TOM’S Pair Tsuboi, Yamashita Close on Title With Motegi Win

TOM’S Toyota pair Sho Tsuboi and Kenta Yamashita took a commanding victory at the penultimate round of the 2024 SUPER GT season in Motegi to put themselves within touching distance of this year’s GT500 title.

Starting third on the grid, the points-leading No. 36 Toyota GR Supra took the lead after the second of three full-course interruptions.

Just moments before at the end of the first FCY, ARTA Honda driver Nobuharu Matsushita caught polesitter Takuya Izawa in the Nakajima Racing Honda Civic Type R-GT sleeping as the race went back to green, when he briefly took over the lead.

But, in similar fashion, Matsushita was slow once the green flag dropped again after the second FCY, giving Tsuboi the opportunity to go past both cars in quick succession.

Once Tsuboi took the lead, he never looked back, putting over 10 seconds on the rest of the field, while Izawa was struggling with his Dunlop tires.

An undercut attempt on lap 22 by the No. 8 ARTA Honda was repelled perfectly, leading to an unchallenged second victory of the season with a 20-second gap at the finish line for Tsuboi and Yamashita, despite running with the stage one fuel flow restrictor.

It means that the No. 36 TOM’S crew heads into next month’s postponed Suzuka finale with an 18-point advantage over the No. 100 Team Kunimitsu Honda of Naoki Yamamoto and Tadasuke Makino, who finished sixth after opting for a no-tire change strategy starting from ninth on the grid.

No. 8 ARTA pair Matsushita and Tomoki Nojiri finished second, putting the new Honda Civic Type R-GT on the podium at the marque’s home circuit.

Hiroaki Ishiura and Toshiki Oyu in the No. 38 Cerumo Toyota took the final position on the podium, following an intense duel in the final stages of the race, when Oyu had to defend against a hard-charging Ren Sato in the No. 16 ARTA Honda.

It means Ishiura and Oyu retain a mathematical chance of the championship, but 22 points down on Tsuboi and Yamashita with only 23 available.

The Autopolis-winning No. 39 SARD Toyota of Yuhi Sekiguchi and Yuichi Nakyama completed the top five.

Best of the Nissan camp was the No. 3 NISMO squad in seventh position. Atsushi Miyake was involved in a three-car incident with ten laps to go, making with the Real Racing Honda of Koudai Tsukakoshi, as they bumped in the GT300 apr LC500h GT of Kazuto Kotaka, who got pushed into the gravel.

The result means that Nissan’s main championship contender is now out of contention for the title.

After running well in the points all race, the Rookie Racing Toyota of Kazuya Oshima and Nirei Fukuzumi suffered a technical issue, forcing them to retire with ten laps to go.

The No. 37 TOM’S squad suffered a similar fate as Ukyo Sasahara went into the garage shortly after the start of the 300 km race, all but ending he and Giuliano Alesi’s title hopes as they go into the finale with a 23-point deficit.

Izawa and teammate Riki Okusa brought home the pole-winning Nakajima Honda for a sole point in 10th.

JLOC Lamborghini Comes From 17th to Win In GT300

In GT300, JLOC duo Takashi Kogure and Yuya Motojima took yet another come-from-behind victory after starting from 17th on the grid in their No. 88 Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2.

It marked the third win of the season for the pair and their second in succession following their surprise victory at the previous Autopolis round.

Polesitter Jin Nakamura in the No. 31 apr LC500h GT smoothly controlled the first part of the race, which was interrupted by two FCY interventions in quick succession.

The first one came shortly after the start of the race, when the No. 11 Gainer Tanax Z stopped near the pit exit, and the second followed on the ninth lap, when the No. 25 Hoppy Schatz GR Supra GT lost a wheel and spun into the gravel.

Apr opted for a no-tire change strategy, thus forcing the hand of their direct competitors, as the LEON Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 of Naoya Gamou and Takuro Shinohara also decided to not change their Bridgestone tires when pitting two laps later.

To not lose track position, JLOC opted for a similar strategy call with its No. 88 car.

Following the round of pit stops, all three cars found themselves together on track. Kogure made quick work of Shinohara before putting the pressure on Kazuto Kotaka, who took over the Lexus from Nakamura.

Kotaka’s efforts to keep the lead in the hybrid-powered apr Lexus were in vain however, as both Kogure and Shinohara found their way past him, with the former extending his lead to a command 20 seconds by the checkered flag.

The aforementioned incident with the two GT500 runners meant that the apr Lexus dropped out of the points, finishing in 11th.

A charge in the second half of the race by Shun Koide put the Team UpGarage Honda NSX GT3 Evo22, which opted for a four-tire change, onto the final podium spot, ahead of the sister No. 87 JLOC car of Kosuke Matsuura and Natsu Sakaguchi.

To make up ground after starting from P16, the title-contending Inging Toyota squad went with a fuel-only pit strategy. But both Hibiki Taira and Yuui Tsutsumi struggled on used tires and finished outside the points in 13th.

Kogure’s and Motojima’s third win of the season put the JLOC pair 11 points behind the championship-leading LEON Racing pair Gamou and Shinohara, with Taira and Tsutsumi still mathematically in contention, 20 points down.

The factory Subaru BRZ of Takuto Iguchi and Hideki Yamauchi were looking good for a second points finish of the season when another brake failure on lap 45 caused Yamauchi to spin out at the first corner, causing the third FCY of the race.

It was the second incident of this kind following the R&D Sport-run machine’s heavy crash at Autopolis.

RESULTS: GT500/GT300