Suzuka Friday Notebook

***Amid mixed weather, the quickest time across Friday’s three practice sessions for this weekend’s Suzuka 1000km was a 2:01.536 set by the Harmony Racing Ferrari 296 GT3 of Dennis Marschall in night practice. That was just over a second off the pole-winning time from the 2019 Suzuka 10 Hours, a 2:00.455 produced by Augusto Farfus.

***However, the lap times are still some way off those seen in the GT300 class in last month’s SUPER GT round at Suzuka, when the fastest qualifying time set by a FIA GT3 car was a 1:57.179 set by Rikuto Kobayashi in a CarGuy Racing Ferrari 296 GT3. The difference can be accounted for largely by confidential tires, although the Japanese series also runs to a different Balance of Performance, albeit with significant input from SRO.

***The best lap in SRO Japan Cup, a 2:01.336, came in official practice courtesy of Ukyo Sasahara in the No. 9 Bingo Racing Ferrari 296 GT3. Another Ferrari driver, Naoki Yokomizo for Maezawa Racing, led the way in pre-qualifying with a 2:01.802 best.

***Despite the title of the race, the Suzuka 1000km has no specific lap count and will run to a duration of six-and-a-half hours on race day whatever happens. An SRO spokesperson explained the decision was made not to enshrine a fixed distance in light of the drive time rules that govern the Intercontinental GT Challenge event.

***To reach the titular distance, Sunday’s race would need to last 173 laps. For reference, the winning cars in the Suzuka 10 Hours in 2018 and ’19 completed 276 and 275 laps respectively, equivalent to around 1,600 kms.

***K-tunes Racing’s No. 98 Ferrari did not appear at all during Friday evening’s night practice after undertaking an engine change following the turbo issues that had dogged the team in the two earlier test sessions. The team was given dispensation to continue in the event despite not running during the session due to the experience of its drivers. The No. 98 car was also given permission to undertake a ‘hardship lap’ at 8:50 a.m. on Saturday, just before Japan Cup qualifying.

***Two Silver-rated drivers, Prince Abu Bakar Ibrahim and Kerong Li, are racing at Suzuka this weekend under derogated Bronze* status, per an SRO bulletin. It means the No. 99 JMR Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R is eligible for the Pro-Am class, which requires two Bronze-rated drivers, while the No. 86 Origine Motorsport Porsche 911 GT3 R is eligible for the Bronze Cup, where one Bronze and one Silver are needed.

***EBM’s Porsche is the same chassis that contested June’s Sepang SUPER GT round as a wildcard, featuring the same sky blue-and-silver livery. Adrian D’Silva was part of the car’s lineup at Sepang alongside Porsche Motorsport Asia Pacific Selected Driver Dorian Boccolacci, who is present this weekend for Phantom Global Racing.

***Fellow Porsche team Vollgas Motorsports required an entirely new chassis after the start-line crash involving Daan Arrow during the second race of the GT World Challenge Asia powered by AWS event at Okayama two weeks ago.

***Regarding Vollgas’s situation, Porsche Motorsport Asia Pacific managing director Alexandre Gibot told Sportscar365: “We provided them with a new chassis, but as all the parts were here [in Japan], they were able to repair the car in the week after the race. It was a lot of work for the team to dismantle the crashed car and to build a new one, but at the end of the day they did it and everything was on time.”

***Ben Barnicoat drove at Suzuka for the first time since he sampled a Super Formula car at the Japanese track for the TOM’S team in a test in December 2023, although he has racing experience of the Japanese circuit from the 2018 edition of the 10 Hours.

***Explaining how the chance to race for Craft-Bamboo Racing’s Pro-Am car came about, Barnicoat told Sportscar365: “The link was with Kevin [Tse], who needed a driver, and we know each other through mutual friends. He races for 2 Seas Motorsport in British GT, and that’s a team I’ve done quite a bit with. I’m grateful for the opportunity.” 

***The British driver, who usually races a Lexus in both the FIA World Endurance Championship and IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, last drove the Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo as recently as two weeks ago at the Nürburgring round of GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS Endurance Cup with 2 Seas.

***Sean Walkinshaw is making his return to GT3 competition this weekend with the K’tunes Racing Ferrari team. His last appearance in a GT3 car came in the 2022 GTWC Europe season with Madpanda Motorsport, with his focus since then having been on GT4 competition with Hitotsuyama Racing in Super Taikyu. Prior to that, he was a mainstay of SUPER GT’s GT300 class, finishing second in the standings in 2018 for ARTA together with Shinichi Takagi, with whom he is sharing a car this weekend.

***Walkinshaw told Sportscar365: “I’ve been racing in Super Taikyu the last three years, but Daisuke [Yamawaki] is my Bronze driver, and Takagi-san has been my team director, so they asked me to join them for this race, which is very exciting. I managed to do a few laps in the car at Fuji earlier in the year, but it’s good to be back in a GT3 car. I’ve also never done a full season in a rear-engined car, so that’s something else to get used to.”

***Bingo Racing’s Callaway Corvette C7 GT3-R, which topped first practice, is understood to be the same chassis that contested the 2018 and  2019 editions of the Suzuka 10 Hours. The car had to be sent back to Callaway Competition’s base in Germany for extensive repairs after its major crash in the Fuji round of GTWC Asia at the start of 2023 before returning to action in the Japan Cup the following year.

***The team’s Japan Cup entry is receiving technical support from Ferrari DTM squad Emil Frey Racing, with experienced Italian engineer Cosimo Prusciano running the car.

***Team Handwork Challenge’s Nissan GT-R NISMO GT3 missed the opening hour of Friday evening’s 90-minute night practice session amid difficulties in getting the engine started. Iori Kimura set the car’s quickest time to go 23rd overall and 10 of the 11 Pro-entered cars once the issue had been resolved. The No. 30 car is understood to be another of the oldest chassis on the grid, as it is the same car that ran in Super Taikyu in 2019 under the Tairoku Racing banner before being updated to 2020 Evo spec.

***Nissan SUPER GT racer Atsushi Miyake is driving the marque’s GT-R NISMO GT3 for the first time this weekend alongside his regular co-driver in the series, Daiki Sasaki and Kimura. On his first impressions, Miyake told Sportscar365: “I didn’t drive much as we have to split the running between three of us, but having traction control and ABS felt a little strange to me, and as a team we don’t really understand the Pirelli tire.”

***He added: “With the rain, it means we are guessing with the setup to some extent, so we’ll do our best to climb up the order even a little. The level of this race is super-high, so realistically, even a top ten would be a great result for us.”

***The regular race engineer of the car shared by Sasaki and Miyake, Keisuke Negishi, is on hand to support the B-Max Racing crew that operates the Handwork Challenge Nissan. Negishi is not the only Nissan GT500 engineer present at Suzuka, as Kondo Racing’s Toshiomi Oeki is helping to run the No. 60 LM Corsa Ferrari.

***Saturday’s Suzuka 1000km comprises pre-qualifying, which runs for 90 minutes starting at 10:45 a.m. local time (Friday 9:45 p.m. EDT), and a three-stage qualifying lasting an hour, starting at 5:05 p.m. (4:05 a.m. EDT).