The au TOM'S GR Supra wins a spectacular race coming from 6th on the grid!

The FUJIMAKI GROUP FUJI GT 450km RACE, Round 2 of the 2023 AUTOBACS SUPER GT series was held on May 4th (Thur, holiday) at Fuji Speedway (one lap 4,563m × 100 laps).

In the GT500 class, the No. 36 au TOM'S GR Supra (Sho Tsuboi / Ritomo Miyata) came from 6th position on the starting grid to take the lead in the middle stages of the race and run on to victory. In the GT300 class, the No. 56 REALIZE NISSAN MECHANIC CHALLENGE GT- R (Joao Paulo de Oliveira / Teppei Natori) started from pole position and prevailed in a close battle at the end to claim the win.

This race, held under clear skies at Fuji Speedway, gathered some 48,600 spectators to witness an exciting, and uninterrupted 450km race unfold over 100 laps of the circuit with numerous exciting dead-heat battles taking place around the track. The GT500 class race began with the pole-sitting No. 100 STANLEY NSX-GT (Naoki Yamamoto / Tadasuke Makino) taking the lead from the start, chased closely by the No. 16 ARTA MUGEN NSX-GT (Nirei Fukuzumi / Hiroki Otsu)

However, after the No. 36 au TOM'S GR Supra moved up at a fast pace to move into 3rd place by the 20th lap, it continued to close on the two leaders until it overtook car No. 16 to move into 2nd place on the 30th lap. After that, on the first of the two required pit stops, car No. 36 found itself leading the race. From there, it continued to steadily increase its lead over car No. 100 in 2nd place, and in the end, it built a lead of more than 28 seconds over the 2nd to take its first win of the season by a large margin in this 100-lap race. Unable to keep pace, car No. 100 finished in 2nd place.

Meanwhile, a closely fought race for 3rd place with constant changes in positions continued until just before the finish. To begin with, the No. 24 Realize corporation ADVAN Z (Daiki Sasaki / Kohei Hirate) that had started from 5th position on the grid adopted a strategy of extending its pit stop timing to keep it in contention for a podium finish until the final stages. But machine trouble struck with just five laps remaining and it failed to finish the race. That enabled the No. 8 ARTA MUGEN NSX-GT (Tomoki Nojiri / Toshiki Oyu) to move into 3rd place, but only to be caught by cars including the No. 17 Astemo NSX-GT (Koudai Tsukakoshi / Nobuharu Matsushita) and the No. 3 Niterra MOTUL Z (Katsumasa Chiyo / Mitsunori Takaboshi) in a close-fought battle. In the midst of this, car No. 8 was struck be trouble and slowed down just before the final lap. This allowed car No. 17 to finish the race in 3rd place.

In the GT300 class, Joao Paulo de Oliveira in the No. 56 REALIZE NISSAN MECHANIC CHALLENGE GT-R, which had started from pole position in the season opener, took and held the lead. But thanks to a successful pit stop strategy, the No. 2 muta Racing GR86 GT (Yuui Tsutsumi / Hibiki Taira / Hiroki Katoh) was able to take the lead by a small margin. But Teppei Natori, driving car No. 56, was able to close the gap and pass No. 2. And though No. 2 battled on till the end, Natori was able to hold it off and take the win with a thin 0.5 sec. margin of victory to complete the team’s win from pole position.

(Spectators: May 4th (Race day) 48,600 / May 3rd (Qualifying day) 31,600)

■ Winner Comments

No. 36 au TOM'S GR Supra [GT500]

Sho Tsuboi: “Since we were staring from 6th position on the grid, we knew we had to work our way up through the pack. It was fortunate that we were able to move up through my first stint and second stint to take the lead. Then [Miyata] Ritomo further extended our lead, and this is something that we will be able to take advantage of in the races to come. Because Fuji has been a good track for the GR Supra, and I have also done well at Fuji. Since yesterday, we knew that we would have good speed in the race. We came to this race with the intention of making up for (the trouble that kept us from finishing) at Okayama, and since we were able to do that, I fell it was a great result.”

Ritomo Miyata: “The reason that we were able to build a big lead over the cars behind was because of the great effort of Tsuboi-san in the first half. Still, I am very happy with this result. The fact is that four years ago, when I was given the opportunity to drive as a substitute in car No. 36, we ran into trouble that brought us to a stop, and it happened again in the last race, so I have a finishing rate of zero (laughs). So, I am very happy about finally winning today in car No. 36 by a big margin.”

No. 56 REALIZE NISSAN MECHANIC CHALLENGE GT-R [GT300] Joao Paulo de Oliveira: “Over these two days, we dedicated ourselves to the goal of running a perfect race. But in this race, car No. 2 ran with a very good strategy that got them out in front of us in the lead. I thought it would be difficult to come from behind and win, but Natori- san did a great job of overtaking them, and the machine maintained a strong pace that enabled us to win. I want to thank everyone for this.”

Teppei Natori: “For this first win for me in SUPER GT, I am full of gratitude to our Manager, Mr. Kodo and the team and all the fans who cheered us on. At the end, it was a hard fight with car No. 2, but they were every bit as fast as us. To pass it, I was able to take advantage of the presence of GT500 cars to catch up, and it was just a very narrow margin of opportunity that made the overtake possible. I think it was a wonderfully exciting SUPER GT race.”