Strategy works again for Team Kunimitsu in Autopolis Super GT win

Team Kunimitsu, Naoki Yamamoto and Tadasuke Makino struck a major blow in the Autobacs Super GT Series' GT500 title race with a victory in the Autopolis GT 3 Hour Race. It was the No. 100 Honda HRC Prelude-GT’s second win of the year, and the fourth consecutive GT500 class win for Honda.

The race lead in GT500 changed three times in the first hour – the No. 64 Nakajima Racing Honda led from pole, was then overtaken by the No. 17 Real Racing Honda that started second, and then the No. 17 Honda was overtaken by the No. 12 Team Impul Nissan.

But as they did last year at this same venue, Team Kunimitsu used strategy to move to the front. A long first stint from Yamamoto, where the two-time champion ran over 80 minutes, allowed the No. 100 Honda crew to take less fuel on its second and final stop, which put Makino in the net lead. Makino withstood some early pressure in the final hour before pulling away from the pack, and eventually cruising to the win.

It was a victory that allowed Yamamoto and Makino to close to within three points of GT500 championship leaders Sho Tsuboi and Kenta Yamashita in the No. 36 TGR Team TOM’S Toyota GR Supra, heading into the double-header finale at Mobility Resort Motegi on November 7-8.

The No. 38 TGR Team Cerumo Toyota of Toshiki Oyu and Rikuto Kobayashi did its best to close the gap late, and finished second by 1.363s. Completing the GT500 podium was the No. 23 NISMO Nissan Z (Katsumasa Chiyo/Mitsunori Takaboshi), whose third-place finish ended a three-race podium drought for Nissan in the top class.

Behind them, the No. 37 TOM’S Toyota (Ukyo Sasahara/Giuliano Alesi) was fourth, followed by the No. 12 Team Impul Nissan (Kazuki Hiramine/Bertrand Baguette) in fifth, and No. 8 Team HRC ARTA Mugen Honda (Kakunoshin Ohta/Hiroki Otsu) in sixth.

After its strategy was compromised due to a mid-race safety car period, the No. 17 Real Racing Honda (Koudai Tsukakoshi/Yuto Nomura) was dealt an additional blow when it stopped two laps short of the finish. Tsukakoshi and Nomura lost out on a chance to score points but remain third in the championship (-16), followed by Cerumo’s Oyu and Kobayashi (-18).

“I’m happy to have won,” said Yamamoto, who entered the double-digits club with his 10th career GT500 win. “The deployment of the safety car (in the first hour) meant things didn’t go exactly according to our original strategy, but after consulting with the team, our first pit stop went well. For the second pit stop, Makino suggested over the radio that we keep the stint short, and after that, he did a great job holding off the cars behind us at crucial moments. I’m truly fortunate to have such a fantastic team and partner, and I’m so happy we were able to win together.”

“I don’t really remember the specifics of my own driving out there, but I think this result speaks well about the strength of our partnership – Naoki-san and me – as well as the strength of Team Kunimitsu,” said Makino, who scored his sixth career win. “We’ve closed the gap in the title fight to three points, and with only two races left, it’s all about what we do at the final round in Motegi. The details don’t matter anymore – we just have to win.”

GT500 RESULTS

The No. 96 K-tunes Racing Lexus RC F of Morio Nitta and Shinichi Takagi produced the feel-good story of the race, as their GT300 class victory made Nitta (59) and Takagi (56) the oldest GT300 race winners of all time. In fact, three-time series champion Nitta actually surpassed Kunimitsu Takahashi’s record as the oldest winner in any class by 168 days.

They were one of the teams that capitalized on the upheaval caused by the second of two safety cars in the race: A long first stint from Nitta, and a fuel-only second stop, put Takagi in position to take the lead in the final hour, after he overtook the No. 360 Tomei Sports Nissan GT-R of Yu Kanamaru with 45 minutes left.

“The car was perfect,” said Nitta, who extended his personal record with his 23rd career GT300 class win. “We hadn’t been able to check the tires yesterday, but they performed extremely well, and so we were able to have a great race.”

Takagi, who scored his 22nd win – one fewer than his long-time co-driver for most of the 2000s – said, “I didn’t manage to set the record for the most wins, which is a shame! I have so many mixed emotions about this, especially since it’s my first win since 2019, but we actually won! I honestly expected a tough race. But the team adopted a strategy perfectly suited to the conditions, and the Bridgestone tires held up well until the very end. That’s exactly why we were able to win.”

The No. 666 Seven x Seven Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R (Sven Müller/Taichi Watarai) crossed the finish line in second, but was demoted to 11th after failing to complete its second mandatory pit stop under green flag conditions – a similar penalty dropped the No. 88 JLOC Lamborghini Huracán GT3 EVO2 (Takashi Kogure/Daniil Kvyat/Natsu Sakaguchi) from fourth to 12th.

In their place, the No. 360 Tomei Sports Nissan GT-R NISMO GT3 (Rin Arakawa/Yu Kanamaru/Atsushi Tanaka) was promoted to second; it’s the best-ever finish for Tomei Sports in its Super GT history, and a popular result for the team, whose owners Tanaka and Masaaki Nishikawa both have ties to the Kumamoto region.

The No. 65 K2 R&D LEON Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo (Naoya Gamou/Togo Suganami/Haruki Kurosawa) was promoted to third, followed by the No. 2 Inging Motorsport Toyota GR86 (Yuui Tsutsumi/Kazuhisa Urabe) in fourth, the No. 18 Team UpGarage Mercedes-AMG (Takashi Kobayashi/Kotaro Shimbara), and the No. 45 PONOS Racing Ferrari 296 GT3 Evo (Takuro Shinohara/Shintaro Kawabata/Kento Omiya).

Championship leaders João Paulo de Oliveira and Iori Kimura only finished 14th in their No. 56 Kondo Racing Nissan GT-R, but still hold a commanding 15-point lead over CarGuy MKS Racing’s Zak O’Sullivan, whose No. 7 Ferrari (alongside Kiyoshi Umegaki and Reimei Ito) finished seventh.

Both the No. 2 Inging GR86 of Tsutsumi/Urabe (-18) and No. 65 LEON Racing Mercedes-AMG of Gamou/Suganami (-18) gained ground in the championship, while the No. 777 D’station Racing Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo (-23) took a massive tumble down the table; Tomonobu Fujii and Charlie Fagg originally finished eighth, but were demoted to 22nd due to a two-lap penalty for making contact with the No. 7 CarGuy Ferrari after the checkered flag.

Also taking critical blows to their title hopes were the No. 31 apr Lexus LC500h, which lost its right-front wheel in the first hour and crashed out, and the No. 52 Saitama Green Brave Toyota GR Supra, which spun and crashed at half-distance.

GT300 RESULTS