TGR Team au TOM’s Completes Comeback, Takes Championship Lead At Autopolis
In what could very well be the best race of the 2023 Autobacs SUPER GT Series in terms of flag-to-flag excitement, Sho Tsuboi and Ritomo Miyata came from 12th on the grid in their #36 au TOM’s Toyota GR Supra to win Sunday’s Autopolis GT 450km Race – and take control of the GT500 championship chase ahead of the Motegi GT 300km Race Grand Final on 5 November.
It was the final 450km race of the season, the first to be held at Autopolis International Racing Course in Kyushu, and the ‘eliminator round’ for the 2023 championship race. After winning the pole position on Saturday, Nirei Fukuzumi in the black #16 ARTA Mugen NSX-GT led the GT500 field to the green flag and quickly set out to make the most of his opportunity to gain ground in the GT500 championship.
It took less than ten laps for Fukuzumi to build a lead of over ten seconds from the rest of the field, ahead of Yuhi Sekiguchi in the #39 Denso Kobelco SARD GR Supra in second, and the #17 Astemo NSX-GT of Nobuharu Matsushita which had made its way up to third past the #19 WedsSport Advan GR Supra of Yuji Kunimoto.
But the highlight in these early stages of the race had to be 48-year-old Yuji Tachikawa, in his second-to-last race in the SUPER GT Series. He overtook Toyota stablemates Ukyo Sasahara and Kenta Yamashita in just a couple of corners to go from sixth to fourth by lap ten. And on lap 14, trailing the #39 Denso Supra of Sekiguchi and #17 Astemo NSX of Matsushita, the 27-year veteran may have pulled off one of his greatest manoeuvres to date when he overtook both drivers around the outside of the left-hand 100R corner to go from fourth to second!
Fukuzumi came to the pits after 19 laps for his first of two compulsory pit stops. The #36 au TOM’s Supra was the last car to make its first pit stop on lap 34, and Tsuboi handed the steering wheel over to TGR WEC Challenge driver Miyata for the rest of the race. After this first round of stops, Fukuzumi still had a lead of just under ten seconds.
Meanwhile, the #3 Niterra Motul Nissan Z of championship contender Katsumasa Chiyo had climbed from ninth to fifth after the first round of stops. A long first stint didn’t help the #36 au TOM’s Supra that much to start, as Miyata took over from 11th place.
But it didn’t take long for Miyata to start the comeback drive – within six laps, the orange and white #36 Toyota was up to seventh place.
As one half of the ARTA team was leading comfortably, the hopes on the other side of the garage came crashing down. The #8 ARTA NSX-GT (Tomoki Nojiri/Toshiki Oyu) was already struggling to gain ground after an early collision with a GT300 vehicle, and on lap 42, Nojiri went off into the gravel on his own at the hairpin turn ten and retired from the race.
Tachikawa’s final stint at Autopolis came to an end when he brought the #38 ZENT Cerumo GR Supra into the pits on lap 50, and changed drivers to Hiroaki Ishiura who had a great chance to undercut the leading #16 ARTA NSX and perhaps snag a victory for the Cerumo team.
On lap 59, Fukuzumi came down to the pits and Hiroki Otsu took over the #16 car to the finish. Ishiura was able to drive past as Otsu exited the pits, giving him the net lead of the race for a brief period. But Otsu was able to cut through Ishiura at turn one to regain the net lead just as the remaining GT500 front-runners made their final pit stops, including the #3 Niterra Z, which came in on lap 63 for a driver change from Chiyo to Mitsunori Takaboshi.
Two laps later, the #36 au Supra of Miyata made its second and final pit stop. He would cycle out into fifth place, nearly 18 seconds behind race leader Otsu, who had built an eight-second lead over Ishiura in second, with Takaboshi just behind him in third. Takaboshi got past Ishiura into second place on lap 67, then after getting past the #17 Astemo NSX of Tsukakoshi to move up into fourth, Miyata overtook Ishiura at the turn ten hairpin to get up into third place and began hunting down Takaboshi for second. As they did, they would have seen the #39 Denso Supra of Yuichi Nakayama break down at the side of turn one and retire.
The #36 au TOM’s Supra, still sporting a small wound from a collision early in Tsuboi’s opening stint, caught the red #3 Niterra Z and the pair of Takaboshi and Miyata chased one another for several laps, weaving in and out of slower traffic. Then on lap 77, both cars got baulked behind a slower GT300 car coming out of the final corner, which gave Miyata the chance to draw alongside Takaboshi. Miyata couldn’t make the move at turn one, but he hung on and passed Takaboshi to the inside of the first hairpin at turn six to win the battle for second! It was now just a matter of chasing down Otsu who still had a five-second advantage.
Miyata erased that lead in just a few short laps, and another battle was fought, this time for the race win and a ten-point swing in the championship. In a carbon copy of the setup to take second place, a lapped GT300 car allowed Miyata the opportunity to try and get past Otsu at turn one on lap 87. Otsu held on through the first and second sectors. But as both cars made the climb up to turn ten, Otsu left enough of a gap and Miyata didn’t hesitate for a second to dive past and take the lead with 11 laps to go!
Both moves brought Tsuboi and the Team au TOM’s mechanics to a frenzy, and all Miyata had to do was manage the last laps to take the chequered flag, for TGR Team au TOM’s second win of the season – one which put them into the championship lead heading into the finale at Motegi.
“In yesterday’s qualifying, we finished in a disappointing 12th position, so I was determined to see us make up to that today,” said Tsuboi. “As for our race strategy, it was planned to make sure we would be the first to cross the goal line. And I think we succeeded with that strategy. I think the show that Miyata-san put on in overtaking the leader was really cool.
“Our front end was damaged some, but it didn’t affect our performance much. It may have been bold for us to go for a podium finish starting from 12th position on the grid, but to then get the win was something too good to believe.”
“When I went out on the track in the latter half of the race, I think we were in about 5th position, and I didn’t think there was much chance of a win for us,” said Miyata. “But we knew that if we could finish in front of car #3, we would then lead them in the series standings, so it would be okay if car #16 beat us.
“But after we passed #3, I knew we just had to go for the win. I had decided that I was going to try to pass #16, but if I showed my intent too soon it would then be on guard, and my strategy of passing it all at once turned out to be successful.”
Dispatched of the lead late, Otsu then had to fight to keep Takaboshi at bay for second place, knowing that losing that position may have knocked ARTA out of even remote title contention.
But the black #16 Honda of Fukuzumi and Otsu held on by less than four-tenths of a second to finish second, with Chiyo and Takaboshi third in the red #3 Nissan.
The three cars on the podium are the three that have the right to compete for the GT500 championship at Mobility Resort Motegi. Tsuboi and Miyata now have a seven-point lead over Chiyo and Takaboshi. Fukuzumi and Otsu remain in title contention, but losing the lead proved costly as they now trail by 16 points, the largest deficit ever overcome in one race to win a GT500 title.
Thanks to Tachikawa’s vintage performance early on, the #38 ZENT Supra managed to finish a season-best fourth place. Team Impul’s championship defence came to an end as the #1 Marelli Impul Z (Kazuki Hiramine/Bertrand Baguette) finished in fifth after getting past the #17 Astemo NSX of Tsukakoshi and Matsushita, which was sixth.
TGR Team Deloitte TOM’s had arguably its best race in a frustrating 2023 campaign as the #37 Deloitte TOM’s Supra (Ukyo Sasahara/Giuliano Alesi) finished seventh, ahead of the #14 Eneos X Prime GR Supra (Kazuya Oshima/Kenta Yamashita) in eighth.
The #100 Stanley NSX-GT (Tadasuke Makino/Iori Kimura) finished ninth, and Kimura collected his first GT500 points as he took over for the injured Naoki Yamamoto. In tenth, the #23 Motul Autech Z (Tsugio Matsuda/Ronnie Quintarelli) tried a three-stop strategy to gain track position early on, but couldn’t keep up the challenge.
A tense finish in the GT300 class saw the #52 Saitama Toyopet GreenBrave Toyota GR Supra of Kumamoto Prefecture native Hiroki Yoshida, Kohta Kawaai, and third driver Seita Nonaka take its second class win in a row at Autopolis, and second in a row this season.
This win also gave Yoshida and Kawaai as close to a championship-clinching result as one could have without mathematically securing the title – taking a 20-point lead into Motegi with only one other car still even eligible at the last round.
Hibiki Taira started the race from pole position in the #2 muta Racing Toyota GR86, followed by the #61 Subaru BRZ R&D Sport of Hideki Yamauchi and the #31 apr Lexus LC500h GT of Kazuto Kotaka. Kawaai started from fourth place, and then began chasing down Yamauchi while Kotaka came into the pits at the end of the fifth lap for an early first pit stop. It’s a strategy deployed by several GTA-GT300 vehicle runners this year, but this time the #2, #61, and #52 opted for a long first stint.
Two full-course yellows (FCY) brought the race to a brief standstill. First, the #18 UPGarage Honda NSX GT3 of Syun Koide was hit from behind by the #96 K-tunes Lexus RC F GT3 of Morio Nitta at turn one, knocking the UPGarage NSX out of the race. In the blink of an eye, Koide and Takashi Kobayashi’s hopes of winning the title were dashed, coming off the disqualification at Sportsland Sugo.
Then, the #27 Yogibo NSX GT3 (Yugo Iwasawa/Reimei Ito) lost its left-front wheel, came back to the pits, and changed drivers – only for Iwasawa to pull over at turn one with a mechanical issue and retire.
By this time, Kawaai had overtaken Taira on track for the race lead. After 30 laps, the muta GR86 made its first stop and Yuui Tsutsumi got into the car. A lap later, the GreenBrave Supra came in. Kawaai stayed aboard and the GreenBrave team took fuel only to gain track position, which helped Kawaai retain the net lead ahead of Tsutsumi.
The GreenBrave crew changed tyres on its second stop after a short 14-lap stint, where Yoshida would once again be asked to make a single tank of fuel last to the end of the race just as he needed to at Sugo. Yet again, this helped the #52 Supra maintain its track position, when the #2 GR86 pitted 12 laps later for full service. Tsutsumi, on cold tyres, coughed up second place to the #31 Lexus of Yuki Nemoto, but was able to quickly get back around and into second place before chasing after Yoshida.
Soon, Tsutsumi caught Yoshida, and it seemed like if it would be a matter of “when” not “if” the lead would change hands. But motivated by the chance to win at his home track and to potentially seal a long-awaited first championship, Yoshida drove with all of his might to keep Tsutsumi at bay. The muta GR86’s last chance came with three to go, when a faint window presented itself for Tsutsumi to get through – only for Yoshida to shut the door once again.
Just 0.612 seconds separated first and second place, and Yoshida took the chequered flag at his home round for the second year in a row ahead of Tsutsumi.
“At the end, car #2 was fast and I remember the recent case of our losing momentum just before the goal, so I was nervous in the final going,” remarked Yoshida, who recorded his fifth official GT300 win. “But everyone on the team was supporting us in a variety of ways, and I believe that is why we were able keep the lead until the end. Since Autopolis is near my hometown of Kumamoto, I think I was able to fulfill my role as Circuit Ambassador by getting this win here for the second year in a row.”
The win gives Yoshida and co-driver Kawaai a 20-point lead in the championship with only 21 points available at Motegi. They finished second in the standings back in 2020, their first season together.
“We have never had this experience before, but we haven’t won the title yet,” said Kawaai, who also got his fifth career win. “The race world is one where you never know what is going to happen, so I want to see us make sure we can get every series point we can in the final round, even if it is just one or two. So, in the final race I will only be thinking about winning like we did today.”
Nonaka, who joined GreenBrave on loan from Hoppy Team Tsuchiya, did not drive during the race and thus won’t officially be credited with his first career GT300 win or any points – but still got the rightful opportunity to celebrate the victory with the rest of the team, with the hope that more chances will be coming soon.
Tsutsumi and Taira, together with team principal/third driver Hiroki Katoh, did manage to climb to second in the standings. But the narrow defeat has left them in an impossible situation: The muta GR86 must win from pole at Motegi to have any chance at the championship, but even still, Yoshida and Kawaai just need one point at Motegi to clinch the title.
There were close battles up and down the GT300 order, including the battle for third in class. This time out, the #31 apr LC500 of Nemoto had to lock horns with the #61 Subaru BRZ of Takuto Iguchi, but the rookie Nemoto held on by 0.679 seconds over Iguchi. That gave the new Lexus LC500h GT its first GT300 podium, at the site of the Toyota Prius’ last win two years ago. Iguchi and Yamauchi finished fourth, which led to a GTA-GT300 top four lockout, a Toyota Motor Corporation podium sweep, and a Bridgestone podium sweep.
The best FIA GT3 car was the #56 Realize/Nissan Mechanic Challenge GT-R (João Paulo de Oliveira/Teppei Natori) in fifth, which held off the #4 Goodsmile Hatsune Miku Mercedes-AMG GT3 (Nobuteru Taniguchi/Tatsuya Kataoka) by an even slimmer margin of 0.350 seconds. Kondo Racing tried to mix up the strategy by making pit stops on laps 45 and 47 to effectively turn the race into a one-stopper, but it wasn’t enough for Oliveira and Natori to keep their championship challenge alive.
In seventh was the #88 JLOC Lamborghini Huracán GT3 EVO2 (Takashi Kogure/Yuya Motojima), followed by the #7 Studie BMW M4 GT3 (Seiji Ara/Bruno Spengler) in eighth; then the two Gainer GT-Rs, the #11 Gainer TanaX GT-R (Ryuichiro Tomita/Keishi Ishikawa/Yusuke Shiotsu*) and the #10 Ponos Gainer GT-R (Hironobu Yasuda/Riki Okusa) in ninth and tenth.
An unmissable Motegi Grand Final awaits on Sunday, 5 November, to decide the champions of the 2023 Autobacs SUPER GT Series.
Images © GTA
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