Yusaku Shibata in the championship-leading #24 Max Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 EVO won the pole for SRO Japan Cup Race 1 at Okayama International Circuit, starting later this afternoon.
Meanwhile, the pole for tomorrow’s Race 2 went to the #96 K-tunes Racing Ferrari 296 GT3 Evo, thanks to a last-lap effort from Nirei Fukuzumi to take the top spot in Qualifying.
Qualifying for Race 1 saw Shibata, the six-time national gymkhana champ and second-generation circuit racer, win the pole with a 1:29.603 in the orange and blue #24 Mercedes-AMG. It’s his first pole of the season.
Just over three-tenths behind was Yorikatsu Tsujiko in his #45 PONOS Racing Ferrari, lining up on the outside of the front row.
Mineki Okura qualified third in the #19 Spirit of FFF Racing Lamborghini, then Akihiro Tsuzuki in the #1 Hitotsuyama with Cornes Racing Ferrari, Tadao Uematsu in the #88 Miracolo Tokyo McLaren 720S GT3, and Yusaku Maezawa in his #555 Maezawa Racing Ferrari rounded out the top six.
A dramatic conclusion to Qualifying 2 saw Fukuzumi – a Toyota ace most days, now wearing the Prancing Horse label this weekend – and the #96 K-tunes Ferrari rip the pole away from Naoki Yokomizo in the #555 Maezawa Ferrari. Fukuzumi’s time was a 1:28.220, besting Yokomizo’s 1:28.394 by less than two-tenths.
Ukyo Sasahara put the #9 Bingo Racing with LM corsa Porsche 911 GT3 R third on the grid for Sunday’s race, followed by Taku Bamba in the #181 Norik Racing Ferrari in fourth, Kenta Yamashita in the #88 Miracolo McLaren in fifth, and Shintaro Kawabata in the #1 Hitotsuyama Ferrari in sixth.
Shibata’s co-driver Yuya Motojima slid to seventh at the end of Q2, while Hiroshi Hamaguchi was eighth in the #19 Spirit of FFF Lamborghini, the best of the GT3 Am cars.
The #82 Zenko RS Garage with Sunrise Blvd Porsche 718 GT4 RS Clubsport of Yoshitomo Makino and Takeshi Suehiro took pole position in GT4 for both races, with Makino starting ahead of the two other GT4 cars this afternoon.
Japan Cup Race 2 goes green this afternoon at 4:05 PM JST, to conclude Saturday’s track action at Okayama.
Images © SRO Motorsports Group
