Super GT - Round 2 - Cerumo Toyota and Velorex Ferrari claim victory, with Ferrari breaking sixteen-year drought in Super GT!

Cerumo leads a dominant Toyota 1-2 on home soil, while the Velorex Ferrari stuns the GT300 field to claim its first win since 2009 in an unforgettable Fuji round.

QUALIFYING

GT300 Q1 Group A

Zak O’Sullivan was the first man to set a representative time on the board with a 1:36.654 to put his #7 CarGuy MKS Racing Ferrari 296 GT3 on top of the session, however, his lap time was quickly bettered by Takuto Iguchi in the #61 R&D Sport Subaru BRZ who set a 1:36.241. O’Sullivan responded on his second flying lap and regained the top spot with a 1:36.180 but Iguchi found even more time late in the session and took the top spot for Group A in Qualifying one with a 1:36.053. Further down the order, Takashi Kogure in the #0 JLOC Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo2 improved to ninth place on his final push lap but was on the brink of elimination. Unfortunately, the reigning GT300 champion’s at JLOC would see bad news when Masaki Kano in the #22 R'Qs Motor Sports Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo improved to eighth and pushed the Lamborghini out of the crucial top nine. Okayama winner #65 LEON Racing Mercedes was at the elimination zone for most of the session but a sensational lap by Togo Suganami in the dying moment put the championship leader up to seventh and advanced to qualifying two despite the fifty kilograms of success ballast. The five cars that were eliminated were the #48 Nilzz Racing Nissan, #0 JLOC Lamborghini, #9 Pacific Racing Team Mercedes, #20 SHADE Racing Toyota and #25 Hoppy Team Tsuchiya Toyota. 

GT300 Q1 Group B

Hiroki Yoshida in the #52 Saitama Green Brave Toyota GR Supra set the early benchmark with a 1:36.116, with Takuro Shinohara in the #45 Ponos Racing Ferrari 296 GT3 just over half a tenth behind in second place. However, Tomonobu Fujii put his #777 D’station Racing Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3 Evo top of the times with three purple sectors soon afterwards. Many cars below the cut line improved later on in the session with Miki Koyama in the #31 apr Lexus LC 500h GT improving to seventh place and Tatsuya Kataoka in the #4 Goodsmile Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo improving to sixth. The five cars that were eliminated included the #666 Seven x Seven Racing Porsche, #96 K-tunes Racing Lexus, #360 Tomei Sports Nissan, #30 apr Toyota and #6 Velorex Ferrari after Yoshiaki Katayama’s fastest lap time was deleted due to exceeding track limits.

GT500 Q1

Nobuharu Matsushita in the #8 ARTA Honda went fastest with a 1:27.233 with one minute left in the session but the benchmark was lowered by Yuji Kunimoto in the #19 Team WedsSport Bandoh Toyota as he went faster by nearly seven and a half tenths. Riki Okusa in the #64 Modulo Nakajima Racing Honda was one of the last cars to take the checkered flag as he took full advantage of the improving track conditions and subsequently escaped the elimination zone. A disappointing session for Nissan saw the #3 NISMO NDDP entry the only car to advance to qualifying two. The five cars that were eliminated were the Okayama pole sitting #14 Team ENEOS ROOKIE Toyota, #12 Team Inpul Nissan, #100 Stanley Team Kunimitsu Honda, #24 Kondo Racing Nissan and #23 NISMO Nissan. 

GT300 Q2

Ryuichiro Tomita in the #11 GAINER Nissan Fairlady set the early benchmark with a 1:36.106. Huge improvements across the timing board saw green and purple sectors all over the field, but the #61 R&D Sport Subaru continued their strong form from qualifying one as Hideki Yamauchi went quickest with a stunning 1:34.882. However, another car with strong pace was the #777 Aston Martin as it has no success ballast after a disappointing result in Okayama. Charlie Fagg went even faster with a 1:34.820 to take pole position in GT300. An impressive performance for the nineteen year-old Rikuto Kobayashi saw him put his #7 CarGuy MKS Racing Ferrari in third position with a purple final sector.  

GT500 Q2

Toshiki Oyu in the #38 Team KeePer Cerumo Toyota was rapid early in the session with a quick benchmark of 1:26.093. The #19 Team WedsSport Bandoh Toyota which topped qualifying one had good pace once again with Sena Sakaguchi setting two purple sectors on his way to second place. A great effort by the defending champion Sho Tsuboi saw him set a lap good enough for seventh position in the  #1 Team au TOM'S Toyota that carried forty kilograms of success ballast. A decent qualifying result for the ARTA team saw them lock out the second row of the grid, with the #16 entry ahead of the #8. Surprisingly, no one could match Oyu’s lap as the #38 Team KeePer Cerumo Toyota took pole position in GT500.

RACE

The Golden Week Enduro Classic kicked off with a great start by Toshiki Oyu in the #38 Team KeePer Cerumo Toyota as he led the GT500 grid into Daiichi with Yuji Kunimoto in the #19 Team WedsSport Bandoh Toyota slotting behind in second place. In GT300, a brilliant getaway from Tomonobu Fujii in the #777 D’station Racing Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3 Evo saw him lead comfortably before turn one with a three wide battle for third behind as Rikuto Kobayashi fended off the challenge from Iori Kimura in the #5 Team Mach Toyota 86 MC GT300. Kei Cozzolino capitalised on Kimura’s poor exit out of turn one and swept around the outside of the Toyota at Coca-Cola Corner to move his Ferrari up to fourth position. 

Battles in GT500 developed between the two TOM’s Toyota GR Supra’s at the end of the opening lap with Sho Tsuboi diving down the inside of Ukyo Sasahara into Panasonic Corner which compromised the exit of the defending champion, and allowed both Sasahara and Nirei Fukuzumi in the #14 Team ENEOS ROOKIE Toyota to draw alongside him, but Sasahara went too deep into turn one and opened up the chance for Tsuboi to overtake his teammate with a tidy switchback for seventh position. 

Early drama for the reigning GT300 champion saw Yuya Motojima in the #0 JLOC Lamborghini crawling back into the pits at the end of the opening lap with a rear-right puncture. Another car that had a poor start to the race was the #666 Seven x Seven Racing Porsche with Kiyoto Fujinami momentarily facing the wrong way after being tagged into a spin by Ryuichiro Tomita in the #11 GAINER Nissan. The #11 Nissan was later awarded a drive-through penalty for causing the collision. A black and orange flag showed for the #52 Saitama Green Brave Toyota after suffering major rear wing damage due to contact, but the battle between the two Toyota 86’s in GT300 saw Kimura pull off a stunning move around the outside of Hibiki Taira in the #2 Hyper Water Racing Inging Toyota at Coca-Cola Corner for fifth position. 

Shortly after their puncture, the #0 JLOC Lamborghini’s race came to the end as they retired due to suspension damage suffered from contact at the start. In the meantime, Kimura continued his charge up the field after losing several positions at the start as he overtook Cozzolino at Coca-Cola Corner for fourth. More drama in GT300 as Reiji Hiraki in the #62 HELM Motorsports Nissan GT-R Nismo GT3 made contact with the sole remaining #87 JLOC Lamborghini of Natsu Sakaguchi at the braking zone of turn one which subsequently caused suspension damage to the Nissan as it stopped after a brief spin. Race control deployed a Full Course Yellow to retrieve the stricken Nissan, but the #45 Ponos Racing Ferrari and the #65 LEON Racing Mercedes sneaked into the pits in time before the Full Course Yellow was deployed.

Great opportunistic driving by Tomoki Nojiri in the #8 ARTA Honda saw him attack the sister #16 ARTA Honda of Hiroki Otsu after the restart, but Otsu fended off the challenge and maintained third position. Meanwhile, Sho Tsuboi in the #1 Team au TOM'S Toyota overtook the leading Nissan of Atsushi Miyake on the inside of Coca-Cola Corner. On the other side, a brilliant start to the race for Roberto Merhi in the #6 Velorex Ferrari saw him climb from twenty-seventh to fifth in the space of forty minutes. It did not take long for Merhi to gain yet another position as he inherited fourth after Iori Kimura in the #5 Team Mach Toyota pitted. The first GT500 to pit was the #8 ARTA Honda of Nojiri as he came in at the end of lap twenty-seven, meanwhile in GT300, Rikuto Kobayashi bought the #7 CarGuy MKS Racing Ferrari into the pits from third position as Zak O’Sullivan jumped aboard for the second stint. More GT300 cars came into the pits in the next several laps, notably with Oliver Rasmussen slotting into the #31 apr Lexus, taking over from Miki Koyama as the Dane returned to racing after suffering a broken thoracic vertebra injury at Suzuka earlier in the year. 

The battle at the front of GT500 continued as Tsuboi overtook Otsu for fourth with a clean dive on the inside of Netz Corner, simultaneously, Yuhi Sekiguchi in the #39 Team SARD Toyota overtook the #19 Team WedsSport Bandoh Toyota of Yuji Kunimoto with a late dive at Daiichi Corner for second position as the top four in GT500 were all Toyota Supra’s. Two of the leading GT300 cars pitted with Tomonobu Fujii staying onboard of the #777 D’station Aston Martin, while Yoshiaki Katayama took over from Merhi in the #6 Velorex Ferrari, after a superb opening stint. The #61 R&D Sport Subaru stayed out for a couple of laps longer before coming into the pits for their first stop with Hideki Yamauchi staying in. 

As the race reached the first hour mark, multiple GT500 cars immediately dived in for their first stop with Kunimoto handing the #19 Team WedsSport Bandoh Toyota to Sena Sakaguchi and Otsu handing the #16 ARTA Honda to Ren Sato. The leader came in two laps later with pole sitter Toshiki Oyu staying onboard of the #38 Team KeePer Cerumo Toyota after a dominating first stint. After the first round of pit stops, Oyu unsurprisingly maintained the lead as the fellow front-row starting #19 Team WedsSport Bandoh Toyota shuffled down to tenth in the running, with the #8 ARTA Honda jumping into third position after their early stop.

Meanwhile in GT300, long time race leader Tomonobu Fujii caught up to the back of the #65 LEON Racing Mercedes of Togo Suganami who benefited from pitting early, just before the deployment of the full course yellow. Fujii made swift progress and cleared the heavily ballasted Mercedes at Netz Corner. Yamauchi did a similar move a few laps later and overtook the struggling Mercedes for fourth position as Kei Cozzolino led after the first round of pit stops. The #666 Seven x Seven Racing Porsche’s race went from bad to worse as Fujinami suffered another puncture, this time with the rear-left tyre as he narrowly avoided contact with the #39 Team SARD Toyota of Sacha Fenestraz on his way back into the pits.

A lead change in GT300 saw Fujii catch back up to the back of the #45 Ponos Racing Ferrari and blasted pass Cozzolino down the one and a half kilometres long pit straight with the help of Aston Martin’s 4.0 L Turbo V8 engine. Yamauchi made his move a few laps later and overtook the Ponos Racing Ferrari for second position. Not long after Fujii’s overtake for the lead, disaster struck for the #777 D’station Aston Martin that was dominant from the race start as a rear-left puncture forced Fujii to limp back into the pits. This compromised the strategy for the Aston Martin as Charlie Fagg took over the car after a full-service stop with nearly half of the race to go. Meanwhile in the midpack, a great performance for debutant Yu Kanamaru in the #56 Kondo Racing Nissan saw him overtake the Team Mach Toyota of Iori Kimura for seventh just before Kimura dived in for the #5 Toyota’s second pit stop of the race as his teammate Yusuke Shiotsu took over the car with an hour and twenty minutes left in the race.

After a poor qualifying result for the GT500 Nissans, their race pace seemed to be more promising with Atsushi Miyake in the #3 NISMO NDDP Nissan running at third position for the majority of the second stint as Kazuki Hiramine in the #12 Team Inpul Nissan overtook Fenestraz in the #39 Team SARD Toyota into Dunlop Corner for sixth position just before the second round of pit stops. 

The #45 Ponos Racing Ferrari of Cozzolino continued to drop further down the order as they had been on the same set of Dunlop tyres since the start of the race with Suganami in the #65 LEON Racing Mercedes overtaking the Ferrari with a move around the outside of turn six for second position in GT300. The #45 Ponos Racing Ferrari came in for their second stop shortly after with Takuro Shinohara taking over the car for the final stint. More punctures occured late on in the second stints with the #9 Pacific Racing Team Mercedes of Yusuke Tomibayashi suffering a front-left puncture. Several laps later, Suganami bought the #65 LEON Racing Mercedes into the pits from second place for their final stop with starting driver Naoya Gamou jumping back into the car to complete their race.

After an exceptional double stint by pole sitter Oyu, he handed the #38 Team KeePer Cerumo Toyota from the race lead over to teammate Hiroaki Ishiura to complete the final hour. Another man who had a strong double stint was Nojiri in the #8 ARTA Honda, who pitted from second place and handed the car over to Nobuharu Matsushita. The GT300 front-runners also made their second stop at the same time with O'Sullivan in the #7 CarGuy MKS Racing Ferrari giving way to Kobayashi. The #61 R&D Sport Subaru came in two laps later from the lead of GT300 with Takuto Iguchi taking over from Yamauchi. After a strong opening stint, Merhi climbed back onboard the #6 Velorex Ferrari for the final stint of the race as he rejoined right behind Gamou’s #65 LEON Racing Mercedes. Merhi carried his strong pace from the opening stint and dispatched the LEON Racing Mercedes in no time. 

A mistake from Sasahara in the #37 Team Deloitte TOM'S Toyota saw him lose the rear end, and subsequently went wide at Netz Corner, which allowed Hiramine in the #12 Team Impul Nissan through, as Sasahara pitted soon afterwards, and handed the car to Giuliano Alesi. Hiramine pitted a lap later and came out behind Alesi but it did not take long for the #12 Nissan to re-overtake the #37 Toyota. The pace seemed to be stronger for the other side of the TOM’S garage as the #1 Toyota continued its progress up the field with Tsuboi overtaking Matsushita into Daiichi Corner for second position. In contrast to the sister car, Alesi in the #37 Toyota struggled for pace since he got onboard, and he slowly dropped down the order after being overtaken by Tadasuke Makino in the #100 Stanley Team Kunimitsu Honda and Fenestraz in the #39 Team SARD Toyota. Matsushita also struggled for pace as he lost third position to the #12 Team Inpul Nissan of Hiramine and conceded fourth to Makino’s #100 Honda. 

Unfortunate contact occurred at the lower end of the GT300 field, as Shinichi Takagi in the #96 K-tunes Racing Lexus was spun around by Yuki Nemoto in the #31 apr Lexus. The stalwart of Super GT faced the wrong way at Panasonic Corner, but quickly continued as the #31 Lexus was penalised with a drive-through for the contact. Coca-Cola Corner had been a popular place for GT300 overtakes throughout the race with Kobayashi overtaking Gamou for fifth position with half an hour left in the race. More bad luck for the Seven x Seven Porsche saw them suffer yet another rear-left puncture. The #87 JLOC Lamborghini team also had a race to forget as the Huracan slowly limped home with an issue, joining the sister #0 car in retirement. After a sluggish start to the weekend, the #100 Stanley Team Kunimitsu Honda found its form again in the hands of Makino as he muscled his way pass the #12 Team Inpul Nissan of Hiramine at Dunlop Corner for the final spot on the podium. 

With less than twelve minutes left on the clock, Fagg pitted the #777 D’station Aston Martin from the lead of GT300 for refuelling, since their second pitstop was earlier than anticipated due to the puncture. He rejoined the race in third position, but the battle for fourth was slowly heating up as Kobayashi in the #7 Ferrari was all over the back of Yuui Tsutsumi in the #2 Toyota. The Toyota junior did not need a second invitation as Tsutsumi’s exit out of turn thirteen was compromised by GT500 traffic which allowed Kobayashi to dive down the inside into Netz Corner and moved the Ferrari up to fourth position. The battle for tenth in GT500 turned into drama as the #3 NISMO NDDP Nissan of Daiki Sasaki was rear-ended by Ren Sato in the #16 ARTA Honda which caused rear damage to the Nissan, but Sasaki managed to carry on and finish the race as the #16 Honda was awarded a forty second penalty for the collision. 

The #61 R&D Sport Subaru inherited the lead of GT300 after the D’station Aston Martin’s late stop with Merhi in the #6 Velorex Ferrari wringing down his neck behind. Despite Merhi being able to bring the gap down significantly due to rapid lap times, the time was running out for the Spaniard, and the #61 Subaru was set to take victory for the first time since 2022. However, the unthinkable happened on the final lap as the #61 Subaru grounded to a halt before Dunlop Corner after suffering an engine failure. Heartbreak for the R&D Sport team but to the delight of the Velorex crew which took the lead with half a lap left in the race. 

Out front in GT500, a dominant performance for the #38 Team KeePer Cerumo Toyota saw Ishiura bring the car home, and took the teams’ first win in six years, with his teammate Oyu winning for the first time as a Toyota driver. Defending champions in the #1 Team au TOM'S Toyota crossed the line in second place to complete a Toyota one-two at their home track, while the final spot on the podium went the way of the #100 Stanley Team Kunimitsu Honda after an impressive late charge by Makino.

After starting from twenty-seventh on the grid, the #6 Velorex Ferrari of Roberto Merhi crossed the line first to take the Prancing Horse’s first victory since 2009 in GT300 along with teammate Yoshiaki Katayama. Charlie Fagg in the #777 D’station Aston Martin finished second alongside teammate Tomonobu Fujii despite the extra stop at the end. The #7 CarGuy MKS Racing Ferrari came across the line in third position but was demoted to fourth after receiving a ten second penalty post-race for pit work infringement. This promoted the #2 Hyper Water Racing Inging Toyota of Yuui Tsutsumi and Hibiki Taira on the last step of the podium. 

THE RETURN OF SEPANG

The Super GT Series will return to Sepang on the 27th – 28th of June for the first time since 2013. The defending champion #1 Team au TOM'S Toyota extend their lead at the top of the GT500 standings with the #38 Team KeePer Cerumo Toyota climbing up to second after their victory. A similar story in GT300 sees the Okayama winning #65 LEON Racing Mercedes maintain their championship lead with the #6 Velorex Ferrari, the #26 Anest Iwata Racing Lexus and the #56 Kondo Racing Nissan all tied on twenty-six points, eleven points behind the championship leader.

Images © Super GT