A complete win for the Niterra MOTUL Z from a successful start dash! In the GT300 class the JLOC Lamborghini GT3 wins from pole position

Round 2 of the 2024 AUTOBACS SUPER GT series, the “FUJI GT 3 Hours RACE” was held on May 4th (Sat./Holiday) at Fuji Speedway (one lap 4,563m × 3hours) in Shizuoka Prefecture. In the GT500 class, the No. 3 Niterra MOTUL Z (Mitsunori Takaboshi/Atushi Miyake) started from 2nd position on the grid to quickly take the lead and ran on to finish the race unchallenged for the win. In the GT300 class, the No. 88 JLOC Lamborghini GT3 (Takashi Kogure/Yuya Motojima) never lost the provisional lead to take a perfect win from pole position.

In clear and pleasant May weather, some 53,900 spectators turned out this day for the SUPER GT series’ first 3-hour race and watched as Mitsunori Takaboshi in the No. 3 Niterra MOTUL started from 2nd position on the grid pass the pole-starting No. 17 Astemo CIVIC TYPE R-GT (Koudai Tsukakoshi/Kakunoshin Ohta) on the out-side of the first turn to take the lead and pull away from the pack at a strong pace. Also, the No. 23 MOTUL AUTECH Z (Katsumasa Chiyo/Ronnie Quintarelli) starting from 3rd position on the grid passed car No. 17 on the first turn of the 23rd lap of the race. After letting No. 17 get ahead during the first pit stop, but after that No. 23 succeeded in regaining its position ahead of No. 17 after the second pit stop.

The two Nissan Z NISMO GT500 cars with their bright red body coloring continued to pull away from the pack at an unbeatable pace after that. Eventually, car No. 3 completed the 3- hour, 117 lap race with a lead of 13.738 sec. over 2nd place to take the win. Car No. 23 finished the race in 2nd place to give the Nissan Z a 1-2 finish.

Following behind the two Nissan Z leaders, car No. 17 got into a fierce battle with the No. 8 ARTA MUGEN CIVIC TYPE R-GT #8 (Tomoki Nojiri/Nobuharu Matsushita). Eventually. No. 8 suffered machine trouble and No. 17 went on to finish in 3rd place. This gave the Honda CIVIC TYPE R-GT that debuted this season its second straight podium finish. As for the winner of the previous round at Okayama, the No. 36 au TOM'S GR Supra (Sho Tsuboi/Kenta Yamashita), after starting from 11th position on the grid, it gradually moved up to finish first among the TOYOTA GR Supra GT500 teams in 4th place and keep its lead in the Drivers standing.

In the GT300 class race, Yuya Motojima in the pole starting No. 88 JLOC Lamborghini GT3 pulled away from the pack from just after the start and, to keep that momentum going, made no driver change it its first pit stop and continued running at a high pace. After eventually changing drivers to Takashi Kogure he maintained its margin of lead to take a perfect win from pole position. Finishing in 2nd place was the No. 56 REALIZE NISSAN MECHANIC CHALLENGE GT-R (Daiki Sasaki/Joao Paulo de Oliveira) that finished 2nd in battle for the championship last year and the year before. Third place went to last year’s champions, the No. 52 Green Brave GR Supra GT (Hiroki Yoshida/Seita Nonaka).

(Spectators: May 4th (race day) 53,900 / May 3rd (qualifying day) 34,500)

■ Winner Comments

No. 3 Niterra MOTUL Z [GT500] Mitsunori Takaboshi: “Since we knew that the (pole-sitting) Astemo was fast, I wanted to pass it at an early stage in the race, so I was aiming to pass it in the first turn. I was able to pass it as I had planned, and I thought things would go well after that. At times it was difficult to hold the pace in the race, but I knew it was even harder for out rivals. So, I thought we could win if I kept it up, and after that I left it up to Miyake-san.”

Atsushi Miyake: “Before I knew it, we had a large margin of lead. So I concentrated on keeping calm and not making any mistakes like hitting any GT300 cars or missing a Yellow Flag on display and getting a penalty. Because of the lead Takaboshi-san gave us in the early stages, I was able to run with confidence and assurance. I never thought that I would be able to get a win in my second race after moving up to the GT500 class, so I really feel great.”

No. 88 JLOC Lamborghini GT3 [GT300]

Takashi Kogure: “I am really happy. First of all I want to thank everyone on the team, and to thank Motojima-san for running the first half of the race at such a fast pace. After not being able to win for a long time, we finally won in the last race of last year’s season, and to now get this win makes me feel that we now have good momentum. I really want to thank our team manager Noritake and the team for this.”

Yuya Motojima: “This was great. Everything was perfect from the machine to the tires and the team strategy. My stint was long, but no matter how hard I pushed the tire performed well for us, so I was able to really enjoy the race. I am so very grateful for the new parts that team manager Noritake brought us for this race, and the team members that worked all night to mount them on the car.”