Rookie Toyota Fastest as GT500 Field Gathers at Suzuka

Toyota squad Rookie Racing set the fastest time across two days of SUPER GT testing at Suzuka Circuit in which all 15 GT500 cars shared a track for the first time this year.

Marque newcomer Nirei Fukuzumi recorded the quickest time across the two-day test, a 1:43.324, aboard the No. 14 Toyota GR Supra to beat Kenta Yamashita in the No. 36 TOM’S Toyota by 0.204 seconds during Friday’s morning session.

Yamashita’s teammate Sho Tsuboi topped the opening day with a best time of 1:43.665.

Owing to bad weather in previous manufacturers’ tests at Fuji Speedway and Mobility Resort Motegi, the Suzuka test was extended to six hours of running per day, with six Toyotas, five Honda Civic Type R-GTs and four Nissan Zs all in action.

It marked the first dry-weather domestic running for the six race cars that participated in January’s test at Sepang International Circuit.

The top four times of the test were all recorded on Friday morning, with Nissan driver Katsumasa Chiyo recovered from a first-day off to go third-fastest in the No. 23 NISMO Nissan on a 1:43.539, 0.011 seconds slower than Yamashita.

Fourth-fastest was the Yokohama-shod No. 19 Racing Project Bandoh of Sena Sakaguchi, the best of the non-Bridgestone runners, 0.396 seconds off the pace.

Honda’s best lap was delivered by the No. 64 Nakajima Racing car which uses Dunlop tires, as Takuya Izawa set the second-fastest time of the final session on Friday afternoon, a 1:44.035, behind only Yamashita.

That was marginally faster than the best time delivered by a Bridgestone-shod Honda, which was a 1:44.068 set by Kakunoshin Ohta in the No. 17 Real Racing car.

Fukuzumi’s fellow Toyota newcomer Toshiki Oyu was seventh-fastest in the No. 38 Cerumo GR Supra, ahead of Bertrand Baguette in the No. 12 Impul Nissan.

The only one of the 15 cars present that set its best time on Thursday was the No. 3 NISMO Nissan in which Mitsunori Takaboshi was second-fastest only to Tsuboi on a 1:44.110, which was good enough for ninth overall.

Ukyo Sasahara rounded out the combined top 10 in the No. 37 TOM’S Toyota.

Naoki Yamamoto could only muster the 13th-fastest time at the wheel of the No. 100 Team Kunimitsu Honda, a little over a second off the pace, while the No. 8 ARTA Honda ended up 15th and last, 1.4 seconds off the pace in the hands of Nobuharu Matsushita.

The first of two official pre-season tests will take place at Okayama International Circuit on March 16-17.