The SUZUKA GT 300km RACE, Round 3 of the 2019 AUTOBACS SUPER GT series, was held at the Suzuka Circuit (one lap 5.807m × 52 laps) in Mie Prefecture on May 26. In the GT500 class, the No. 36 au TOM’S LC500 (Kazuki Nakajima/Yuhi Sekiguchi) went from pole position to take its first win of the season. In the GT300 class, the No. 96 K-tunes RC F GT3 (Morio Nitta/Sena Sakaguchi) continued its winning streak at Suzuka from last year, giving it its second win of the season.
The season opener at Okayama and the second round at Fuji in this season’s SUPER GT were held in the rain, but this third round at Suzuka was a fierce battle held under blue skies that continued from the previous day.
At the start, the pole-sitting No. 36 at TOM’S LC500 (Kazuki Nakajima) kept its position at the front pursued by No. 37 KeePer TOM’S LC500 and No. 6 WAKO’S 4CR LC500 (Kenta Yamashita). In the early stages of the race on lap 17, point standing leader No. 23 MOTUL AUTECH GT-R (Ronnie Quintarelli) went off the track at the high-speed corner R130. Although it was not serious, that brought out the Safety Car to remove the car that crashed. The race was restarted on lap 22. Even in the second half of the race, No. 36 au TOM’S LC500 (Yuhi Sekiguchi) still kept its hold on the lead, but No. 37 KeePer TOM’S LC500 (Nick Cassidy) and No. 6 WAKO’S 4CR LC500 (Kazuya Oshima) were close behind. These three LEXUS LC500s pushed hard for the top position, but TOM’S LC500 prevailed at the end to register its first win of the season. Second and third places reached the goal in that order. This was the first time for the LC500 to dominate the podium since round seven at Autopolis last year. Fourth place went to No. 8 ARTA NSX-GT (Tomoki Nojiri/Takuya Izawa), the NISSAN GT-R NISMO GT500 registered its best finish at eighth place with No. 24 REALIZE CORPORATION ADVAN GT-R (Mitsunori Takaboshi/Jann Mardenborough).
In the GT300 class race, pole position No. 25 HOPPY 86 MC (Kimiya Sato) went out in the lead from the start, pursued by No. 96 K-tunes RC F GT3 (Morio Nitta) that finished second in the qualifying. In the routine pit stop, No. 25 HOPPY 86 MC (Tomomitsu Matsui) opted for a no-tire-change strategy to give it a 14-second lead over No. 96 K-tunes RC F GTE (Sena Sakaguchi), however in the latter stages of the race, tire condition forced the pace down. No. 96 K-tunes RC F GT3 was able to regain the lead, winning Suzuka for the second year in a row.
The No. 96 car also won the season opener making this its second win of the season. With this win Nitta holds the most wins with 22 in the GT300 class. Finishing second was No. 5 ADVICS MACHSYAKEN MC86 MACH GO (Natsu Sakaguchi/Yuya Hiraki), with third place going to No. 61 SUBARU BRZ R&D SPORT (Takuto Iguchi/Hideki Yamauchi).
Spectators: 36,000 (May 26)
Winner Comments
GT500
No. 36 auTOMS’S LC500
Kazuki Nakajima
“The machine condition was very good from the start, so I was able to push from the beginning to widen the gap and turn the car over to Yuhi (second driver Sekiguchi). It was a little unlucky that the Safety Car came out as I was widening the lead, but when the race restarted, I was able to increase that gap. The race went almost as I had planned.”
Yuhi Sekiguchi
“After the driver change, the pace slowed for a little while because I was worried about the tires, and the feeling in the GT300 wasn’t so good. I was thinking that if I continued to push, the tires wouldn’t hold up to the end. But that being the case, I changed my strategy so the car behind me (No. 6) would wear out its tires in the downforce. For me too, the race went as I was expected.”
GT300
No. 96 K-tunes RC F GT3
Morio Nitta
“I was thinking that the track surface temperature would go up a little more, but it didn’t go up as much as yesterday. That made it a little hard on the tires, so I was only able to turn the car over the Sena in second position. Still, it wasn’t far off the top, so it was good to turn it over to him. In the season opener he did not drive, but this time I wanted to win together with Sena. I was happy to be able to do that.”
Sena Sakaguchi
“I was given the machine by Nitta-san in second position just short of the top, our strategy was to change the tires to be able to push hard from the beginning to the end. The tire Nitta-san recommended made it possible to continue to push to the end. I continued to push while checking with the pit about the gap between the top spot, and I was sure that I could come from behind for the victory.”
Source. Super GT
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