ARTA Wins Incident-Filled, Shortened Fuji Golden Week Race

What started off as a fascinating 450 kilometre, semi-endurance race at Fuji Speedway on the Golden Week holiday soon descended into a near tragedy after two serious accidents – and then, into a farcical comedy after a slew of penalties, including to the top two GT500 class teams on the road when the dust appeared to be settled.

The end result is that the #8 ARTA Honda NSX-GT of Tomoki Nojiri and Nirei Fukuzumi has been declared the winner of the FAV Hotel Fuji GT 450km Race in GT500, while the #10 TanaX Gainer Nissan GT-R GT3 of Ryuichiro Tomita, Riki Okusa, and Yusuke Shiotsu won in the GT300 class. The scheduled 100-lap race was shortened to 62 laps, and ended under the control of the Safety Car due to two red flags which pushed the race to its curfew of 6:20 PM local time.

Conditions were perfect for SUPER GT’s annual Golden Week classic at Fuji Speedway, held on its traditional date of 4 May. The race began under clear, sunny skies, with ambient temperatures of 22°C and surface temperatures of 33°C – warmer than Tuesday’s practice and qualifying.

In a carbon copy of the 2021 Fuji 500km, the #19 WedsSport Advan Toyota GR Supra led the GT500 field to the green flag, driven by pole winner Sena Sakaguchi. And, also in a carbon copy of last year’s race, the Yokohama-clad Toyota’s grip on the top spot proved to be short lived. Sakaguchi withstood pressure from the #3 CraftSports Motul Nissan Z of Katsumasa Chiyo at the start of the opening lap, but the #37 KeePer TOM’s GR Supra of Sacha Fenestraz, who had started fourth, pounced in the final sector, and grabbed the lead at GR Supra Corner (turn 15) on the opening lap.

Soon, Fenestraz would be joined by his team mate, the #36 au TOM’s GR Supra of Sho Tsuboi; the defending GT500 Drivers’ Champion had gone from eighth to third on the opening lap, and after passing Chiyo through TGR Corner (turn one), he was up into second, making it a TOM’s 1-2 at Fuji, with Chiyo running third. The trio would begin to pull away from the rest of the pack, while behind them, the #8 ARTA NSX of Fukuzumi was trying to overtake the #100 Stanley NSX-GT of Naoki Yamamoto for fourth.

Fenestraz and Tsuboi would continue to run tail-to-nose in first and second. On lap 24, Tsuboi overtook Fenestraz at turn 13 to take the lead of the race. He would hold the lead until bringing the car in at the end of lap 28 for the first of two scheduled routine pit stops, and Giuliano Alesi would take over the wheel. On lap 34, the #3 CraftSports Z pitted, and Mitsunori Takaboshi climbed aboard for the middle stint. One lap later, Fenestraz pitted from the lead, and Ritomo Miyata got on board the #37 KeePer Supra.

The race was originally meant to have two compulsory pit stops for refuelling, and one compulsory driver change. Save for the #38 ZENT Cerumo GR Supra, which elected to have Hiroaki Ishiura do a double stint, every GT500 team deployed an orthodox pit strategy – changing all four tyres, and drivers. By the start of lap 43, the only car that had yet to pit for routine service was the #39 Denso Kobelco SARD GR Supra of Yuichi Nakayama, and the #36 au Supra of Alesi was in the net lead of the race, ahead of the #37 KeePer Supra of Miyata, and the #3 CraftSports Z of Takaboshi.

During that lap, the GT300 class #22 R’Qs Mercedes-AMG GT3 of Hisashi Wada spun out in the transition from 100R Corner to Advan Corner, and slammed into the tyre barriers. Wada was visibly moving inside the cockpit, and thankfully suffered no serious injuries.

The SARD crew immediately brought their car in for a pit stop before the inevitable Full Course Yellow was declared, and transformed into a full Safety Car intervention. Yuhi Sekiguchi went out, prepared to double-stint to the end of the race, and got four new tyres. The 2021 GT500 champion emerged in third position, behind the two TOM’s cars.

Because the barriers at Advan Corner required extra attention, at the end of lap 48, the race was red flagged. It was the first time that a SUPER GT race had been stopped since the rain-soaked 2019 Okayama round.

The running order at the time was led by the three Toyotas in the top three, followed by the #3 CraftSports Z of Takaboshi in fourth, ahead of the #8 ARTA NSX of Nojiri in fifth, and the #38 ZENT Supra of Ishiura in sixth. But, Ishiura was hit with a drivethrough penalty for a pit work infringement, which would drop him out of the top ten once the race resumed. Ishiura and Yuji Tachikawa would be classified in 12th.

It took the better part of 25 minutes to repair the tyre barriers, and the race resumed under control of the Safety Car from lap 49. Finally, on lap 53, the race restarted – and immediately, there were fireworks.

On cold tyres and brakes, Miyata lined up a move around Alesi at TGR Corner, but couldn’t slow the car down enough to avoid broadsiding his team mate. Both cars went off course and eventually continued, but Miyata dropped to third behind new leader Sekiguchi and Takaboshi, and Alesi dropped to fifth behind Nojiri. In what appeared to be a race-winning defensive stand, Sekiguchi held off Takaboshi through the Dunlop Corner complex (turns 10-11-12) to maintain the lead. As the trio of Sekiguchi, Takaboshi, and Miyata were coming to the start-finish line to complete lap 59, Sekiguchi slipstreamed off the back of the #31 apr Toyota Prius GT of Koki Saga, to try and stay ahead of Takaboshi and Miyata ahead of him. The Prius dived into the pits.

Just ahead of them, the #50 Arnage MC86 of Takeshi Suehiro had been suffering from a gear selection issue, and just when he thought the issue had resolved itself, his gearbox went out on him past the pit entry. He pulled off to the right side of the front stretch. Sekiguchi tried to slipstream off the back of him, but suddenly realized that his closing speed was too great, and pulled over to the left. Takaboshi, just behind him, couldn’t see the slow-moving Arnage MC86 until he was metres away from slamming into the back of him. Takaboshi tapped the brakes and turned to the left as hard as he could, making slight contact with Suehiro as his car pitched head-on into the guardrail at speeds in excess of 200 kilometres per hour.

It was, with no exaggeration, the worst accident that a GT500 car had sustained in nearly ten years. Spectators in the stands were in shock. The television cameras pulled back as SUPER GT’s First Rescue Operation (FRO) arrived on the scene.

In the ultimate testament to the strength and safety of this current generation of GT500 vehicles, 29-year-old Mitsunori Takaboshi was able to get out of his destroyed car under his own power, visibly shaken. Takaboshi was taken to a nearby hospital for further evaluations, but we can confirm that he did not suffer any broken bones. Also, there were no serious spectator injuries reported after a shower of debris that sprayed against the protective catch fence.

The race was immediately red-flagged for the second time. Takaboshi’s impact left an enormous gash in a section of the guardrail past the start/finish line, and even after 90 minutes under red flag, it became apparent that the barrier could not be repaired sufficiently to allow the race to resume beyond the curfew time of 6:20 PM local time.

Instead, at 6:10, the decision was made to resume running and tick down the final ten minutes under control of the Safety Car. And, within minutes, there was another shock: The #39 Denso Kobelco SARD GR Supra, which was leading and virtually assured a victory from 14th on the grid, would be penalized!

Under the first red flag, Sekiguchi had gotten out of his car and touched the left front fender, checking for damage after a first lap, first corner collision. a clear violation of the red flag rules – reminiscent of Sterling Marlin’s infamous penalty that cost him victory in the 2002 Daytona 500. The penalty was administered as a 40-second post-race time penalty, dropping Sekiguchi and Nakayama to 13th in the final classification. Simultaneously, the #37 KeePer TOM’s Supra of Miyata was given their own 40-second time penalty, for the avoidable contact with Alesi on the restart, which dropped Miyata and Fenestraz to 14th in the final classification.

That gave the race victory to the third-placed car on the road: The #8 ARTA NSX-GT of Nojiri and Fukuzumi – the only one of Honda’s cars that looked competitive all weekend, with the NSX-GT ‘Type S’ suffering from a lack of top-end speed and not expected to be a factor for the win at all. Incredibly, Honda comes away from the weekend with their second consecutive GT500 victory in the Fuji Golden Week race; Nojiri took his eighth career win, and Fukuzumi took his fourth.

But understandably, neither driver was thinking about their accomplishments after seeing the horrible crash of Takaboshi unfold in front of them.

“Because there was a big crash, I honestly didn’t want to keep racing after that,” said Nojiri. “But after we took the checkered flag, I saw all the fans waving for us, and that made me glad that we kept running till the end. They say we won today but considering the circumstances, I don’t think you can say that we really won, so next time I want us to win straight out.”

“I am speaking here as the race winner, but I hardly feel happy about it at all,” said Fukuzumi. “With the big crash in front of so many fans that came to see the race today, I have to say that it scared me. So, I just want to say thanks to everyone who cheered us on to the end in spite of it all.”

As one TOM’s Supra was demoted off the podium, the #36 au TOM’s Supra of Tsuboi and Alesi would move up from fourth to second, giving the French-Japanese driver his first GT500 podium finish in just his second start at the top level. It very well could have been a win if not for the friendly fire incident at turn one, of course, but Alesi showed poise to keep himself in it until the very end of the race.

All three makes made the podium yet again as the #12 Calsonic Impul Z of Kazuki Hiramine and Bertrand Baguette came back from tenth on the grid to finish in third place. It’s Baguette’s first podium as a Nissan driver, after winning last year’s Golden Week race with Honda. Finishing just behind them was the #23 Motul Autech Z (Tsugio Matsuda/Ronnie Quintarelli) which climbed from 11th to fourth – NISMO picking up a top-five finish after the loss of their sister car from the NDDP Racing team.

On the day that SUPER GT gathered for a memorial service in honour of the late Kunimitsu Takahashi, the #100 Stanley NSX-GT (Naoki Yamamoto/Tadasuke Makino) finished fifth. The #19 WedsSport Advan GR Supra (Yuji Kunimoto/Sena Sakaguchi) salvaged a sixth-place finish after their ragged start and descent down the order in the first stint. And in seventh, the #14 Eneos X Prime GR Supra (Kazuya Oshima/Kenta Yamashita) finished with its rear bodywork missing, after being hit by debris from Takaboshi’s accident. If not for the long red flag and Safety Car finish, they would have been forced to retire.

The #24 Realize Corporation Advan Z (Daiki Sasaki/Kohei Hirate) finished eighth after dropping from second on the grid on the opening laps, the #17 Astemo NSX-GT (Koudai Tsukakoshi/Nobuharu Matsushita) survived first-corner contact to finish in ninth, and the #16 Red Bull Motul Mugen NSX-GT (Ukyo Sasahara/Toshiki Oyu) was tenth, salvaging a point after another wretched weekend for Dunlop’s GT500 customer teams.

Because the race failed to reach 75 percent distance, half points were awarded to the top ten finishers (10 for first place, 7.5 for second, 5.5 for third, 4 for fourth, 3 for fifth, etc.). This is only the second time that half points have been awarded at the conclusion of a SUPER GT race.

GT500 FINAL RESULTS >>

The GT300 class produced a more straightforward result, however: The #10 TanaX Gainer GT-R of Tomita, Okusa, and Shiotsu were first on the road when the race was stopped, and they were declared the winners after completing 58 laps.

On the opening lap of the race, the #61 Subaru BRZ R&D Sport of Hideki Yamauchi led the field into TGR Corner, but Tomita got a great run into Coca-Cola Corner to draw alongside the defending GT300 champion, then pulled ahead at 100R corner to grab the lead of the race. Tomita would lead the race from Yamauchi, extending the advantage to as much as three seconds before pitting at the end of lap 28. Masataka Yanagida in the #34 Busou raffinée GT-R worked his way up into third place, overtaking the #96 K-Tunes Lexus RC F GT3 of Shinichi Takagi.

The strategic variance that was available in this race would be fascinating to watch on the GT300 side, as several teams made one of their two routine fuel stops within the first five laps of the race, hoping to effectively turn an effective one-stop strategy. Not among them was the #7 Studie BMW M4 GT3 (Seiji Ara/Augusto Farfus/Tsubasa Kondo), which retired after four laps due to a power steering failure. However, the #52 Saitama Toyopet GreenBrave Toyota GR Supra of relief driver Togo Suganami and the #4 Goodsmile Hatsune Miku Mercedes-AMG GT3 (Nobuteru Taniguchi/Tatsuya Kataoka), would gain track position at the end of the first cycle of pit stops, but wouldn’t get the early Safety Car intervention they needed to make their strategies viable for the win.

The #9 Pacific Hololive NAC Ferrari 488 GT3 (Takeshi Kimura/Kei Cozzolino) was hit at Advan Corner by the #55 ARTA Honda NSX GT3 (Hideki Mutoh/Iori Kimura), sending both cars to the garage for repairs. It was, regrettably, Iori Kimura’s second incident in as many GT300 races.

As mentioned, Tomita would pit on lap 28, handing over to Okusa. Two laps later, the #34 Busou GT-R pitted, and Yuji Ide would rejoin the track initially ahead of Okusa before being overtaken on cold tyres. Yamauchi stayed out until the end of lap 38, and he would go on to do a double stint at the wheel of the Subaru BRZ with the plan of handing over to Iguchi for the final stint. The big gainer was the #60 Syntium LM Corsa GR Supra; Shunsuke Kohno pitted on lap 20, and would do a double stint after getting fuel and four fresh tyres. He was now up to fourth place, ahead of the #65 LEON Pyramid AMG (Naoya Gamou/Takuro Shinohara) in fifth.

Wada’s accident froze the field under the Safety Car and subsequent red flag. At the time, the #2 muta Racing Toyota GR86 (Hiroki Katoh/Yuui Tsutsumi) was leading from the #20 SHADE Racing GR86 (Katsuyuki Hiranaka/Eijiro Shimizu), but both cars had yet to make their first pit stops. Also, the #52 GreenBrave Supra had to come in for a splash of fuel under the Safety Car, dropping them out of the net lead.

Once the race resumed and the final GT300 runners dove into the pits, Okusa was leading in the #10 TanaX GT-R, ahead of Ide in the #34 Busou GT-R, and Yamauchi in the #61 Subaru BRZ. Behind them on the restart, Shinohara in the LEON AMG ran into the back of Kohno in the Syntium GR Supra under braking into TGR Corner, causing the latter to drop down the order rapidly. Takaboshi’s accident would effectively end the race as they ran.

For the first time since the 2019 round at Chang International Circuit in Thailand, the number 10 Gainer entry won in GT300, completing a total of 58 laps. It will officially go down as Tomita’s second career GT300 victory, his first since the 2015 Suzuka 1000km (he was not credited with a share of winning the 2015 Fuji 500km by the GTA because he did not drive in the final). For 22-year-old rookie Okusa, it is his maiden win in just his second career start.

“First of all I just want to thank all the fans who came out to watch us race to the end of this long race. Since there was that big crash, I think it was hard on all of the drivers too, but they kept running to the end without losing heart,” remarked Tomita. “Personally, I haven’t really come to terms with everything that happened. And I don’t really feel like this has been a win, but I have to give full credit for this result to Okusa-san who drove for us to the end. Anyway, I feel that we were able end this as a good day for us.”

“Since we had a crash in our tests at Fuji, I really want to express my thanks to the team that repaired our car in time for the opening round, and to Tomita-san for all his advice for an inexperienced rookie like me,” Okusa said. “I was really nervous when I was out there during the final Safety Car run, and when it was over, I was so happy that it brought tears to my eyes. This is my debut year and I am honestly just so happy that we got this win today.”

Similar to Tomita in this event back in 2015, third driver Shiotsu did not drive in the final, and will not receive points or be officially credited with a share of the victory – but he did take part in the podium ceremony and post-race press conference.

Completing a Nissan GT-R 1-2 finish was the #34 Busou GT-R of Yanagida and Ide, giving the Drago Corse team their best-ever GT300 finish. It’s Yanagida’s first podium since Round 3 of the 2020 season at Suzuka, and for Ide, it’s his first SUPER GT podium in any class since winning the 2010 Suzuka Summer Endurance race – his first in GT300 since the 2001 Suzuka round, when he and Yanagida were last paired together!

The #61 Subaru BRZ of Iguchi and Yamauchi completed the GT300 podium in third. Iguchi did not have a chance to drive during the final, but citing force majeure, he will still receive 5.5 points and credit for a podium finish.

Likewise, the #11 Gainer TanaX GT-R (Hironobu Yasuda/Keishi Ishikawa) finished fourth, with Yasuda running a double stint before the race was halted. That means that Dunlop-clad teams swept the top four in GT300, with Nissan GT-Rs occupying three out of those top four places.

The #88 Weibo Primez Lamborghini Huracán GT3 (Takashi Kogure/Yuya Motojima) came home in fifth place. Shinohara’s incident with Kohno would result in yet another 40-second time penalty applied in the final laps of the race, dropping the LEON AMG to 15th, and moving the #96 K-Tunes RC F GT3 (Morio Nitta/Shinichi Takagi) to sixth.

Okayama winners Kiyoto Fujinami and João Paulo de Oliveira finished seventh in the #56 Realize Nissan Mechanic Challenge GT-R, but it was not a routine result on 60kg of Success Weight. When a Full Course Yellow was declared for Wada’s accident, Fujinami was caught off guard, nearly slamming into the back of GT500 leader Alesi as he slammed on the brakes and spun out. Fujinami was able to continue, but had to serve a drivethrough penalty for losing control of his vehicle under FCY.

The #2 muta GR86 of Katoh and Tsutsumi salvaged an eighth-place finish despite having to pit once the first red flag ended, giving the Toyota GR86 GT its first points-paying finish in SUPER GT.

Even after making three pit stops, the #52 GreenBrave GR Supra (Kohta Kawaai/Togo Suganami) still finished ninth, with Suganami receiving high marks as he filled in for Hiroki Yoshida, who was out of action due to COVID-19.

Finally, a big surprise at the end of the top ten – the pro-am #360 RunUp Rivaux GT-R (Takayuki Aoki/Atsushi Tanaka/Yusaku Shibata) was promoted to tenth in the official results. It’s the first top ten finish for Tomei Sports since Aoki and Takuya Otaki finished third at Motegi in November 2020. It’s also the first top ten for Tomei Sports since the passing of team founder, Keikichi Nakano, in December. All three drivers received half a point: Shibata, as the third driver, was able to run the minimum 11 laps required to be classified for points.

Though, the #25 Hoppy Schatz GR Supra (Takamitsu Matsui/Seita Nonaka) was just one place away from scoring a remarkable top ten finish in the second race for their new vehicle, in 11th. Their sister car, the #244 Hachi-Ichi GR Supra (Kimiya Sato/Atsushi Miyake), finished 19th in the Max Racing team’s first race since the passing of team founder Tsuyoshi Oono in March. And the overhauled #6 Team LeMans Audi R8 LMS (Yoshiaki Katayama/Roberto Merhi Muntan/Shintaro Kawabata) finished 14th, with Merhi running an incident-free first stint as a GT300 driver.

GT300 FINAL RESULTS >>

The final attendance figure for the two-day race meeting was 73,000 spectators, of which 44,000 were in attendance on Wednesday.

It’s not often that a SUPER GT race will be remembered for more of the wrong reasons than the right reasons, but that’s unfortunately how today’s race played out. Thankfully, it won’t be long before the series resumes: On 28-29 May, SUPER GT heads to Suzuka Circuit for the Takanokono Hotel Suzuka GT 300km Race, making up part of the biggest weekend in motorsport alongside the Indianapolis 500, Monaco Grand Prix, and Nürburgring 24 Hour race.

Images © GTA