Kondo Nissan Scores Surprise Autopolis Pole

Teppei Natori delivered the Kondo Racing Nissan team a surprise pole position for the sixth round of the SUPER GT season in a delayed qualifying session at Autopolis.

On a damp but drying track, GT500 rookie Natori produced a best lap of 1:33.162 at the wheel of the Yokohama-shod No. 24 Nissan Z he shares with Tsugio Matsuda, scoring his first pole and the team’s first since last year’s summer Fuji race.

That was enough to beat the No. 23 NISMO car of Katsumasa Chiyo by a scant 0.081 seconds, with Chiyo making it an all-Nissan front row for Sunday’s three-hour race.

Qualifying was delayed to Sunday morning following bad weather at Autopolis on Saturday, with a single 30-minute session for each class deciding the grid.

The track was still slightly damp when the GT500s went out on track, with most teams opting to start on wet tires before coming in for slicks later on.

One exception was the Team Kunimitsu Honda Civic Type-R of Tadasuke Makino, who stole a march on the field by heading out on slicks at the start of the session, Makino setting a provisional best time of 1:34.729.

That was later beaten by the Real Racing Honda of Koudai Tsukakoshi on a 1’33.801 before Natori set the time that would be good enough for pole, although he was on course to go even faster on his next lap before making a mistake in the final sector.

Third-fastest behind the two lead Nissans was the best of the Toyota GR Supras, the No. 14 Rookie Racing machine of Nirei Fukuzumi, with Tsukakoshi ending up as the lead Honda in fourth place.

Mitsunori Takaboshi made it three Zs in the top five as he put the No. 3 NISMO car fifth, with Makino slipping to seventh behind the No. 16 ARTA Honda of Hiroki Otsu.

The points-leading No. 36 TOM’S Toyota was ninth-fastest in the hands of Sho Tsuboi, five places ahead of the sister No. 37 car driven by Ukyo Sasahara.

Merhi Takes First GT300 Pole for Team LeMans

In the GT300 class, Roberto Merhi came out on top in a thrilling pole battle to give Team LeMans its first ever pole position in the lower division, and a first for the Ferrari 296 GT3 that made its SUPER GT debut this year.

Merhi, who shares the No. 6 Ferrari with Yoshiaki Katayama, posted a best time of 1:46.524 to grab pole, as a red flag caused by an off for the Goodsmile Racing Mercedes-AMG effectively turned the session into a six-minute shootout.

At first it was the Kondo Racing Nissan GT-R NISMO GT3 of Joao Paulo de Oliveira on provisional pole, with the Brazilian trading fastest times with Merhi as the track conditions improved rapidly in the closing moments of the half-hour session.

De Oliveira finally fell short by 0.261 seconds in the battle for pole, with Tomonobu Fujii taking third in the D’station Racing Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo.

Completing the top five were the K’tunes Racing Lexus RC F GT3 of Shinichi Takagi and the No. 87 JLOC Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2 of Natsu Sakaguchi.

Sunday’s three-hour race begins at 1:20 p.m. local time (12:20 a.m. EDT).

RESULTS: GT500/GT300