Sep 26th, 2024
On September 21-22, round 6 of SUPER GT 2024 was held at Sportsland SUGO. Due to round 5 at Suzuka being postponed because of a typhoon, it had been a month and a half since the last race. In spite of both days seeing rain, approximately 800 employees and their families came to the circuit.
On the day of qualifying, the heavy rain continued from the morning, creating rough conditions that threatened the afternoon's qualifying session. All cars kept updating their times during the practice runs as if it were the actual qualifying session, and the Astemo Civic Type R-GT even recorded the top time at one point. However, due to the changing rainfall and the difficulty of time attacks on the narrow SUGO course, the practice session ended with a red flag.
The official qualifying session scheduled for the afternoon was canceled for safety reasons, and the practice session results were carried over. As a result, the team started the final race from the 10th on the grid.The day for the final race started with a downpour of rain from the morning, causing the warm-up run to start one hour late. The final race also started about an hour late with a safety car start. Tsukakoshi took on the starting stint, who excels in wet conditions. The race officially started on lap 4, and Tsukakoshi quickly passed one car, then passing two more the following lap, and by lap 6, he had moved up to 6th, creating excitement in the paddocks. On lap 10, he overtook two cars at once to reach 4th. Then, on lap 18, at the final corner, he passed car #12 (MARELLI IMPAL Z) to move into 3rd. On lap 20, he overtook car #38 (KeePer CERUMO GR Supra) to reach 2nd in a remarkable charge toward the top spot. However, as the grip from the front tires started to falter, he was passed by car #14 (ENEOS X PRIME GR Supra) on lap 23 and was running in 3rd, continuing the intense battle. The safety car came out again on lap 26, and the race restarted on lap 31.
During a sudden accident involving another car on lap 42, they decided to make an urgent pit stop. Many cars pitted at this time, causing chaos in the pit lane. As the track conditions started changing from wet to dry, making tire selection difficult, the Astemo Civic Type R-GT made a timely decision to switch to slick tires. The driver changed to Ohta, who rejoined the track in 9th place, and a FCY (Full Course Yellow) was declared, followed by the safety car coming on the track. The race restarted on lap 49, and by the time all cars had pitted on lap 55, the Astemo Civic Type R-GT was running in 6th. Within the next two laps, they moved up to 4th place in a thrilling development.
Just as everyone thought, "One more car to go!", they received a drive-through penalty, falling back to 8th. However, on the final lap, they passed car #19 (WedsSports ADVAN GR Supra) and showed a tenacious performance to the very end, taking the checkered flag in 7th place.