The STANLEY NSX-GT wins pole position in view of a beautiful Mt. Fuji

Official Qualifying for the FUJIMAKI GROUP FUJI GT 450km RACE, Round 2 of the 2023 AUTOBACS SUPER GT series, took place on May 3rd at Fuji Speedway (one lap 4,563 m) in Shizuoka Prefecture. In fine weather, with a clear and stunning view of Mt. Fuji, Makino in the No. 100 STANLEY NSX-GT (Naoki Yamamoto/Tadasuke Makino) won the GT500 class pole position. In the GT300 class, De Oliveira in the No. 56 REALIZE NISSAN MECHANIC CHALLENGE GT-R (Joao Paulo de Oliveira/Teppei Natori) won his first pole position in the GT300 class. These two cars will start from the front of their respective class grids in tomorrow’s (May 4th) race.

On this day, the Fuji Speedway was blessed with fair skies from morning. When the 10-minute GT500 class Q1 qualifying session started at around 3:48 in the afternoon, a tight competition quickly developed between the top ten cars, all running together within a space of one second. The winner of this tight contest was the No. 16 ARTA MUGEN NSX-GT (Hiroki Otsu) that recorded a time of 1’26.595 just before the end of the session on its 6th lap. Also, the No. 8 ARTA MUGEN NSX-GT (Toshiki Oyu) ran the second fastest time in the session, a 1’26.817 in its 5th lap to give the ARTA team a 1-2 finish. Finishing the session in 3rd position was the No. 24 Realize corporation ADVAN Z (Daiki Sasaki), making it the only Nissan Z GT500 to qualify on to Q2. The fastest TOYOTA GR Supra GT500 in this session was the No. 14 ENEOS X PRIME GR Supra (Kenta Yamashita) in 4th position. The other cars qualifying on to Q2 were the No. 36 au TOM'S GR Supra (Sho Tsuboi), the No. 17 Astemo NSX-GT (Nobuharu Matsushita), the No. 19 WedsSport ADVAN GR Supra (Yuji Kunimoto) and the No. 100 STANLEY NSX-GT (Naoki Yamamoto).

The 10-minute GT500 class Q2 session began at 4:26 in the afternoon. Here again it was the Honda NSX-GT cars that showed their speed. Taking the lead in its 5th lap with a time of 1’26.420 was Tadasuke Makino in car No. 100. The winner of last season’s pole position at Round 2 in Fuji, Sena Sakaguchi in car No. 19, continued to make time attacks until just before the checkered flag lap, but he ended up in 2nd position by just 0.076 sec. behind Makino with a time of 1’26.496. Finishing the session in 3rd position with a time of 1’26.609 on its 6th lap was Nirei Fukuzumi in car No. 16, which had finished fastest in Q1. Driving the only Nissan Z GT500 car to make it to Q2, Kohei Hirate in car No. 24 recorded a time of 1’26.779 to finish in 5th position for the starting grid of tomorrow’s race.

The GT300 class Q1 session was competed in two groups, A and B, based on the team rankings after the previous round. In Group A, the No. 10 PONOS GAINER GT-R (Riki Okusa) was fastest, while in Group B it was the No. 2 muta Racing GR86 GT (Hibiki Taira) that recorded the fastest time. In Q2, competed by the top eight qualifiers from the two groups, for a total of 16 cars, it was De Oliveira in the No. 56 REALIZE NISSAN MECHANIC CHALLENGE GT-R that had finished fastest in Q1 who made the fastest run of the session. His time of 1’35.114 gave him a surprising first-ever pole position in the GT300 class (considering the fact that he was taken seven poles in the GT500 class).

■ Pole Position Driver Comments

No. 100 STANLEY NSX-GT [GT500]

Tadasuke Makino: “I am very, very happy (to win this second pole position for me following the one in the final round of last season at Motegi) (laughs). At the official test sessions at Fuji, we weren’t able to run well because of the rain, so I think we owe this pole position to Yamamoto-san, who ran superbly in Q1 to get us through so I could compete in Q2. In tomorrow’s race I want to make up for the mistake I made in the opening round (failing to recognize the FCY after climbing to 3rd position and then losing position for that penalty).”

No. 56 REALIZE NISSAN MECHANIC CHALLENGE GT-R [GT300]

Joao Paulo de Oliveira: “The car felt good from the morning’s official practice, and it felt like our prospects were very good for the qualifying and the race to come. Like our pace in this qualifying, I feel that our pace will also be good in the race. Our tires are also well fitted for the conditions here, and we have a good set-up for the car. All that remains is for us to do a good job with the preparations for tomorrow’s race.”