The #9 Bingo Racing Ferrari 296 GT3 of Shinji Takei and Ukyo Sasahara left SRO Japan Cup’s double-header at Okayama with the GT3 championship lead. Takei and Sasahara won Race 1 from eighth on the grid, then finished third in Race 2 – as the #45 PONOS Racing Ferrari of Yorikatsu Tsujiko and Kei Cozzolino won for the first time this season.
Polesitter Hiroyuki ‘Bankcy’ Ogawa in the #666 seven x seven Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R led the first half of Race 1 on Saturday. Just before the mid-race pit window opened, Yusaku Maezawa spun and crashed his #555 Ferrari exiting the Hairpin Corner to bring out a lengthy Safety Car period.
Teams made their pit stops behind the Safety Car, and after taking over the car from Takei, Sasahara would restart fifth once the green flag waved with just over 20 minutes to go, and he quickly moved through the field.
Just as Sasahara overtook the #18 Team UPGarage with ACR Ferrari of Takashi Kobayashi for second place, the #666 Porsche was hit with a drive-through penalty for overtaking under a Full Course Yellow. This handed the lead to Sasahara, who drove on to make Bingo Racing the first repeat winners of the 2025 season, winning Race 1 by over 11 seconds.
In an all-Ferrari top four, the #18 of Kobayashi and Atsushi Akita finished second, with the #98 K-tunes Racing Ferrari (Daisuke Yamawaki/Shinichi Takagi) in third, and a solid debut performance from the #181 Norik Racing entry (Norikazu Suzuki/Taku Bamba) in fourth.
K-tunes’ #96 Lexus RC F GT3 (Kazunori Suenaga/Nirei Fukuzumi) finished fifth, while the #666 Porsche of Bankcy and Taichi Watarai dropped to sixth after its penalty.
Similarly, the #296 Hitotsuyama with Cornes Racing Ferrari (Akihiro Tsuzuki/Shintaro Kawabata) had to serve a late penalty and dropped to seventh after Kawabata spun the #24 Max Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 EVO of Yuya Motojima during a battle for third.
Sasahara would start Race 2 on pole position, but on the first lap, it was Cozzolino who got the hole shot, determined to make up for mechanical problems which ruined his race the day before.
But after Cozzolino ran wide at Williams Corner, Sasahara used the momentum to retake the lead up the inside of Attwood Curve. He remained there until the end of the pit window.
The #9 Bingo Ferrari had to serve a 15-second Success Penalty in the pits, thus handing the lead back to the #45 PONOS Ferrari of Tsujiko. Bankcy moved up to second, while Takei dropped to third.
They finished in that order as Tsujiko held off the yellow and black Porsche behind him to take PONOS Racing’s first win of the year by 2.062s over the #666 Porsche.
However, Tsujiko and Cozzolino declined to take part in the podium ceremonies in protest of what the team described as “a fundamental lapse in fairness, rule application, and operational consistency in race management” over the course of the weekend.
They were forced to start Race 1 from the pit lane due to a mechanical problem, went to the garage briefly, then attempted to rejoin only to be told by SRO Technical Scrutineers that they were not allowed to re-enter the race. Though the scrutineers acknowledged their mistake, PONOS Racing felt that no sufficient corrective measures were taken by the SRO, leading to the protest.
In a statement, the team commented: “PONOS Racing remains fully committed to competing with professionalism and honesty. We sincerely hope that these issues will be addressed to ensure reliable and fair race operations moving forward. As both a team and a company, we reaffirm our determination to contribute to the growth and sustainability of motorsport, while continuing to deliver passion and excitement to our fans.”
The #9 Bingo Ferrari finished third, followed by the Max Racing Mercedes-AMG of Motojima and Yudai Uchida.
Tsuzuki and Kawabata, who entered the weekend as the championship leaders, finished fifth ahead of the #18 UPGarage Ferrari. They now trail Takei/Sasahara by four points in the Japan Cup GT3 Drivers’ Championship going into the final races of the season at Suzuka Circuit on 13/14 September.
Bankcy is now only six points behind, and with 50 points available, even Tsujiko/Cozzolino (-32), Uchida/Motojima (-34), and Akita/Kobayashi (-42) still have a mathematical chance to win the title.
Team Macchina clinched its second consecutive GT3 Am Cup title after the duo of Tadao Uematsu and Hirokazu Suzuki finished eighth in Race 1 and seventh in Race 2, giving them class victories in both races over the #81 Team Daishin with GTNET Nissan GT-R NISMO GT3 (Noboyuki and Ryuichiro Ōyagi).
Uematsu won the GT3 Am Cup as a solo driver last year, behind the wheel of a McLaren 720S GT3 EVO. His team brought in Suzuki, who boasts experience in Super Taikyu, drifting, and time attack competition, this year along with the switch to Ferrari.
Toyota Gazoo Racing Indonesia’s Haridarma Manoppo and Seita Nonaka clinched the GT4 Championship with two wins in two races, ahead of the Porsches from Sunrise Blvd (Yoshitomo Makino/Daiki Fujiwara) and GT4 newcomers Murakami Motors (Hiroyuki Murakami/Soichiro Yoshida).
Manoppo and TGR-DC prospect Nonaka have won all six races this year in a truncated GT4 field compared to last year’s. Likewise, Bingo Racing’s Tiger Wu (#888 Porsche 992 Cup) clinched the GTC class title as the only entry this weekend at Okayama.
Images © SRO Motorsports Group
