Nojiri, Izawa Win at Suzuka from Pole

Photo: Super GT

Autobacs Racing Team Aguri drivers Tomoki Nojiri and Takuya Izawa won the Super GT race at Suzuka from pole position on Sunday.

The pole-sitting No. 8 Honda NSX GT kept its position at the start of the race and Izawa had already secured a five-second lead by the fifth lap of the 300 km race. 

The car stayed out front for the entire race despite a safety car bunching the field up after Heikki Kovalainen crashed out.

Jenson Button and Naoki Yamamoto finished second in the No. 100 Team Kunimitsu Honda, finishing 2.793 seconds down.

Reigning champions Ryo Hirakawa and Nick Cassidy completed the podium as the highest-placed Lexus team, while Jann Mardenborough and Daiki Sasaki were the best-placed Nissan pairing in fourth.

K-Tunes Racing LM Corsa won the GT300 class after starting from pole but was unable to stay in the lead for the whole race with Yuichi Nakayama and Morio Nitta having to battle with the Goodsmile Racing with Team Ukyo Mercedes-AMG GT3.

Nevertheless, the pole-sitting Lexus RC F GT3 made its way back into the lead later in the race to take the class win. 

RESULTS: Suzuka

Jake Kilshaw

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