Ohta Gives Honda Prelude First Pole at Fuji

Honda scored its first SUPER GT pole position with its new Prelude GT500 challenger for this weekend’s Fuji 300km courtesy of ARTA driver Kaku Ohta.

After Hiroki Otsu went third-fastest in Q1 aboard the semi-works No. 8 Honda HRC Prelude-GT, Ohta posted a best lap of 1:26.776 in the Q2 pole shootout to annex the top spot, earning his second GT500 pole in the process.

Honda teams locked four of the top five spots in Q1, but the order of the top three was flipped in comparison to Q1, as Tadasuke Makino went second-fastest in the No. 100 Team Kunimitsu Prelude, 0.302 seconds behind, carrying 14 kg of success ballast.

Yuto Nomura had been fastest in the first segment of qualifying in the No. 17 Real Racing car, but co-driver Koudai Tsukakoshi was third, 0.549 seconds off the pace in Q2.

Leading the Toyota GR Supra charge in fourth place was Toshiki Oyu for the Cerumo team, despite carrying 32 kg of success ballast, ahead of Ren Sato in the second of the Team Mugen-run ARTA cars.

Giuliano Alesi was sixth-fastest in the No. 37 TOM’S Toyota that is carrying no success ballast after two non-scores in the first part of the season.

Nissan’s top qualifier was the works No. 23 NISMO machine of Katsumasa Chiyo in eighth, behind the Dunlop-shod Nakajima Racing Honda of Igor Fraga.

Completing the Q2 order were Kazuki Hiramine’s Team Impul Nissan and the Rookie Racing Toyota of Kazuya Oshima.

Carrying a 50 kg handicap and a fuel flow restrictor, Sho Tsuboi could only manage 11th aboard the championship-leading No. 36 TOM’S Toyota, while Sacha Fenestraz was eliminated in Q1 with the 13th-quickest time in the lighter SARD Toyota.

Kawabata Delivers PONOS Pole on GT300 Return

Making his first SUPER GT appearance in three years, Shintaro Kawabata delivered PONOS Racing pole position in GT300 aboard the No. 45 Ferrari 296 GT3 Evo.

The reigning SRO Japan Cup champion, replacing Kei Cozzolino at PONOS from this race onwards, delivered a stunning lap of 1:36.209 in the pole shootout to go almost six tenths clear of the field, after co-driver Takuro Shinohara topped his Q1 group.

Shunsuke Kohno was second-fastest aboard the LM Corsa Lexus LC500, while the other two Ferraris in the field, the Velorex and CarGuy MKS Racing examples, were third and fourth in the hands of Niklas Kruetten and Zak O’Sullvan respectively.

GT300 rookie and Honda junior driver Kotaro Shimbara completed the top-five aboard the Team UpGarage Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo.

Best of the top-placed cars in the championship was the LEON Racing Mercedes-AMG in ninth with Naoya Gamou at the wheel, one place ahead of the Golden Week Fuji-winning Kondo Racing Nissan GT-R NISMO GT3 of Joao Paulo de Oliveira.

The points-leading D’station Racing Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo, carrying the maximum success handicap of 70 kg and also suffering from BoP changes, was eliminated in its Q1 group and is set to start down in 27th of the 29 cars in class.

Sunday’s Fuji 300km is slated to begin Sunday 1:30 p.m. local time (12:30 a.m. EST).

RESULTS: GT500/GT300