Yet again, the Autobacs SUPER GT Series’ annual visit to Tōhoku’s remote cathedral of speed known as Sportsland Sugo delivered another instant classic: With a last-lap pass for the win, the #24 Realize Corporation Advan Nissan Z NISMO GT500 of Tsugio Matsuda and Teppei Natori gave Kondo Racing its first GT500 win in almost nine years.
The last race of SUPER GT’s traditional “mid-summer triple,” in the final week of summer. Qualifying on Saturday saw Ren Sato collect his second consecutive GT500 pole position in the #16 ARTA Mugen Honda Civic Type R-GT with a time of 1:09.122, a new GT500 course record around the 3.5-kilometre circuit.
But the #39 Denso Kobelco SARD Toyota GR Supra, even when carrying 58kg of effective Success Weight (41kg of ballast, plus the Stage 1 fuel flow restrictor), looked strong throughout both rounds of time trials: Yuhi Sekiguchi led Q1, and Sacha Fenestraz secured a front-row start, finishing second in Q2 ahead of the #3 Niterra Motul Z of Daiki Sasaki.
Frighteningly, the #1 au TOM’S GR Supra of Kenta Yamashita finished fourth in Q1 even while carrying maximum Success Weight: 50kg and the Stage 3 fuel flow restrictor. Sugo represented a chance for the white and orange TOM’S crew to put the GT500 title further out of reach from its nearest competitors, most of whom were fellow Toyota runners.
How would it all play out in the beginning? Hiroki Otsu started the race in the #16 ARTA Civic and led the opening lap, while Sekiguchi in second place challenged Otsu almost immediately. Sasaki settled into third, but the driver on the move early was Matsuda in his Yokohama-clad #24 Realize Z. He swept around the outside of Yamashita in turns one and two to take fourth place on lap five. Four laps later, the same move brought him up to third place after he got past Sasaki.
In-between, Sekiguchi took advantage of a momentary hesitation from Otsu in traffic to slingshot past the Honda down the frontstretch, grabbing the lead at the start of lap six.
Matsuda, meanwhile, continued his march towards the front in vintage fashion, sweeping around the outside of turn two to get the inside line and overtake Otsu for second place. Sekiguchi had a 3.5-second lead in hand over Matsuda, who was closing in until a Full Course Yellow (FCY) was deployed on lap 19 for a multi-car collision in the GT300 class.
Not long after the FCY was withdrawn, at the end of lap 22, Matsuda was able to get a run on Sekiguchi out of 110R; the Nissan then outbraked the Toyota into turn one, and Matsuda took the lead on lap 23. Even with the benefit of having virtually no success weight to contend with, it was a throwback performance from the winningest GT500 driver in history. Yet, Sekiguchi didn’t let Matsuda escape. It took just one opportunity for Sekiguchi to throw his Toyota up the inside of the Hairpin Corner (turn four), then drive out of the S-Curve (turns 5/6) to regain the lead only three laps after he lost it.
The pit window opened up on lap 28, a few cars made pit stops at the earliest window – but the top two would keep running until just before half-distance. Matsuda brought the #24 Realize Z in from second place on lap 39, handing the car off to Natori. Three laps later, the leading #39 Denso GR Supra made its pit stop, and Fenestraz took over for the end of the race.
Once all the stops were made, the order changed somewhat. Thanks to a quick pit stop, the #17 Astemo Civic Type R-GT was able to successfully undercut its way from fourth at the end of Syun Koide’s opening stint, to second once Koudai Tsukakoshi got on board, taking advantage of Natori leaving the pits on cold tyres to get by him.
After a brief FCY for a broken-down GT300 car, the #39 Denso GR Supra of Fenestraz had an 8.2-second lead on lap 48. Tsukakoshi in the #17 Astemo Civic was second, Natori in the #24 Realize Z was third, and running a great race was the #64 Modulo Civic of Takuya Izawa and Riki Okusa. Izawa, the outbound leader of the Modulo Nakajima Racing team, had made an incredible charge from 13th to sixth in the opening stint, giving Okusa great track position as he re-entered the race ahead of the #16 ARTA Civic of Sato.
Then, disaster struck. In a potential battle for a GT300 podium, the #777 D’station Aston Martin Vantage GT3 of Tomonobu Fujii went wide out of 110R corner, and as he rejoined, he collided with the #31 apr Lexus LC500h of Oliver Rasmussen, sending Fujii into the guardrail to the left, head-on. One of the tyres on the D’station Vantage came loose, and the #20 SHADE Racing Toyota GR86 of Katsuyuki Hiranaka tried to avoid it.
But in doing so, Hiranaka lost control and tangled with Okusa, near the entrance of pit lane. The #64 Modulo Civic took a sickening impact into the protective tyre barrier at pit entry, and Hiranaka also took a severe hit from both Okusa’s car and the guardrail.
Rasmussen was able to drive his stricken car back to pit lane, while Okusa, Fujii, and Hiranaka all walked away from their wrecked vehicles.
The Safety Car was immediately deployed, and by lap 50, the Red Flag came out to stop the race due to debris cleanup and barrier repairs, which took just a little over an hour to complete. The race’s “curfew time” was 4:30 PM local time, so when the Red Flag was lifted at 4:00 PM, a sprint finish was a real possibility. The Safety Car gathered the field together again, and with 22 minutes left, the race resumed.
Fenestraz made a great restart to pull away from Tsukakoshi, but another FCY briefly prevented Fenestraz from pulling away. The race restarted again with 15 minutes left, Fenestraz got another good restart, while third-place Natori closed in on Tsukakoshi. It only took a little breathing of the throttle from Tsukakoshi at 110R to avoid a slower GT300 car, for Natori to size up his move, down the front straight and around the outside of turns one and two.
The #24 Realize Z moved up into second place, and chased down a two-second gap to the leader Fenestraz, who held off Natori for several laps as he tried to get by into turn one.
It seemed that with seven minutes to go, Fenestraz had shut the door for good when Natori attempted an outside pass around turn one, but ran wide over the outside kerbs and lost momentum. Tsukakoshi was now attacking to regain second place. But the tight confines of Sugo and dense traffic allowed both Natori and Tsukakoshi to close back in just a lap later!
As the seconds ticked down, lap 70 would be the final lap. The outside pass around turns one and two didn’t work for Natori, so he latched onto the rear of Fenestraz’s Toyota through the next few corners. A fantastic run out of Rainbow Corner (turn eight) allowed Natori to draw closer. Fenestraz took a defensive line as they approached the right-hand Horseback Corner (turn nine), but Natori was able to pull out to the left, draw alongside Fenestraz into the corner, and then grab the inside at SP-In (turn 10) to take the lead at the last possible moment.
And by 0.649 seconds, the #24 Realize Z of Matsuda and Natori held on for Kondo Racing’s first win since November 2016 at Mobility Resort Motegi, ending the longest winless drought for an individual team in GT500.
Matsuda celebrated from the pit wall as he extended his career GT500 wins record to 25, a milestone that seemed out of reach when he moved to Kondo Racing last year in the sunset of his career. He also extended his career records for GT500 podiums (51) and took the record for the most career points in GT500 history (1,267) from Yuji Tachikawa.
“This 25th victory and a victory since coming to this team certainly was a long time coming,” Matsuda said after his milestone victory. “And watching Teppei was a thrill for me. When I was driving in the first half, I definitely had a feeling that we had a chance to win.
“Working with Manager (Masahiko) Kondo to build this team took two years, and I’m so glad that we were able to get this win. We also got a lot of help from the people at Yokohama Tyres, so I am so grateful to the people that worked on the tyre development. Most of all, I wanted to give our Manager Kondo a win, and I’m glad it finally happened.”
Natori became the newest first-time GT500 race winner. Just three years ago, Natori’s racing career appeared to be in jeopardy when he won the 2021 Super Formula Lights title, put plans together for a move back to Europe in Formula 2, only for his sponsorship to fall through. With Nissan, Natori received a career lifeline, becoming a GT300 race winner two years ago, and now for the first time, he’s won in SUPER GT’s premier class.
“After such a tough battle, my throat is worn out. With these members and as a team it has been a long struggle to get this win, and the fact that Tsugio-san has extended his number of victories to 25 is also great, and I am glad to have been part of it,” Natori said.
On the move for the win, Natori remarked: “I thought that was the only place it was possible. Since as a racing driver you can’t go on the defensive but have to be aggressive, there is always risk involved, but the fact that I was finally able to overtake it was good. I was really in an uproar of excitement myself when the overtake succeeded!”
It was Nissan’s second win of the season as a manufacturer, and the first win for a car not on Bridgestone tyres since the 2023 Fuji 450km, more than two years ago!
Sekiguchi and Fenestraz may lament finishing second after leading the most laps, but their result puts the #39 Denso GR Supra back on the fringes of title contention as they moved up to third in the GT500 Drivers’ Championship.
Coming in third was the #17 Astemo Civic of Tsukakoshi and Koide, only 0.237 seconds behind the #39 Denso GR Supra. It was their best finish of the season so far.
And the #16 ARTA Civic of Otsu and Sato matched its Suzuka effort with a fourth-place finish. But yet again, it was a missed opportunity for Honda to get a potential first win with rivals from Toyota and Nissan on high Success Weight, and for the first time since 2016, Honda faces a potential winless season in the GT500 class.
After starting tenth, the #37 Deloitte TOM’S GR Supra (Ukyo Sasahara/Giuliano Alesi) cut through the pack to finish fifth, taking points away from the weekend in their bid for the title. Behind them, the #100 Stanley Civic (Naoki Yamamoto/Tadasuke Makino) was sixth, followed by the #23 Motul Autech Z (Katsumasa Chiyo/Mitsunori Takaboshi), which took the chequered flag in seventh.
After the race, the #23 Motul Z was given a 40-second post-race time penalty for going too fast during a Full Course Yellow, dropping Chiyo and Takaboshi down to 13th. Thus, the #14 Eneos X Prime GR Supra (Kazuya Oshima/Nirei Fukuzumi) was promoted to seventh, ahead of the #8 ARTA Civic (Tomoki Nojiri/Nobuharu Matsushita) in eighth. Matsushita was running fifth until, with three minutes to go, Matsushita ran wide, causing him to drop four places.
As for the #1 au TOM’S Supra of Tsuboi and Yamashita, it slumped to ninth place as both drivers struggled during the race on maximum Success Weight. This keeps the car’s streak of consecutive points finishes alive at least, and the damage to their points lead was minimal – they still lead Oshima and Fukuzumi by eight points, and there is a possibility they can clinch the title in Autopolis.
Completing the top ten was the #19 WedsSport Advan GR Supra (Yuji Kunimoto/Sena Sakaguchi) in tenth.
GT300 pole position on Saturday was decided by only one millisecond. And by that slimmest of margins, the #7 CarGuy MKS Ferrari 296 GT3 driven by sophomore Rikuto Kobayashi won the pole – Kobayashi’s first – ahead of the #60 Syntium LM corsa Lexus LC500 of Hiroki Yoshimoto.
But when the chequered flag fell, Yoshimoto and Shunsuke Kohno were the ones celebrating victory, the first for LM corsa in nearly four years, and the first for the Lexus LC500 in GT300.
Zak O’Sullivan started the race in the #7 CarGuy MKS Ferrari, leading the GT300 field after the first lap. But once the Dunlop tyres on the #60 Syntium LC500 got in their optimum window, Yoshimoto would strike, taking the lead from O’Sullivan on lap seven.
Behind them, Tatsuya Kataoka in the #4 Goodsmile Hatsune Miku Mercedes-AMG GT3 and Kohei Hirate in the #56 Realize/Nissan Mechanic Challenge GT-R NISMO GT3 got past the the #0 Venteny Lamborghini Huracán GT3 EVO2 of Yuya Motojima, then the #7 CarGuy Ferrari of O’Sullivan, and slotted into second and third place.
An incident on lap 16 carried potential championship implications: The #65 LEON Pyramid AMG of Togo Suganami spun after contact with the #45 PONOS Ferrari of Kei Cozzolino at SP-In Corner. Then the #52 Saitama Green Brave Toyota GR Supra checked up, and Hibiki Taira in the #2 Hyper Water INGING Toyota GR86 ran into the back of his fellow Toyota junior Seita Nonaka in front of him. The damage to the #2 Hyper Water GR86 was terminal, while the #65 LEON AMG dropped to 22nd.
Yoshimoto came under pressure, first from Kataoka, then Hirate joined to make it a three-car battle for the lead. After 28 laps, Yoshimoto brought the leading Lexus in for a pit stop, and Kohno left the pits determined to hang on to the advantage. On lap 34, the #56 Realize GT-R came in from second place, and two laps later, the #4 Hatsune Miku AMG came in from the lead.
A mechanical failure for the #26 Anest Iwata Lexus RC F GT3 brought out a Full Course Yellow, and of all the cars that made their stops, the #60 Syntium LC500 was leading from the #56 Realize GT-R, the #777 D’station Vantage, and the #31 apr LC500h. Only the #61 Subaru BRZ R&D Sport of Hideki Yamauchi had yet to make its routine pit stop among the front runners.
Sadly, it didn’t take long for the race to get going before the initial collision between Fujii and Rasmussen triggered the aforementioned crash on lap 48. Fujii and co-driver Charlie Fagg went from being in position to take the GT300 points lead to being out of the race. And not long after the race resumed after the red flag, Rasmussen would have to retire the #31 apr LC500h due to damage. A real shame, as both he and Miki Koyama had run well, with both drivers contending for a potential first career podium.
The #61 Subaru, already caught out by the timing of the incident, would be forced to make its pit stop and driver change once the race resumed, then suffered a right rear wheel hub failure, ending its day. An incident for the #45 PONOS Ferrari, now being driven by Takuro Shinohara, brought out one last FCY.
While all eyes were locked on the battle for the GT500 win, Kohno was fighting off João Paulo de Oliveira for the race win in GT300. The GT-R of Oliveira was fast, but not the LC500 of Kohno was just quick enough to hold on by 0.660s to take the Syntium LC500 to its first-ever win.
LM corsa, Yoshimoto, and Kohno’s last win before Sunday was in November 2021 at Fuji Speedway, driving their previous Toyota GR Supra. This year, after failing to progress with the GR Supra and a unique aero package, the Osaka-based team switched to the LC500, as constructed by apr.
“After changing to the LC500 this year with its high potential, it was still a struggle to bring that potential out with good result,” said Yoshimoto, who collected his tenth career GT300 victory. “When we finally thought we had a good result, it turned out that we were still 800 grams underweight and got disqualified. That was a big disappointment for the whole team. For that reason, we were determined to finally get this win at Sugo.
“Especially the tyres that the people at Dunlop prepared for us were truly outstanding. So when everything came together in a good matching, we got secnd position in the qualifying and I was able to take the lead early in the race, but the pace of the cars behind me was also fast. And added to all this the driving of Shunsuke in the second half was really cool, and he did a great job of holding the lead for us! It was really great!”
“I’m exhausted,” Kohno admitted after the race, in which he scored his third career win. “I knew that car #56 that was coming up on us at the end was fast, but then the Safety Car run reduced the gap even more. But I’m glad that the drivers weren’t injured in that accident, and I’m grateful for the fact that the officials cleared the course so quickly.
“In the final 30 minutes, I kept my faith in the performance of the Dunlop tyres, so I kept pushing even harder than in my qualifying time attacks. This time it was the new tyres that the people at Dunlop made for us, the pit work strategy of the team and the good set-up of the car that gave us this first win in four years that I am so happy about.”
Veterans Hirate and Oliveira finished a season-best second place in the #56 Realize GT-R, a major result for Hirate’s solo bid for his first GT300 Drivers’ Championship. He closed to within 4.5 points of Naoya Gamou and Togo Suganami, who recovered to finish 11th in the #65 LEON AMG.
In their debut season, seven x seven Racing finally broke through for its maiden GT300 podium: The #666 Porsche 911 GT3 R of Tsubasa Kondo and Harry King went from ninth on the grid to finish third. This was Porsche’s first GT300 podium since 2018.
Kataoka and Nobuteru Taniguchi kept pace in the GT300 title race by finishing fourth in their #4 Hatsune Miku AMG, and the #11 Gainer Tanax Nissan Fairlady Z (Ryuichiro Tomita/Kazuki Oki) rounded out the top five.
Despite the earlier contact, the #52 Green Brave GR Supra (Hiroki Yoshida/Seita Nonaka) came home sixth, followed by the #18 UPGarage AMG (Takashi Kobayashi/Yuto Nomura) in seventh, as Nomura returned to the site where he clinched this year’s Super Formula Lights title.
The polesitting #7 CarGuy Ferrari of O’Sullivan and Rikuto Kobayashi was eighth at the end, followed by the resurgent #5 Mach Syaken/Air Buster MC86 (Yusuke Shiotsu/Iori Kimura) in ninth and the #62 HELM Motorsports GT-R (Yuya Hiraki/Reiji Hiraki) in tenth.
Behind the #65 LEON Pyramid AMG, the #6 Uni-Robo Ferrari, #30 apr GR86, #360 RunUp Rival GT-R, and #0 Venteny Huracán completed the top 15.
It wasn’t always easy watching, but yet again, Sugo delivered another race that could be described as Absolute Cinema – by far, the best race of the year. Up next, on 19 October, is the penultimate round of the 2025 Autobacs SUPER GT Series: The Autopolis GT 3 Hour Race, the second long-distance round and the last hurdle to clear before the championships are decided in Mobility Resort Motegi this November.
Images © GTA
