Toyota Teams Sweep Opening Official Test at Okayama
Photo: SUPER GT
Toyota teams swept the first of two official SUPER GT pre-season tests at Okayama International Circuit as TOM’S driver Sho Tsuboi went fastest across two days of running.
Reigning champion Tsuboi set what proved to be the benchmark time in the opening session of the test on Friday morning, a 1:17.446, at the wheel of the No. 36 Toyota GR Supra as both classes shared a track for the first time this year.
That was enough to beat Toshiki Oyu’s Cerumo Toyota by 0.277 seconds, while Bertrand Baguette was third in the No. 12 Nissan Z NISMO, 0.318 seconds off the pace.
The No. 36 Toyota shared by Tsuboi and Kenta Yamashita set the pace in three of the four sessions, with Saturday afternoon’s final session, which was impacted by light rain, being topped by Nirei Fukuzumi in the Rookie Racing GR Supra.
All three top times came in the opening two-hour session amid cool, overcast conditions.
However, times in official testing were considerably slower than those seen in makers’ testing at Okayama in February, when tire warmers are believed to have been in use.
Despite the GR Supra undergoing minimal changes over the winter, Toyota occupied five of the top seven overall as Sacha Fenestraz went fourth for SARD, and Fukuzumi was sixth overall for Rookie ahead of Ukyo Sasahara in the No. 37 TOM’S car.
The only other non-Toyota to breach the top five was the NISMO Nissan of Katsumasa Chiyo in fifth, with the best of the new Honda HRC Prelude-GTs only eighth-fastest.
Real Racing’s Koudai Tsukakoshi set the marque’s best time of 1:18.011 Friday afternoon to go 0.565 seconds off the pace.
Second best of the Hondas was the Team Kunimitsu car that completed the top 10 in the hands of Tadasuke Makino, just behind Teppei Natori’s Kondo Racing Nissan.
ARTA’s two Preludes ended up 12th and 13th behind the Racing Project Bandoh Toyota, the best of the two non-Bridgestone runners.
Toyota newcomer Rikuto Kobayashi caused an early red flag on Saturday morning when he lost control and hit the barriers entering the back straight on a still-damp track, although the car was not severely damaged and reappeared later in the session.
LM Corsa Lexus Leads The Way in GT300
In the GT300 class, LM Corsa’s Lexus LC500 GT set the pace as Hiroki Yoshimoto posted the best time of the test of 1:24.919 in the morning session on Friday.
Seita Nonaka was second in the Saitama Green Brave Toyota GR Supra GT, 0.133 seconds behind Yoshimoto, after setting the pace in the morning session on Saturday, while Hiroaki Ishiura put the new Rookie Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo third-fastest.
The Green Brave Supra was fastest in two out of four sessions as Nonaka’s co-driver Hiroki Yoshida beat Ishiura by two thousandths to top Saturday’s final session.
Completing the top five in class were Yuui Tsutsumi in the Inging Toyota GR86 GT and Zak O’Sullivan in the CarGuy MKS Racing Ferrari 296 GT3.
The remaining session on Friday afternoon was paced by the Pacific Racing BMW M4 GT3 EVO of Yusuke Tomibayashi with a 1:25.789, good enough for 10th overall.
JLOC’s No. 88 Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2 ended up 13th overall as ex-Formula 1 racer and Lamborghini factory driver Daniil Kvyat took advantage of a five-minute extension to the final session to set his best lap of the test, a 1:25.815.
That put the GT3 debutant fifth for that session, 0.468 seconds behind Yoshida.
Subaru was 23rd overall and 1.563 seconds away from the top spot in what was a relatively low-key test in the BRZ’s first official outing with its new six-cylinder engine.
The field was depleted by one car as Gainer’s newly-constructed Nissan Z was not ready in time, while Kiyoshi Umegaki’s name was also removed from the entry list at the last moment, leaving O’Sullivan and Reimei Ito as a duo in the CarGuy MKS Ferrari.
Official SUPER GT testing continues at Fuji Speedway on March 15-16.
Source: Sports Car 365