2024 SUPER GT Round 1 Report

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The 2024 Super GT season started at Okayama International Circuit. Since the inauguration of the All-Japan GT Championship, the predecessor of Super GT, this is the 30th anniversary year of the series.

For this milestone season, some significant rule changes were introduced. Firstly, the technical regulations for both GT500 and GT300 classes were revised to improve safety. The minimum ground clearance of GT500 cars was increased by 5mm to reduce downforce generated by their bodywork, and the minimum weight of GT300 cars was increased to suppress the cars’ speed. Both of these changes, of course, heavily impact the conditions that the tires are faced with.

Secondly, the number of tire sets provided to a car was also cut down from the standpoint of SDGs. In accordance with this rule change, the qualifying format was modified. Instead of the previous knock-out system, the combined time format was adopted, which meant the sum of the best qualifying times set by the two drivers of a car decides its final position in the session. As the two drivers must be qualified using a single set of tires, and the car must start the race with them, each team’s tire management could become more critical.

The race week was blessed with good weather, and the highs on Saturday and Sunday exceeded 25 degrees centigrade. The track surface temperature also exceeded 40 degrees, so everyone felt the heat under scorching sunlight throughout the weekend. It meant the conditions were utterly different from those in the pre-season official test days when they were rainy and freezing cold, so the teams struggled to cope with much higher air and track temperatures. However, most of them could have sufficient time to run their cars before the qualifying session as the red flag interruption only occurred once soon after the start of the official practice.

Among the GT300 competitors using Yokohama Tire’s products, JLOC Lamborghini GT3 (Takashi Kogure / Yuya Motojima) made a good start to the season with the third fastest time. Uni-Robo Bluegrass Ferrari (Yoshiaki Katayama / Roberto Merhi Muntan) and the winner of last year’s opening race, UpGarage NSX GT3 (Takashi Kobayashi / Syun Koide), also performed well in the practice session.

Even in the new combined time format, the GT300 class cars were divided into two groups for the qualifying because the field was too large to do it at one time. After Q1 sessions in two groups, the top eight of both groups were called “Upper 16,” and the rest were “Lower 17.” Then, these two formed each group in Q2 to decide the first to 16th grid in the first and those lower than 17th in the second. However, for the slowest four of Upper 16 and the fastest four of Lower 17, the grids were given by comparing their qualifying times, regardless of the group.

The highest place qualifier among Yokohama Tire users was GoodSmile Hatsune Miku AMG (Nobuteru Taniguchi / Tatsuya Kataoka), whose combined time was the sixth fastest in the GT300 class. The setup change they made after the practice worked, and the fact that two drivers set almost equal times led to a good qualifying result. Uni-Robo Bluegrass Ferrari followed in seventh. The two-time GT300 champion, Kiyoto Fujinami, joined Yusuke Shiotsu to drive Mach-Syaken Air Buster MC86 Mach-Go this year, and the pair ended the session in ninth. According to the abovementioned rules, Pacific Vspo NAC AMG (Ryohei Sakaguchi / Yusuke Tomibayashi) jumped up and secured the 13th grid despite being allocated to Lower 17 after Q1.

Regarding the GT500 cars equipped with Yokohama, Realize Corporation ADVAN Z (Tugio Matsuda / Teppei Natori) and WedsSport ADVAN GR Supra (Yuji Kunimoto / Sena Sakaguchi) faced an uphill battle and had to settle for 12th and 14th in qualifying, respectively.

Strong sunshine returned on Sunday morning. But it wasn’t sweltering hot like a summer day, so you could comfortably cool off in a shaded area, feeling a nice, refreshing breeze. Having said that, the air/track temperatures rose to 26/42 degrees when the 82-lap race began.

Soon after the start, there was a collision in the middle of the GT500 field, which required the Safety Car to come out on Lap 2. Fortunately, Realize Corporation ADVAN Z and WedsSport ADVAN GR Supra weren’t involved in the incident, so they were promoted to tenth and 11th when the race restarted on Lap 8.

However, their pace wasn’t as fast as those of the race leaders. Sakaguchi, behind the wheel of WedsSport ADVAN GR Supra, came into the pit at the end of Lap 30 to change to Kunimoto, and Natori in Realize Corporation ADVAN Z followed him on the next lap to hand the car to Matsuda. As their stops were earlier than others, the second stints for both cars had to be longer, but Kunimoto and Matsuda made steady efforts to the end. Consequently, Realize Corporation ADVAN Z ended the race in 12th. WedsSport ADVAN GR Supra finished in 13th with a considerable gap with the cars ahead partly because its pit stop took longer than usual.

In the GT300 class, GoodSmile Hatsune Miku AMG started from the sixth grid but moved up to fourth by overtaking two cars at the first corner. Immediately after that, the Safety Car was deployed, and the racing resumed on Lap 8, but the leading cars’ positions remained unchanged for nearly 20 laps after that. Kataoka, behind the wheel of the GoodSmile-backed AMG, drove at a good pace but stuck behind the car in third. And he, too, felt heavy pressure from the car behind him.

On Lap 29, Kataoka finally improved his position to third by overtaking the car ahead of him and returned to the pit three laps later. The team opted for changing only two rear tires to save the stop time, but they lost a few positions because other teams also took similar tactics, changing only two tires or choosing not to replace any tires at their stops. Taniguchi, who was in charge of the second stint of the car, drove skillfully and consistently as a veteran. But he also lost some more positions on the track since his direct rivals took the opportunity to pass him when he had to give way to a GT500 car. Thus, GoodSmile Hatsune Miku AMG finished in ninth and scored points in the season’s first round, but it was somewhat disappointing for them, considering their position on the starting grids.

In contrast, Metalive S Lamborghini GT3 (Kosuke Matsuura / Natsu Sakaguchi) ended the race after gaining positions from where they started. At the beginning of the official practice on Saturday, their car halted due to a mechanical problem soon after it went out on the track, so they lacked practice time before the qualifying session. Nonetheless, they secured the 11th grid, and Sakaguchi steadily drove for the race’s first half.

On Lap 38, almost halfway through the race, Sakaguchi changed to Matsuura. The team replaced only two tires at the stop to minimize the time spent in the pit box, and it was successful as the car got ahead of the team’s sister car, JLOC Lamborghini GT3, which pitted a little earlier. Then Matsuura overtook GoodSmile Hatsune Miku AMG on Lap 52 when Taniguchi was forced to give way to a GT500 car and received the checkered flag in seventh, getting a few precious points.

Fujinami, at the wheel of Mach-Syaken Air Buster MC86 Mach-Go, provided one of the highlights in this opening round. The car started the race from the ninth grid, and Shiotsu drove for the first 23 laps until their pit stop. Then, the team chose not to replace the car’s tires at the stop and trusted it to Fujinami for the remaining long stint. Thanks to the quick stop without tire change, he found himself running in sixth when he rejoined, but soon he was under pressure from the direct opponents, who got fresh tires at their pit stop. Nevertheless, Fujinami, the GT300 class champion in 2020 and 2022, showed spirit and skillfully defended his position, which attracted much attention from the spectators, until he lost a lot of positions in the closing stage because he spun after being hit from behind.