Kazuki Nakajima and Yuhi Sekiguchi ran away with the victory this afternoon, leading a Lexus 1-2-3 at a very warm and sunny Suzuka.
The pair, driving their #36 au TOM’s LC500, had qualified on pole during qualifying on Saturday and had managed to defend their place for the entire race.
Once the race had begun, Nakajima used the opening laps to create a wide lead, whilst the sister #6 Wako’s LC500 and the #37 KeePer TOM’s LC500 fought for second place.
However, the lead was short lived as on the 18th lap, Ronnie Quintarelli, the championship leader, suffered a mechanical failure on his #23 MOTUL AUTECH GT-R and lost control on the famous 130R, binning the car straight into a barrier.
Marshals quickly moved the car off track and repaired the barrier whilst the raced resumed under Safety Car conditions. Many teams decided to complete their mandatory pit stop after the Safety Car period had cleared, including race leader Nakajima who handed over to teammate Sekiguchi.
Once all cars had completed their pit stops, a fierce battle for first place ensued between the three leading cars, featuring Sekiguchi in the #36 LC500, Nick Cassidy in the #37 LC500 and the #6 Wako’s LC500 with Kenta Yamashita at the wheel.
That battle continued right to the end of the race, where Sekiguchi continued his winning streak after his victory last weekend in the second round of Super Formula at Autopolis.
Nick Cassidy and Ryo Hirakawa finished second in their #36 KeePer TOM’s LC500 thanks to a miraculous overtake in the final laps of the race, with Kazuya Oshima and Kenta Yamashita filling the podium in their #6 Wako’s LC500.
Super GT’s Balance of Power and Weight Handicap system that is applied to teams who perform well proved too effective at Suzuka this weekend, with the once-promising #12 Calsonic Impul Nissan GT-R and defending champion #1 Raybrig Honda NSX both struggling in qualifying and in the race too. The #1 Raybrig of defending champions Naoki Yamamoto and Jenson Button qualifying sixth-fastest and the #12 Calsonic of Daiki Sasaki and James Rossiter finishing a lapped tenth and coming to a complete halt just after crossing the finish line.
Meanwhile in GT300 class, there was good news for the #25 Hoppy Toyota GT86 MC entry which secured more sponsorship funding on Saturday afternoon, allowing them to continue racing this season. On top of that, the team qualified in pole position, and managed to hold the place for a significant portion of the race. However, they fell victim to the Safety Car interruption on lap 18, effectively ruining Takamitsu Matsui and Kimiya Sato’s chances at a victory this weekend.
Lexus therefore ended up double-dipping for victory this weekend at Suzuka with Morio Nitta and Sena Sakaguchi in the #96 K-Tunes RC-F taking the win. The #5 Advics Toyota 86 MC driven by Natsu Sakaguchi and Yuya Hiraki claimed second and the #61 Subaru R&D Sport BRZ driven by Takuto Iguchi and Hideki Yamauchi completed the class podium.
| 2019 AUTOBACS SUPER GT SUZUKA 300KM – FINAL CLASSIFICATION (GT500 CLASS) | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Drivers | Team / Entry | Result | Pts | ||||
| 1. | Kazuki Nakajima Yuhi Sekiguchi |
 |
Lexus Team au TOM’S Lexus LC500 / R14AG |
 |
 |
1:47:21.606 | 21 |
| 2. | Ryō Hirakawa Nick Cassidy |
  |
Lexus Team KeePer TOM’S Lexus LC500 / R14AG |
|
|
+ 8.071 | 15 |
| 3. | Kazuya Oshima Kenta Yamashita |
|
Lexus Team LeMans Wako’s Lexus LC500 / R14AG |
|
|
+ 10.534 | 11 |
| 4. | Tomoki Nojiri Takuya Izawa |
|
Autobacs Racing Team Aguri Honda NSX-GT / HR-417E |
 |
|
+ 16.826 | 8 |
| 5. | Heikki Kovalainen Yuichi Nakayama |
 |
Lexus Team Denso Kobelco SARD Lexus LC500 / R14AG |
|
|
+ 34.340 | 6 |
| 6. | Yuji Tachikawa Hiroaki Ishiura |
|
Lexus Team ZENT Cerumo Lexus LC500 / R14AG |
|
|
+ 42.353 | 5 |
| 7. | Yuji Kunimoto Sho Tsuboi |
|
Lexus Team WedsSport Bandoh Lexus LC500 / R14AG |
|
 |
+ 56.487 | 4 |
| 8. | Mitsunori Takaboshi Jann Mardenborough |
|
Kondo Racing Advan Nissan GT-R GT500 / NR20A |
 |
|
+ 1:07.597 | 3 |
| 9. | Kohei Hirate Frederic Makowiecki |
 |
NDDP Racing Craftsports Motul Nissan GT-R GT500 / NR20A |
|
 |
+ 1:08.234 | 2 |
| 10. | Daiki Sasaki James Rossiter |
|
Team Calsonic Impul Nissan GT-R GT500 / NR20A |
|
|
1 lap behind | 1 |
| 11. | Narain Karthikeyan Tadasuke Makino |
 |
Modulo Epson Nakajima Racing Honda NSX-GT / HR-417E |
|
 |
1 lap behind | |
| 12. | Hideki Mutoh Daisuke Nakajima |
|
Team Mugen Motul Honda NSX-GT / HR-417E |
|
|
1 lap behind | |
| 13. | Naoki Yamamoto Jenson Button |
|
Raybrig Team Kunimitsu Honda NSX-GT / HR-417E |
|
|
1 lap behind | |
| DNF. | Koudai Tsukakoshi Bertrand Baguette |
 |
Keihin Real Racing Honda NSX-GT / HR-417E |
|
|
31 laps | |
| DNF. | Tsugio Matsuda Ronnie Quintarelli |
 |
NISMO Motul Autech Nissan GT-R GT500 / NR20A |
|
|
16 laps | |
Championship Points:
-
Points are awarded to the top 10 classified finishers on a 20-15-11-8-6-5-4-3-2-1 scale.
-
The Kazuki Nakajima / Yuhi Sekiguchi entry is awarded an additional 1 championship point for claiming pole position.
Image via Proyecto Motorsport
Keegan Bennett
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