STANLEY NSX-GT Wins from Pole at Twin Ring Motegi

Mobility Resort Motegi

Round 4 of the 2021 SUPER GT Series was held at Twin Ring Motegi in Tochigi, over the July 17 - 18 weekend. Five NSX-GTs and three NSX GT3s ran in the GT500 and GT300 classes respectively.

STANLEY NSX-GT Wins from Pole at Twin Ring Motegi

Round 3, which was planned to be held in late May at the Suzuka Circuit, was delayed until August due to the coronavirus, making Twin Ring Motegi the de facto third round.

Qualifying sessions began on 2：15 pm on Saturday under clear skies. STANLEY NSX-GT #1 (Tadasuke Makino), Red Bull MOTUL MUGEN NSX-GT #16 (Toshiki Oyu) and Modulo NSX-GT #64 (Hiroki Otsu) proceeded to Round 2, in which STANLEY NSX-GT #1 (Naoki Yamamoto) took pole position, Red Bull MOTUL MUGEN NSX-GT #16 (Ukyo Sasahara) was third fastest, and Modulo NSX-GT #64 (Takuya Izawa) finished sixth.

The sunny weather continued through to Sunday, and under under blistering sunshine on a blistering track, the 63-lap race started at 1：16 pm. STANLEY NSX-GT #1 (Makino) held on to the lead for the first seven laps, until the #19 car moved ahead. STANLEY NSX-GT #1 (Makino) gradually lost ground but held on to second place until Lap 24, when they pitted for a driver change.

With Yamamoto behind the wheel, STANLEY NSX-GT #1 regained the lead on Lap 28 when the #19 car had issues in the pits, giving the #1 car a 4-second advantage. The #19 car was no slouch however, and by Lap 37 was 0.1 s behind Yamamoto. After that, two FCYs (Full Course Yellows) due to GT300 accidents ensured that there were no overtakes, well into the late stages.

With ten laps to go, #19 was once again on Yamamoto’s tail, but concentrating on his racing lines, the #1 car managed to increase the gap, and take the checkered flag. Red Bull MOTUL MUGEN NSX-GT #16 (Sasahara / Oyu) was fourth, and ARTA NSX-GT #8 (Tomoki Nojiri / Nirei Fukuzumi) was fifth from 9th grid, scoring championship points.

GT500 Race Results

Pos.	Num.	Machine	Drivers	Laps	Time/Gap
1	1	STANLEY NSX-GT	Naoki Yamamoto/Tadasuke Makino	63	1:54'03.865
2	19	WedsSport ADVAN GR Supra	Yuji Kunimoto/Ritomo Miyata	63	+3.221
3	36	au TOM'S GR Supra	Yuhi Sekiguchi/Sho Tsuboi	63	+11.88
4	16	Red Bull MOTUL MUGEN NSX-GT	Ukyo Sasahara/Toshiki Oyu	63	+29.226
5	8	ARTA NSX-GT	Tomoki Nojiri/Nirei Fukuzumi	63	+30.521
6	3	CRAFTSPORTS MOTUL GT-R	Kohei Hirate/Katsumasa Chiyo	63	+54.164

14	17	Astemo NSX-GT	Koudai Tsukakoshi/Bertrand Baguette	49	+14 Laps
RT	64	Modulo NSX-GT	Takuya Izawa/Hiroki Otsu	43	+20 Laps

GT300 Race Results

Pos.	Num.	Machine	Drivers	Laps	Time/Gap
1	2	muta Racing Lotus MC	Hiroki Katoh/Ryohei Sakaguchi	58	1:54'05.407
2	11	GAINER TANAX GT-R	Katsuyuki Hiranaka/Hironobu Yasuda	58	+1.576
3	52	SAITAMATOYOPET GB GR Supra GT	Hiroki Yoshida/Kohta Kawaai	58	+1.819
4	244	Takanoko-no-yu GR Supra GT	Atsushi Miyake/Yuui Tsutsumi	58	+10.821
5	4	GOODSMILE HATSUNE MIKU AMG	Nobuteru Taniguchi/Tatsuya Kataoka	58	+15.287
6	25	HOPPY Porsche	Takamitsu Matsui/Kimiya Sato	58	+35.614

10	18	UPGARAGE NSX GT3	Takashi Kobayashi/Teppei Natori	58	+1'14.820
17	34	Yogibo NSX GT3	Ryo Michigami/Shogo Mitsuyama	58	+3'09.975
23	55	ARTA NSX GT3	Shinichi Takagi/Ren Sato	56	+2 Laps

GT500 Standing

Pos.	Num.	Drivers	Machine	Pts
1	14	Kazuya Oshima/Kenta Yamashita	ENEOS X PRIME GR Supra	35
2	1	Naoki Yamamoto	STANLEY NSX-GT	32
3	1	Tadasuke Makino	STANLEY NSX-GT	29
4	37	Ryo Hirakawa/Sena Sakaguchi	KeePer TOM'S GR Supra	27
5	17	Koudai Tsukakoshi/Bertrand Baguette	Astemo NSX-GT	26
6	36	Yuhi Sekiguchi/Sho Tsuboi	au TOM'S GR Supra	26

10	8	Tomoki Nojiri/Nirei Fukuzumi	ARTA NSX-GT	13
11	16	Ukyo Sasahara/Toshiki Oyu	Red Bull MOTUL MUGEN NSX-GT	8
13	1	Hideki Mutoh	STANLEY NSX-GT	3
16	64	Takuya Izawa/Hiroki Otsu	Modulo NSX-GT	1

GT300 Standing

Pos.	Num.	Drivers	Machine	Pts
1	65	Naoya Gamou/Togo Suganami	LEON PYRAMID AMG	25
2	11	Katsuyuki Hiranaka/Hironobu Yasuda	GAINER TANAX GT-R	25
3	56	Kiyoto Fujinami/Joao Paulo de Oliveira	Realize Nissan Automobile Technical College GT-R	24
4	60	Hiroki Yoshimoto/Shunsuke Kohno	SYNTIUM LMcorsa RC F GT3	23
5	52	Hiroki Yoshida/Kohta Kawaai	SAITAMATOYOPET GB GR Supra GT	22
6	2	Hiroki Katoh/Ryohei Sakaguchi	muta Racing Lotus MC	21

9	55	Shinichi Takagi/Ren Sato	ARTA NSX GT3	11
17	18	Takashi Kobayashi/Teppei Natori	UPGARAGE NSX GT3	3

Masahiro Saiki

HRC SGT Large Project Leader

In the intense heat, we new tires would be key. We managed to win because Yamamoto and Makino took pole position. It’s also in part due to the fact that we worked hard on the car, taking advantage of the long interval from Round 2, and went over details that we otherwise wouldn’t have the time for. There were cars with problems, however, so we’ll be double-checking everything in time for Suzuka. We haven’t won there since 2018, so we’ll be giving it everything we have.

Naoki Yamamoto ¹

TEAM KUNIMITSU

It was an enthralling win. It went according to plan perfectly, and we got the perfect results. I honestly didn’t think we would get in front of the #19 car. They caught up to us soon enough, but instead of trying too hard, I kept them close to reduce their downforce and raise their tire temperature. There were some close calls, but I think I did a good job. This win gives us the overall lead! Under the current regulations, Makino missed Round 1 so we can’t win the drivers’ championship, but we can still defend the team championship. We did well at the track tests at Suzuka, so I’m looking forward to it.

Tadasuke Makino ¹

TEAM KUNIMITSU

I’m really glad we could take the win from pole position, as we planned. I drove the first half, and despite a few mistakes, I managed to keep my cool and set up the second half of the race. We managed to win thanks to Yamamoto. I’m grateful to the team for their top class pit work as well. I think the real challenge in the season starts when the cars have weight handicaps, so I’ll do all I can to help us defend the championship title.