The #666 Seven x Seven with KFM Porsche 911 GT3 R of ‘Bankcy’ and Kiyoto Fujinami, in the team’s first-ever GT3 outing, won Race 1 of the 2024 SRO Japan Cup season finale at Okayama International Circuit.
Behind them, the #98 K-tunes Racing Ferrari 296 GT3 of Daisuke Yamawaki and Shinichi Takagi finished second to clinch the 2024 GT3 Japan Cup Championship – at the team’s home track.
Yamawaki and Takagi were odds-on favourites to win the GT3 Overall and Pro-Am titles heading into the weekend, as they only needed to finish the first race to win the titles. For their sister car, the #96 K-tunes Lexus RC F GT3 (Kazunori Suenaga/Morio Nitta), they already needed a miracle and, regrettably, would have required the #98 Ferrari to have problems of its own.
Ironically, one K-tunes car would have a serious problem – but not the #98. Instead, the #96 suffered a terminal engine issue after Friday practices and dropped out for the remainder of the weekend.
It meant that the only remaining challenger was the #55 Macchina Racing McLaren 720S GT3 of Tadao Uematsu, who was 45 points behind with 50 available.
In a surprise, Qualifying for Race 1 saw Porsche Carrera Cup Japan graduate Bankcy grab the pole by nearly half a second over Uematsu, with the #98 K-tunes Ferrari of Yamawaki down in fifth.
Bankcy held his advantage at the drop of the green flag, leading the field into turn one. Uematsu got a slow getaway from the rolling start and allowed the #9 Bingo Racing Callaway Corvette C7 GT3-R of Motoki Takami to slip into second place. Uematsu and Yamawaki were stuck in a race for third, sandwiching the #7 Comet Racing Ferrari 296 of Yorikatsu Tsujiko in a three-car pack.
After 25 minutes, the pit window opened for driver changes. Bankcy came in with a 1.5 second lead over Takami, and handed their cars off to their respective co-drivers – Fujinami in the #666 Porsche, and Shinji Takei in the #9 Corvette. Also coming in from fifth was the #98 K-tunes Ferrari, where Shinichi Takagi would take the car home for its championship run.
In the second stint, Takagi would begin picking his way through the field. He got past the #7 Comet Ferrari of Yusuke Yamasaki for fourth place, then off a Full Course Yellow restart, he passed the #55 Macchina McLaren of Uematsu to get third. Takei was ten seconds up the road, but Takagi would pour on the pace in the last 15 minutes of the race – and closed onto the tail of the Callaway Corvette with less than three minutes left.
With two laps left, Takagi swooped around the outside of Takei at the Hairpin Corner to grab the inside line into Revolver Corner, and grabbed second place.
All the while, the yellow and black #666 Porsche of Bankcy and Fujinami drove a flawless first race and was rewarded with the chequered flag, a debut win for KF Motorsport and a first SRO Asia victory for Bankcy.
For Fujinami, the owner and founder of KF Motorsport, it was his first major sports car win in any series since the 2022 GT World Challenge Asia round at Okayama.
Ten seconds behind them, the #98 K-tunes Ferrari finished second, and Daisuke Yamawaki and Shinichi Takagi were crowned GT3 Japan Cup and Pro-Am champions for 2024.
Four years ago, Yamawaki and Takagi were part of the team that won the Super Taikyu Series ST-X (GT3) Championship. But that 2020 title was spoiled two ways: Takagi suffered a season-ending accident at Okayama, and the season itself was prematurely shortened due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This time both drivers, in good health, could properly celebrate their championship.
Takagi, the 54-year-old legend, has now added the SRO Japan Cup title to his previous championships in SUPER GT GT300, Super Taikyu, and Porsche Carrera Cup Japan.
Rounding out the GT3 podium was the #9 Bingo Corvette of Takei and Takami, just three-tenths behind the #98 Ferrari.
A strong second stint from Naoki Yokomizo helped guide the #555 Maezawa Racing Ferrari 488 GT3 to a fourth-place finish – a decent first result for owner/driver Yusaku Maezawa in his GT3 debut.
Uematsu rounded out the overall top five, and he can win the GT3 Am title in Race 2 if he simply finishes the race.
The #81 Team Daishin with GTNET Nissan GT-R (Noboyuki Oyagi/Ryuichiro Oyagi) finished sixth, followed by the #7 Comet Ferrari of Yamasaki and Tsujiko, and the #360 RunUp Sports Nissan (Masaaki Nishikawa/Atsushi Tanaka) in eighth.
The #83 Gama 83 Racing Porsche 911 GT3 Cup (Makoto Haga/Mineki Ogura) finished ninth overall to win the GTC class duel over the #16 ABSSA Motorsport Porsche (Satoshi Konno/Keita Sawa).
While the major GT3 titles have been secured, the GT4 Overall title race is set to go down to a winner-take-all finale after the #50 Y’Z Racing BMW M4 GT4 of Yuki Fujii and Masaki Kano won for the second time this season.
Fujii started second behind polesitter Haridarma Manoppo’s #39 TGR Indonesia Toyota GR Supra GT4, but fell behind the #38 Hojust Racing Toyota of Toshiyuki Ochiai. Fujii would retake second, and then as Manoppo’s pace began to diminish, Fujii would pounce and take the class lead at the 15-minute mark – with Ochiai grabbing second on the next lap.
The #50 BMW retained its lead after pit stops, while the #38 TGR-ID GR Supra, now in the hands of Seita Nonaka, overtook the #39 Hojust GR Supra of Takeshi Suehiro coming out of the pits.
They’d remain in that order all the way to the flag – Kano won the GT4 class, while Nonaka held off Suehiro by 0.364s to take second place.
Yuki Fujii and Masaki Kano now lead the GT4 Japan Cup standings with 131 points. Suehiro slipped to second in the standings, but is only three points behind – and three points ahead of Manoppo in third. Whichever of these three drivers wins the race tomorrow will win the Overall and Pro-Am championships.
The #97 K-tunes GR Supra (Yoshichika Nagai/Ryohei Sakaguchi) was fourth, ahead of the #82 Sunrise Blvd Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 (Yoshitomo Makino/Daiki Fujiwara) which slipped out of title contention with a fifth-place finish. The #47 D’station Racing Aston Martin Vantage GT4 (Tatsuya Hoshino/Kenji Hama) finished two laps down after going off in the gravel, leading to the race’s only Full Course Yellow.
As the only GT4 Am entry in the field, the #47 D’station Vantage of Hoshino and Hama will win the class title tomorrow if they finish the race.
Images © SRO Motorsports Asia
