Whereas the SUPER GT race is usually held in 300km distance, this round at Suzuka, as same as the previous round at Fuji, run on a 450km long-distance format that is one-and-a-half times longer than the standard in which at least two refueling stops are mandated.

The weather at Suzuka in the race week was more or less affected by Typhoon Mawar particularly till Friday, a sending-in day of the event, however, on June 3 (Sat) when cars began running around the track, the rain had stopped and the sky got clearer albeit the wind remained strong.

Qualifying sessions in the afternoon saw three NSX-GTs made its way to Q2, #100 STANLEY NSX-GT (Naoki Yamamoto/Tadasuke Makino) marking the 3rd fastest time, #16 ARTA MUGEN NSX-GT (Nirei Fukuzumi/Hiroki Otsu) 6th and #17 ARTA MUGEN NSX-GT (Koudai Tsukakoshi/Nobuharu Matsushita) 7th settled in each corresponding starting grid for the race.

The race day on June 4 (Sun) was blessed with fine weather, and at 1：30 p.m. the race was started under the sky overcast with thin clouds. The entire field departed relatively cleanly but #100 STANLEY NSX-GT (Makino) left from 3rd grid soon came under the threat of #1 car and then surrendered its position at the exit of chicane on Lap-7 dropping 4th. #100 STANLEY NSX-GT (Makino) came in for new tires and refueling after running 28-laps and switched the driver from Makino to Yamamoto.

#100 STANLEY NSX-GT (Yamamoto) made its second stop on Lap-47 and raised the pace thereafter with the newly shod soft tires as planned originally. On Lap-52, when the two-third of the 77-lap race was over, there were six cars in front of #100 STANLEY NSX-GT (Yamamoto) including #3 Niterra MOTUL Z that had not yet completed the mandated second stop and #24 REALIZE CORPORATION ADVAN Z. Two laps later, on Lap-54, as #24 Z made its stop, #100 STANLEY NSX-GT (Yamamoto) was elevated nominal 6th, i.e. virtual 5th.

Yamamoto had #100 STANLEY NSX-GT run much faster than #19 WedsSport ADVAN GR Supra and #36 au TOM’S GR Supra fighting the virtual top position each other, and began quickly closing in on #23 MOTUL AUTECH Z and #1 MARELLI IMPUL Z running immediately ahead of him.

The progress of the race entirely changed on Lap-58 when #23 Z touched a GT300 car and heavily crashed at the exit of 130R. Safety Car was deployed and then the red flag was presented in order to clear the aftermath, however, the race was stopped for good because the damages incurred on the track facility had no way to be repaired in time. At this point, #100 STANLEY NSX-GT was running 5th, #16 ARTA MUGEN NSX-GT 7th and #17 ARTA MUGEN NSX-GT 9th on the track.

After the race was prematurely closed, a total of ten teams raised a protest against the initial result indicating #3 Z as the GT500-class winner despite that the car had stopped only once whereas the regulation requires at least twice in the race. The protest was accepted as “rightful” by the jury of the event and thus #3 car was given a 60-second time penalty that was deemed equivalent to the “pit-in and refueling time,” and as stated in the provisional results, #19 GR Supra moved up to the winner while #3 Z was reduced 4th.

Then, #3 Z raised yet another protest against the provisional results only to be rejected by the jury which prompted #3 Z to appeal to a higher court. Therefore, the final results of the 3rd round of the 2023 SUPER GT series will be deferred until the decision from the court of appeal is made.

GT300 Standing