December 7 (Sat) - 8 (Sun) — The fifth round of the 2024 SUPER GT series, named as “SUZUKA GT 300km RACE GRAND FINAL”, was held at Suzuka Circuit (Mie Pref.) and five CIVIC TYPE R-GT cars and an NSX-GT3 car participated in each of the GT500 and GT300 class.

This race was to be originally held in August but postponed due to a typhoon, and rescheduled to be held practically as the final round of the series. As stipulated in the sporting regulations, the success weight of all cars was dissolved to 0-kg on this very occasion, and the race fought on an even basis.

The championship title fight came down to four cars ahead of this round; the #36 au TOM’S GR Supra at the top of the point table, #100 STANLEY CIVIC TYPE R-GT (Naoki Yamamoto/Tadasuke Makino) in 2nd, #38 GR Supra and #37 GR Supra in 3rd and 4th. For #100 car (56-points adrift) to achieve a come-from-behind victory, it needed at least to win the race with the #36 car (74-points) finish 3rd or lower in the qualifying and finish in 7th or lower in the race. To put it candidly, Honda CIVIC’s chance for the major upset was very slim.

Contrary to the races in the later half of the season that had frequently got caught in bad weather, the very last race weekend at Suzuka Circuit was greeted by a bright, cloudless sky. The qualifying sessions were carried out in fine but cold weather and saw the #36 car take the pole position straight away, claiming three points which actually robbed the #100 car of its hope for the title. The #17 Astemo CIVIC TYPE R-GT (Koudai Tsukakoshi/Kakunoshin Ohta) secured 2nd on the grid, ahead of #100 and #16 ARTA MUGEN CIVIC TYPE R-GT (Hiroki Otsu/Ren Sato) did the same 5th and 6th each to start the race tomorrow.

On Sunday, thin clouds covered the sky and it was a little colder than the day before. The race was started at 12:40 p.m., with ambient and road surface temperatures being each at 13℃ and 19℃. After the start, the #17 car (Tsukakoshi) maintained its 2nd place and the #100 car (Yamamoto) climbed to 3rd and immediately began chasing #36 car. But on lap 10, the #17 car (Tsukakoshi) dropped back to 5th after a minor collision with a GT300 car when trying to pass it.

The #100 car (Yamamoto), now running in 2nd, kept on going until lap 17, and headed for the pit lane for the driver change, but it took a little longer for tyre change allowing #17 (Ohta), who stopped a lap later, to get ahead of it. At the point when all GT500 cars completed the pit stop, #17 car (Ohta) was running 3rd behind #36 and #3 Z. FCY (Full Course Yellow) was deployed on lap 31, and #3 car committed a self-inflicted spin on the next lap when FCY was removed, which allowed the #17 car (Ohta) take up the position to pursue #36 car.

I the #17 car, Ohta looked for a chance to overtake #36 while running behind it with a one-second or so gap between them, and finally made an assault on lap 48, diving into the inside at the chicane. The move was successful, and #17 car stood at the top, albeit only briefly, because it subsequently overshot at the exit of the corner and handed the position back.

The race ended as it was with the #17 car finishing 2nd, #100 4th ahead of #16 in 5th, #8 ARTA MUGEN CIVIC TYPE R-GT (Tomoki Nojiri/Nobuharu Matsushita) 12th and #64 Modulo CIVIC TYPE R-GT (Takuya Izawa/Riki Okusa) 13th. As the results, #100 car (Yamamoto/Makino) ranked 2nd overall in the series point. The #8 ARTA MUGEN CIVIC TYPE R-GT (Tomoki Nojiri/Nobuharu Matsushita) was 9th, and #17 (Tsukakoshi/Ohta) 10th.

GT500 Race Result

GT300 Race Result

GT500 Ranking

GT300 Ranking