Okayama Test Day 1: No.16 ARTA Mugen NSX Quickest in Honda 1-2
Under beautiful, sunny skies, the remote and technical Okayama International Circuit opened its doors to thousands of spectators eager to get their first look at the cars and stars of the upcoming 2023 Autobacs SUPER GT Series.
42 teams gathered for the first day of official pre-season testing on Saturday, in preparation for the season-opening round at Okayama International Circuit on 16 April.
Before the start of the morning session, everyone took time to observe a minute of silence on this, the 12th anniversary of the Great East Japan earthquake and tsunami, which claimed the lives of nearly 20,000 people and displaced many more from their homes in the Tohoku region – owing to the Fukushima nuclear disaster that was triggered in its aftermath.
One of Japan’s most profound national tragedies also overlaps another sombre anniversary within the SUPER GT paddock. Today also marks 24 years since Shingo Tachi, the 1998 GT300 Drivers’ Champion, was killed in a testing accident at this very circuit in preparation for his step up to GT500. Every year when the series visits the circuit, GT Association (GTA) Chairman Masaaki Bandoh comes to the first corner to pray, and ask Tachi to look after the drivers.
Saturday’s two-hour test sessions proceeded without any major incidents.
Session 1, which began at 10 A.M. was only interrupted briefly with 35 minutes remaining as the #5 Mach Syaken Air Buster MC86 (Yusuke Tomibayashi/Takamitsu Matsui) came to a stop in the Moss S-curves with an electrical problem. They would not return before the end of Session 1, and their fastest time in Session 2 was the slowest of all 27 GT300 cars.
It was not the start that Team Mach hoped for with their new Dome-built Toyota 86 MC, chassis number M101-0014, that the team purchased in the off-season in order to remain on the grid.
By then, Nirei Fukuzumi in the #16 ARTA Mugen Honda NSX-GT had set the fastest time of the session, a 1’17.827. With the use of carbon-neutral fuel (CNF), Fukuzumi’s best time was over a second behind the official GT500 course record of 1’16.602, set by four-time GT500 champion Ronnie Quintarelli in 2019 using unleaded gasoline supplied at the circuit. However, it was three-tenths quicker than the fastest time set in last year’s tests, with the GT500 cars limited to a lower fuel flow rate than the standard 95 kilogrammes per hour.
But in the first year of implementing carbon-neutral fuel, the lap times relative to established course records mean nothing to the manufacturers and teams. For Honda, Toyota, and Nissan, the goal is simply for their cars to be the most powerful and efficient with the new fuel by the time the season gets underway.
Honda, who’ve led every session of every private GT500 manufacturer test up to this point, certainly look like they’ve gotten the job done on the surface with their five NSX-GTs. Behind the pace setter Fukuzumi, the #100 Stanley NSX-GT of two-time GT500 champion Naoki Yamamoto went second-fastest in Session 1, just 0.036 seconds adrift.
The fastest Toyota GR Supra was the new-look #36 au TOM’s GR Supra of Sho Tsuboi, who went third-fastest with a time of 1’18.007. But, strikingly, the other five Toyotas finished Session 1 at the bottom of the ranking.
Of the four Nissan Z GT500s, the #1 Marelli Impul Z was the quickest. Defending champion Kazuki Hiramine set a time of 1’18.278, good for fifth place behind the #8 ARTA Mugen NSX-GT of Tomoki Nojiri.
After a Full Course Yellow training session and a mid-day break, warmer temperatures greeted the teams in Session 2 which began at 2 P.M. Session 2 also included two ten-minute “class exclusive” runs for GT300 and GT500, where teams went for mock qualifying runs. While nobody improved on their Session 1 times, the ten-minute sprints at the end of Session 2 resembled a typical SUPER GT qualifying session.
Fukuzumi ended Session 2 with the fastest time, 1’18.421, followed by the sister ARTA Mugen NSX of Toshiki Oyu in second. Mitsunori Takaboshi was third-quickest in the #3 Niterra Motul Z for NDDP Racing, while the fastest Toyota, the #39 Denso Kobelco SARD GR Supra of Yuichi Nakayama, was only eighth-fastest in the session.
With Honda leading both sessions on a 1-2, the comments from their Project Leader Masahiro Saeki would come as a great surprise. “We believe that Toyota has made the most progress in responding to CNF. Nissan seems to be fast, too, and Honda is the slowest when you think about it,” grinned Saeki.
His reasoning came from a simple visual inspection of the cars exhaust pipes after two sessions of using a new fuel. “Looking around the exhaust pipe, the Toyota is the cleanest. Nissan is a little dirty, but Honda is the dirtiest!”
In terms of engine development relative to the new fuel, Saeki said, “We do not know where 100 percent is. I still think it will evolve during the season. The same is true for any issue, but when it comes to fuel, for example, the goal is to burn the designated fuel more completely, and to improve the combustion to achieve that goal of making it burn more completely. Because by doing so, you’ll get more power as a result.”
Fukuzumi, who set the fastest time of the day, was similarly reserved over the results. “It is not bad that I was able to mark the best time on the first day of the first official test of the year, but I feel that I am not reaching where I want to be in terms of feeling. But it is true that there is still room for growth,” he said.
“This year, the team has two cars, and we can feel the effects of this. But often the two cars are not exactly the same in terms of setup. Therefore, it is important for me to know how I can bring out the best performance from the car. The reason we decided on a two-car team was because we as a team, including (manager Aguri) Suzuki, came to a consensus that we wanted to win the championship in the last season (of the NSX-GT). So for me, I have to do my best to live up to those expectations.”
Both ARTA Mugen cars were in bare carbon for the Okayama test, but their 2023 liveries will debut in two weeks at Fuji Speedway, according to Suzuki. When asked how the two identically-named cars will be distinguished, Suzuki hinted that the two cars will “evoke the image of day for the #8 car, and night for the #16 car” in an interview with Japanese broadcaster J Sports.
The challenge of adapting to carbon-neutral fuel was also a task that the teams in GT300 have had to adapt to.
The #88 JLOC Lamborghini Huracán GT3 of Takashi Kogure finished with the best time in Session 1, a 1’25.400. This was less than two-tenths behind the time that he set on the first day of last year’s official test, in the exact same car.
Despite the launch of the new Huracán GT3 EVO2 this year, both of JLOC’s cars are still in the ‘EVO1’ configuration for at least this test, and likely for the first portion of the 2023 season.
In Session 1, the #6 Dobot Audi R8 LMS of Roberto Merhi logged the second-fastest time, at 1’25.759. This is the same Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo II chassis that Team LeMans attempted to sell in the off-season. But after they failed to find a suitable buyer, Team LeMans opted to keep the car and race it this season.
Now owned by the same company that owns the Okayama International Circuit, Team LeMans setting a fast time in this session was a welcome surprise.
Another team with local ties is K-tunes Racing, who are owned by the Okayama Toyopet Group. Their #96 Lexus RC F GT3 may be one of the oldest GT3 models on the grid, and series iron man Morio Nitta might now be a Bronze graded driver under the FIA Driver Categorisation system – but with the third-quickest time of 1’25.766, 56-year-old Nitta and the K-tunes RC F still have plenty of pace to offer.
The fastest GTA-GT300 car in Session 1 was the #60 Syntium LMcorsa Toyota GR Supra of Hiroki Yoshimoto, which set the fifth-fastest time of 1’25.863. The team have redesigned their custom front aero kit this year not only to help improve performance, but also comply to new regulations which mandate that the front of the car must be more like the road-going version.
In Session 2, another Toyota GR Supra, the #244 Hachi-Ichi GR Supra of Atsushi Miyake, set the fastest time of 1’26.119, followed by Kazuto Kotaka in the brand-new #31 apr Lexus LC500h in second, and the #96 K-tunes RC F of Nitta in third.
Down in 24th at the end of Session 2, the #61 Subaru BRZ R&D Sport (Takuto Iguchi/Hideki Yamauchi) went to the garage with a gearbox problem and did not return.
Kogure’s time of 1’25.4 stood as the best time of the first day. “This was the first test of the year, and we had prepared many test menus for it. As we went through our programmes, I was able to mark the top time as a result.”
But even the past GT500 champion wasn’t getting too excited after failing to stand on the podium last season. “Besides, we have not been able to confirm whether our rivals were at their best, so even though it was the top time, I’m not optimistic,” said Kogure. “As was the case last year, even if we were fast in the official tests before the season started, we often could not reproduce that speed in the official qualifying and races once the season started. Conditions often change drastically during the actual race and qualifying, so I want to be able to respond well to these changes.”
Testing continues tomorrow at 9 A.M. JST (local time) with Session 3 and Session 4 at 2 P.M. JST.
Images © GTA
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