Kobayashi, Kovalainen Lead Lexus Sweep at Buriram

Photo: Super GT

Kamui Kobayashi and Heikki Kovalainen won the Super GT race at Buriram on Sunday as the Lexus LC500s dominated the GT500 class.

Kobayashi took the No. 39 Lexus Team SARD-run car to the line after starting from third on the grid for the 300-km race in Thailand.

Kovalainen passed Hideki Mutoh on lap 19 to take the lead and stayed out front for the rest of the race despite pressure from Felix Rosenqvist in his opening stint.

Four Lexuses battled for the lead and Yuhi Sekiguchi looked set to attack the leading car in his Lexus Team au Tom’s-entered car he shares with Kazuki Nakajima.

However the No. 36 car ran out of fuel on the last lap and fell back from second position to finish tenth.

This allowed Rosenqvist and Kazuy Oshima to inherit the runner-up spot in the Lexus Team LeMans Wako’s entry while the manufacturer swept the top four positions.

The Gainer-entered No. 11 Nissan GT-R NISMO GT3 won the GT300 battle with Katsuyuki Hiranaka and Hironobu Yasuda driving.

Hiranaka took the lead following the pit stops after both the Audi Team Hitotsuyama and Autobacs Racing Team Aguri cars had led for a while.

The new-spec Nissan ultimately crossed the line 3.5 seconds clear of the No. 31 Toyota Prius apr GT of Koki Saga and Kohei Hirate.

RESULTS: Buriram

Jake Kilshaw

Jake Kilshaw is a UK-based journalist. He is a graduate of Politics and International Relations.