TOM’s, Tsuboi Resume Top Testing Form On First Day at Fuji

The second and final pre-season test for the 2022 Autobacs Super GT Series got underway Saturday at Fuji Speedway. And just like both days of the first test at Okayama International Circuit, reigning champions TGR Team au TOM’s and Sho Tsuboi were at the top of the timesheets in a disjointed first day run in mixed conditions.

On-track activity began at 10:00 AM local time with Session 1, with the course declared wet due to light rain, light enough during the first 30 minutes, for teams to run on dry tyres. It was in that first quarter of the session where Tsuboi, who set the fastest time across both days of the Okayama test, turned in the best time in the morning session, a 1’27.942.

Precipitation levels increased and decreased throughout the session, and no driver was able to break the 1 minute 28 second barrier despite track conditions improving in the last half-hour. With ten minutes left, the #16 Red Bull Motul Mugen Honda NSX-GT of Ukyo Sasahara suffered a left rear tyre failure along the frontstretch, shedding chunks of carbon fibre bodywork on the track. Sasahara was able to bring the car to a stop safely, and Team Red Bull Mugen were able to continue running in Session 2 that afternoon.

“The car has been feeling good since the Okayama test,” remarked Tsuboi at the conclusion of Saturday’s test. “Again, it felt good in the dry. But in the wet in the afternoon, it had been a really long time since I had used Bridgestone wet tyres myself, so I was trying to remember how they felt.”

“Also, we had planned to give Giuliano (Alesi) some wet experience (in the morning), but the red flag meant we couldn’t give him as much running as we had planned. We’ll have him drive in the afternoon to make up for that. This time, the Nissan Zs are getting faster, and I still think the competition between the three models is intense. Of course we’re still going to get faster, and make a dash towards winning the first race.”

Ronnie Quintarelli in the #23 Motul Autech Nissan Z ended up in second place with a time of  1’28.139.

And with a fast time set in the final half-hour of the session, Sena Sakaguchi in the #19 WedsSport Advan GR Supra moved up to third place. That put three different tyre manufacturers – Bridgestone, Michelin, and Yokohama – in the top three.

Best of the Hondas was the Bridgestone-clad #17 Astemo NSX-GT of Nobuharu Matsushita, who was fifth-fastest in Session 1.

Session 2 started as scheduled at 14:00 local time, but due to heavy rain in the forecast, it was decided in the morning that the session would be shortened to just one hour. Indeed, the track was declared wet once again, and this time, it was wet enough to warrant the use of full wet tyres throughout the shortened session.

The fastest time in Session 2 belonged to Katsumasa Chiyo in the #3 CraftSports Motul Z, the second Nissan on Michelin rubber. It was a NISMO 1-2 with Tsugio Matsuda in the #23 Motul Z finishing second, and Hiroaki Ishiura in the #38 ZENT Cerumo GR Supra third.

Chiyo remained cautious about his result in the afternoon session, saying: “The track was in a wet condition when we set the time, there was traffic, and above all, we don’t know what programmes that our rivals are testing, so we can’t just say we set the top time and be happy about it. We’ve been putting our car through various test programmes, and I can feel that the performance of the car has improved compared to the last time we tested it in Okayama.”

27 GT300 cars made the trip to Fuji Speedway, including the two Honda NSX GT3s from ARTA and Team UPGarage – both of which, we can confirm, have been upgraded to the new Evo22 specification. It was the #18 UPGarage NSX GT3 Evo22 that led the way in GT300, with Takashi Kobayashi setting the top time of 1’36.230 in Session 1. They would go on to sweep both sessions, with Kobayashi’s rookie team mate, Kakunoshin Ota, setting the fastest time in the wet in Session 2.

“This is the fourth year that I have driven the NSX GT3, and as I have taken on the major role of being a development driver for Honda again this year, I am determined to achieve the results I need,” said Kobayashi.

“Last year, we were able to get a pole position and we were within reach of good results in the race, but we just couldn’t put together consistent results. The NSX GT3 is now upgraded to the ‘Evo 2’, and also, we have made some progress with the setup, which I think led to the top time in the morning. I will work hard together with rookie Ota-san to achieve a good result from the opening round.”

After a disappointing Okayama test which ended in a crash, the defending GT300 champions at Subaru and R&D Sport found their way back towards the top of the time sheets: Hideki Yamauchi went second-fastest in the #61 Subaru BRZ R&D Sport.

Takashi Kogure was third-quickest in the number 88 JLOC Lamborghini Huracán GT3. JLOC has just confirmed Chinese SNS platform Weibo – specifically, their digital assets marketplace Weibo Primez – as the title sponsor of the flagship #88, while Vietnamese airliner Bamboo Airways will sponsor the sister number 87 car, which was fourth-fastest in the hands of Natsu Sakaguchi.

Behind Ota in Session 2, the new #7 Studie BMW M4 GT3 of Seiji Ara set the second-quickest time, and Hiroki Yoshida in the #52 Saitama Toyopet GreenBrave Toyota GR Supra was third-quickest. The Studie M4’s results indicate strong performance from the Michelin wet-weather tyre.

Saturday’s test also saw the debut of both the #2 muta Racing Toyota GR86 GT300 (Hiroki Katoh/Yuui Tsutsumi), as well as the #25 Hoppy Schatz Toyota GR Supra (Takamitsu Matsui/Seita Nonaka/Kimiya Sato) which has been constructed by Tsuchiya Engineering.

One car that won’t be taking part on Sunday, however, is the #10 TanaX Gainer Nissan GT-R GT3: Rookie driver Yusuke Shiotsu crashed at turn two late in the session, thankfully he was unhurt, but damage to the car will not be able to be repaired in time to take part tomorrow.

Both cars completed trouble-free first days of running, with the muta GR86 finishing sixth in Session 1. Both sessions served as a shakedown test for the Hoppy Supra, which completed 37 laps.

DAY 1 RESULTS >>

To accommodate for the loss of track time on Saturday, Sunday’s test schedule has been adjusted: Session 3 will run from 9:30 to 11:45 local time, and Session 4 will run from 13:30 to 16:30.

Images courtesy of the GT Association (GTA)