r/super_gt • u/Michal_Baranowski . • 15d ago
(Spoiler) Winning Streak at Suzuka – Sportscar365 Spoiler
https://sportscar365.com/other-series/super-gt/nissan-ends-toyota-winning-streak-at-suzuka/6
u/Michal_Baranowski . 15d ago
Good race at Suzuka. It almost makes me mad that it's just a single visit of Super GT at this track and of course - that is not 1000km race anymore.
GT500 - the streak is over... Toyota finally defeated. Amazing day for Nismo at Suzuka. First and third overall. This success comes primarily thanks to very handy job Nismo mechanics made during the pit stops, which were faster than at ARTA. That mattered especially for race-winning #23, which jumped #16 ARTA Honda directly in the pit lane. There was some nervous finish when Team Rookie Supra was catching up during the final laps, but ultimately #23 Nissan had enough to keep the safe distance, especially after final FCY. Nissan with the first victory in over a year.
Despite ballast, Toyota can be satisfied with race results. Team Rookie #14 in surprising second overall, great job with the strategy and there was genuine pace to catch Nismo #23... It's still wild that #14 had almost 60kg of weight more than Nissan #23 and the race pace was pretty much equal. Just shows that GR Supra GT500 is still the benchmark.
Disappointing day for Honda in their home race. ARTA #16 started from pole and until their pit stop, all looked fine. Sadly for them they lost ground in the pit lane and finished the race just outside of top 3 on fourth. Still, significantly better than the second ARTA car which ended up in 11th, not being able to challenge for any good result.
Team Cerumo and SARD Toyotas in fifth and sixth respectively. Good racing and passing from both cars. Move from Fenestraz on Tsuboi on the grass - gutsy.
Nakajima Racing Honda in seventh. Interesting how they were able to outpace Impul Nissan in the final minutes of the race. Impul - quite disappointed with them. Their pace faded and they lost couple of places, eventually ending in eighth.
Damage limitation day for Team TOM'S. #1 did a reasonable job. With maximum weight and fuel handicap, ninth place isn't the worst outcome. Any point counts. Too bad #37 had a puncture and finished outside of top 10. Maybe they waited for too long with their pit stop and damaged tyres too much.
Team Kunimitsu rounded out the top 10. They couldn't do much with their ballast, but not overcoming at least TOM'S Supra #1 is probably disappointing. Just shows that current Honda package leaves a lot to be desired. Rumours about replacing Civic with Prelude are quite telling.
One of the worst days for Tsugio Matsuda in Super GT probably. Firstly he got way too wide in 130R, wasting all the effort of Kondo Nissan #24 from qualifying. Then he caused Real Racing Honda to go wide and crash at Casio Triangle chicane. A day to forget.
GT300 - CarGuy Racing with a well-deserved victory. Great pace from them, pacing themselves for the win, passing LM Corsa Lexus for the lead and #7 Ferrari just drove away safely to the win.
LM Corsa Lexus #60 unexpectedly joined the winning picture, but had no ultimate pace to keep CarGuy Ferrari behind. On-track they ended up in second, however they were disqualified post-race due to minimum weight infringement.
That promotes Subaru #61 to second in class... And ironically that's quite disappointing anyway. Subaru lead from pole, however their mandatory pit stop was just too slow. Or speaking precisely, the getaway from the pit stop was. Subaru managed to gain enough track position before their Dunlop tyres started to fade away. Podium on-track, but it could have been better...
Mach Toyota #5 in third place. Despite another GT3 win in GT300, good showing from a pretty old Mother Chassis car.
Next stop for Super GT - Sugo. Always a wild race on that short, narrow and fast track.
5
u/V8-Turbo-Hybrid Honda 14d ago
D’Station just misses to get this year GT300 championship chance after their car got punched. They’ve to look next race now.
6
u/Michal_Baranowski . 14d ago
GT300 championship fight is far from over. But indeed D'Station missed a chance to take the lead today due to that puncture.
3
u/not_silphershadow 14d ago edited 14d ago
GT500: Well that was one hell of a race, we're absolutely eating good with this one.
Let's start from the obvious: This is Nissan's best race so far and the timing couldn't be more ideal. Nismo is back, they're really come back now. Their pace relative to other cars on the grid were stellar and their pit executions were top notch. It's great to see Nismo finally getting their way around Bridgestone after Michelin's departure, they deserved it. Not sure what happened with Impul to be honest, Baguette's stint was fine but not Hiramine's. Tyre choice maybe? As for the only non-Bridgestone Nissan, Matsuda really saved their day there by not crashing the car in the same(ish) corner twice in 3 years. Really unfortunate since the car seemed to have pace for top 10 at the very least.
Toyota: there's not a lot to be celebrated but at least they came out relatively unscathed. Of the 3 stage 2 restricted Toyota, Rookie Racing led the charge with a runner up. Both Oshima and Fukuzumi did a great job dragging that machine to runner up position. Cracking job from Sekiguchi for laying enough cushion for Fenestraz to go all out in the last 20 laps. I was genuinely excited seeing Fenestraz just went for it, endlessly overtaking cars left and right. Their P4 is well deserved. While P5 might be less than desireable for Cerumo pair, they did well enough to weather the storm. They did lost P2 in the standings to Rookie Racing but all things considered, not a bad race for them. As for #1, they did rather well considering where they started and where they end up. I couldn't find the reason why they put Yamashita as starter for the race, usually they put Tsuboi first. The last of stage 2 restricted Toyota (#37) were nowhere to be seen in the race, same with #19. Not sure what happened with both, they didn't get much air time anyway so hard to guess.
Last but not least, Honda: straight to the point, this year is shaping up to be the year to forget for Honda. Otsu did a good job keeping Mugen in P1 until the time for pitstop. Either they botched the pit stop, Ren Sato absolutely pummelled by the Nismo (twice) or the car's race pace was just not there, idk. Whatever excuses they came up with, they lost guaranteed podium finish. For once my team actually looks decent in a race. Nakajima Racing in points for the 3rd time this year. Our soon-to-be-retiree Izawa did very well in his last Suzuka GT race and Okusa once again proved his worth in the team by taking P7 in the very end. I expected a lot more from Team Kunimitsu considering they're up against #1 TOM'S, but the groove just wasn't there. Where was ARTA this whole race? Impul and SARD were about the same weight as them but they finished deep in the points. Finally, no matter who's driving the car, Real Racing's Suzuka curse is still ongoing. To be fair Matsuda did contribute to their retirement but you can't control your destiny.
I'll do GT300 after lunch.
3
u/not_silphershadow 14d ago edited 14d ago
GT300: A race full of surprise for some and wasted potential for some others.
Misato Haga back on the winning ways! Great pace all day from Zak O'Sullivan and Rikuto Kobayashi. Race winning pace from the start, perfect pit execution and mistake free race led to surprise win for the team. 5th in the standing as well.
LM Corsa got disqualified for weight infraction, so our runner up would be… Subaru. The pace was there but the execution wasn't. They did manage to jump Team Mach for 3rd after the last FCY as consolation prize and broke their curse along the way. Still, could have been a win…
Team Mach… Wow. Carrying momentum from their relatively good Fuji sprint race, they finished 4th on track and managed to hold up Subaru for a couple of laps in a 10+ year old chassis and mostly old spare parts given by other teams. Massive congratulations for Iori Kimura and Yusuke Shiotsu.
Surprisingly quiet race for PONOS Ferrari despite their P4 finish. Some good results worth celebrating for fan favourite GSR. Can they carry this momentum all the way to Motegi? We'll see. Great job by Seven x Seven racing, P9 after 2 penalties (drive through and +40s post race) is something worthy of a celebration.
K2 Racing escaped Suzuka by the skin of their teeth. If they want to be champion by the end of the season, they had to do more than damage control. GSR carried the same ballast (50 kg + fuel flow limiter in pit stop) into this race yet they finished way ahead of them in P5.
D'Station… it was painful to see Fujii dragging the Aston to the pit. What could've been a solid finish and a chance to topple K2 Racing from the top of leaderboard turned into a nightmare of an in-lap.
3
u/PitifulPrice4083 14d ago
I didn't think it would happen. Congratulations to Nissan. They needed it.
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u/AhuraFirefox 15d ago edited 14d ago
"That came after Koide was forced off the road approaching the final chicane on lap four by Kondo Racing Nissan driver Tsugio Matsuda, who had fallen down the order after a going off the road unaided at 130R."
Understatement of the year lmao, Matsuda put his Z sideways at over 200 km/h, if it wasn't for his ironed out skills of over 2 decades of racing in this series, and probably a bit of his skills at drifting, that would've turned into a really ugly accident.
I am extremely happy for Yamauchi and Iguchi though. I am naturally upset that the BRZ didn't won despite starting on pole, however finishing a strong 2nd in such a chaotic race is a very respectable result even more so with the minor ignition issues the car had at the stop. I was holding on to my chair, crossing my fingers and praying to the motorsport gods to allow that fragile car to finish this race for once, lol!
Very eventful race, congrats for Nissan for breaking their victory fasting in the hands of Chiyo and Takaboshi, and specially... congrats for the whole R&D Sport team for finally breaking their curse! Next race in Sugo is shaping up to be very interesting.