Ukyo Sasahara and Giuliano Alesi started next-to-last on the grid, fell to last place on the first green flag lap, and looked like they’d be stuck there – but by the end of the SUPER GT Sugo GT 300km Race, the #37 Deloitte TOM’S Toyota GR Supra took the chequered flag and its second win of the season after a stirring comeback drive.
It was something of a miracle that SUPER GT’s annual visit to Sportsland Sugo even ran to its advertised 84-lap distance. On Saturday, Qualifying was washed away completely and the grid was set from Free Practice times. More rain arrived Sunday morning and threatened to effectively wipe out the race just like Super Formula’s visit to Sugo in June.
Mercifully, the rain let up enough by the afternoon that the race could start behind the Safety Car only one hour later than it was originally scheduled, with Hiroaki Ishiura starting up front in his #38 KeePer Cerumo GR Supra, and taking the green flag on lap four. Yuji Kunimoto started second in the #19 WedsSport Advan GR Supra, but he’d soon be swallowed up by the #12 Marelli Impul Nissan Z of Bertrand Baguette, and the #36 au TOM’S GR Supra of Sho Tsuboi, as they dropped into third and second.
Ishiura maintained a steady lead over Tsuboi, but the two-time and defending GT500 Champion started taking time out of the leader’s margin. On Lap 16 Tsuboi sailed up the inside of Hi-Point Corner and took the lead, quickly pulling out to a big lead that stretched out as far as 11 seconds.
The #17 Astemo Honda Civic Type R-GT of Koudai Tsukakoshi, and the #14 Eneos X Prime GR Supra of Kazuya Oshima were also on the charge, both getting by Baguette and then Ishiura – with Oshima getting past Tsukakoshi to take second place.
While all this was going on, Sasahara in the #37 Deloitte TOM’S GR Supra had dropped to 15th and last on the opening lap. He’d only been able to get back to his starting position by the end of lap ten, but then he found his rhythm in the rain and began passing cars. He also avoided getting caught up in a crash between the #16 ARTA Mugen Civic of Hiroki Otsu and the #6 Uni-Robo Bluegrass Ferrari 296 GT3 of Yoshiaki Katayama, and by Lap 13 he was back in the top ten.
Sasahara got back up to seventh by Lap 16, then overtook the #3 Nittera Motul Z of Mitsunori Takaboshi for sixth. On Lap 23, he overtook Baguette, then Ishiura, to get up to fourth place.
Oshima was starting to catch Tsuboi for the lead, when on Lap 26, the Safety Car was deployed for a three-car incident in GT300. Morio Nitta (#96 K-tunes Lexus RC F GT3), Ryuichiro Tomita (#11 Gainer Tanax Nissan Fairlady Z), and Takamitsu Matsui (#25 Hoppy Schatz GR Supra) squeezed into each other at SP-In Corner, damaging the right-front of Nitta’s car and sending Matsui spinning off towards the guardrails. Tomita escaped with minor damage and Nitta was able to drive back to the garage, but Matsui’s car was stuck in the wet grass and mud.
Tsuboi led the field back to the green flag on Lap 32, but Oshima went on the attack early, trying to slingshot past Tsuboi for the lead only to be boxed in down the front straightaway. Sasahara had jumped by Tsukakoshi for third place and caught the two leading Toyotas.
Then on Lap 37, Sasahara made his move. He dove past Oshima at Hairpin Corner (turn four) to grab second, then latched on to his team-mate Tsuboi, got a great run out of Rainbow, then took the lead into Horseback – last to first in just over 30 laps.
A critical moment in the race came on Lap 42 when the #11 Gainer Z, now driven by Keishi Ishikawa, slid off at Rainbow Corner and hit the guardrail. The leaders in GT500 responded immediately by rushing to the pits before a Full Course Yellow was declared for the stranded vehicle, which later turned into the second Safety Car of the race.
Two cars stayed out as they were already past the pit lane, but the #37 Deloitte GR Supra of Alesi was leading, followed by the #23 Motul Autech Z of Ronnie Quintarelli and the #39 Denso Kobelco GR Supra of Yuichi Nakayama, who each pitted on Lap 31. Behind them were the #14 Eneos GR Supra of Nirei Fukuzumi, and the #36 au GR Supra of Kenta Yamashita.
Alesi came under some pressure from Quintarelli and Nakayama on the restart at Lap 50 but was able to hold the pair of them off. On fresher tyres, the #12 Marelli Z of Kazuki Hiramine went from eighth to sixth on the restart, and the #38 KeePer GR Supra of Toshiki Oyu went from tenth to seventh – and both were on the charge as they overtook Quintarelli and Nakayama to take second and third place, once all GT500 leaders had pitted and Alesi assumed the race lead.
The often-scrutinized Alesi now had a nine-second lead and began turning the screws on the field, while Oyu made an outrageous move around the outside of 110R to get by Hiramine for second place – using a lapped GT300 car as a pick.
Alesi stretched the gap out to over 12 seconds by Lap 66, and with ten laps left, the gap was over 20 seconds. The French-Japanese driver wouldn’t be stopped as he drove the black and green #37 Deloitte TOM’S GR Supra to victory for the second time in three races. But while some may have argued that their win at the Suzuka 3 Hours was down to the misfortune of others, this time there could be no denying the relentless performance of either man at the wheel, who collected their second career victories.
“The conditions were very difficult, and it caused both me and the team a lot to struggle,” Sasahara said of his opening stint. “But in the end, I think everyone made great decisions. Driving in the first stint, I was able to manage the tyres and finish in the lead to turn the wheel over to Giuliano.
“I think I was able to fulfil my role 100%. But at the beginning, I was fighting as hard as I could just to stay on the track. That contributed to this result, and I want to thank everyone on the team for this.”
Alesi added, “The car was very good! This result was not only one of the drivers but of everyone’s teamwork. Everyone at TOM’S and Toyota worked hard, and Bridgestone prepared good tyres for us, so I want to thank everyone.
“In the second half that I drove, I thought that I could be fast if the track dried. But because the conditions were still difficult, I am really glad that everyone on the team was able to do their part with no mistakes.”
Dating back to last season, TOM’S Racing has now won five of the last seven races with either of its two cars.
Ishiura and Oyu completed a Toyota 1-2 finish in GT500, and for Team Cerumo, it was their first podium finish since the 2021 Autopolis round, 23 races ago.
The dark blue Marelli Z of Hiramine and Baguette picked up its first podium of the season in third place.
Despite carrying the heaviest Success Weight handicap in the field – 48kg of ballast weight and the ‘Stage 2’ fuel flow restrictor, the #36 au TOM’S GR Supra of Tsuboi and Yamashita took fourth place, just ahead of the top-finishing Honda, the #100 Stanley Civic (Naoki Yamamoto/Tadasuke Makino) in fifth. This was Yamamoto’s first time back in a GT500 car at Sugo since his career-threatening accident here last year.
The #3 Niterra Z of Takaboshi and Atsushi Miyake finished sixth, while a drive-through penalty for a pit work violation kicked the #17 Astemo Civic of Tsukakoshi and Kakunoshin Ohta down to seventh.
The best of the non-Bridgestone runners was the #19 WedsSport GR Supra of Kunimoto and Sena Sakaguchi. The #14 Eneos X Prime GR Supra of Oshima & Fukuzumi dropped to ninth after being given a drive-through penalty when Fukuzumi went off course during the second Safety Car, and the #16 ARTA Mugen Civic of Otsu and Ren Sato completed the top ten.
With the #37’s victory, Sasahara and Alesi are now just one point behind Tsuboi/Yamashita for the lead in the GT500 Drivers’ Championship; Yamamoto/Makino keep pace in third, Ishiura/Oyu moved up to fourth in the table with back-to-back podiums, and all four teams are within nine points of the lead.
GT300 yielded another incredible comeback drive of its own, with the #65 LEON Pyramid Mercedes-AMG GT3 of Naoya Gamou and Takuro Shinohara taking back-to-back victories after starting 15th out of 26 cars in the class. The #52 Saitama Green Brave GR Supra (Hiroki Yoshida/Seita Nonaka) was officially scratched after its Practice crash.
But it was also a history-making moment for Lilou Wadoux, who became only the second woman in JGTC/SUPER GT history to score a podium finish in second alongside Kei Cozzolino in the #45 PONOS Racing Ferrari 296 GT3.
Young Eijiro Shimizu started on pole in the #20 SHADE Racing Toyota GR86, while Tomonobu Fujii in the #777 D’station Aston Martin Vantage GT3 wrestled second place from the #61 Subaru BRZ of Takuto Iguchi once the green flag came out. At the end of the first lap, Gamou was up to 12th place, but he slid off at turn one and lost that forward progress.
Meanwhile, in the wet conditions, the three Michelin teams soared early on. Cozzolino muscled his way past the #61 and #777 to move into second place, with Niklas Krütten in the #7 Studie BMW M4 GT3 following him into third. Shimizu escaped to a three-second lead but Cozzolino began to close in, and forced his way through to the lead at SP-In. Krütten was next to get through, pressuring Shimizu for several laps before getting by at Horseback.
Cozzolino’s ten-second lead was erased not long after the right-rear wheel of Shimizu detached at SP-Out. A wheel hub failure forced the #20 SHADE GR86 to retire, and that happened just a few moments before the crash between Nitta, Tomita, and Matsui brought out the first Safety Car. When the race restarted, Cozzolino maintained his lead but Krütten would stay within 1-2 seconds.
Gamou had recovered to sixth by the Safety Car and moved up three places off the restart, assisted by a course-out from Fujii who dropped behind Gamou and Iguchi.
As the GT500 leaders did, top contenders in GT300 came to the pits after Ishikawa’s crash in the #11 Gainer Z brought out the FCY and Safety Car, including the #45 PONOS Ferrari and #65 LEON Pyramid AMG. Wadoux was leading for the first time in SUPER GT, ahead of Shinohara – and it looked very likely that the 23-year-old French driver would become the first woman ever to win a SUPER GT race in either category.
But to do that she’d have to fight off Shinohara. The off-white Ferrari and matte black Mercedes were in hot pursuit for nearly 20 laps – Shinohara was able to close in through the corners, but Wadoux’s defensive posture and the straight-line speed of the Ferrari kept her ahead. As they battled, they pulled away from the rest of the GT300 field.
With 13 laps left, Shinohara got the best run out of 110R that he’d gotten all day, enough for him to slip past Wadoux and take the lead into turn one – where his and Gamou’s races nearly ended before they got going.
After 79 laps, the #65 LEON Pyramid AMG – carrying the maximum 50 kilos of Success Weight – claimed its second straight win, matching the feat that Saitama Green Brave’s Yoshida and Kohta Kawaai achieved at Sugo and Autopolis last year.
“It was a very difficult race, but we were able to make the most of the good fortune that came our way,” said Gamou, who took his seventh career GT300 class win. “I am glad that we won today, and I think the fact that everyone on the team was able to get through it with no mistakes is a great achievement. I want to see us do our best to get through the test of the races of the season. I want to give my thanks to everyone.”
Shinohara added: “I came in after the Safety Car run in the second half and I was feeling a bit disappointed that I couldn’t pass the leader, but I was glad that I was later able to find a chance to do it. Since we had started from 15th position, I didn’t believe that we could win. When I got out on the track and heard that I was in 2nd place, I was really surprised. I am really glad that we won.”
Behind them in second – just four seconds off the victory – PONOS Racing collected a milestone finish. The first for the team, the best for the new Ferrari 296 GT3, and for Cozzolino, his successes in international motorsport have finally translated to a SUPER GT podium of his own.
And then there was Wadoux, who equalled the best finish by a woman in JGTC/SUPER GT history. 29 years ago, June Okanoya drove an Group N-spec Nissan Skyline GT-R to a second-place finish at Suzuka in the opening round of the 1995 season.
“First of all, thanks to Kei, because he did an amazing job at the beginning of the race that helped me to have a gap with the others, and to fight with the other car. I tried to defend the maximum that I can, but honestly, I did not have the pace of the Mercedes. I finished P2, it’s better than nothing, but I hope the next step will be the victory!” said Wadoux.
D’station Racing’s future in the FIA World Endurance Championship may be uncertain but its footing in SUPER GT has never been stronger. The #777 Aston Martin of Fujii and Charlie Fagg emerged the winner in a battle for the last podium position – their second podium in three races.
Seiji Ara drove the #7 Studie BMW to a fourth-place finish, followed by the #61 Subaru BRZ of Iguchi and Hideki Yamauchi, who finally captured their first top-five finish after a woeful start to the season. The #31 apr Lexus LC 500h (Kazuto Kotaka/Jin Nakamura) finished sixth after overtaking the #87 Metalive S Lamborghini Huracán GT3 EVO2 (Kosuke Matsuura/Natsu Sakaguchi) in seventh.
The #2 muta Racing Toyota GR86 (Yuui Tsutsumi/Hibiki Taira) could only salvage eighth place, with the #60 Syntium LMcorsa GR Supra (Hiroki Yoshimoto/Shunsuke Kohno) and #88 Venteny Lamborghini (Takashi Kogure/Yuya Motojima) rounding out the top ten finishers.
With those results, Gamou and Shinohara have rocketed to a 15-point lead in the GT300 Drivers’ Championship. Tsutsumi and Taira, once feared to be impervious by some of their rivals, slipped to a distant second in the standings, with Fujii/Fagg up to third.
Next month, what should have been the penultimate round of the 2024 season is now the true sixth round: The Autopolis GT 3 Hour Race, the last of the timed endurance events, on 20 October.
Images © GTA
