ARTA NSX-GT, STANLEY NSX-GT Finish 2021 Second and Third
Fuji SpeedwayRound 8 of the 2021 SUPER GT Series was held at Fuji Speedway in Shizuoka, over the November 6 - 7 weekend.
Five NSX-GTs and three NSX GT3s ran in the GT500 and GT300 classes respectively. In this final round of the season, all success ballasts were reset to zero, allowing teams to compete purely on their cars’ performance.
In the GT500 class, NSX-GTs dominated the championship with one race to go. STANLEY NSX-GT #1 (Naoki Yamamoto) led the overall points. Teammate Tadasuke Makino was second (as he had missed a round earlier in the season), ARTA NSX-GT #8 (Tomoki Nojiri / Nirei Fukuzumi) were third, and Astemo NSX-GT #17 (Koudai Tsukakoshi / Bertrand Baguette) were fourth. Fuji Speedway’s long straights was not the best venue for a showdown, as the NSX-GTs were more suited to navigating tight turns.
Although the sun was shining, the cold front brought chilly weather, with low air and track temperatures. In Qualifying on Saturday, STANLEY NSX-GT #1 (Yamamoto / Makino) and ARTA NSX-GT #8 (Nojiri / Fukuzumi) performed well qualifying second and sixth respectively, but Astemo NSX-GT #17 (Tsukakoshi / Baguette), Red Bull MOTUL MUGEN NSX-GT #16 (Ukyo Sasahara / Toshiki Oyu) and Modulo NSX-GT #64 (Takuya Izawa / Hiroki Otsu) were tenth, 12th and 15th on the starting grid.
The last race of the season started at 1:00 pm on Sunday. Points-leader STANLEY NSX-GT #1 (Makino), unable to keep up with his competitors with faster straight-line speed, dropped down to fourth by the first turn. They could still win the championship in their current position. Makino held his ground, pitting at the earliest allowed time on Lap 22 to give the car to his teammate.
STANLEY NSX-GT #1 (Yamamoto) was one place behind on track, but by Lap 33 when all cars had pitted, he was back up to fourth, lapping consistently to win the season. With 15 laps left, at Turn 1 on Lap 51, Yamamoto was hit by a GT300 car on the inside, damaging his right front, forcing a pit stop.
ARTA NSX-GT #8 (Fukuzumi) was struggling with pace since the race started, but managed to move up one position to fifth by the time he pitted. There were problems in the pits, however, costing the team ten second, sending the #8 car down to tenth. ARTA NSX-GT #8 (Nojiri) charged hard, overtaking one car after another, and finished sixth, the best performing NSX-GT. The team’s points were not quite enough to catch the #36 car that won the final round and the championship. ARTA NSX-GT #8 finished the season second overall.
After repairing the car, STANLEY NSX-GT #1 (Yamamoto) was back on the track but out of contention, finishing the race seven-laps down in 14th. The team could not defend its championship title, finishing the season third.
Thank you for this year. The #1 car was heading steadily towards winning the championship, but was involved in an unavoidable incident, which is disappointing. The #8 car’s pace wasn’t bad, but they had an unfortunate issue in the pits. Although we didn’t win the championship which was within our reach, but there are positives. The NSX-GTs had no serious problems all season, and they were on the Fuji Speedway front row despite no success ballasts. The NSX-GTs will come back stronger next season.
Thank you for this year. The #1 car was heading steadily towards winning the championship, but was involved in an unavoidable incident, which is disappointing. The #8 car’s pace wasn’t bad, but they had an unfortunate issue in the pits. Although we didn’t win the championship which was within our reach, but there are positives. The NSX-GTs had no serious problems all season, and they were on the Fuji Speedway front row despite no success ballasts. The NSX-GTs will come back stronger next season.
Qualifying was disappointing because I was aiming for pole position. On the other hand, I wasn’t on pole for the previous two races either, so as long as we raced well, we could still win. In fact, we had a good chance today, but we lost a lot of positions in the pits. I tried everything to move through the field after I got back on track, but the tires faded and I had to slow down. I believe that overcoming tough spots is how real champions are made, so I’ll be trying even harder next season. I know I can overcome these issues. Thank you for your support this season.
Qualifying was disappointing because I was aiming for pole position. On the other hand, I wasn’t on pole for the previous two races either, so as long as we raced well, we could still win. In fact, we had a good chance today, but we lost a lot of positions in the pits. I tried everything to move through the field after I got back on track, but the tires faded and I had to slow down. I believe that overcoming tough spots is how real champions are made, so I’ll be trying even harder next season. I know I can overcome these issues. Thank you for your support this season.
From free practice, I felt we had small issues that had to be fixed. The same problems persisted in Qualifying, and in Q2, which I drove, my times weren’t as good as I expected, and we ended up sixth on the grid. Anything can happen at Fuji, though, so I spent time on Saturday night with the engineers considering how to set the car up for a long stint. We managed to solve some of the problems, but some remained. I managed to move up one spot on the first stint, but couldn’t do more by the time I handed the car to Nojiri. We had problems in the pits, but Nojiri clawed back and finished sixth, giving us second overall. We nearly won, but the competition was fierce, so I’ll work hard to come back stronger next season.
From free practice, I felt we had small issues that had to be fixed. The same problems persisted in Qualifying, and in Q2, which I drove, my times weren’t as good as I expected, and we ended up sixth on the grid. Anything can happen at Fuji, though, so I spent time on Saturday night with the engineers considering how to set the car up for a long stint. We managed to solve some of the problems, but some remained. I managed to move up one spot on the first stint, but couldn’t do more by the time I handed the car to Nojiri. We had problems in the pits, but Nojiri clawed back and finished sixth, giving us second overall. We nearly won, but the competition was fierce, so I’ll work hard to come back stronger next season.
GT500 Race Result
| Pos. | Num. | Machine | Driver | Laps | Time/Gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 36 | au TOM'S GR Supra | Yuhi Sekiguchi Sho Tsuboi |
66 | 1:48'02.596 |
| 2 | 37 | KeePer TOM'S GR Supra | Ryo Hirakawa Sacha Fenestraz |
66 | +4.689 |
| 3 | 14 | ENEOS X PRIME GR Supra | Kazuya Oshima Kenta Yamashita |
66 | +7.203 |
| 4 | 39 | DENSO KOBELCO SARD GR Supra | Heikki Kovalainen Yuichi Nakayama |
66 | +23.596 |
| 5 | 38 | ZENT CERUMO GR Supra | Yuji Tachikawa Hiroaki Ishiura |
66 | +25.012 |
| 6 | 8 | ARTA NSX-GT | Tomoki Nojiri Nirei Fukuzumi |
66 | +27.146 |
| 10 | 16 | Red Bull MOTUL MUGEN NSX-GT | Ukyo Sasahara Toshiki Oyu |
66 | +1'29.891 |
| 12 | 64 | Modulo NSX-GT | Takuya Izawa Hiroki Otsu |
65 | +1Lap |
| 14 | 1 | STANLEY NSX-GT | Naoki Yamamoto Tadasuke Makino |
59 | +7Laps |
| RT | 17 | Astemo NSX-GT | Koudai Tsukakoshi Bertrand Baguette |
4 | +62Laps |
GT300 Race Result
| Pos. | Num. | Machine | Driver | Laps | Time/Gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 60 | SYNTIUM LMcorsa GR Supra GT | Hiroki Yoshimoto Shunsuke Kohno |
61 | 1:48'17.889 |
| 2 | 65 | LEON PYRAMID AMG | Naoya Gamou Togo Suganami |
61 | +14.705 |
| 3 | 61 | SUBARU BRZ R&D SPORT | Takuto Iguchi Hideki Yamauchi |
61 | +18.585 |
| 4 | 4 | GOODSMILE HATSUNE MIKU AMG | Nobuteru Taniguchi Tatsuya Kataoka |
61 | +19.642 |
| 5 | 56 | Realize Nissan Automobile Technical College GT-R | Kiyoto Fujinami Joao Paulo de Oliveira |
61 | +20.546 |
| 6 | 25 | HOPPY Porsche | Takamitsu Matsui Kimiya Sato |
61 | +28.160 |
| 11 | 34 | Yogibo NSX GT3 | Ryo Michigami Shogo Mitsuyama |
61 | +1'18.049 |
| 24 | 55 | ARTA NSX GT3 | Shinichi Takagi Ren Sato |
46 | +15Laps |
| RT | 18 | UPGARAGE NSX GT3 | Takashi Kobayashi Teppei Natori |
25 | +36Laps |
GT500 Standing
| Pos. | Num. | Driver | Machine | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 36 | Yuhi Sekiguchi Sho Tsuboi |
au TOM'S GR Supra | 64 |
| 2 | 8 | Tomoki Nojiri Nirei Fukuzumi |
ARTA NSX-GT | 60 |
| 3 | 1 | Naoki Yamamoto | STANLEY NSX-GT | 60 |
| 4 | 1 | Tadasuke Makino | STANLEY NSX-GT | 57 |
| 5 | 14 | Kazuya Oshima Kenta Yamashita |
ENEOS X PRIME GR Supra | 52 |
| 6 | 17 | Koudai Tsukakoshi Bertrand Baguette |
Astemo NSX-GT | 52 |
| 16 | 16 | Ukyo Sasahara Toshiki Oyu |
Red Bull MOTUL MUGEN NSX-GT | 20 |
| 18 | 64 | Takuya Izawa Hiroki Otsu |
Modulo NSX-GT | 5 |
| 19 | 1 | Hideki Mutoh | STANLEY NSX-GT | 3 |
GT300 Standing
| Pos. | Num. | Driver | Machine | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 61 | Takuto Iguchi Hideki Yamauchi |
SUBARU BRZ R&D SPORT | 67 |
| 2 | 56 | Kiyoto Fujinami Joao Paulo de Oliveira |
Realize Nissan Automobile Technical College GT-R | 55 |
| 3 | 60 | Hiroki Yoshimoto Shunsuke Kohno |
SYNTIUM LMcorsa GR Supra GT | 49 |
| 4 | 55 | Shinichi Takagi Ren Sato |
ARTA NSX GT3 | 45 |
| 5 | 244 | Atsushi Miyake Yuui Tsutsumi |
Takanoko-no-yu GR Supra GT | 44 |
| 6 | 65 | Naoya Gamou Togo Suganami |
LEON PYRAMID AMG | 43 |
| 23 | 34 | Ryo Michigami Shogo Mitsuyama |
Yogibo NSX GT3 | 5 |
| 25 | 18 | Takashi Kobayashi Teppei Natori |
UPGARAGE NSX GT3 | 4 |
