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Fuji Super GT: ARTA Honda ends Lexus' winning streak

The #8 ARTA Honda duo of Tomoki Nojiri and Takashi Kobayashi won the Fuji 300 km Super GT race from pole position, bringing an end to Lexus’ winning streak that started in last year’s season finale at Motegi.

#8 Autobacs Racing Team Aguri Honda NSX Concept GT: Tomoki Nojiri, Takashi Kobayashi

#8 Autobacs Racing Team Aguri Honda NSX Concept GT: Tomoki Nojiri, Takashi Kobayashi

#100 Team Kunimitsu Honda NSX Concept GT: Naoki Yamamoto, Takuya Izawa
#23 Nismo Nissan GT-R Nismo GT3: Tsugio Matsuda, Ronnie Quintarelli
#19 Team Wedssport Bandoh Lexus RC F: Yuhi Sekiguchi, Yuji Kunimoto
#7 BMW Team Studie BMW M6 GT3: Jorg Muller, Seiji Ara
#1 Team Sard Lexus LC500: Kohei Hirate, Heikki Kovalainen
#51 LM corsa Lexus RC F GT3: Yuichi Nakayama, Sho Tsuboi
#8 Autobacs Racing Team Aguri Honda NSX Concept GT: Tomoki Nojiri, Takashi Kobayashi

The ARTA Honda never looked threatened by another car during the race, except for the last two laps when its advantage dramatically shrunk to under two seconds, to score its first victory since 2013.

While the battle for the lead was settled early on, the #23 NISMO and the #38 Cerumo Lexus fought for the second position until the very end of the race.

The Lexus had climbed its way from sixth on the grid in the hands of three-time Super GT champion Koudai Tachikawa in the first stint, with Hiroaki Ishiura carrying on his countryman’s good work after the pitstops.

But Ishiura was unable to clear Tsugio Matsuda, whose Nissan enjoyed a greater straight line advantage following an updated engine introduced in Sugo.

As a result, Matsuda - who shares the #23 GT-R with Ronnie Quintarelli - managed to fend off the Lexus despite running neck-to-neck for nearly 20 laps.

The two TOM’S Lexus cars had their own intra-team rivalry in the closing stages, which allowed the #12 Impul Nissan of Hironobu Yasuda and GT Academy winner Jann Mardenborough to nick fifth place.

While the #37 car of Ryo Hirakawa and Nick Cassidy slipped to sixth in this spat, the sister #36 machine (Kazuki Nakajima and James Rossiter) managed to hold on to the fourth spot.

Double win for ARTA

ARTA doubled up in the GT300 category, with Shinichi Takagi and Sean Walkinshaw taking a straightforward victory in the #55 BMW M6 GT3.

With his 18th triumph, Takagi now shares the record of most GT300 wins in the history of Super GT.

Meanwhile, the #4 Team Ukyo Mercedes crew of Nobuteru Taniguchi and Tatsuya Kataoka rose to the top of the standings with a second place finish, having made a late move over the #31 Toyota Prius of Rintaro Kubo and Koki Saga, which eventually finished third.

GT500 race results: 

Po Driver Car Gap
1  Tomoki Nojiri
 Takashi Kobayashi
Honda  
2  Tsugio Matsuda
 Ronnie Quintarelli
Nissan 1.530
3  Yuji Tachikawa
 Hiroaki Ishiura
Lexus 2.203
4  Kazuki Nakajima
 James Rossiter
Lexus 13.300
5  Hironobu Yasuda
 Jann Mardenborough
Nissan 14.938
6  Ryo Hirakawa
 Nick Cassidy
Lexus 15.244
7  Yuhi Sekiguchi
 Yuji Kunimoto
Lexus 19.525
8  Naoki Yamamoto
 Takuya Izawa
Honda 19.603
9  Kazuya Oshima
 Andrea Caldarelli
Lexus 19.666
10  Heikki Kovalainen
 Kohei Hirate
Lexus 22.480
11  Satoshi Motoyama
 Katsumasa Chiyo
Nissan 58.928
12  Bertrand Baguette
 Kosuke Matsuura
Honda 1'04.652
13  Daiki Sasaki
 JP de Oliveira
Nissan 14Laps
   Hideki Mutoh
 Daisuke Nakajima
Honda 21Laps
   Koudai Tsukakoshi
 Takashi Kogure
Honda 36Laps

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