Toyota Concludes Four-Day Sepang Test on Top

Toyota set the pace across four days of SUPER GT pre-season testing at Sepang International Circuit, as Sho Tsuboi set the fastest time on the final morning in the No. 37 TOM’S GR Supra.

Tsuboi set a new benchmark time of 1:49.227 at the Malaysian circuit, hosting its first SUPER GT test since immediately prior to the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, during the three-hour morning session on Saturday.

That was enough to beat the No. 12 Team Impul Nissan Z of Kazuki Hiramine by 0.271 seconds, while also bettering the benchmark set earlier in the week by the No. 230 Nissan test car.

Mitsunori Takaboshi had set the provisional best lap of the test on the second day of running on Wednesday, a 1:49.553, which was still good enough for third overall, 0.326 seconds off the pace.

The Impul Nissan topped the remaining two days of running, Bertrand Baguette pacing the opening day on a 1:50.597 and Hiramine doing so on Friday on a 1:49.838, as action resumed following a rest day on Thursday.

Tsuboi had originally been slated only to drive Toyota’s No. 90 test car, which ended up fourth in the final timesheets courtesy of the reigning champion’s best lap of 1:49.771 on Wednesday, but ended up getting behind the wheel of the No. 37 TOM’S machine normally shared by Ukyo Sasahara and Giuliano Alesi.

The Toyota test car was driven by no fewer than six drivers over the course of the week, with Hiroaki Ishiura, Kenta Yamashita, Nirei Fukuzumi, Kazuya Oshima and Yuhi Sekiguchi also sampling a car that was running in a different aerodynamic specification compared to the No. 37 machine.

Nissan meanwhile gave all four NISMO drivers – Katsumasa Chiyo, Ronnie Quintarelli, Takaboshi and Atsushi Miyake – time behind the wheel of the No. 230 machine.

Honda adopted a similar approach with the No. 100 Team Kunimitsu Civic Type R-GT, which ended up fifth-fastest on a 1:49.989 set on Friday.

It’s unclear who set the time, but Naoki Yamamoto, Hiroki Otsu and Kakunoshin Ohta were all seen in action that day, with Tadasuke Makino and Tomoki Nojiri also taking turns in the cockpit over the week.

Sixth-fastest, and the last car to get within a second of the pace, was the Yokohama-shod No. 24 Kondo Racing Nissan (Tsugio Matsuda/Teppei Natori) courtesy of a 1:49.998 set on the final day.

Yokohama’s other entry, the No. 19 Racing Project Bandoh Toyota (Yuji Kunimoto/Sena Sakaguchi), was seventh-fastest, 1.178 seconds off the pace with a best time set on Friday.

Bringing up the rear was the sole Dunlop runner, the No. 64 Nakajima Racing Honda (Takuya Izawa/Riki Okusa) with a best effort on the final day that was 2.099 seconds behind the leading car.

Attention now turns to the first group test of the year to be held on Japanese soil at Okayama International Circuit on Feb. 7-8, which is expected to feature at least nine GT500 cars.