrammes of Success Weight!
Starting at the next race at Fuji, they’ll actually get a small break – since the GT300 Success Weight has now been limited to 50kg per car.
The #6 Uni-Robo 296 of Katayama and Roberto Merhi led the #2 muta GR86 at one stage, but finished third after Merhi got past the #31 apr LC 500h of Jin Nakamura into Nissin Hairpin with less than 30 minutes to go.
This was the Ferrari 296 GT3’s first podium in SUPER GT – and the first for the manufacturer since 2017, the first of what could be many more for the latest Ferrari GT3 car.
The #31 apr LC 500h of Kotaka, Nakamura, and Yuki Nemoto (did not drive) finished fourth, with the #52 Green Brave GR Supra (Hiroki Yoshida/Seita Nonaka rounding out the top five in class.
Gaining six places to finish sixth was the #45 PONOS Racing Ferrari 296 GT3 (Kei Cozzolino/Lilou Wadoux). Wadoux’s sixth-place finish was the best for a woman in SUPER GT since Kumi Sato finished sixth at Okayama International Circuit, all the way back in 2000.
The #7 Studie BMW M4 GT3 (Seiji Ara/Niklas Krütten/Bruno Spengler) was seventh, followed by the #65 LEON Pyramid Mercedes-AMG GT3 (Naoya Gamou/Takuro Shinohara/Haruki Kurosawa※) in eighth, the #96 K-tunes Lexus RC F GT3 (Morio Nitta/Shinichi Takagi) in ninth, and the #60 Syntium LMcorsa GR Supra (Hiroki Yoshimoto/Shunsuke Kohno) scoring its first point of the year in tenth.
A pit lane start for the #88 JLOC Lamborghini Huracán GT3 EVO2 (Takashi Kogure/Yuya Motojima) couldn’t easily be overcome – Kogure and Motojima finished well outside the points in 20th, as Tsutsumi and Taira extended their GT300 Championship lead to 17 points after three races.
There was only one other retirement: The fast but fragile #11 Gainer Tanax Nissan Fairlady Z (Ryuichiro Tomita/Keishi Ishikawa) dropped out while contending for a top-ten finish with a broken radiator.
Many of SUPER GT’s competitors will go on to race in Super Formula, Super Taikyu, GT World Challenge Asia/Japan Cup, various single-seater series – even some international races – in the ensuring two months before the series returns on 3/4 August, for the Fuji GT 350km Race at Fuji Speedway.
Images © GTA
