Oyu Delivers Cerumo Vital Pole in Motegi Finale
Photo: SUPER GT
Toshiki Oyu boosted the Cerumo Toyota team’s chances of scoring a comeback SUPER GT title by scoring the bonus point for pole in qualifying for this weekend’s Motegi season finale, beating TOM’S driver Sho Tsuboi.
At the end of a closely-fought Q2 pole shootout, Oyu delivered two laps good enough for pole, with his best effort of 1:35.768 aboard the No. 38 Toyota GR Supra putting him 0.175 seconds ahead of Tsuboi in the No. 1 TOM’S machine.
Tsuboi’s co-driver Kenta Yamashita set the fastest lap of all in Q1, a 1:35.675, with Tsuboi’s best lap in Q2 proving almost three tenths slower.
The bonus point for Oyu and Hiroaki Ishiura puts them 8.5 points behind Tsuboi and Yamashita heading into Sunday’s race, meaning that victory would earn the Cerumo pair the championship if the No. 1 TOM’S car finishes third or lower.
Ishiura was third-fastest in Q1 in his final qualifying outing in the GT500 class.
Honda’s chances of wresting the championship away from Toyota took a major blow as Tadasuke Makino could only set the seventh-fastest time in Q2 aboard the Autopolis-winning Team Kunimitsu Civic Type R-GT.
The No. 100 Honda will start behind all four Nissans on the grid, as Katsumasa Chiyo was third-fastest in the No. 23 NISMO Nissan Z, ahead of Kazuki Hiramine for Team Impul and Daiki Sasaki in the No. 3 NISMO car.
Tsugio Matsuda qualified the Kondo Racing Nissan sixth in his final SUPER GT qualifying outing, having announced his retirement from the series last week.
Propping up the Q1 order were three more Hondas, the two ARTA machines of Nobuharu Matsushita and Ren Sato taking eighth and ninth ahead of Takuya Izawa in the Nakajima Racing Honda in his final qualifying session in the top class.
Three of the six title contenders were eliminated in Q1, most notably the Rookie Racing Toyota that sits second in the drivers’ standings as Kazuya Oshima suffered a spin at the Turn 10 hairpin on his way to the 13th-fastest time of the session.
Also failing to make it through to Q2 were the SARD Toyota of Sacha Fenestraz in 12th and the No. 37 TOM’S Toyota of Ukyo Sasahara in 14th.
Subaru Takes Dominant GT300 Pole in EJ20 Swan Song
Subaru took an emphatic pole position in the GT300 class in the final race for the car’s EJ20 boxer engine, as Hideki Yamauchi went a second clear of the field in Q2.
After Takuto Iguchi topped his Q1 group Yamauchi delivered a blistering lap of 1:45.192 at the wheel of the factory No. 61 Subaru BRZ, which was more than enough to claim a record-extending 16th career pole in the lower class.
Emerging as best of the rest was Iori Kimura aboard the Team Mach Toyota 86 Mother Chassis, ahead of the Saitama Green Brave Toyota GR Supra of Seita Nonaka.
Of the title contending cars, the Kondo Racing Nissan GT-R NISMO GT3 secured the best grid position in fourth with Joao Paulo de Oliveira at the wheel, albeit only Kohei Hirate is in championship contention of the team’s two drivers.
Hirate goes into the finale with a four-point deficit to LEON Racing Mercedes-AMG drivers Naoya Gamou and Togo Suganami when dropped scores are considered, meaning a victory would deliver him the title no matter what happens.
Rikuto Kobayashi could only manage 10th at the wheel of the CarGuy MKS Racing Ferrari that sits third in the championship, with an effective 1.5-point deficit to the LEON drivers, who will start the finale down in 14th after Gamou suffered a difficult Q2.
While an outside bet for the drivers’ title, Goodsmile Racing remains in a strong position to win the teams’ championship after Tatsuya Kataoka qualified sixth behind another of the Mercedes-AMG drivers, Team UpGarage’s Yuto Nomura.
Sunday’s SUPER GT finale is due to begin Sunday 1 p.m. local time (12 a.m. EDT).
Source: Sports Car 365