Following Thursday afternoon’s private tests, a group photo was taken for all of the Japanese teams and drivers competing across both series in this weekend’s “GT PowerTour” event at Okayama International Circuit.
Joining the 15 SRO Japan Cup teams were Team 5Zigen’s Nissan, Porsche centre Okazaki’s 911, BMW M Team Studie’s M4, LM Corsa’s Ferrari – now in a yellow livery – and Garage 75’s Ferrari, now with an all-Japanese line-up this weekend.
Caldarelli returns to Okayama
Hot off the heels of back-to-back IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship race victories at Road America and VIRginia International Raceway, DSC was rather surprised to see Lamborghini Squadra Corse factory driver Andrea Caldarelli here at Okayama this weekend.
The Italian driver is here to coach and support The Spirit of FFF Racing Team in the Japan Cup, with drivers Hiroshi Hamaguchi and Mineki Okura running the #19 Lamborghini Huracán GT3 EVO2.
Fans will recall that Caldarelli helped establish the original FFF Racing Team in 2014, as a joint venture between himself and FFF Automotive Chairman Fu Songyang. In 2019, Caldarelli and FFF made history when he and co-driver Marco Mapelli became the first “SRO Triple Crown” champions, winning the GT World Challenge Europe Overall, Endurance Cup, and Sprint Cup Pro championships in the same year.
The original FFF Racing Team folded in early 2023, but its name lives on through its successor team, which was established by Hamaguchi in 2023, in partnership with B-Max Engineering.
“It’s not my favourite circuit to drive in Japan,” Caldarelli admitted, “but I have to say that since I won here in SUPER GT in back-to-back years, it’s a track that’s been very good to me.” He won the opening rounds of the 2014 and 2015 SUPER GT Series driving for Lexus Team TOM’S, one of the highlights of his six-year run as a Toyota factory GT500 driver.
EBM’s return delayed, D’Silva and Trulli miss Thursday tests
Earl Bamber Motorsport’s #61 Porsche 911 GT3 R did not run in testing and has only arrived Friday morning after shipping delays from EBM’s Malaysian headquarters caused by inclement weather.
Porsche Motorsport Asia Pacific (PMAP) Selected Driver, Enzo Trulli, was here at Okayama though; he’ll share the car this weekend with Adrian D’Silva. D’Silva is also set to drive in the 50th Suzuka 1000km in two weeks.
Both drivers will take to the track for the first time on Friday.
Absolute Racing goes all-denim to honour local heritage
On Monday, Absolute Racing announced yet another special livery for the #911 Porsche 911 GT3 R of co-championship leaders Huang Ruohan and Alessandro Ghiretti.
This Jeans-themed Porsche (or “Jorsche”) is officially known as the “Red-Ear Racer” and it’s an all-denim liveried car which pays homage to Okayama’s denim manufacturing industry. The Kojima district of Kurashiki city is considered the sacred heart of the scene, and Kojima Jeans Street has become a popular tourist destination for avid blue jean aficionados.
Believe it or not this isn’t the first encounter that DSC has had with an all-denim liveried race car.
The aforementioned Adrian D’Silva was meant to drive this Evisu Jeans-sponsored TF Sport Aston Martin in the 2023 Asian Le Mans Series, along with David Pun and Ross Gunn. However, a testing accident before the first competitive session in Dubai effectively ended their season before this car could ever run.
But after a clean Thursday test, Huang and Ghiretti have so far avoided the same fate as the “Jaston Martin” suffered in Dubai three years ago.
Testing recap: 5Zigen Nissan quickest on Thursday
In GT World Challenge Asia, the #500 Team 5Zigen Nissan GT-R NISMO GT3 recorded the fastest time across the two paid test sessions. The time was a 1:29.133 set by Nissan factory driver and SRO GT Academy points leader, Atsushi Miyake.
James Yu Kuai wasn’t too far off in the #16 FAW Audi Sport Asia Team Phantom R8, posting a 1:29.187 to go second. Ayhancan Güven was third in the #37 Phantom Global Racing Porsche; Güven stands in this weekend for Dorian Boccolacci with the Frenchman racing in GT World Challenge Europe this weekend.
The #29 Absolute Racing Lamborghini (Akash Nandy) and #60 LM Corsa Ferrari (Ryo Ogawa), and the #911 Absolute Racing Porsche (Ghiretti) rounded out the top six. Only Porsche centre Okazaki’s #18 car failed to turn a lap in the second paid test session, while the other 22 cars each set their fastest laps of the day.
Sandy Stuvik led the morning test session in the #29 Absolute Racing Lamborghini with a 1:29.552, just under two-tenths ahead of Neil Verhagen in the #89 Team KRC BMW M4 GT3 EVO in second, followed by Ogawa in third, the #96 Harmony Racing Ferrari 296 GT3 of Chen Weian in fourth, and Miyake.
Second PONOS Ferrari paces Japan Cup testing
On the combined test results for Japan Cup, the #54 PONOS Racing Ferrari 296 GT3 EVO set the fastest time. This car, driven during the tests by Tadasuke Makino and Takuro Shinohara, will not race this weekend – but it is serving as an important test for PONOS Racing’s bid to win the Suzuka 1000km.
Scratch off the 1:29.242 set by Makino and the fastest time set by a “regular” Japan Cup competitor was a 1:29.358 from the #19 Spirit of FFF Lamborghini set in the morning test. The time was credited to Hiroshi Hamaguchi, though driving coach Andrea Caldarelli is believed to have turned laps in the car.
Behind the #19 Lamborghini, Yuya Motojima in the #24 Max Racing Mercedes-AMG and Shinichi Takagi in the #97 K-tunes Racing Ferrari rounded out the top three in the first paid test session. In session two, it was Naoki Yokomizo in the #555 Maezawa Racing Ferrari that went second, followed by the #1 Hitotsuyama with Cornes Racing Ferrari of Shintaro Kawabata, as the 296 GT3s locked out the top three.
Images © SRO Motorsports Group, dailysportscar.com
