STANLEY CIVIC TYPE R-GT finished 4th and highest Honda in the season opener
Okayama International CircuitThe first round of the 2025 SUPER GT series was held at Okayama International Circuit and five CIVIC TYPE R-GT cars participated in the GT500 class
In the 2025 season, Honda Racing (HRC) supplies CIVIC TYPE R-GT cars to the following five teams of which driver line-ups are basically unchanged since last season:
#8 ARTA MUGEN CIVIC TYPE R-GT (Tomoki Nojiri/Nobuharu Matsushita)
#16 ARTA MUGEN CIVIC TYPE R-GT (Hiroki Otsu/Ren Sato)
#17 Astemo CIVIC TYPE R-GT (Koudai Tsukakoshi/Syun Koide)
#64 Modulo CIVIC TYPE R-GT (Takuya Izawa/Riki Okusa)
#100 STANLEY CIVIC TYPE R-GT (Naoki Yamamoto/Tadasuke Makino)
Rookie driver Syun Koide joins in the #17 car alongside Tsukakoshi. Koide has graduated from Honda’s driver training program, becoming the 2024 Super Formula Lights champion, and was selected for a GT500 regular drive in 2025.
The official qualifying sessions took place on Saturday afternoon in the hot and humid conditions. The #100 car (Yamamoto/Makino) seized the highest grid among the CIVIC TYPE R-GT squadron. Yamamoto marked the 6th fastest time in Q1, then Makino executed, as his saying, the “almost perfect time attack" in Q2 and seized 4th grid. #16 car (Otsu/Sato) followed 8th, but #17 car in the hand of Tsukakoshi dropped to 11th which robbed rookie Koide of the opportunity to run his first official time attack. #8 car (Nojiri/Matsushita) and #64 car (Izawa/Okusa) consequently started the race from 12th and 13th grid respectively.
On 13 (Sun), the race day turned out to be a rainy day right from the morning. The 82-lap race was started at 1:10 p.m. with the Safety Car (SC) leading the pack, but was stopped immediately after the green light due to a multiple crash provoked by a car that spun after Turn-1, forcing the #16 car (Sato) into an unavoidable accident. The race was restarted at 1:55 p.m. led again by the SC. The #100 car (Makino) was running 3rd and the #17 car (Tsukakoshi) 8th at this point.
The rain began easing off and the track surface conditions were gradually getting better. The #17 car (Tsukakoshi) made up positions and closed in on the #100 car (Makino) running 3rd seemingly be in trouble to keep its pace.
On Lap-34, the #100 car (Makino) came in for refuelling, a new set of tyres and driver change, but took a little longer in the refuelling allowing the #17 car (Tsukakoshi) to take over the highest position among the CIVIC TYPE R-GT squad. The #17 car went on running, made its stop after Lap-45, and was handed over to the rookie Koide.
On Lap-52, when the entire GT500 cars had completed the driver change, the #17 car (Koide) was running 4th, the #8 car (Matsushita) 6th, and #100 car (Yamamoto) 9th. As the track surface was drying even faster, each of the pits got busy with the irregular pit work to switch from wet to dry tyres. When all the GT500 cars were running on slicks, the #17 car (Koide) maintained its 4th position, the #8 car (Matsushita) made up positions to 5th and the #100 car (Yamamoto) climbed to 7th. A car running in front of #100 car came to a standstill at the track side causing the third SC intervention of the day, which brought about further alteration of positions.
A car running in 3rd was handed a 10-sec. time penalty, and the gaps between cars were compressed under the SC, thus the combined effect pushed three Civics, #17 car (Koide), #8 car (Matsushita) and #100 car (Yamamoto), up to chronological 3rd, 4th and 5th respectively.
The SC came in after ten laps and the race was resumed. Koide who had been running a virtual 3rd tried very hard to maintain his position, however, #8 car (Matsushita) was running very close and the #39 GR Supra followed suit after passing the #100 car (Yamamoto) shortly before. These last minute battles led to yet another hectic moment at the hairpin on the final lap.
#17 car (Koide) went into the hairpin holding #8 car (Matsushita) scarcely behind, but Matsushita found a marginal gap and dived inside. As the both CIVICs braked very late they ran wide, and the #39 GR Supra was able to dive up the inside to pass the two cars. While the #8 car (Matsushita) immediately began chasing the #39 car, the #17 car (Koide) went wide enough to hit the grass.
The #8 car (Matsushita) received the chequered flag in 4th, however, an “Unsafe Driving” charge was called for after the race, and eventually a 40-sec. time penalty was handed down. As a result, the #100 car (Yamamoto/Makino) advanced to 4th, the highest among the CIVIC TYPE R-GT entrants. The #8 car also moved up to 7th and so did the #17 car to 8th albeit a lap behind. With the #64 car finishing 9th, four out of five CIVIC TYPE R-GT cars earned each share of series points.
The season opener became a tough race for everyone in the Honda camp mainly because of the rainy condition. With many SC and FCY periods jammed in the race even at the earliest stage, we had to face some tire-related problems such as the delay in tire heating right after the restart or the lesser race pace even on the tires up to temperature. Our rookie driver, Koide, put the GT500 car under control without any problem. He had driven a GT300 last year and took a close look at the GT500 maneuver including the overtake timing and so on. He might as well see the podium finish as a realistic goal, which made him adamant in defending his position against anybody, let alone for #39 GR Supra. Although ended on a sour note, I personally convinced it's no other than a racing accident. I really hope Koide would perform even better as the driver substituting Ohta (Kakunoshin).
The season opener became a tough race for everyone in the Honda camp mainly because of the rainy condition. With many SC and FCY periods jammed in the race even at the earliest stage, we had to face some tire-related problems such as the delay in tire heating right after the restart or the lesser race pace even on the tires up to temperature. Our rookie driver, Koide, put the GT500 car under control without any problem. He had driven a GT300 last year and took a close look at the GT500 maneuver including the overtake timing and so on. He might as well see the podium finish as a realistic goal, which made him adamant in defending his position against anybody, let alone for #39 GR Supra. Although ended on a sour note, I personally convinced it's no other than a racing accident. I really hope Koide would perform even better as the driver substituting Ohta (Kakunoshin).
My pace was not so good from the first on Saturday. I could somehow put things back together in the qualifying session, and thought we’d come to the position where the podium finish was at least a visible target. But in the race, I couldn’t run on the pace that I hoped for, and nothing seemed to go my way. The situation where every bit of things fell short in here, there and everywhere resulted in the outcome of the opening round, I think. GR Supra has a clear edge right now, and it’s very hard for us to topple their predominance. Of course, we ain’t gonna stand around twiddling our thumbs, never. We, together with HRC, do our best to make the car better, and fight back hand in hand with my team.
My pace was not so good from the first on Saturday. I could somehow put things back together in the qualifying session, and thought we’d come to the position where the podium finish was at least a visible target. But in the race, I couldn’t run on the pace that I hoped for, and nothing seemed to go my way. The situation where every bit of things fell short in here, there and everywhere resulted in the outcome of the opening round, I think. GR Supra has a clear edge right now, and it’s very hard for us to topple their predominance. Of course, we ain’t gonna stand around twiddling our thumbs, never. We, together with HRC, do our best to make the car better, and fight back hand in hand with my team.
I felt I’d done a perfect attack in the qualifying session, and still, I was 0.2-sec. slower than the top time. It seemed to me that the gap had grown even wider in the race. The wet tire setting did not come to my liking in the race, and I tried hard to recover it in other areas. How could I come up with the solution, so long as it can be called a solution, I still don’t know. All in all, the weekend taught us a harsh lesson about the speed of GR Supra that’s been way better than us for now. Okayama is the place where GR Supra’s speed shines anyway. We don’t know the power balance at other tracks yet, so we gotta have to clarify our shortcomings more in detail.
I felt I’d done a perfect attack in the qualifying session, and still, I was 0.2-sec. slower than the top time. It seemed to me that the gap had grown even wider in the race. The wet tire setting did not come to my liking in the race, and I tried hard to recover it in other areas. How could I come up with the solution, so long as it can be called a solution, I still don’t know. All in all, the weekend taught us a harsh lesson about the speed of GR Supra that’s been way better than us for now. Okayama is the place where GR Supra’s speed shines anyway. We don’t know the power balance at other tracks yet, so we gotta have to clarify our shortcomings more in detail.
On the final lap, I went into the hairpin considering the best line to take, because the innermost part of the corner was still damp and I had to be very careful in braking at that time. Thereupon, #8 car came inside and I tried to get it back by crossing the line only to end up in a position to be pushed out to the escape zone. I'm not sure even now which line was the best. I could see the podium finish in my debut to the GT500 race, and I can't deny that I was hot blooded for the reason, but it was a super tough race anyway especially thinking about the track surface condition. I'll put all these in my mind and try not to do the same mistake again. I'd like to further brush up my skill and become a driver team can rely upon.
On the final lap, I went into the hairpin considering the best line to take, because the innermost part of the corner was still damp and I had to be very careful in braking at that time. Thereupon, #8 car came inside and I tried to get it back by crossing the line only to end up in a position to be pushed out to the escape zone. I'm not sure even now which line was the best. I could see the podium finish in my debut to the GT500 race, and I can't deny that I was hot blooded for the reason, but it was a super tough race anyway especially thinking about the track surface condition. I'll put all these in my mind and try not to do the same mistake again. I'd like to further brush up my skill and become a driver team can rely upon.
GT500 Race Result
Pos. | No. | Team | Driver | Time/Gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 1 | TGR TEAM au TOM’S ⠀ | Sho Tsuboi / Kenta Yamashita | 2:55'17.063 |
2 | 14 | TGR TEAM ENEOS ROOKIE ⠀ | Kazuya Oshima / Nirei Fukuzumi | +2.859 |
3 | 39 | TGR TEAM SARD ⠀ | Yuhi Sekiguchi / Sacha Fenestraz | +12.368 |
4 | 100 | STANLEY TEAM KUNIMITSU ⠀ | Naoki Yamamoto / Tadasuke Makino | +14.008 |
5 | 37 | TGR TEAM Deloitte TOM’S ⠀ | Ukyo Sasahara / Giuliano Alesi | +15.120 |
6 | 23 | NISMO ⠀ | Katsumasa Chiyo / Mitsunori Takaboshi | +22.274 |
7 | 8 | ARTA #8 ⠀ | Tomoki Nojiri / Nobuharu Matsushita | +53.444 |
8 | 17 | Astemo REAL RACING ⠀ | Koudai Tsukakoshi / Syun Koide | +1 Lap |
9 | 64 | Modulo Nakajima Racing ⠀ | Takuya Izawa / Riki Okusa | +1 Lap |
10 | 3 | NISMO NDDP ⠀ | Daiki Sasaki / Atsushi Miyake | +2 Laps |
11 | 24 | KONDO RACING ⠀ | Tsugio Matsuda / Teppei Natori | +12 Laps |
12 | 19 | TGR TEAM WedsSport BANDOH ⠀ | Yuji Kunimoto / Sena Sakaguchi | +17 Laps |
– | 38 | TGR TEAM KeePer CERUMO ⠀ | Hiroaki Ishiura / Toshiki Oyu | +78 Laps |
– | 16 | ARTA #16 ⠀ | Hiroki Otsu / Ren Sato | +78 Laps |
– | 12 | TEAM IMPUL ⠀ | Kazuki Hiramine / Bertrand Baguette | +78 Laps |
GT500 Team Ranking
Pos. | No. | Team | Driver | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 1 | TGR TEAM au TOM’S | Sho Tsuboi / Kenta Yamashita | 20 |
2 | 14 | TGR TEAM ENEOS ROOKIE | Kazuya Oshima / Nirei Fukuzumi | 16 |
3 | 39 | TGR TEAM SARD | Yuhi Sekiguchi / Sacha Fenestraz | 11 |
4 | 100 | STANLEY TEAM KUNIMITSU | Naoki Yamamoto / Tadasuke Makino | 8 |
5 | 37 | TGR TEAM Deloitte TOM’S | Ukyo Sasahara / Giuliano Alesi | 6 |
6 | 23 | NISMO | Katsumasa Chiyo / Mitsunori Takaboshi | 5 |
7 | 8 | ARTA #8 | Tomoki Nojiri / Nobuharu Matsushita | 4 |
8 | 17 | Astemo REAL RACING | Koudai Tsukakoshi / Syun Koide | 3 |
9 | 64 | Modulo Nakajima Racing | Takuya Izawa / Riki Okusa | 2 |
