Kenta Yamashita and Kakunoshin Ohta Scratched From Okayama Test

TGR Team Eneos ROOKIE driver Kenta Yamashita and Modulo Nakajima Racing (Honda) driver Kakunoshin Ohta will not take part in this week’s official SUPER GT pre-season test at Okayama International Circuit.

Both drivers have been scratched from the latest official entry list that was published by the GT Association (GTA) today.

Yamashita, the 2019 GT500 Drivers’ Champion, has not driven since he was involved in a high-speed shunt during a manufacturer test at Suzuka Circuit on 24 January.

While driving his #14 Eneos X Prime Toyota GR Supra, Yamashita left the course at the high-speed 130R corner and crashed head-on into the barriers with enough force to turn the car on its side.

Big shunt for the Rookie Racing Supra in the morning session. Driver OK according to the original tweet. #supergt https://t.co/coNDKJ68Ci

— plribault (@plribault) January 24, 2023

Yamashita was able to walk away from the impact but he was brought to hospital later that day for further evaluation. It appeared that he had escaped serious injury when it was announced that he’d been discharged from the hospital the following day. But in fact, the 27-year-old driver revealed in an interview with auto sport Web today that he had suffered a compression fracture in his vertebrae.

The back injury left him bedridden for a month before he began a rehabilitation programme, and understandably he has not been able to resume any racing activities. He returned to Suzuka this weekend, watching from inside the garages.

Yamashita hopes to return to racing in time for the Super Taikyu Series opening round at Suzuka in two weeks’ time – but it’s not a guarantee that he’ll be driving ROOKIE Racing’s #28 Toyota GR86 CNF Concept in the Super Taikyu curtain raiser.

Kazuya Oshima, the 2019 co-champion alongside Yamashita, will be ROOKIE Racing’s only driver for the SUPER GT test at Okayama this weekend on 11-12 March – and Ukyo Sasahara took his place for the Super Formula pre-season test at Suzuka this week.

On 3 March, the second day of a final two-day GT500 manufacturer test, Ohta – who is due to make his GT500 class debut this season with Nakajima Racing – suffered a similar accident at the exact same corner of the same track.

130R入り口で右リアタイヤバースト、スピン状態のままタイヤバリアに….
マシンはフロントもリアも足回りも全部壊れてほぼ全損。

太田選手は自ら歩いて救急車に。無事で良かった。。。

長文失礼しました。#SUPERGT pic.twitter.com/oU8V4wUxAP

— にゃんく (@nyanc_R35) March 3, 2023

The wreckage looked spectacular – unsurprising after the car reportedly ended up on its roof. But thankfully, the 23-year-old premier class rookie walked away from his accident, was brought to the circuit medical centre, then to a nearby hospital for further evaluations.

He was discharged from the hospital the following day and in fact, returned to the track for the Suzuka Circuit Fan Thanks Day festivities. But like Yamashita, Ohta came back as an observer. The #64 Modulo Honda NSX-GT suffered severe damage that couldn’t be fixed in time for the Fan Thanks Day events.

As a precaution, Ohta has been removed from the entry list, and Takuya Izawa will be the sole driver of the #64 Modulo NSX-GT during the Okayama test – assuming that a repaired or replacement chassis is ready in time. Ohta has also been scratched from the Super Formula pre-season test – ironically, replaced by Hiroki Otsu, who lost his seat in that series to Ohta this off-season.

There have been some changes to the GT300 entry list as well. Gentleman driver Hiroaki Nagai will not drive the #30 apr Toyota GR86 GT at the upcoming Okayama test. He’s been replaced by his long-time GT World Challenge Asia and Super Taikyu co-driver Yuta Kamimura, who will test alongside two-time GT300 champion Manabu Orido and three-time Porsche Carrera Cup champion Ryo Ogawa.

Kamimura and Ogawa were signed to share third driver duties for this season’s five long-distance rounds, with Nagai and Orido once again returning to run the full season.

Shintaro Kawabata, the third driver for the reorganised Pacific Racing Team, is also a late scratch from the test at Okayama. Ryohei Sakaguchi and Liang Jiatong will drive their #9 Mercedes-AMG GT3.

Images © Toyota, Japan Race Promotion (JRP)