Keihin Real Racing Wins Second Round of the 2020 Super GT Series At Fuji
From breaking down at the side of the road in the first race of the season, to a commanding victory after a gripping first-half duel for the lead. The #17 Keihin Honda NSX-GT of Koudai Tsukakoshi and Bertrand Baguette won the second round of the 2020 Autobacs Super GT Series at Fuji Speedway, in a dominant showing from the new front-engined Honda.
Sunday’s Takanoko Hotel Fuji GT 300km Race – not to be confused with the Takanoko Hotel Fuji GT 300km Race from three weeks ago – saw Honda and Nissan begin to fight back after Toyota swept the top five positions in GT500. Conditions were good, no rain all weekend, cloudy skies, and temperatures around 29-30°C at the start of the 66-lap main race.
Off the start, it was the #8 ARTA NSX-GT of Nirei Fukuzumi that led the field away from pole position, with Baguette in 2nd in the #17 Keihin NSX. The Honda teams had selected different tyre compounds for today’s race, and unlike Round 1, where the pace of the Hondas began to fall off after a handful of laps, this time the leading Hondas were able to sustain their advantage, and began pulling away from the field by a decent margin. Within 7 laps, the ARTA and Keihin NSXes were already 5-6 seconds clear of the third-placed #12 Calsonic Impul Nissan GT-R of Kazuki Hiramine in 3rd.
The GT500 rookie Fukuzumi led the first 14 laps, but the veteran Baguette was staying within a second of the ARTA NSX the whole way as the leaders began to fight their way through GT300 traffic. At the start of Lap 15, Baguette tucked into the slipstream, got a great run out of TGR Corner, and took the lead around the outside at Coca-Cola Corner, with Fukuzumi yielding into 2nd.
Baguette had the pace to start pulling away in front. By Lap 30, the Belgian had extended his lead to five seconds. The pit window was now open, and at the end of Lap 30, the Keihin NSX pitted, taking on fuel, four new Bridgestone tyres, and a new driver in Koudai Tsukakoshi. The ARTA NSX stayed out for a few more laps, trying to overcut their Honda stablemates. After 35 laps, Fukuzumi came in, with Tomoki Nojiri climbing aboard the orange ARTA NSX. And here is where the race took on a much different dynamic.
When Nojiri came out of the pits, he was several seconds in front of Tsukakoshi – but while Tsukakoshi had several laps to get his Bridgestone tyres up to temperature, Nojiri was driving on cold tyres. And that proved to be fateful: By the approach to Dunlop Corner, Tsukakoshi had closed right in on the back of Nojiri, who was still trying to get heat into the tyres – and coming out of the slow chicane, Nojiri lost the rear of his ARTA NSX, spinning off and beaching himself on a strip of grass. The First Rescue Operation (FRO) vehicle arrived to get Nojiri going again, but having lost a lap, their race was effectively over. After making a second pit stop, the ARTA NSX of Nojiri and Fukuzumi ended up 3 laps down in 14th.
It was an anti-climactic result to a tantalizing lead fight, with Tsukakoshi now in front of the field by over 20 seconds as the laps began to tick down. In the end, Tsukakoshi would take the chequered flag for Keihin Real Racing by a final margin of 15.762 seconds, giving Honda their first GT500 win with the front-engined NSX-GT, and their first in GT500 since the rain-shortened Okayama round in April 2019. Ironically, that was a race that Tsukakoshi, Baguette, and the Keihin NSX were leading at the time of the final red flag, before being penalized for avoidable contact with the Raybrig NSX-GT of Naoki Yamamoto and Jenson Button.
Tsukakoshi and Baguette combined to lead 47 out of 66 laps, with Tsukakoshi leading the last 31 laps in succession en route to the victory, giving Real Racing just their third GT500 class victory since joining the series in 2007, and their first since the 2018 season-opener at Okayama.
After the race, Baguette remarked on his opening stint. “From the start the condition of the car was very good. The battle for the lead with the #8 NSX wasn’t easy, but I was able to pass it and go on to build a lead because the car was performing so well. After that, Tsukakoshi-san used that lead well and took us to the win. This is the first win for the NSX-GT since changing to the front engine format, and I am happy for that.”
This is Baguette’s second GT500 class victory, his first since winning the 2017 Suzuka 1000km for Nakajima Racing. And it’s a victory he may almost never have taken part in. Baguette was one of the lucky few non-Japanese drivers that were able to race so far this season – but the only one that was able to enter Japan from abroad on humanitarian grounds, and that blessing was only granted with two weeks before the start of the 2020 season. “Since coming to Japan, my family in Belgium has been worried about me as I have been worried about them in these difficult times. But my motivation is high, and it is wonderful that we have been able to show that we can win,” he added.
“I have never had a race like this where I didn’t feel like I had beaten anyone,” said Tsukakoshi, who takes his third career win (all of which have been with Real Racing). Even after taking a nearly unassailable lead, the veteran Japanese driver had to fight through problems of his own early on: “I was just involved in a constant discourse with the car as I drove. In the first half Baguette was very fast and built up a big lead for us, but when I started driving, I was having trouble and I was worried that if things went on like this, I might lose our lead.”
“But, during the second half of my stint the car’s performance got better, things became easier for me and I was able to keep my lead to the finish. I want to say thanks to our team manager [Katsutomo] Kaneishi-san, to Baguette, to Keihin, to Honda and all the people who have supported us,” Tsukakoshi added.
Finishing in second place for the second straight weekend is the #36 au TOM’s Toyota GR Supra of Yuhi Sekiguchi and Sacha Fenestraz. Fenestraz had some fun battles early in the race – including one with his former GT300 co-driver Hiramine in the Calsonic GT-R – and the Franco-Argentine driver eventually powered his way through into 3rd place. Upon the demise of the ARTA NSX, Sekiguchi inherited 2nd place, and drove a fairly lonely race as he finished more than 17 seconds ahead of the next car.
Completing the podium was the #14 Wako’s 4CR GR Supra of Kazuya Oshima and Sho Tsuboi in third place, giving TGR Team Wako’s Rookie two consecutive 3rd-place finishes to open their maiden GT500 campaign. Tsuboi was battling the Calsonic GT-R, now driven by Daiki Sasaki, during the second half of the race – and made a brave lunge up the inside at Dunlop Corner to take the position on Lap 42.
That move by Tsuboi also opened the door for Ryo Hirakawa to take 4th in the #37 KeePer TOM’s GR Supra with a brilliant opportunistic pass. Hirakawa took the baton from a hard-charging Nick Cassidy, who started tenth, but had clawed his way through the pack into 6th place by the time he pitted and was relieved by Hirakawa. With 42 kilogrammes of Success Ballast on board, the KeePer TOM’s Supra followed up its dominant Round 1 victory with a 4th place finish.
With back-to-back 2nd places, Sekiguchi and Fenestraz now lead the GT500 Standings by just a single point over their TOM’s Racing stablemates Hirakawa and Cassidy, 30 points to 29. Oshima and Tsuboi are 3rd, 8 points out of the lead, and with their win today, Tsukakoshi and Baguette jump up to 4th place in the table, 10 points out of the lead.
The #100 Raybrig NSX of Naoki Yamamoto and Tadasuke Makino finished 5th, after overtaking Sasaki in the Calsonic GT-R with three laps left. The Calsonic GT-R was sixth on the road, but after the race, Team Impul were given a 40 second penalty for avoidable contact with the GT300 class #11 Gainer TanaX Nissan GT-R GT3, demoting Sasaki and Hiramine down into 11th place in the final results – a demoralising outcome for Nissan, who were hopeful of a turnaround in Round 2.
With the Calsonic GT-R’s penalty, the #39 Denso Kobelco SARD GR Supra (Yuichi Nakayama/Sena Sakaguchi) moves up to 6th, Sakaguchi making a fine account of himself in his GT500 debut replacing Kenta Yamashita and Heikki Kovalainen. The #38 ZENT GR Supra (Yuichi Nakayama/Hiroaki Ishiura) was a close 7th, finishing just two-tenths ahead of the #3 CraftSports Motul GT-R (Kohei Hirate/Katsumasa Chiyo), the highest-ranked Nissan in 8th. The #23 Motul Autech GT-R (Tsugio Matsuda/Ronnie Quintarelli) followed in 9th, and the #16 Red Bull Motul Mugen NSX-GT (Hideki Mutoh/Ukyo Sasahara) completed the top ten finishers in the GT500 class.
All 15 GT500 cars were classified, with only the #19 WedsSport Advan GR Supra (Yuji Kunimoto/Ritomo Miyata) failing to finish due to a drivetrain failure after 46 laps.
In the GT300 class, it had been 10 years and 15 days since Cars Tokai Dream28 had won a Super GT race. But thanks to a brilliantly executed pit stop and superb driving from veterans Hiroki Katoh and Masataka Yanagida, the #2 Syntium Apple Lotus Evora MC was finally able to claim a long-awaited first victory in Super GT, and end a 10-year winless drought for one of Super GT’s oldest, most respected privateer teams.
Katoh started from 3rd place, behind polesitter Ryohei Sakaguchi in the #6 Advics muta Toyota MC86. Hideki Yamauchi in the #61 Subaru BRZ R&D Sport started from 4th, but was up to 2nd in just two laps, and after chasing down journeyman Sakaguchi in the black and gold MC86, took the lead on Lap 9. Katoh then moved past Sakaguchi into P2, and then closed in on Yamauchi for the race lead.
This was, of course, the first race where all GT300 teams would be required to change all four tyres on their pit stop to comply with the regulations. Many had feared it would be a detriment to the JAF-GT300 and Mother Chassis cars, but early on, it was a JAF-GT300/MC 1-2-3. The Advics MC86 pitted on Lap 20, with Sakaguchi giving way to young Kazuto Kotaka. Six laps later, the Subaru BRZ pitted, and Takuto Iguchi took over on a fresh set of Dunlop tyres. It took the R&D Sport crew 36 minutes to refuel, change drivers, and change all four tyres. Meanwhile, the Syntium Lotus stayed out just a few more laps, cycling its way into the lead.
On Lap 30, Katoh came in for his stop, and was relieved by Masataka Yanagida. The Cars Tokai Dream28 crew refuelled, changed tyres and drivers. But along with excellent pit work, it was a blistering out lap from Yanagida that helped him consolidate a lead of over 3 seconds ahead of Iguchi in the Subaru BRZ.
Yanagida, a two-time GT500 and two-time GT300 Champion, held a steady margin of up to 5 seconds over Iguchi in the Subaru BRZ. And even as Iguchi began to close in during the final laps, the blue Subaru just didn’t have enough to catch the white and teal Syntium Lotus, which took the chequered flag and the GT300 class victory – completing 61 laps, and leading 33 of them, en route to a very popular, and long-awaited victory.
It was back on 25 July 2010, when Katoh and Hiroshi Hamaguchi captured Cars Tokai Dream28’s last win until today at Sugo, driving the Daytona Prototype-derived Mooncraft Shi’den MC/16. Since being introduced in 2015, the 4.5 litre V8-powered Evora MC – also designed by Mooncraft Engineering – had just one previous points-paying finish, a 7th place in the 2015 Suzuka 1000km.
Nobody was more relieved than 52-year-old Hiroki Katoh, who ends a 75-race winless drought in championship rounds. “It has been a long ten years. I can’t even remember those days,” said Katoh with a laugh. “No, that is a lie. I am so happy that we have this race. When we chose to delay our pit stop, I didn’t know it the tire performance would hold out, so I couldn’t push too hard and that is why car No. 61 got in front of me. But since the tires were holding out and I was running fast, I was able to finish my stint and hand over the car to Yanagida-san in a favorable position, and I think that is why we won.”
It’s also been a long road for Yanagida, who’s not driven full-time in Super GT since being dropped by Audi Team Hitotsuyama after a frustrating 2017 season – which came off the back of being released by Nissan as a works GT500 driver at the end of 2016.
“I am really so happy. It has been so hard for us to win in GT300 and since we were able to win in the second round of the season, my first full season entry in a while, I want to thank the team staff and Katoh-san and the people at Yokohama Tire,” said Yanagida, who picked up their fourth victory in the GT300 class – his first since Motegi 2010. “I think that with this victory I have been able to repay some of the debt I owe to Katoh-san and our team owner [Kazuho] Takahashi-san for choosing me to drive this season.”
And it’d be hard not to think of Kazuho Takahashi, the owner and founder of Cars Tokai Dream28, who continued to drive for his team well into his mid-60s, even as the landscape of GT300 shifted from Pro-Am to All-Pro, until he retired as the series’ most experienced true gentleman driver at the end of 2019. By taking a step back from driving, Takahashi’s team was able to field its first true All-Pro driver lineup of Katoh and Yanagida, and they were finally able to realize the Evora MC’s full potential from lights to flag.
Three weeks after a catastrophic technical failure, the #61 Subaru BRZ of Iguchi and Yamauchi rebounded with a strong 2nd-place finish, 12 seconds ahead of the third-placed car. It’s their best finish since winning at Sugo in 2018. Last year, the BRZ managed just a single podium finish for the season.
The #55 ARTA Honda NSX GT3 of Shinichi Takagi and Toshiki Oyu and the #65 LEON Pyramid Mercedes-AMG GT3 of Naoya Gamou and Togo Suganami battled for position throughout most of the race. After dropping back to 4th from 2nd on the grid, defending GT300 Champion Takagi was overtaken by rookie Suganami for position on Lap 15. But in the second stint, the roles reversed, and rookie Oyu overtook 2018 champion Gamou for what became the final podium position.
In the end, the margin between the ARTA NSX of Takagi & Oyu in 3rd and the LEON AMG of Gamou & Suganami in 4th was just 1.275 seconds, with the LEON AMG claiming its second straight top-5 finish to open the season. Also claiming its second top-5 to open the season was the #56 Realize Nissan Gakuen GT-R GT3 of Kiyoto Fujinami and João Paulo de Oliveira in 5th.
It was a great day for the Round 1 winners, the #52 Saitama Toyopet GreenBrave Toyota GR Supra of Hiroki Yoshida and Kohta Kawaai, which came into the weekend carrying a whopping 60 kilos of Success Ballast, fought its way through 10th on the grid, and came home in 6th place. That was a great result in context of the championship, as Yoshida and Kawaai were able to hold onto the points lead by 5 points over Katoh and Yanagida in 2nd.
The #34 Modulo Kenwood NSX GT3 (Ryo Michigami/Jake Parsons) picked up another top ten finish in 7th, and after starting 15th, the #21 Hitotsuyama Audi R8 LMS (Shintaro Kawabata/Tsubasa Kondo) made its way through the field to finish 8th.
The great mystery of the race was the diminishing pace of the #6 Advics MC86 in the second half of the race. Sakaguchi and Kotaka ended up 9th – Kotaka was suffering with a loss of air conditioning and access to his drink bottle, and the physical strife caused Kotaka’s pace to drop nearly four seconds a lap from the start of his stint. The #11 Gainer GT-R of Katsuyuki Hiranaka and Hironobu Yasuda was running 10th in class, before being tagged by the #12 Calsonic GT-R and spinning down to a 21st-place finish. The other Gainer car, the #10 TanaX Itochu Enex with Impul GT-R (Kazuki Hoshino/Keishi Ishikawa), would come away with the final points-paying position in 10th.
It was a wretched day for the #4 Goodsmile Hatsune Miku AMG (Nobuteru Taniguchi/Tatsuya Kataoka), which had to make two emergency stops due to tyre issues, and finished 27th. There were only two retirements: The #35 arto RC F GT3 (Masahiro Sasaki/Yuui Tsutsumi) made it just 35 laps into its return to Super GT action, before breaking down after 35 laps.
Then there’s the bizarre, bordering on farcical saga of the #33 EVA RT Test Type-01 X Works R8. Shaun Thong retired after 28 laps with a right-rear suspension failure. But on Saturday during practice, co-driver Hiroyuki Matsumura was ruled out of driving on Sunday after failing to pass his rookie/re-orientation test. It was a disappointing end to the start of Matsumura’s return to racing after more than a decade mostly on the sidelines – and it meant that X Works Racing were intending to start the race, run 44 laps with Thong, then retire after completing the maximum 2/3rds’ distance for a single driver.
After opening the 2020 season with two races at Fuji, the Autobacs Super GT Series is set to travel to legendary Suzuka Circuit for the third round, on 23 August.
Images courtesy of the GT Association