O’Sullivan Surprised to Win So Early in CarGuy MKS Ferrari

Zak O’Sullivan says he is surprised how quickly CarGuy MKS Racing has been able to achieve success in its first SUPER GT season as he and Rikuto Kobayashi swept to a comfortable GT300 class victory in Sunday’s fifth round of the season at Suzuka.

British driver O’Sullivan and Toyota junior driver Kobayashi delivered the newly-formed outfit a first win in only its fourth start, after it missed the Sepang round in June, with a dominant display in the team’s Yokohama-shod No. 7 Ferrari 296 GT3.

It marks O’Sullivan’s first victory in sports car racing after he moved to Japan this season following the end of his tenure on the European single-seater ladder, which saw him reach Formula 2 while part of the Williams Formula 1 Academy.

Given the rushed nature of CarGuy MKS’s formation, the 20-year-old told Sportscar365 post-race that he couldn’t have imagined being in a position to win at such an early stage, having scored a best finish of fourth in the opening half of the season.

“Not at all,” O’Sullivan replied when asked if he expected success in SUPER GT to come so soon. “The team was put together so late — it didn’t exist at the start of the year!

“We missed all of the pre-season barring the final test at Fuji, so we had just two days of testing, and we had a tricky first round in Okayama, where we didn’t have the right construction of tire due to how late we entered the championship.

“Once we got the correct construction, straight away we were on the pace at Fuji [in Round 2]. We were always in the mix in the top five, and then the rest comes down to a bit of luck and good execution and seeing where you end up.

“What is most impressive for me is that we have been the fastest Ferrari team as well, against some pretty established teams with some fast drivers as well.

“That’s the main positive thing for me is that we are competing well against them, and especially Team LeMans [Velorex], which is on the same tire manufacturer.”

O’Sullivan took the start of the Suzuka race in the No. 7 Ferrari behind the pole-winning Subaru BRZ, but was unable to find a way by on-track due to a lack of straight line performance before coming in to hand over to Kobayashi on lap 18 of 49.

CarGuy MKS found itself overcut by the LM Corsa Lexus LC500 that stopped three laps later, but Kobayashi was able to wrestle the lead away at Spoon Curve on lap 35 before pulling away to the tune of 15 seconds over the remaining distance.

“The goal during my stint was to put the Subaru under as much pressure as possible, as we were pretty sure the Dunlop tires would drop, and then go for an undercut, as we saw in practice that the degradation wasn’t that bad on our side,” recalled O’Sullivan.

“That worked out well, but were a bit confused that we came out behind the No. 60 car [LM Corsa Lexus] after the stops; we assume they underfuelled and gambled on an FCY.

“But we knew we had the pace and Rikuto showed that, which was great. From what we had seen in the first stint, the Dunlop-shod cars had good pace initially and then dropped later in the stint, and eventually that drop came.”

O’Sullivan is combining his first season in SUPER GT with a campaign in Japan’s Super Formula series, where he drives for the Toyota-linked Kondo Racing squad.

Although he tested other types of GT3 car during the winter before the chance to race in Japan came up, O’Sullivan says he is relishing the challenge of switching between the two types of car, as well as the four-way tire war that exists in the GT300 class.

“SUPER GT is interesting because you have three rulesets in GT300 [FIA GT3, GTA-GT300 and Mother Chassis] and four different tire manufacturers,” he said. “It’s tough because of the amount of variables, but I have enjoyed it a lot.

“GT3 is such a significant category worldwide, so it’s nice to get a season under my belt, and specifically in Japan, it’s good to be on the same stage as the GT500 teams.

“It’s good to show what you can do in a GT car because it’s very different to a single-seater and there’s no guarantee you can adapt, so I’m happy about that as well.”