Okayama SUPER GT: Nissan wins bonkers wet/dry season opener

The #23 NISMO Nissan Z of Ronnie Quintarelli and Tsugio Matsuda survived multiple safety car periods and stoppages to claim victory at the former Pacific Grand Prix venue, leading the sister #3 NDDP car of Katsumasa Chiyo and Mitsunori Takaboshi.

The two Michelin-shod NISMO cars were the favourites heading into the race after locking out the front row, with the early laps suggesting Nissan was indeed set for an easy 1-2 result.

But both the #3 and #23 cars lost ground at different stages as the complexion of the race changed rapidly amid changing conditions, and it was only after the #36 TOM’S Toyota stopped on track with a loose wheel that Nissan was able to convert its front row lockout into a 1-2.

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The #3 NDDP car was the first to drop down the order, with the timing of the first safety car on lap 16 leaving the pits closed and giving Chiyo no opportunity to switch to wet tyres until the pits reopened under caution.

When the action resumed on lap 23, Quintarelli struggled for performance on his Michelins and dropped down the order himself, falling behind the Bridgestone-shod cars of Sho Tsuboi (#36 TOM’S), Nobuharu Matsushita (Real Racing Honda) and Kazuya Oshima (Rookie Racing Toyota).

However, as the track began to dry out again, the race started coming back towards Nissan, with Quintarelli regaining lost places in quick succession and assuming the lead again on lap 41 with a pass on Tsuboi at Turn 1.

Quintarelli handed the car to team-mate Matsuda on lap 46, with the Japanese driver tasked with keeping Tsuboi’s team-mate Ritomo Miyata at bay for the remainder of the race.

But more rain threw spanner in the works and Matsuda made a pitstop to switch back to wet tyres just as another safety car was deployed, this time for a crash involving the #9 Pacific Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 of Liang Jiatong and the #88 JLOC Lamborghini Huracan GT3 Evo of Takashi Kogure.

There were questions mark over whether Matsuda had entered the pits after the safety car was called, but it transpired that he had just entered before the caution began, escaping any penalty.

Matsuda temporarily dropped to sixth, but was able to regain the lost places after the first red flag period, which was brought out due to lightning on track, as the other GT500 runners came in for wets under caution once the pitlane opened.

Miyata was sent out with a loose front left-wheel amid a crowded pitlane, costing the #36 TOM'S car second place and a shot at victory just before the race had to be red-flagged again due to worsening weather conditions.

An effort was made to restart proceedings, but conditions remained too poor to run the race under green flag conditions, and the session was halted once 75% race distance was completed at the end of lap 62.

Quintarelli and Matsuda were hence declared the winners of the race, the latter clinching a record-extending 24th victory in the GT500 class with his latest triumph.

Tsugio Matsuda, Ronnie Quintarelli, #23 MOTUL AUTECH Z

Photo by: Masahide Kamio

Incredibly, the sister #3 Nissan was able to recover from its early woes to finish second, with the superior Michelin tyres allowing Chiyo and Takaboshi to charge back through the field after dropping to as low as 12th place.

The final spot on the podium surprisingly went to the #8 ARTA Honda of Tomoki Nojiri and Toshiki Oyu, thanks largely to some impressive driving from Oyu in the ever-changing weather after the crew served an early stop-and-go penalty for an unauthorised chassis change.

Disaster for the #36 TOM'S crew meant that Kazuya Oshima and Kenta Yamashita were the top Toyota runners home in the Rookie Racing entry in fourth.

The #16 ARTA crew of Nirei Fukuzumi and Hiroki Otsu provisionally finished fifth after the squad controversially completed its mandatory driver change during a red flag period.

Sixth place went to the Cerumo Toyota of Yuji Tachikawa and Hiroaki Ishiura, while reigning champions Bertrand Baguette and Kazuki Hiramine were able to rebound from a tough qualifying to finish seventh in the Impul Nissan.

The top 10 was completed by Real Racing Honda's Matsushita and Koudai Tsukakoshi and two Toyotas, the freshly-rebuilt SARD Supra of Yuhi Sekiguchi and Yuichi Nakayama and the Racing Project Bandoh car of Yuji Kunimoto and Sena Sakaguchi.

Both the Team Kunimitsu Honda and #37 TOM'S Toyota finished outside of the points after serving one-minute stop-and-go penalties for pitting under full-course caution in the early stages.

That was despite a charging opening stint from Tadasuke Makino in the Kunimitsu car that saw him challenge the two NISMO Nissans for the lead.

UPDATE: The #16 ARTA Honda was later handed a 100-second time penalty for illegally completing its mandatory driver change under the red flag, dropping it to 11th place.

GT500 race results:

UpGarage Honda denies Mercedes GT300 victory

Honda took top honours in the GT300 class at Okayama, as Team UpGarage executed the perfect strategy to claim an unlikely victory from 18th on the grid.

Takashi Kobayashi and rookie Shun Koide won the season opener in the #18 Honda NSX GT3, five years on from the squad's only previous win - also registered at Okayama but with a Toyota 86 MC.

Takashi Kobayashi, Shun Koide, #18 UPGARAGE NSX GT3

Photo by: Masahide Kamio

By coming in to switch from wets to slicks two laps earlier on lap 37, the Honda outfit stole victory from the LEON Racing Mercedes team, which had led most of the race before Takuro Shinohara handed over to Naoya Gamou.

Third spot went to the #244 Max Racing Toyota GR Supra of Kimiya Sato and Atsushi Miyake, after an even earlier stop for slicks, ahead of the Yogibo Racing Honda and the Saitama Toyopet Green Brave Toyota Supra that ran second at one stage early on.

DTM champion Bruno Spengler came away from his first SUPER GT race with sixth in the Team Studie BMW M4 GT3 he shares with Seiji Ara, despite the Canadian being punted into a spin early on by the Goodsmile Racing Mercedes of Tatsuya Kataoka.

The Pacific Mercedes led in the hands of Ryohei Sakaguchi after the first rain shower and round of pitstops, and was still in the running for a podium when Jiatong suffered his crash.

Also losing the chance of a strong result was the Inging Toyota GR86, which shed a wheel in the closing stages after a botched stop.