NISMO Wins Weather-Shortened SUPER GT Okayama Round

Multiple red flags for rain, lightning, and high winds have brought the SUPER GT Okayama GT 300km Race to a premature end, after 62 of the originally scheduled 82 laps.

In one of the most chaotic races to ever unfold in the 30-year history of the series, the #23 Motul Autech Nissan Z of Tsugio Matsuda and Ronnie Quintarelli has won from pole position – a simple summary which grossly undersells how chaotic their path to victory truly was.

The Motul Z traded blows with the #36 au TOM’s Toyota GR Supra (Sho Tsuboi/Ritomo Miyata) as beautiful, sunny skies at the start of the race gave way to a sudden burst of rain and even hailstones. The track would dry out again, before the rain returned once more once the race passed the scheduled half-distance mark. As that happened, the #61 Subaru BRZ R&D Sport of Hideki Yamauchi went off course to bring out a Full Course Yellow.

The Motul Z came into the pits – just seconds before the FCY was declared – to change tyres. Eventually, lightning strikes in the proximity of Okayama International Circuit brought out the first red flag.

Tsuboi and Miyata’s chances of winning were dashed shortly after the red flag was lifted. Amidst a rush of teams trying to pit for rain tyres under the Safety Car, the au Supra was sent out of its box with its left-front wheel detached. Miyata inevitably ground to a halt with three wheels on his wagon.

When it seemed like the race would restart, the red flag was shown again – the rain came back, harder than before, accompanied by gusts of wind. There was a long red flag, which was then lifted for two more laps behind the Safety Car – only as a formality to ensure the race would reach 75 percent distance to award full points.

Matsuda and Quintarelli took their first win of the season – a record-extending 24th career victory for Matsuda, and the 18th for Quintarelli. The #3 Niterra Motul Z of Katsumasa Chiyo and Mitsunori Takaboshi finished second to complete a 1-2 finish for the two NISMO-operated, Michelin-clad Nissan Z GT500s.

A late surge through the field saw the #8 ARTA Mugen Honda NSX-GT of Tomoki Nojiri and Toshiki Oyu finish third in the end.

In GT300, the #18 UPGarage Honda NSX GT3 of Takashi Kobayashi and Syun Koide won thanks to a perfectly-timed pit stop. It came five years after Team UPGarage scored their first and only win in SUPER GT prior to today’s race, at this same venue in 2018.

Reigning F4 Japanese Champion Koide became the first GT300 driver since Kohta Kawaai to win in their first-ever SUPER GT start.

The #65 LEON Pyramid Mercedes-AMG GT3 (Naoya Gamou/Takuro Shinohara) led for much of the early stages of the race but eventually finished in second, ahead of the third-placed #244 Hachi-Ichi Toyota GR Supra (Kimiya Sato/Atsushi Miyake), who recorded Max Racing’s first podium finish since the untimely passing of team founder Tsuyoshi Oono last year.

Much, much more to follow!

Images © GTA