The #16 Porsche Centre Okazaki 911 GT3-R of Hiroaki Nagai, Yuta Kamimura, and Daisuke Ito converted their fifth pole position of the 2022 Super Taikyu Series into their first win of the season, claiming the victory in Sunday’s Group 1 Race at Okayama International Circuit.
The Group 1 Race was the second leg of a double-header weekend at Okayama, featuring the GT3 and GT4 cars from the ST-X and ST-Z classes – in addition to the ST-2 production class, and two cars from the ST-Q category.
23 cars took the green flag at 1:30 PM local time, on a lovely Sunday afternoon in the autumn. Hiroaki Nagai started the race aboard the #16 Porsche, and then conceded the top spot to the #23 TKRI/Matsunaga Construction Mercedes-AMG GT3 of Yuya Motojima on the opening lap. However, the #23 Mercedes was one of three ST-X class cars given a drive-through penalty in the first hour due to a start procedure violation.
But after the first round of pit stops and driver changes, the TKRI Mercedes was back in front, ahead of the dayglow red #16 Porsche in second. Motojima and Yuhki Nakayama had driven a commanding race, and with less than an hour to go, they handed their car off to gentleman racer Daisuke Matsunaga with less than an hour to go.
Matsunaga was leading by just under 20 seconds, but Kamimura, now aboard the #16 Porsche, was closing in quickly, lap after lap until the two leaders were tail-to-nose with less than half an hour to run. Matsunaga fought valiantly to keep the young pro driver behind him, but slid wide out of Hobbs Corner, and allowed Kamimura to take the lead with 20 minutes left in the race.
Nagai, Kamimura, and the past SUPER GT GT500 Champion Ito took the chequered flag, completing 113 laps in three hours of racing – as Matsunaga brought the #23 Mercedes home to second place, ten seconds behind the winners.
The #777 D’station Racing Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3 (Satoshi Hoshino/Tomonobu Fujii/Tsubasa Kondo) took the lead during the first hour of the race, but fell back after losing their left-side wing mirror before their first pit stop. The D’station Vantage would finish in third place, less than 40 seconds off the victory.
A two-way championship showdown in the top category has been set for the upcoming season finale at Suzuka Circuit on 27 November. The #888 Grid Motorsport Mercedes-AMG GT3 (Martin Berry/Shaun Thong/Shinichi Takagi/Daisuke Yamawaki) and the #62 HELM Motorsports Nissan GT-R GT3 (Yutaka Toriba/Yuya Hiraki/Reiji Hiraki) were the other two cars that took drive-through penalties for violations at the start of the race. This contributed to them finishing fourth and fifth overall, respectively.
Grid Motorsport leaves with a 2.5 point lead over HELM Motorsports going into the Suzuka finale next month, as the two remaining teams with a realistic chance of winning their first ST-X Championships.
On the other hand, a disappointing day for the #81 Daishin GT-R GT3 (Noboyuki Oyagi/Takayuki Aoki/Kiyoto Fujinami) – their race effectively ended due to a drivetrain issue which cost them over an hour in the garage. The 63 laps they completed weren’t enough to be classified for points, and they would now need to win at Suzuka with both the #888 Mercedes and #62 Nissan retiring from the race.
Finishing in sixth overall was the ST-Q class #3 Endless Sports Mercedes-AMG GT4 (Ryo Ogawa/Shintaro Kawabata/Riki Tanioka), while its class mate, the #244 Max Racing Nissan Z Racing Concept (Toru Tanaka/Atsushi Miyake/Tetsuya Tanaka) finished 11th overall.
In the ST-Z class, the #885 SHADE Racing Toyota GR Supra GT4 of Hiro Hayashi, Katsuyuki Hiranaka, and Eijiro Shimizu took its second victory of the season, while the #500 Team 5Zigen Mercedes-AMG GT4 driven by Ryuichiro Otsuka, Kakunoshin Ohta, and Toshihiro Kaneishi finished fourth in class and clinched the 2022 season championship.
Not even a drive-through penalty given to Hiranaka for speeding in the pits was enough to deter SHADE Racing from taking a pole-to-win victory – he, along with Hayashi and Shimizu, virtually led the race from lights to flag. They finished seventh overall.
The #500 5Zigen Mercedes was running in second as gentleman driver Otsuka boarded for the final stint. But he had trouble keeping the #111 HTP Racing GR Supra (Toshiyuki Matsuda/Yuga Furutani/Yoshiaki Nakamura/Yasutaka Hinoi) and the new-look #310 Hirix/Eiko GR Supra (Manabu Yamazaki/Sho Tsuboi/Seita Nonaka/Shinya Hosokawa) behind. Both Toyotas were able to get past the Mercedes in the last hour, with the #111 Hiroshima Toyopet Racing team finishing second in class, and the #310 CSIRacing team – saved from the brink of collapse thanks to a new sponsorship deal – completing an all-Toyota podium in GT4.
Otsuka brought the 5Zigen Mercedes home to a fourth-place finish in class, which was enough for them to clinch the 2022 ST-Z Championship, the first for Team 5Zigen, and for his co-drivers – the ex-Honda GT500 factory ace Kaneishi, and the future Honda racing prodigy Ohta.
This is the fourth consecutive ST-Z title in Japan for Mercedes-AMG, following the three straight that were won by Endless Sports from 2019-21. And with GTO Racing Team and drivers Brian Lee and Hideto Yasuoka winning the GT4 Asia title earlier this year at Okayama, Mercedes have now won both of Japan’s major GT4 racing championships.
In ST-2, the #225 Kobe Toyopet Motor Sports (KTMS) Toyota GR Yaris of Hibiki Taira, Rin Arakawa, and Jiei Okuzumi drove to its fourth win of the season, finishing 16th overall. Starting from third in its class, Taira would drive into the lead during his closing stint.
The win gives them an 18-point lead in the ST-2 Championship ahead of the #13 Endless Sports GR Yaris (Reimei Ito/Mizuki Ishizaka/Masaya Hanazato/Hitoshi Okada), who finished second in class, seven seconds behind. The pole-winning #6 Shinryo Racing Team Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution X (Tomohiro Tomimasu/Yasushi Kikuchi/Masazumi Ohashi) came home to finish third, after their sister car, the #7 Mitsubishi (Yoshiki Fujii/Mamoru Okada/Kensuke Anzai) suffered a terminal failure 15 laps into the race.
Also, the #743 Honda R&D Challenge Civic Type R (Hiroaki Ishigaki/Junichi Kidachi/Hideki Kakinuma) finished 20th overall and fifth in ST-2. This was the last race for the outgoing FK8 model Civic Type R. Honda R&D Challenge will introduce the latest FL5-generation Civic Type R at the season finale at Suzuka, where drivers Ishigaki, Kidachi, and Kakinuma will be joined by Honda factory driver Hideki Mutoh.
GROUP 1 FINAL RESULTS (sorted by category) >>
Images © Porsche Centre Okazaki, Team 5Zigen
