STANLEY NSX-GT and Astemo NSX-GT finish on the podium in second and third place
Fuji SpeedwayMay 3 (Wed) - 4 (Thu) ― The second round of the 2023 SUPER GT series was held at FUJI SPEEDWAY (Shizuoka Pref.) and five NSX-GT cars of the 2023 spec and two NSX-GT3 cars participated in each of the GT500 and GT300 class.
While the standard race distance of the SUPER GT series is 300km, this round at Fuji run on a 450km long-distance format that is one-and-a-half times longer than the standard. For that reason, at least two refueling stops are mandated in the race.
The race week at the foot of Mt. Fuji was blessed with fine weather. FUJI SPEEDWAY is not necessarily suitable for NSX-GT mainly because of its immoderately long straight, however, four out of five NSX-GT cars made its way to Q2 after fighting through the first official qualifying session run under a glaring sun. #100 STANLEY NSX-GT (Naoki Yamamoto/Tadasuke Makino) captured pole position followed by #16 ARTA MUGEN NSX-GT (Nirei Fukuzumi/Hiroki Otsu) in 3rd, #8 ARTA MUGEN NSX-GT (Tomoki Nojiri/Toshiki Oyu) in 7th and #17 Astemo NSX-GT (Koudai Tsukakoshi/Nobuharu Matsushita) in 8th on the starting grid for the race.
On the following day, May 4th (Thu) saw another bright and clear weather, and at 1:37 p.m. the race was started. While #100 STANLEY NSX-GT (Tadasuke Makino) maintained top position from the pole start, #16 ARTA MUGEN NSX-GT (Nirei Fukuzumi) immediately passed the car in front and made 1-2 formation of NSX-GT to lead the early part of the race. But on Lap-31, #36 au TOM'S GR Supra that had quickly been catching up from behind swiped the 2nd position from #16 ARTA MUGEN NSX-GT (Fukuzumi).
#100 STANLEY NSX-GT (Makino) came in for refueling right after Lap-31 and returned the track without driver change, in the mean time, #8 ARTA MUGEN NSX-GT (Tomoki Nojiri) chosing an early-stop strategy had already pitted for refueling as early as on Lap-22 and took over the leading position.
#36 au TOM'S GR Supra made its stop next lap around and, much thanks to the lightning-fast pit work, got back on track just in front of the NSX-GT element led by #8 ARTA MUGEN NSX-GT (Nojiri) with #100 STANLEY NSX-GT (Makino) to follow as wingman. The state of the race thereafter looked stuck in a three-way pursuit with #36 au TOM'S GR Supra on the run being chased by the NSX-GT trio consisting of #8 ARTA MUGEN (Nojiri), #100 STANLEY (Makio) and another ARTA MUGEN #16 driven by Fukuzumi.
At the end of Lap-61, #8 ARTA MUGEN NSX-GT (Nojiri) came in for the second refueling and Toshiki Oyu took over the stint. Two laps later on Lap-63, #36 au TOM'S GR Supra and #100 STANLEY NSX-GT (Makino) followed suit. #100 STANLEY NSX-GT now in the hands of Naoki Yamamoto rejoined the race in front of #8 ARTA MUGEN NSX-GT (Oyu) but was held behind #36 au TOM'S GR Supra. Down from the top-three runners, #17 Astemo NSX-GT switched from Nobuharu Matsushita to Koudai Tsukakoshi was rapidly closing in on #8 ARTA MUGEN NSX-GT (Oyu) and begun tail-to-nose battle for the 4th place.
In the very end, #100 STANLEY NSX-GT (Yamamoto) stayed in 2nd for the rest of the 100-lap race and received the checkered flag in that position. A couple of major upsets happened in the closing laps: #24 Realize corporation ADVAN Z running 3rd dropped out due to mechanical trouble, and #8 ARTA MUGEN NSX-GT (Oyu) made emergency pit-stop on the penultimate lap compelled by the signs of fuel starvation, which brought #17 Astemo NSX-GT (Tsukakoshi) an unexpected but deserved 3rd place.
Although we got the pole position, we weren’t be able to stand against #36 car due to the performance gap derived from the matching between tires and set ups. The race pace of #100 car was even with #36 car when running clean, however, after hitting the GT300 traffic, it took longer to get back on pace and was increasingly delayed, which we suspect attributable to the so-called tire pick-up (catching rubber debris on the tread surface.) We’ll come back to Fuji again in this season, so we try hard to show better race for the next time.
We couldn’t raise our pace as much as we wished in the race. So, honestly speaking, 2nd finish was so far so good. Our race pace was a problem for us to solve and yet I felt there’re a few rivals way faster than us, the winning machine, #36 car and #17 car that finished 3rd, for instance. It’s fortunate for us, the Honda camp, that we got 2nd and 3rd places and some good shares of series point, however, we’ll have to come up with useful solutions to match the #36 when we revisit Fuji. We’ll have Suzuka round before that and would like to do good race there again.
Level of qualifying sessions were so high, in which we could get pole position. That means we basically have speed, however, #36 car completely defeated us with the race pace much higher than us. #17 car was very quick as well in the late stage, which we’ll have to admit with respect and reflect on our best efforts to prepare for the forthcoming Suzuka. We still have a long season to go, and would like to flight through the races ahead of us so that we’d be able to conclude today’s 2nd finish would eventually be a worthy result.
We could finish 3rd in the end, and it was, so to speak, a good race. I’ve felt some difficulty at Fuji for these few years and not been able to drive well, but today I think I could finally drive to my satisfaction. We’ve found a clue or two to make our car go faster at Fuji and that’s pretty good for the team too. For all that, we’re still lagging behind in the qualifying speed and have many other shortcomings as well as some personal regrets over my battles in the race, that’s what I’ll have to endeavor for more.
I myself have had hard times at Fuji regardless of categories, and today, my first stint wasn’t very good as well particularly in pace-wise. I honestly thought it’s far below my expectations, but the last stint done by Koudai-san was wonderful. Especially, his pace in the very last part looked super to me, so I think now I could learn something from it.
GT500 Race Result
| Pos. | Num. | Machine | Driver | Time |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 36 | au TOM'S GR Supra | Sho Tsuboi Ritomo Miyata | 2:33'36.151 |
| 2 | 100 | STANLEY NSX-GT | Naoki Yamamoto Tadasuke Makino | +28.519 |
| 3 | 17 | Astemo NSX-GT | Koudai Tsukakoshi Nobuharu Matsushita | +49.370 |
| 4 | 14 | ENEOS X PRIME GR Supra | Kazuya Oshima Kenta Yamashita | +50.466 |
| 5 | 3 | Niterra MOTUL Z | Katsumasa Chiyo Mitsunori Takaboshi | +58.159 |
| 6 | 37 | Deloitte TOM'S GR Supra | Ukyo Sasahara Giuliano Alesi | +59.585 |
| 10 | 16 | ARTA MUGEN NSX-GT | Nirei Fukuzumi Hiroki Otsu | +1:21.199 |
| 11 | 8 | ARTA MUGEN NSX-GT | Tomoki Nojiri Toshiki Oyu | +1 Lap |
| 14 | 64 | Modulo NSX-GT | Takuya Izawa Kakunoshin Ohta | +1 Lap |
GT300 Race Result
| Pos. | Num. | Machine | Driver | Time |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 56 | REALIZE NISSAN MECHANIC CHALLENGE GT-R | Joao Paulo de Oliveira Teppei Natori | 2:35'03.979 |
| 2 | 2 | muta Racing GR86 GT | Yuui Tsutsumi Hibiki Taira Hiroki Katoh | +0.579 |
| 3 | 52 | SAITAMATOYOPET GB GR Supra GT | Hiroki Yoshida Kohta Kawaai | +1 Lap |
| 4 | 65 | LEON PYRAMID AMG | Naoya Gamou Takuro Shinohara | +1 Lap |
| 5 | 10 | PONOS GAINER GT-R | Hironobu Yasuda Riki Okusa | +1 Lap |
| 6 | 88 | JLOC LAMBORGHINI GT3 | Takashi Kogure Yuya Motojima | +1 Lap |
| 15 | 27 | Yogibo NSX GT3 | Yugo Iwasawa Reimei Ito | +2 Laps |
| 24 | 18 | UPGARAGE NSX GT3 | Takashi Kobayashi Syun Koide | +47 Laps |
GT500 Standing
| Pos. | Num. | Driver | Machine | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 23 | Tsugio Matsuda Ronnie Quintarelli | MOTUL AUTECH Z | 25 |
| 2 | 3 | Katsumasa Chiyo Mitsunori Takaboshi | Niterra MOTUL Z | 21 |
| 3 | 36 | Sho Tsuboi Ritomo Miyata | au TOM'S GR Supra | 20 |
| 4 | 100 | Naoki Yamamoto Tadasuke Makino | STANLEY NSX-GT | 16 |
| 5 | 14 | Kazuya Oshima Kenta Yamashita | ENEOS X PRIME GR Supra | 16 |
| 6 | 17 | Koudai Tsukakoshi Nobuharu Matsushita | Astemo NSX-GT | 15 |
| 7 | 8 | Tomoki Nojiri Toshiki Oyu | ARTA MUGEN NSX-GT | 11 |
| 13 | 16 | Nirei Fukuzumi Hiroki Otsu | ARTA MUGEN NSX-GT | 1 |
| 14 | 64 | Takuya Izawa Kakunoshin Ohta | Modulo NSX-GT | 1 |
GT300 Standing
|
Pos. |
Num. |
Driver |
Machine |
Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |
65 |
Naoya Gamou |
LEON PYRAMID AMG |
24 |
|
2 |
56 |
Joao Paulo de Oliveira Teppei Natori |
REALIZE NISSAN MECHANIC CHALLENGE GT-R |
22 |
| 3 |
18 |
Takashi Kobayashi |
UPGARAGE NSX GT3 |
20 |
| 4 |
52 |
Hiroki Yoshida |
SAITAMATOYOPET GB GR Supra GT |
17 |
| 5 |
2 |
Yuui Tsutsumi |
muta Racing GR86 GT |
15 |
| 6 |
244 |
Kimiya Sato |
HACHI-ICHI GR Supra GT |
11 |
| 7 |
27 |
Yugo Iwasawa |
Yogibo NSX GT3 |
8 |
