Oct 25th, 2024
On October 19-20, the 7th round of SUPER GT 2024 was held at Autopolis in Oita Prefecture. Similar to the 6th round at Sugo, this event was also hit by bad weather, leading to both the official practice and qualifying sessions being canceled on the 19th. This led to both the qualifiers and the final race to be held on the 20th.
On race day (Sunday), the circuit was shrouded in fog with drizzling conditions from the morning. Although the fog gradually thinned out by the start of qualifying, the track remained wet. Qualifiers for the GT500 class began at 8:30 am, with driver Tsukakoshi starting his stint on wet tires but switched to dry tires as the course conditions began to change. After warming up the tires, he launched another time attack and set the fastest time, creating excitement for the team. Although other cars surpassed his time with 5 minutes remaining, the Astemo CIVIC TYPE R-GT secured the 4th grid position.
The final race was pushed back by 20 minutes from its original 1:00 pm start time, due to the rescheduling of the qualifying sessions. As the weather began to clear up just before the final race, the three-hour race finally kicked off. Tsukakoshi took the initial stint, maintaining the 4th position on the opening lap and then chased the cars ahead. On the 6th lap, using the mixed traffic with the 300-class group, he passed car #14 (ENEOS X PRIME GR Supra) at the first corner, moving up to 3rd. On the 23rd lap, a full-course yellow (FCY) was declared due to another car's mechanical trouble, followed by a safety car emerging, and the race restarted on the 28th lap. With car #39 (DENSO KOBELCO SARD GR Supra) closing in from behind, Tsukakoshi fiercely defended his 3rd place position. Pit stops began on the 33rd lap, and the Astemo CIVIC TYPE R-GT pitted on the 35th lap.
The driver changed to Ota, who rejoined the track in 8th place following the tire change and refueling. After carefully warming up the tires, Ota aggressively attacked and, while battling with car #14 (ENEOS X PRIME GR Supra) and car #37 (Deloitte TOM’S GR Supra) on the 38th lap, he came into contact with car #14, causing the Astemo CIVIC TYPE R-GT to go off track. With the car sustaining severe damage, Ota could not continue the race, resulting in a retirement.
There are two races left for the 2024 season, and the team is aiming to win the next round at Motegi. Many employees are planning to come out with their families to cheer on the race, and we appreciate your continued support!