Okayama SUPER GT: Nissan locks out front row for opening round

The two Michelin-shod, NISMO-entered Z cars were a class apart from the rest of the field on a wet but drying Okayama Circuit in the final leg of qualifying, with Tsugio Matsuda eventually taking pole position in the #23 machine from Mitsunori Takaboshi in the sister #3 entry.

Matsuda and Takaboshi initially traded the top spot in the 15-minute Q2 session before the former started pulling clear of his less experienced Nissan squadmate, lowering his benchmark to a 1m27.860s by the end of qualifying.

This secured he and Ronnie Quintarelli pole position for Sunday’s 300km contest by more than a second, even as Takaboshi managed to improve to a 1m29.035s in his final effort.

In Q1, four-time GT300 champion Quintarelli set the pace in the #23 Nissan.

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The two NISMO Nissans finished 1.5s clear of the opposition led by Nakajima Honda, as newcomer Kakunoshin Ota put in an impressive performance on his GT500 debut to take third on the grid.

The top car on Bridgestone tyres was the Rookie Racing Toyota as the wet conditions shook up the pecking order, with Kazuya Oshima ending up fourth on the grid with a time that was 1.8s off Matsuda’s benchmark.

The Racing Project Bandoh Toyota team qualified fifth in the hands of Sena Sakaguchi, ahead of Giuliano Alesi in the #37 TOM’S Supra.

Toshiki Oyu had an off earlier in qualifying en route to seventh in the #8 ARTA Honda, which must serve a five-second stop/go penalty in the race following an unscheduled chassis change ahead of the weekend.

Naoki Yamamoto struggled for performance in the Kunimitsu Honda as he ended up eighth and last among the Q2 runners, a shocking four seconds down on the leading Nissan and 2.5s slower than the best of the Honda cars.

The #16 ARTA Honda was the fastest car to be eliminated in Q1, with Nirei Fukuzumi missing the cut for the second part of qualifying by 0.049s.

Sho Tsuboi’s time of 1m30.565s put the #36 TOM’S Toyota in 10th place, ahead of the Kondo Nissan piloted by Daiki Sasaki.

Reigning champion Kazuki Hiramine led the early stages of qualifying in the Impul Nissan but appeared to struggle for pace as the conditions improved over the course of the session, dropping to 12th at the finish with a time that was more than a second slower than Q1 pacesetter Quintarelli.

A late off for Nobuharu Matsushita left the Real Racing Honda team down in 13th place, while the Cerumo Toyota squad ended up slowest in Q1 with an unrepresentative time of 1m31.279s from Yuji Tachikawa.

Only 14 GT500 cars took part in qualifying, with the SARD Toyota outfit sitting out the session following a crash in practice on Saturday morning.

LEON Mercedes grabs GT300 pole

Naoya Gamou dominated qualifying in his class to put the #65 LEON Mercedes-AMG GT3 on pole position for the opening round of the season.

Gamou progressively improved his pace in the 15-minute session, eventually claiming the top spot with a stellar effort of 1m36.038s in the car he shares with Takuro Shinohara.

Naoya Gamou, Takuro Shinohara, #65 LEON PYRAMID AMG

Photo by: Masahide Kamio

That was over seven tenths quicker than what Yuui Tsutsumi managed in the #2 Inging Toyota GR86, as Bridgestone-shod cars locked out the front row.

DTM champion Bruno Spengler impressed on his debut weekend in SUPER GT to qualify the #7 Studie BMW M4 GT3 third on the grid with a time that was just 0.003s slower than Tsutsumi’s best lap.

JLOC Lamborghini driver Takashi Kogure made it four different manufacturers inside the top four, completing a lap in 1m36.937s in the #88 Huracan GT3.

Fifth place in qualifying went to Tatsuya Kataoka in the #4 Goodsmile Racing Mercedes, ahead of Koki Saga in the new-for-2023 #31 Lexus LC500h entered by apr and Igor Fraga in the #50 Arnage Lexus RC F GT3.

Last year’s championship-winning Kondo Nissan team qualified eighth courtesy of Teppei Natori, who has replaced Kiyoto Fujinami at the squad this year.

Natori set a 1m38.241s in the #56 Nissan NISMO GT-R GT3, over two seconds slower than what Gamou managed in the pace-setting LEON Mercedes.

Subaru was the big loser when the first leg of Q1 was cut short due to treacherous track conditions and poor visibility, leaving Takuto Iguchi and Hideki Yamauchi on the 11th row of the grid in the #61 R&D Sport BRZ that took pole at Okayama last year.

GT500 qualifying results: