Yamashita “Worried” By Nissan Top Speed Advantage

Toyota SUPER GT driver Kenta Yamashita admits he is concerned by the top speed advantage of the Nissan Z despite the GR Supra locking out the top two places on the timesheets in the most recent manufacturers’ test at Suzuka.

Rookie Racing and TOM’S collectively gave Toyota a clean sweep of the two-day Suzuka test, which marked the first time this off-season that all 15 of this year’s GT500 cars all shared a track.

Nissan’s top representative, the No. 23 NISMO car, was third-quickest, a little over two tenths slower than the No. 14 Rookie GR Supra.

However, the four Zs monopolised the top four places in the speed traps, with the No. 3 NISMO car setting the best top speed of 272.8km/h (169.5mph), which compared to the best Toyota top speed of 267.8km/h (166.4mph).

Yamashita, who has switched from Rookie to join Sho Tsuboi in the No. 36 TOM’S Toyota this year, conceded that Nissan’s straight line speed is a source of concern, even if the GR Supra appears to have a small edge in outright speed.

“Of the Supra teams, the No. 36 is always quick wherever we go and in whatever conditions, and is always towards the top,” Yamashita told Sportscar365. “But the Z in terms of top speed is always 4-5 kilometres per hour quicker.

“That for me is a worry in terms of the race. They are also quick over a single lap, and in the race, top speed is important. For us, that’s what we have to work on, because they are looking a bit too quick. That said, overall, things are looking quite good.”

Yamashita highlighted the work that Toyota has done to improve its high-speed cornering with the 2024 version of the GR Supra, which features a subtly revised aerodynamic package compared to the version that won last year’s GT500 title.

With Honda having swapped the NSX-GT – traditionally the car producing the most downforce of the ‘big three’ in GT500 – for the all-new Civic Type R-GT, Yamashita hopes that Toyota can now have an edge over its rivals in this department.

“In the winter tests at Suzuka, the NSX and Z were always fast until now and the Supra struggled, but now it looks like the opposite and the Supra is fastest,” he said. “It shows that we’ve gone in the right direction with adding downforce.

“We struggled a lot with understeer before but that part has definitely improved with this year’s car. So it’s good we can be quick now in these cold conditions, although I don’t know how it will be in the summer, maybe it will be ok.”

Oshima: Rookie Speed Down to “Special” Conditions

Kazuya Oshima played down Rookie topping the times at Suzuka owing to the cool conditions which he feels will not be representative of the season to come.

Toyota newcomer Nirei Fukuzumi outpaced Yamashita, whom he replaces in the lineup of the No. 14 GR Supra, by 0.204 seconds to set the quickest time in the test overall, but Oshima remains uncertain whether this pace will be replicable later in the year.

“The last test at Suzuka was very good for us,” Oshima told Sportscar365. “We have the new update, but also we improved the set-up to find more grip in the cold conditions. The feeling good, and Nirei is doing very well.

“But the conditions were a bit special. It was very cold and the tires were hard. We could adjust well for these conditions, but maybe they are too special and we need to wait until it gets warmer. For sure that setup will not work in warm conditions.”

Rookie has traditionally been strong in SUPER GT’s traditional Okayama International Circuit curtain-raiser, winning there in both 2021 and ’22, but Oshima suggested the team could be at a disadvantage after skipping February’s makers’ test at the track.

“We didn’t test there this year, [this week’s official test] will be the first time, so let’s see,” he said.