STANLEY CIVIC TYPE R-GT takes third in the 2025 SuperGT finale
Mobility Resort MotegiThe eighth round of the 2025 Super GT series, the ‘MOTEGI GT 300km Race Grand Final’, took place on November 1-2 and marked the last round for the CIVIC TYPE R-GT - going out on a high with an effective podium finish and climbing to second overall in the standings.
The eighth round of the 2025 Super GT series, also known as the ‘MOTEGI GT 300km Race Grand Final,’ took place at Mobility Resort MOTEGI (Tochigi Pref.) on November 1-2. As Honda had decided to switch the GT500-class base car to the new PRELUDE, this round became the last for CIVIC TYPE R-GT to run in the Super GT category.
The Honda entrants were as follows:
#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)
CIVIC TYPE R-GT cars had achieved the podium sweep in the previous round (7th), and as a result the #100 car, with a total of 52 series points, moved up to 3rd in the overall point ranking, just 8.5 points behind the leading #1 GR Supra and 2.5 points behind the #14 GR Supra in 2nd place. The challenge was on to achieve a come-from-behind victory in the final round.
The Super GT final showdown, as is customary, is fought with the entire runners freed from the success weight. The CIVIC TYPE R-GT entrants expended all possible means for the weekend, including the second engine of the season that was introduced in the previous round.
The overnight rain had stopped early in the morning on the 1st (Saturday) and the weather was getting much better when the official practice session began at 9:10 a.m. The track condition was almost dry, with small wet patches barely remaining in some places, and the forecast said it would be sunny in the afternoon.
At 2:00 p.m., the qualifying session started in the warmer climate, with bright sun shining through scattered clouds. The #8, #16, #64, and #100 cars advanced into Q2, where the #100 car, which still had a chance for the title, marked the 7th fastest time, immediately followed by the #8, #16, and #64 cars in 8th to 10th places, and the #17 car in 15th place.
The race day on the 2nd (Sunday) was greeted by fine weather, with the air and track temperatures of 20℃ and 22℃, respectively. All the entrants shod on slick tyres set out for the formation lap and the 63-lap race started a little after 1:10 p.m.
Yamamoto, the starting driver of the #100 car, made a brilliant dash at the start, putting his heart and soul into a last-minute title upset, and overtook two Z NISMO cars (#3, #24) in rapid succession on the opening lap. The next mission for Yamamoto, now running in 5th place, was to save both tyres and fuel while maintaining his current position and to keep on going until the anticipated pit stop. He kept his 5th place for a while, and there was a brief Full-Course Yellow (FCY) period during that time, then passed #23 Z NISMO on Lap-20 to move up to the 4th place. When a pit-stop rush started after Lap 21, the #100 car automatically rose to the provisional lead, and then headed for the pit on Lap 24 for a planned driver change without refuelling. This pit-stop strategy enabled the #100 car, now driven by Makino, to return on track about 10 seconds quicker than the other teams, placing it in the provisional lead. However, the #1 GR Supra was closing in on the #100 car by about 12 seconds, and furthermore, the race pace of the former with fresher tyres was significantly faster than that of the latter running without a tyre change. On Lap 29, the #100 car surrendered its position first to the #1 GR Supra and then to the #12 Z NISMO, relegating it to 3rd place. The #100 car had to give up another position to the #23 Z NISMO on Lap 33 and settled in 4th place, and afterward, the race became uneventful. The #100 car completed the rest of the 63-lap race and took 4th place in the end.
After the race, #12 Z NISMO’s 2nd place was cancelled due to some technical infringement, which promoted the #100 car to 3rd place. As a result, the #100 car finished the last season of CIVIC TYPE R-GT ranked 2nd overall in the points standings.
As for the other CIVIC entrants, the #8 car finished 6th, the #16 car finished 8th, and the #17 car finished 13th. Meanwhile, the #64 car, driven by Izawa in what was his last drive in the GT500 category, finished 12th.
The #100 car implemented a non-stop strategy to finish as high as possible from the 7th grid and was able to finish 3rd, thus gaining 2nd overall in the series point ranking. Other CIVIC TYPE R-GT runners left behind in the midfield were trapped in traffic, as has often been the case in recent rounds, and could not make full use of their potential. On this very occasion, we introduced the PRELUDE, which will serve as our base car to compete in the GT500 category starting next season, and I really want to make it fast and strong in order to bring the championship title back into our hands. We thank our fans in advance for their continuous support.
The #100 car implemented a non-stop strategy to finish as high as possible from the 7th grid and was able to finish 3rd, thus gaining 2nd overall in the series point ranking. Other CIVIC TYPE R-GT runners left behind in the midfield were trapped in traffic, as has often been the case in recent rounds, and could not make full use of their potential. On this very occasion, we introduced the PRELUDE, which will serve as our base car to compete in the GT500 category starting next season, and I really want to make it fast and strong in order to bring the championship title back into our hands. We thank our fans in advance for their continuous support.
I thought that the start would be the most critical because it’s hard to overtake at this track. We decided to go with a non-stop strategy just to get ahead of the #1 car, and even if we could do it, I thought that the later half of the race would be a tough fight. Of course, I’m upset, but I know it’s a season in which we did all that we could do. Although we couldn’t win the championship title during our 2-year challenge with CIVIC TYPE R-GT, we finally made it in the last year. The fact that we’re able to catch up with the #1 car is the result of hard work done by the HRC development team. The job left undone by CIVIC will surely be taken over and completed by PRELUDE, and I will try my best to beat our rivals next year.
I thought that the start would be the most critical because it’s hard to overtake at this track. We decided to go with a non-stop strategy just to get ahead of the #1 car, and even if we could do it, I thought that the later half of the race would be a tough fight. Of course, I’m upset, but I know it’s a season in which we did all that we could do. Although we couldn’t win the championship title during our 2-year challenge with CIVIC TYPE R-GT, we finally made it in the last year. The fact that we’re able to catch up with the #1 car is the result of hard work done by the HRC development team. The job left undone by CIVIC will surely be taken over and completed by PRELUDE, and I will try my best to beat our rivals next year.
Anybody could take the non-stop strategy and make it work, I think, but we’re the only ones who did it. We really wanted to win this round and capture the title, and it’s why we had to choose the strategy that had some sense of gamble in it. When I took over the drive, I thought to myself, ‘it’s going to be a tough race,’ however, I tried to concentrate not to push my tyres too hard. At the end of the day, we didn’t win the race, nor did we capture the title, that’s all.
Anybody could take the non-stop strategy and make it work, I think, but we’re the only ones who did it. We really wanted to win this round and capture the title, and it’s why we had to choose the strategy that had some sense of gamble in it. When I took over the drive, I thought to myself, ‘it’s going to be a tough race,’ however, I tried to concentrate not to push my tyres too hard. At the end of the day, we didn’t win the race, nor did we capture the title, that’s all.
It was a tough race in which we couldn’t adjust well to the low temperature conditions. My GT500 career has come to an end today, but I really enjoyed it these two days for a lot of people, including my fans, were kind enough to show their appreciation and cheer me up. I’m extremely glad that I could close my GT500 drive with NAKAJIMA RACING. I’d like to express my sincere gratitude to everybody for their long and earnest support for me. Thank you very much!
It was a tough race in which we couldn’t adjust well to the low temperature conditions. My GT500 career has come to an end today, but I really enjoyed it these two days for a lot of people, including my fans, were kind enough to show their appreciation and cheer me up. I’m extremely glad that I could close my GT500 drive with NAKAJIMA RACING. I’d like to express my sincere gratitude to everybody for their long and earnest support for me. Thank you very much!
GT500 Race Result
Pos. | No. | Team | Driver | Time/Gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 1 | TGR TEAM au TOM’S | Sho Tsuboi / Kenta Yamashita | 1:51'05.545 |
2 | 23 | NISMO | Katsumasa Chiyo / Mitsunori Takaboshi | +1.269 |
3 | 100 | STANLEY TEAM KUNIMITSU | Naoki Yamamoto / Tadasuke Makino | +26.945 |
4 | 39 | TGR TEAM SARD | Yuhi Sekiguchi / Sacha Fenestraz | +27.367 |
5 | 37 | TGR TEAM Deloitte TOM’S | Ukyo Sasahara / Giuliano Alesi | +39.116 |
6 | 8 | ARTA #8 | Tomoki Nojiri / Nobuharu Matsushita | +50.138 |
8 | 16 | ARTA #16 | Hiroki Otsu / Ren Sato | +1'01.734 |
12 | 64 | Modulo Nakajima Racing | Takuya Izawa / Riki Okusa | +1'19.565 |
13 | 17 | Astemo REAL RACING | Koudai Tsukakoshi / Syun Koide | +1'27.339 |
GT500 Team Ranking
Pos. | No. | Team | Driver | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 1 | TGR TEAM au TOM’S | Sho Tsuboi / Kenta Yamashita | 102.5 |
2 | 100 | STANLEY TEAM KUNIMITSU | Naoki Yamamoto / Tadasuke Makino | 87 |
3 | 39 | TGR TEAM SARD | Yuhi Sekiguchi / Sacha Fenestraz | 76 |
4 | 14 | TGR TEAM ENEOS ROOKIE | Kazuya Oshima / Nirei Fukuzumi | 75.5 |
5 | 38 | TGR TEAM KeePer CERUMO | Hiroaki Ishiura / Toshiki Oyu | 75 |
6 | 23 | NISMO | Katsumasa Chiyo / Mitsunori Takaboshi | 73 |
8 | 8 | ARTA #8 | Tomoki Nojiri / Nobuharu Matsushita | 54.5 |
9 | 16 | ARTA #16 | Hiroki Otsu / Ren Sato | 50.5 |
10 | 17 | Astemo REAL RACING | Koudai Tsukakoshi / Syun Koide | 45 |
13 | 64 | Modulo Nakajima Racing | Takuya Izawa / Riki Okusa | 42.5 |
