2023 SUPER GT Round 7 Report

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The 2023 Super GT series reached its penultimate round. In this seventh meeting held at Autopolis in Ōita Prefecture, Kyushu, the Success Weight was reduced by half. In other words, it became the same number of kilograms with each car’s championship points in the GT500 class and 1.5 x championship points in the GT300 class.

As for the GT500 class, many expected WedsSport ADVAN GR Supra, the winner of Round 3 at Suzuka, would extract the full potential of its package by unburdening half of its Success Weight. Another Yokohama-shoed GT500 car, Realize Corporation ADVAN Z, had a good track record here at Autopolis, as the car started the race from the pole position and finished in third last year. So they wanted to make the speed that they had shown everywhere this season into a satisfactory result here.

In regards to the GT300 class, Yokohama Tire supplied its product to the 14 competitors. Two leading cars among them, Upgarage NSX GT3 and Realize Nissan Mechanic Challenge GT-R, were in second and fourth in the championship point standings. But in this round, they still had to carry heavy Success Weights, 60kg for the NSX and 59kg for the GT-R, respectively.

Although the forecast said the sky would be clear throughout the weekend, it was overcast on the qualifying day morning. In fact, it even rained in the early morning, and the track surfaces were still wet when the practice session began prior to the qualifying. It was chilly, and the air/track temperatures were 16/18 degrees centigrade, so some cars waited for the conditions to improve even after the course opened. However, the track conditions were getting better, and all competitors soon commenced their preparation work for the qualifying session.

In the exclusive time for each class, JLOC Lamborghini GT3 and GoodSmile Hatsune Miku AMG were the fourth and fifth fastest in the GT300 class, showing that they were in good form. However, the time for the GT500 class was cut short because one of the competitors crashed heavily due to going off the track during its qualifying simulation lap. The accident caused the red flag, and the session didn’t resume. So, many of the GT500 teams lost the opportunity to make their qualifying simulation lap, which made it difficult to know how things would be going in the afternoon session.

The clouds stayed over the Autopolis circuit, and the air temperatures didn’t change from 16 degrees, while the track temperature rose to 25 when the qualifying session got underway. Among the GT300 Yokohama users, eight cars were assigned to Group A in Q1. Nobuteru Taniguchi in GoodSmile Hatsune Miku AMG set the fourth fastest time in the session, leading the Yokohama camp.

In addition, Anest Iwata Racing RC F GT3 and JLOC Lamborghini GT3 also made their way to Q2. Having always been competitive both in the qualifying and the race, even with a heavy Success Weight, Realize Nissan Mechanic Challenge GT-R still has a chance to go to Q2. However, Teppei Natori’s all-out qualifying attempt fell short of the top eight by only 0.053 seconds, so they failed to make it through to Q2.

In Group B of Q1, six cars out of 12 relied on Yokohama Tire’s products, and UpGarage NSX GT3’s speed shone in this group. In the previous round at Sugo, the car was disqualified at the post-race scrutineering after finishing the race in first dramatically, so the team and the drivers were keen to make up for the lost victory. Here, Shun Koide, sharing the car with Takashi Kobayashi, easily cleared the bar for Q2 by setting the third fastest time. As the NSX, Bamboo Airways Lamborghini GT3, and Yogibo NSX GT3 went on to Q2 from Group B, six Yokohama-shoed cars joined the fight for the pole position.

In Q2, one of the cars using another tire manufacturer’s rubber showed excellent speed and secured the pole position by renewing the course record. But Tatsuya Kataoka, behind the wheel of GoodSmile Hatsune Miku AMG, took the fifth grid, the highest among the FIA GT3 cars. JLOC Lamborghini also came in sixth, so two leading Yokohama Tire users sat on the third row, aiming for a podium finish.

The qualifying results in the GT500 class were bittersweet for Yokohama Tire. At the wheel of Realize Corporation ADVAN Z, Daiki Sasaki made a valiant qualifying attack in Q1. But his best time wasn’t good enough to get in the top 8 by 0.2 seconds, he failed to go into Q2, and the car was placed on the 11th grid.

On the other hand, Yuji Kunimoto in WedsSport ADVAN GR Supra got through to Q2 by clocking the fifth fastest time in Q1, as he said later, “After the free practice, we reconsidered our car setup, and it went right.” Then, Sena Sakaguchi improved Kunimoto’s time in Q2 and finished the session in second, while the eventual pole sitter beat him by renewing the course record. So, the Supra secured the front row grid for the start of the 450km race.

It was chilly again on Sunday at Autopolis. On top of this, it was windy, and the air/track temperatures were at 15/24 degrees when the 97-lap race began. So, the conditions were quite similar to those of the day before. Kunimoto, driving WedsSport ADVAN GR Supra, didn’t make an ideal start and lost a position at the first corner.

He was still under heavy pressure from behind but remained in third for a while, using his vast experience. However, the car running in fourth became abreast with him from the outside just before the Second Hairpin on Lap 6, and Kunimoto had no choice but to give way to it. After that, he was like a sitting duck and was overtaken by several cars in a single row on Lap 7. Seeing that he fell to 12th, the team called him back to the pit to change the tire at the end of the lap.

Thus, WedsSport ADVAN GR Supra had to change the tires before completing one-tenth of the 97-lap race distance and started to try to make up lost ground from the bottom of the field. Kunimoto soon hit the first GT300 backmarkers. To overtake them, he was forced to take the off-line from time to time, causing him to suffer from the so-called “pick up” problem. It means that the “marbles” – small flakes of rubbers torn off from tires and left on the track – stick to the tire treads, reducing the grip level significantly.

Struggling, Kunimoto returned to the pit at the end of Lap 33, on the limit of the minimum laps by rules for a driver. As a result, Sakaguchi had to cover the remaining 64 laps, which was the longest stint possible, but he also couldn’t pick up his pace and had to make their third stop on Lap 49 to get the new set of tires of a different specification. At the end of the day, three stops hurt their race, as most rivals did only two stops, and the car finished in 13th, two laps behind the winner.

Realize Corporation ADVAN Z’s race went in a similar way. Starting from the 11th grid, Sasaki also needed a new set of tires on Lap 8 and came into the pit at the end of the lap. But the new tires with different characteristics from the first ones performed well, so he could close the gap with the cars ahead of him at a better pace.

Sasaki headed to the pit lane to change to Kohei Hirate when he completed 56 laps from the start and moved up to the interim sixth. Therefore, many expected further improvement in their position by Hirate, but he also had to return to the pit before putting ten laps in his stint to get a fresh set of tires.

The maximum number of tire sets each car can use in an event is prescribed by the rules in the Super GT series, and the teams have to have a few different types of tires to adapt to condition changes. Unfortunately for Hirate, the same kind of tires as those Sasaki used in his second stint were no longer available for the car due to these limitations. Consequently, Hirate was forced to change tires twice during his about 40-lap stint, which meant that Realize Corporation ADVAN Z made four stops in the race, finishing in 12th, two laps down from the leader.

As for the GT300 class, the top qualifiers basically pulled away from the rest of the field, but Kataoka in GoodSmile Hatsune Miku AMG followed the leaders closely and covered 61 laps from the start, which was quite a long stint. Their pit stop and driver change went smoothly, and the car was in the interim ninth when Taniguchi rejoined the race.

Surprisingly, Realize Nissan Mechanic Challenge GT-R was running in the effective fifth at the time despite starting from the 17th grid. The reason for their jump-up was a clever pit-stop strategy. Natori, who started the race with the car, drove for 45 laps and changed to Joao Paulo de Oliveira. But the Brazilian returned to the pit only after two laps to do a splash-and-go and went back to the track. In this way, they served the mandatory two refueling stops but changed the tires only once, minimizing the time spent at the pit box.

Meanwhile, Taniguchi overtook one of his direct rivals on the track and caught up with Oliveira in the GT-R. Their close battle lasted for 20 laps until the checkered flag fell, but Realize Nissan Mechanic Challenge GT-R held the position and finished the race in fifth, passing as many as 12 cars on the way.