It was a milestone race for the Autobacs SUPER GT Series at Petronas Sepang International Circuit, in so many ways. Tens of thousands of fans came through the gates to experience SUPER GT’s first international race in six years, and the first in Malaysia in 12 years. And when the chequered flag fell at the SUPER GT Malaysia Festival on Saturday, they were treated to a historic moment.
Thanks to a perfectly executed overcut strategy, the #37 Deloitte TOM’S Toyota GR Supra of Ukyo Sasahara and Giuliano Alesi won the race from fourth on the grid. It was Toyota’s seventh consecutive GT500 class victory, a new all-time SUPER GT record.
Between Friday and Saturday, nearly 76,000 fans came to watch the first SUPER GT race meeting at Sepang since the 2013 season – including 47,453 for the race itself. 55 laps in the typically merciless heat and humidity of Southeast Asia, where ambient temperatures peaked at 33°C near the start of the race – even with overcast skies.
34 cars were set to take the start, but on the first formation lap, one GT500 car fell to the wayside. The #24 Realize Corporation Advan Nissan Z (Tsugio Matsuda/Teppei Natori) suffered a terminal driveshaft failure and would not start the race. A disappointing outcome for Matsuda, the three-time and defending GT500 winner at Sepang from 12 years ago.
When the race got underway, polesitter Yuji Kunimoto in the #19 WedsSport Advan GR Supra led the remaining GT500 cars down to the first sequence of corners, followed by the #8 ARTA Mugen Honda Civic Type-R of Nobuharu Matsushita, the #64 Modulo Civic of Riki Okusa, and the #37 Deloitte GR Supra of Sasahara.
Behind them, there was an incident with potential championship implications: Yuhi Sekiguchi in the #39 Denso Kobelco SARD GR Supra tipped his former co-driver Sho Tsuboi around at turn two, sending the #1 au TOM’S GR Supra around and down to the back of the 14-car field. Sekiguchi got a drive-through penalty for the collision.
Kunimoto was able to stretch out his lead over Matsushita to about two seconds before he began to encounter GT300 traffic. Then, the Bridgestone-equipped ARTA Civic began to close in on the Yokohama-clad WedsSport GR Supra, and on lap nine, Matsushita fired his Honda up the inside at turn nine to take the lead from Kunimoto. Sasahara got past Okusa to take third place, and on lap 19, the first GT500 car came in for a routine pit stop and driver change. Matsushita was ahead by about three and a half seconds at this stage.
On lap 20, the #19 WedsSport GR Supra came in from second place, and one lap later, the #8 ARTA Civic came in for its stop. The ARTA Civic, now driven by Tomoki Nojiri, remained ahead of the WedsSport GR Supra of Sena Sakaguchi, in the presumptive net lead.
But four Toyotas were attempting an overcut strategy, including the #37 Deloitte GR Supra, which had cycled to the lead on track. Sasahara came down to the pits on lap 32 after a quick series of in-laps. Rapid pit work from the #37 crew (believed initially to be a two-tyre stop, when in fact they had changed all four tyres) and a fast out-lap from Alesi on cold tyres helped keep the black and green Toyota out in front with the race lead with just over 20 laps remaining.
Nojiri’s tyres were up to temperature though, and he sensed an opportunity to get by in turns 13 & 14. But Nojiri’s angle of attack was too shallow, and Alesi was able to swing around, shut the door on Nojiri, and hold onto the lead.
As it turned out, it was Nojiri’s only real opportunity to get by. The Bridgestone tyres on the Toyota got up to temperature quickly, and Alesi began driving away from the pursuing Honda, gradually at first, then at warp speed in the final laps.
At the chequered flag, the final margin of victory was 19.046 seconds. Sasahara and Alesi scored their third career GT500 victories together, and in a major milestone, Toyota won its seventh consecutive GT500 race, going back to Sportsland Sugo in 2024 – another race won by Sasahara and Alesi.
This broke the 26-year-old record established by Honda, who won six consecutive JGTC championship rounds from 1998 to 1999. In addition, all of Toyota’s wins during this streak came at different venues.
Sasahara talked about his opening stint: “After the start, I was running in the top group while managing to avoid inflicting damage on my tyres and taking opportunities to move up when possible,” he said. “Toyota, the team and the people from Bridgestone Tyre prepared a wonderful car for us. On the lap just before making my pit stop, I pushed hard as if my life depended on it. Since I thought this would make it possible to take the lead as planned, I would give myself a rating of about 90 points for the job I did!”
“I had the job of driving in the second half, and when I left the pit, I thought it would be tough to hold my lead,” added Alesi. “But I didn’t give up and kept pushing hard. And my tyres warmed up quicker than I thought they would. So, I’m glad I was able to run on to the win. Because the car was set up perfectly today, I want to express my thanks to Toyota, the team and the people at Bridgestone Tyres.”
The #8 ARTA Civic of Nojiri and Matsushita would consolidate second place after being in control for most of the first half.
It could have been two Hondas on the podium; the #100 Stanley Civic of Naoki Yamamoto and Tadasuke Makino made a spirited charge from 11th on the grid to third place on the road, thanks in no small part to birthday boy Makino’s strong second-stint performance as he went from sixth to third in the last ten laps alone.
Unfortunately, Makino was also embroiled in a hard battle with the #38 KeePer Cerumo GR Supra of Toshiki Oyu earlier in his stint, and Makino pushed Oyu off into the grass at the exit of turn 15. The Stewards gave Makino a ten-second time penalty for dangerous driving, applied at the end of the race – which dropped the Stanley Civic back down to sixth in the final results.
That gave the final podium position to the #12 TRS Impul Nissan Z of Kazuki Hiramine and Bertrand Baguette. It was Nissan’s first GT500 podium of the season, and the first GT500 podium for Team Impul since new title sponsor Tokyo Radiator came on board this year.
Coming in fourth was the #17 Astemo Civic (Koudai Tsukakoshi/Syun Koide), while the WedsSport GR Supra of Kunimoto and Sakaguchi held on for a season-best fifth-place finish as the top car on Yokohama tyres.
Despite the lap one contact, the #1 au TOM’s GR Supra of Tsuboi and Kenta Yamashita would use the alternate strategy to its advantage and recover to seventh place, gaining valuable points while being the only GT500 car in the field with the ‘Level 2′ fuel flow restrictor as part of its 70kg of effective Success Weight.
The #38 KeePer GR Supra of Oyu and Hiroaki Ishiura finished in eighth, holding off the #14 Eneos X Prime GR Supra (Kazuya Oshima/Nirei Fukuzumi) in a photo finish; the Dunlop-clad #64 Modulo Civic of Okusa and Takuya Izawa scored the final point in tenth.
With the results, Toyota teams now occupy the top three positions in the GT500 Drivers’ Championship: Tsuboi/Yamashita’s lead holds steady at nine points, over Sasahara/Alesi who shot up to second ahead of Fuji winners Ishiura/Oyu. The top-ranked Honda duo of Yamamoto/Makino is still within reach, currently fourth in the table and trailing by 15 points.
Pit work was just as critical in deciding the battle for the GT300 class win as well. The #18 Team UPGarage Mercedes-AMG GT3 of Takashi Kobayashi and Yuto Nomura won from pole position, after a costly mistake from Saitama Green Brave’s crew swung the pendulum back in their favour.
With only 19 GT300 cars at Sepang due to logistics challenges and costs for some of the smaller teams, all but four teams were guaranteed to come away with crucial championship points. At the front, rookie polesitter Nomura led the field to the green flag.
But it took a while for Nomura’s Yokohama tyres to get into their window, and the #52 Saitama Green Brave Toyota GR Supra of Seita Nonaka pounced on that weakness, overtaking Nomura for the lead at the final corner. Nonaka sprinted out to a big lead, by as much as nine and a half seconds – while Nomura had his hands full trying to keep ahead of the #0 Venteny Lamborghini Huracán GT3 EVO2 of Yuya Motojima in third.
The top two cars would make their routine pit stops around halfway through the race, and it was here that the pendulum swung in the other direction. Nonaka brought the Green Brave GR Supra in after 25 laps for fuel, four tyres, and a driver change. All was about to go according to plan – until the left front wheel nut slipped out of the hands of a first-year mechanic and rolled down the pit lane.
This mistake cost the Green Brave team several precious seconds, and Hiroki Yoshida was also caught out by a car trying to get back on the lead lap. With these two factors, all Team UPGarage needed was a clean pit stop, and Kobayashi took the net lead with ease, getting the gap out to about the same margin which his co-driver trailed by.
Yoshida had time to make one final push towards the end, catching Kobayashi rapidly and bringing the gap down to about one second – but the yellow and black Mercedes-AMG had enough left to hold on for the win by just 0.933 seconds. It was Team UPGarage’s first win as a Mercedes-AMG customer team, having made the necessary change from the defunct Honda NSX GT3 in the off-season.
It was Kobayashi’s ninth career GT300 win – putting him in the all-time top ten for career wins in the second division – and his second in a row at Sepang. In 2013, he and Shinichi Takagi won from pole in the ARTA Honda Civic CR-Z GT300 Hybrid – the first-ever victory for that model in SUPER GT.
“In the end, I was able to get a second consecutive victory at Sepang, as well as a pole-to-win victory, so I’m very happy with the results,” said the veteran driver. “Nomura lost some ground on the first lap, but he didn’t give up and kept hanging on to the leaders, so he really did a great job for us. There was a mistake in the pitwork by the #52, and on my first lap out of the pit, I was able to push hard and get the lead back. There was also the fact that the team really worked hard to set up the car so well for us. In the end, it was tough going, but I’m very glad that we were able to win. I just want to thank everyone.”
19-year-old Nomura, the reigning FIA Formula 4 Japanese Champion and one of the top prospects of the Honda Formula Dream Project (HFDP) academy, won in only his third career GT300 race. After the race, Nomura said: “On the first lap after the start, it was difficult to get my tyres warmed up and car #52 was able to pass me, but after that, I was able to hold on from behind. Then, when we were able to get the lead back after the pit stop, and it was the first win for me, so I was really happy.”
While the Green Brave GR Supra of Yoshida and Nonaka lost out on what could have been a sure victory, they were able to secure their first points of the season after two troubled races to start 2025 – just as Team UPGarage did with their win.
But the stars of the race in GT300 may well have been Goodsmile Racing & TeamUKYO, and in particular, a rookie making his GT300 race debut. For the first time since 2003, Nobuteru Taniguchi and Tatsuya Kataoka were not on the grid for a SUPER GT race, taking part in the 24 Hours of Spa that weekend instead. To replace them, 2013 GT300 Champion Yuhki Nakayama and rookie Shunji Okumoto were called up to drive the #4 Goodsmile Hatsune Miku AMG.
Just a few weeks ago, they’d driven a Mercedes-AMG GT3 prepared out of the same garage to victory at the Super Taikyu Fuji 24 Hours. Nakayama navigated from eighth to sixth before coming in after just 16 laps to hand the car over to Okumoto. After pit stops, Okumoto – a former radio control racing champion and track & field athlete who only started driving 1:1 scale race cars after graduating from university in 2021 – was fourth, and closing rapidly on the #0 Venteny Huracán of the legendary Takashi Kogure.
The two cars ran tail-to-nose for several laps, but with five laps left, Okumoto swung around the outside of turn one to cut inside of Kogure at turn two, and took the final podium position. On top of that, Okumoto also set the fastest lap of the race during his closing stint.
It was a stirring performance to give Okumoto a debut SUPER GT podium, and Nakayama his first in almost four years – including the two years he spent out of the series.
JLOC’s two Lamborghinis could have wrapped up top-five finishes, but the #87 Metalive S Huracán (Kosuke Matsuura/Natsu Sakaguchi), which originally finished fourth ahead of its sister car, was given a 40-second time penalty after the race for multiple track limits violations and dropped to ninth place. The #0 Venteny Huracán of defending champions Motojima and Kogure retook fourth place, while the #2 Hyper Water INGING Toyota GR86 (Yuui Tsutsumi/Hibiki Taira) moved up to fifth.
The #777 D’station Aston Martin Vantage GT3 (Tomonobu Fujii/Charlie Fagg) gritted out a sixth-place finish, just ahead of the championship-leading #65 LEON Pyramid AMG (Naoya Gamou/Togo Suganami) in seventh. The #61 Subaru BRZ R&D Sport (Takuto Iguchi/Hideki Yamauchi) was eighth, followed by the #87 Lamborghini, and the #56 Realize/Nissan Mechanic Challenge GT-R (Kohei Hirate/Yu Kanamaru) in tenth.
Fuji winners Yoshiaki Katayama and Roberto Merhi finished 13th in their #6 Uni-Robo Bluegrass Ferrari 296 GT3, near the bottom of the points finishers. They dropped three places in the Drivers’ Championship as a consequence – Gamou/Suganami maintain a 12-point lead in the standings over Tsutsumi/Taira, Fujii/Fagg moved up to third, and Hirate is now fourth in the table.
Of the two local wildcard entries from EBM Giga Racing, the #611 Porsche 911 GT3 R of Adrian D’Silva and Dorian Boccolacci was the top finisher – but outside the points in 17th. Curiously, D’Silva – GT300’s only true Bronze driver in the race – ran a long first stint and by the time Boccolacci boarded the blue and silver Porsche, he was a lap off the lead. The #333 EBM Aston Martin of Li Kerong and Jazeman Jaafar was 19th.
Up next, the Autobacs SUPER GT Series returns to Fuji Speedway for the first-ever Fuji GT Sprint Race weekend – with three all-out sprints across two days on 2/3 August.
Images © GTA
