The final race of Round 6 of SUPER GT 2022 was held at Sportsland SUGO in Miyagi Prefecture on Sunday, September 18. The #3 CRAFTSPORTS MOTUL Z (Katsumasa Chiyo/Mitsunori Takaboshi), who had the right strategy, took his second win of the season. The No. 2 muta Racing GR86 GT (Hiroki Kato / Yui Tsutsumi) also came from behind to take the win in the GT300 class, as the team judged the weather.
SUGO was sunny in the morning, but rain clouds appeared in the sky in the afternoon, and it rained lightly. However, by the time the race started at 2:00 pm, the race did not go downhill, and the 15 cars in the GT500 class entered the 84-lap race with dry surface tires.
Pole position No. 19 WedsSport ADVAN GR Supra (Yuji Kunimoto) dropped to 3rd on the first lap, and No. 38 ZENT CERUMO GR Supra (Hiroaki Ishiura) took the lead. Then, after the 10th lap, it started to rain in earnest. With this, the pit stops began for all cars to switch to wet tires one after the other. Taking advantage of the good grip of the Michelin rain tires used by No. 3 CRAFTSPORTS MOTUL Z (Katsumasa Chiyo), the pit stop was delayed until the driver’s timing changed. After all 15 cars came to a stop, No. 3 (Mitsunori Takaboshi) was in the lead, followed by No. 23 MOTUL AUTECH Z (Tsugio Matsuda/Ronnie Quintarelli) on the same Michelin tires and a Nissan Z GT500 in second place. come
Both Z’s continued to run at blistering pace, and the No. 3 CRAFTSPORTS MOTUL Z took its second win of the season after Round 3 at Suzuka. With this, the Chiyo / Takaboshi pair returned to the top of the driver rankings. In 3rd was Red Bull MOTUL MUGEN NSX-GT (Ukyo Sasahara/Toshiki Oyu) No.16 Honda NSX-GT, who was happy to be on the podium for the first time this season. TOYOTA GR Supra GT500 No. 38 ZENT CERUMO GR Supra (Yuji Tachikawa/Hiroaki Ishiura) finished 4th.
In the GT300 class, pole position No. 61 SUBARU BRZ R&D SPORT (Takuto Iguchi) took the lead, but rain began to fall from the start, leaving teams with different options for tire changes and pit stop timing. In the midst of this, the No. 2 Muta Racing GR86 GT (Hiroki Kato / Yui Tsutsumi), who had qualified 13th, extended Kato’s pit stop to move into the lead, and after assessing the weather, took the leads to the embankment to build a big lead and cross the finish line. This was the first victory of the Toyota GR86, which came out on top this season. Second and third place went to the No. 11 GAINER TANAX GT-R (Hironobu Yasuda/Keiji Ishikawa) and the No. 10 TANAX GAINER GT-R (Ryuichiro Tomita/Riki Okusa). * Spectator movement September 18 (last day) 17,000 / 17 (qualifying day) 8,300.
GT500 class
No. 3 MOTUL SPORTS CRAFTS Z
Katsumasa Chiyo
“It was a race that was affected by the weather, so I was in constant communication with the pit team about what to do with the tires and when to make a pit stop. The decision and strategy went well, and Takaboshi did a good job in the second half, and the whole team won.”
Gao Xing Mingcheng
“When I changed, the track was still wet, so I was worried, but the Michelin tires were very good. So I thought it would be a waste if I forced myself to overrun, so I slowed down and i ran the reason for the victory, and I am grateful to Chiyo for making it possible, and to Michelin Tyres.”
GT300 class
No. 2 Muta Racing GR86 GT
Hiroki Kato
“Well, it was a tough drive, but the team did a great job. The tires were good, and it was good that they drove without saying anything unnecessary. (laughs) The team made good decisions and came up with the right strategy.
God bless you
“I think we’ve had some good races so far, but we weren’t getting good results, so Kato-san and I said, ‘I want to get on the podium,’ and he came here. The car was very good, and the team tires and Bridgestone helped me win the race, so I would like to return the favor in the future.”
Category: F1 / SUPER GT
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