Amidst an uncharacteristically intense and humid summer with temperatures cresting 35 degrees Celsius, on August 3-4 our team competed in the fourth round of SUPER GT 2024, held at Fuji Speedway.
In SUPER GT qualifying, the starting grid for the final race is set by the combined Q1 and Q2 times. Having finished the third round of the season in 8th place overall, the team entered the qualifying sessions saddled with a success ballast of 38 kg. Mr. Ota, who took charge of Q1, showed his aggressive driving prowess and finished 6th, just 0.3 seconds behind the leading #100 STANLEY CIVIC TYPE R-GT—reflecting how tight the race is. Mr. Tsukakoshi took on Q2 and took the checkered flag in 7th, 0.6 seconds behind the leading #8 ARTA CIVIC TYPE R-GT. Combined, this moved them up the grid to a 5th position start for the final race.
For the 350-kilometer final race, Mr. Ota in the first stint aggressively tackled the congested turn 1, but #12 IMPUL Z and #14 ENEOS X PRIME GR Supra snuck through, forcing him to continue the pursuit from 7th. As the mixed racing with GT300-class machines began in full swing, he continued to chase the #12 Z, maintaining a position 0.8 seconds behind on lap 13. With a Full Course Yellow (FCY) due to a machine stoppage from the GT300 class, the team decided on an earlier-than-planned pit stop on lap 30. The driver change from Mr. Ota to Mr. Tsukakoshi coincided with a flawless execution of refueling and swapping for a full set of fresh tires. Re-entering the race effectively in 14th, Mr. Tsukakoshi continued the tenacious chase for the top spot. As other cars continued to pit, we managed to get ahead of car number 12 as it exited the pit on lap 36, which we had been chasing since the first stint, resulting in a bump to 6th place.
Unfortunately, we couldn’t close the gap to gain further positions, and with car #12 passing us again on lap 49, we fell back to 7th. Pushing our machine to the limit, we started to run out of fuel just before the checkered flag, resulting in the #36 au TOM'S GR Supra to pass us in the final moments, resulting in a rollercoaster 8th place finish.