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【SUPER GT Round 2 ／ Fuji Speedway】
Round 2 Held As First 3-Hour Race In Super GT History, JLOC Lamborghini GT3 Makes Perfect Win From Pole Position
SUPER GT Round 2
| Date | 3-4 May 2024 |
|---|---|
| Course | Fuji Speedway |
| Weather | Race : Fine, Qualify : Fine |
| Surface | Race : Dry, Qualify : Dry |
| Race Times | 3hours (1Lap = 4,563m) |
The second round of the 2024 Super GT, a regular fixture in Golden Week holidays, took place at Fuji Speedway. According to the organizer’s announcement, a total of 84,800 motorsport fans came over to the track for two days, the qualifying day and the race day, and many entertaining activities and the campground were all crowded.
This round was held as a 3-hour time race without a predetermined race distance. This format is commonplace in endurance races, which, for example, would last for 24 hours, 12 hours, or 6 hours, but this was the first time race in the Super GT’s history. For this event, the number of dry tire sets each car was allowed to use over the qualifying day and the race day was limited to six sets.
In the official practice, which was held for an hour and 45 minutes before the qualifying, WedsSport ADVAN GR Supra (Yuji Kunimoto / Sena Sakaguchi) set the sixth fastest time, 1’27”600, during the GT500 exclusive segment by the hands of Sagakuchi. Looking to the GT300 class, Realize Nissan Mechanic Challenge GT-R (Daiki Sasaki / Joao Paulo Lima de Oliveira) topped the timesheet, followed by JLOC Lamborghini GT3 (Takashi Kogure / Yuya Motojima) in second, and Uni-Robo Bluegrass Ferrari (Yoshiaki Katayama / Roberto Merhi Muntan) rounded out the Yokohama users’ top three lockout.
The qualifying session, which determined the starting grids by the combined best lap times of each car’s two drivers, saw WedsSport ADVAN GR Supra securing the GT500 class’s eighth grid. Sakaguchi was sixth in Q1, when every driver started with the fresh tires, 0.5 seconds behind the fastest, and then Kunimoto performed solidly with the used tires, which he took over from his teammate.
In the GT300 class, JLOC Lamborghini GT3 took the pole position. GoodSmile Hatsune Miku AMG (Nobuteru Taniguchi / Tatsuya Kataoka) came in second, and Realize Nissan Mechanic Challenge GT-R followed in third. So, the Yokohama users, who looked strong in the practice, seized the top three spots again.
The JLOC team had reason to celebrate after the qualifying because it was Motojima’s first pole position in the Super GT series and the first in the GT300 class for the series’ veteran Kogure. There were more as it turned out the next day.
On the race day, early May sunshine poured over the race track from the morning hours. As a result, the air/track temperatures rose to 24/41 degrees centigrade just before the race began. After the parade lap, which got underway at 13:30, and the formation lap led by the Safety Car, the 3-hour race started at 13:36.
JLOC Lamborghini GT3, the GT300 class pole sitter, immediately began to pull away from the rest of the field and built a 7-second gap with GoodSmile Hatsune Miku AMG running in second by Lap 10. Behind them, Realize Nissan Mechanic Challenge GT-R lost a few positions on the opening lap but managed to keep up with the rivals’ pace after that. On Lap 14, Full Couse Yellow was declared since Uni-Robo Blurgrass Ferrari halted on the trackside, but no notable incident had affected the race since then.
Two refueling stops were mandated in this race, so the first round of pit stops began when the first hour was about to pass. Among the leaders, GoodSmile Hatsune Miku AMG visited its pit box on Lap 29. Kataoka, the starting driver of the car, stayed in the driving seat and went out to the track for their second stint.
Four laps later, JLOC Lamborghini headed to the pit lane and resumed racing after the stop without changing the driver. Thanks to a significant margin they built before the stop, the Lamborghini remained in the lead, except for the cars yet to stop, and returned to the top of the leaderboard on Lap 46.
The second round of pit stops started around Lap 60. GoodSmile Hatsune Miku AMG, which was effectively in second until the second stop, fell back to third because one of their rivals opted not to replace any tires to cut short the pit stop and got ahead of the AMG. On the other hand, Realize Nissan Mechanic Challenge GT-R steadily moved up to fourth. The Yokohama shoed AMG and GT-R then began to catch up with the rivals, who didn’t change their tires at the stop, taking advantage of the fresher tires.
Particularly, the Realize-backed GT-R, with Oliveira behind the wheel for the final stint, gained the upper hand since it changed the tires later than the AMG. Consequently, the Brazilian overtook GoodSmile Hatsune Miku AMG at GR Supra Corner on Lap 92 and passed another opponent at 13th Corner three laps later to come up to second. The fans must have greatly enjoyed these two consecutive overtakings in the final stage.
While the battles behind it got hotter, JLOC Lamborghini GT3 comfortably led the race and claimed their first win of the season, some 17 seconds ahead of Realize Nissan Mechanic Challenge GT-R. For the Kogure / Motojima pair, it was the second victory since the 2023 season’s final round at Motegi, but this time, they made a perfect win after starting the race from the pole position. By earning 23 points, including 3 points for the pole, Kogure and Motojima moved up to second in the driver’s standings, just a point shy of the leader.
The crew of Realize Nissan Mechanic Challenge GT-R got on the podium for the first time this season by finishing in second. GoodSmile Hatsune Miku AMG fought hard for the final spot on the podium until the end but had to settle for fourth place. UpGarage NSX GT3 (Takashi Kobayashi / Syun Koide) finished in seventh, and Metalive S Lamborghini GT3 (Kosuke Matsuura / Natsu Sakaguchi) came in eighth, despite these two having started the race from the 11th and the 15th grid, respectively. The tenth place and the last point went to Helm Motorsports GT-R (Kohei Hirate / Yuya Hiraki / Reiji Hiraki), which overtook two cars on the final lap. They are one of the Super GT debutant teams this year, so the first point finish in their only second race was quite something.
Looking to the GT500 class, WedsSport ADVAN GR Supra had to give away a few positions on the opening lap but continued steadily and patiently. Eventually, the car ended the race in tenth and scored a point, which was this season’s first point for them. It was remarkable that their best lap time in the race’s middle stage was comparable to those of leading cars. Realize Corporation ADVAN Z finished 13th in the class. Matsuda drove for their first two stints and handed the car to Natori for the final part of the race.
Drivers’ Voice
Yuji Kunimoto (WedsSport ADVAN GR Supra)
【Result : 10th. in the GT500 class】
“Firstly, my start wasn’t ideal. And while the warm-up characteristics of our tires are getting better from that of last season, we still need some improvement in the area, comparing to our rivals. Because of these two reasons, I struggled in the early stage, which effectively decided our race. However, it was good to score a point at the end after having a better second stint, in which we could catch up at a decent pace. We had a really hard time in the race at Okayama, but we could fight the cars around us at least in some parts of the race this time. We must deal with the issues we found today before heading to the next race.”
Sena Sakaguchi (WedsSport ADVAN GR Supra)
【Result : 10th. in the GT500 class】
“The season opener was really tough for us. However, thanks to the efforts by Yokohama Tire and the team to find the cause of our struggles, we felt better with the car and the tires in the practice session and secured a decent grid position in the qualifying. But the conditions changed in the race, and we couldn’t get the result we looked for, which was disappointing. Having said that, there were some good discoveries, so hopefully we would be able to perform well in the coming races by taking advantages of those new discoveries. That is my feelings after the race. My team and Yokohama Tire have a good track record at Suzuka, where the next round will be held, so I hope to get a result that we can proud of there by utilizing our strong points.”
Tsugio Matsuda (REALIZE CORPORATION ADVAN Z)
【Result : 13th. in the GT500 class】
“In this 3-hour long race, we came to know something good and something bad as well. The result wasn’t very good, but I believe this was a step forward to the next stage. We can’t expect a quantum leap and will have to take steps. We are committed to such step-by-step efforts and ultimately racing in the leading group.”
Teppei Natori (REALIZE CORPORATION ADVAN Z)
【Result : 13th. in the GT500 class】
“It was tough fight for us again. But we are already thinking about how to improve the situation, discussing it with my team and Yokohama Tire. Currently, I feel like we are wandering through a dark tunnel, which is frustrating, but we are giving everything to get out of it as soon as possible.”
Takashi Kogure (JLOC Lamborghini GT3)
【Result : Winner in the GT300 class】
“We got the pole position in the qualifying. As the car, the tires, the team, and everything seemed to be correct, I felt confident enough that a race win would be possible. During the race, I was really comfortable in my stint because Motojima built a considerable margin. Still, I remained on alert until the end, talking to myself that anything could happen. I am happy to win just as we expected and relieved at the same time. Building on the momentum, I would like to help make the team stronger and to do a better job as a driver this season.”
Yuya Motojima (JLOC Lamborghini GT3)
【Result : Winner in the GT300 class】
“Since our win in the last season’s final round, the team’s motivation has been incredibly high. I have never experienced such an atmosphere before in my career. And thanks to a big help from everybody in the team, I had nothing to fear and won the race today. However hard I pushed, the tires responded in the way I wanted, so I really enjoyed my stint, an hour and 45 minute drive, until the end.”
Engineer’s Voice
Takayuki Shiraishi [The Yokohama Rubber Co.,LTD. Motorsports Tire Development Dept. No.1 Tire Development Division]
“As for the GT500 class, we saw some good lap times comparatively, but it ended up having unsatisfactory results again, like the Okayama round, partly because our teams suffered from the tire pick-up during the race. However, we could see how our tires behave under relatively high-temperature conditions, which wasn’t typical for the Fuji round in May. In addition, we also had a promising sign that WedsSport ADVAN GR Supra made a good recovery in the second half of the race. Counting on that, we will push ourselves ahead for the third round and the races afterward.
“JLOC Lamborghini won in the GT300 class in style. The tire development, which we have been working on since last year, is coming to fruition for sure. On top of this, the team has tried many ways on how to make the tires work, and we suppose their work might have been effective. We had a difficult time at Okayama since the temperatures rose higher than anticipated. But it was a good opportunity to know the behavior of rubber compound and tire construction when the conditions were out of the tire’s temperature range. And we could incorporate the findings into the tires we brought here, which we feel might led to this result. So, we would like to keep this momentum for the next round.”