au Team TOM'S continue dominant streak at Fuji; Kondo Nissan grab first GT300 win in 2 years
- Tarun Suresh
- 1 hour ago
- 5 min read
After a well-executed overcut by Sho Tsuboi, the reigning champions au Team TOM'S took the lead with an hour left and never looked back, earning him and teammate Kenta Yamashita a well-deserved third consecutive win.
The race started with pole sitter Nireir Fukuzumi, in the ENEOS ROOKIE Supra, immediately pulling away from the rival Supra, the reigning champion au Team TOM’S car. In the first three laps, he created a gap of almost two seconds as the au Team TOM’S, NISMO Z and the KeePer Cerumo were engaged in a stalemate, battling for second.
In GT300, the Subaru has been consistently the fastest the whole weekend, and that streak of dominance only continued into the race, Hideki Yamauchi extending the gap to three seconds in just two laps, but the gap remained stagnant after that. The second placed apr Lexus, driven by Miki Koyama, while unable to keep up with the lead car, sat comfortably in second ahead of the Green Brave Supra.
The Deloitte Team TOM’S Supra has been having a drought in performance so far this year, but Giuliano Alesi was eager to turn that around, making his way up from thirteenth. He quickly climbed up to seventh after a series of thrilling battles, but his pace seemed to plateau after that.
Up ahead, in the battle for third between the Cerumo and NISMO Nissan, Rikuto Kobayashi made contact with the Nissan at the final turn, causing the latter to spin around. The Cerumo crew were given a drive-through penalty for the incident.
Inversely, in GT300, the Subaru’s advantage at the front didn’t last too long as Koyama, by lap thirteen, had closed the gap to the leading Subaru and was keen on getting past the leader. The Green Brave Supra and the Realize Kondo Nissan were not far behind.
J.P. de Oliveira in the Kondo Nissan did not want to miss out on the action for the lead, quickly getting past Seita Nonaka in the third-place Supra and catching up to the leader battle.
Heartbreak struck Subaru again as the leading GT300 car suffered from a puncture on its front left Dunlop just after crossing the pit entry. The Subaru wasn’t the only one suffering from a front left puncture. The fan favourite Mach 5 mother chassis also suffered from a similar issue, running the Advan tyres. Reliability issues in GT300 did not end there as the Ponos Ferrari soon suffered from a suspension issue, and was dragged into the pits for emergency repairs.
Further ahead, the battle for the lead heated up between Koyama and de Oliveira. The Brazilian overtook Koyama at the final corner, prompting her to pit. Charlie Wurz got in the apr Lexus for his Super GT debut.
In GT500, Fukuzumi pitted from the lead with two hours left, and the rest of the top three followed him in. All three teams opted for a driver change, Kazuya Oshima getting in the ENEOS ROOKIE, Sho Tsuboi getting in the au Team TOM’S and Katsumasa Chiyo in the NISMO Nissan.
Punctures seemed to be an all too common occurrence in GT300 as the Venteny JLOC Lamborghini also suffered a puncture, the right rear Yokohama going bust.
In the battle for the overall lead, the Realize Nissan pitted, and Iori Kimura got in the car. The overcut seemed to work for Nissan as the apr of Wurz was not anywhere near the net leader when they exited the pit lane.
The first full course yellow was brought out by the Deloitte Team TOM’S car, which seemed to have an electronics problem, as the Supra that was making its way up the field stopped on the main straight, just behind the pit entry. Team Director Michael Krumm reported a loss in radio connection as well.
The Green Brave Supra, who were in GT300 podium contention, had to pit for fuel, but had to do so when the pitlane was closed and got a 60-second stop-go penalty.
In the GT500 class, the two Nissans at the top, the NISMO and the Realize Z, started battling it out for the final podium spot, with an hour and a quarter left, and the factory run car came out on top. As the clock was nearing an hour, the two battling Nissans entered the pits for their final stop.
In GT300, the apr Lexus also came in from second, Kazuto Kotaka getting in the car. The second-place car in the GT500 class, the au Team TOM’S car, also made its final pitstop. Tsuboi remained in the car. A lap later, the leader, the ENEOS ROOKIE Supra came in, and the crew opted for a driver change, Fukuzumi replacing Oshima.
The overcut worked for Tsuboi, who made quick work of Fukuzumi when he exited the pits. Fukuzumi kept up with the reigning champion but was not fast enough to close the gap to them.
In GT300, the leading Realize Nissan pitted with 45 minutes left on the clock, and de Oliveira got back in the cockpit for the final stint. They came out ahead of the net second-placed seven x seven Porsche and the apr Lexus. The LEON Racing Mercedes opted to pit only for fuel and jumped ahead of the apr Lexus in third.
With 18 minutes left, the polestitter Subaru retired from the race following a suspension issue. As the clock was ticking down to finish, Venteny Lamborghini had its second puncture of the race, the right rear falling apart yet again, this time with 3 minutes left.
As the race was coming to an end, the SARD Supra that started twelfth had quietly made its way up the field and was closing in on the NISMO Nissan for the final podium spot, but their efforts were not enough for third.
After the race, the seven x seven Porsche were hit with a 10-second penalty for a lap-one incident and dropped from second to fourth.
When the clock struck zero, it was a third consecutive win for the reigning champions, the au Team TOM’S crew of Kenta Yamashita and Sho Tsuboi. The ENEOS ROOKIE lineup of Nirei Fukuzumi and Kazuya Oshima, who started from pole, finished second. The factory-run NISMO Nissan, driven by Katsumasa Chiyo and Mitsunori Takaboshi, finished third.
In GT300, the Kondo Racing Nissan and J.P. de Oliveira grabbed their first win since 2023. This is also Iori Kimura’s maiden Super GT win. The reigning champion crew of Naoya Gamou, Togo Suganami and Haruki Kurosawa in the LEON Racing Mercedes finished second. The apr Lexus of Kazuto Kotaka, Miki Koyama and Charlie Wurz finished third for the second race in a row, with Wurz standing on the podium on debut. This race was also historic as Miki Koyama became the first woman to score two podiums, and the first to score consecutive podium finishes.
Championship-wise, au Team TOM’S leads by 16 points in GT500, ahead of ENEOS ROOKIE. In GT300, the D’station Aston Martin is still in the lead but only by three points, with apr in second. Hyper Water Inging and LEON Racing are tied for third, one point behind apr.
With the Malaysian round indefinitely postponed, the next round on the calendar is now the second of the two races at Fuji, slated to be held from 1-2 August.
