Makino, Yamamoto grab the Prelude's first Super GT win at Fuji and Team Kunimitsu's first of the season

Credit: GTA

Following pre-race pours, the race started under a safety car dude to the damp track. It came in on lap 4 but was red-flagged after an incident between the Impul Nissan, NISMO Nissan and the Modulo Prelude sent the latter flying over the main straight and into the pit sidewall.

Igor Fraga, the driver of the Modulo at the time, was confirmed to be conscious and able to speak. The No.12 Nissan was awarded with a 90 second penalty for the incident. 

The race restarted under the safety car again, 45 minutes after the initial start time.

Proper green flag racing started around 55 minutes after the initial start time, and nine laps were completed under the safety car.

A great start from Naoki Yamamoto in the STANLEY Kunimitsu Prelude saw him barging past the #8 ARTA of Hiroki Otsu for the lead.

In GT300, the top three were able to maintain their positions, but a brave move at turn 4 saw the Green Brave Supra jump up to fourth, getting past the Car Guy Ferrari and a few laps later, got past the Uni-Robo Ferrari for third.

The pace the Ferraris showed during qualifying seemed to falter as the ENEOS ROOKIE Mercedes soon made its way past the CarGuy and then the Uni-Robo Ferraris.

Further ahead in GT500, the Toyotas started making their way up the Honda dominated pack as the No.37 Deloitte Team TOM’S quickly made its way past the #16 ARTA for fifth.

Credit: GTA

In the podium places, the Cerumo Supra got past the Modulo Prelude for third. The No. 37  car took advantage of the two squabbling and jumped from fifth to third.

The first pit stops started at around lap 23, with the #16 ARTA Prelude and the Cerumo Supra being the first to make their moves. A rapid stop from the Prelude saw them jump the Supra in the pits.

The Astemo put a lap later and filtered out ahead of the #16 ARTA, and the #8 pitted a lap after and exited as the leading car amongst those who pit.

The overcut seemed to be powerful as the two Team TOM’S cars jumped up the order when they pit on laps 28 and 29. The championship leading au Team TOM’S climbed from eighth before the pitstop cycle to sixth after. Further ahead, the Deloitte Team TOM’S jumped the #8 ARTA for second.

While the pitstops were going on in GT500, the ENEOS ROOKIE Mercedes started making its way up the order in GT500, getting past the Green Brave Supra and the Syntium Lexus for second overall and chasing down the Ponos Ferrari for the lead.

When the pitstops started in GT300, the Ponos Ferrari got out in the net lead, but the ENEOS ROOKIE and the Syntium Lexus lost out to the CarGuy Ferrari during the pit stop cycle.

In the battle for the lead, when the Green Brave Supra made its pit stop on lap 41, 10 laps after the Ponos Ferrari, they only swapped the two front tyres and jumped the Ferrari. However, the Ferrari was quickly chasing down the Supra.

Credit: GTA

In GT500, the au Team TOM’S car had caught up to the Cerumo for fifth. However, their intense battle was broken up as they caught up to the GT300 lead battle; with the Team TOM’S car getting the short end of the stick, they soon had to defend from the ROOKIE Racing Supra to keep the sixth place intact.

After an intense battle for the GT300 lead, the Green Brave Supra stayed on top, but this battle allowed the Car Guy Ferrari in third to gain on the two, and a battle for second between the two Ferraris ensued.

While this was going on, the au Team TOM’S car caught back up to the Cerumo and made a wonderful pass around the outside of turn two for fifth.

In GT300, the battle for second kept raging on, and the two Ferraris kept swapping places. This allowed for the ENEOS ROOKIE Mercedes to catch up to the pair and start fighting the CarGuy for the final podium spot.

At the same time, a battle for second had started in GT500 between the #8 ARTA Mugen and the No.37 Team TOM’S. However, similar to the battle for fifth earlier on, the pair caught up to the GT300 battle for third, but this only helped the #8 ARTA car and a brave lunge down turn 11 saw them back in second.

Further down the order, the other Team TOM’S car, the No.36, made its way past the Modulo Prelude for fourth.

Soon after, in GT300, the CarGuy Ferrari had cleared the threat of the ENEOS Mercedes and went back to battling the Ponos Ferrari for second. An intense battle allowed the ENEOS Mercedes to catch back up and soon made its way past the pair for second, and the Ponos lost out to the CarGuy, dropping to fourth.

Credit: GTA

As the race was nearing its end, the STANLEY Kunimitsu Prelude, which had the GT500 lead since the restart, was quickly losing ground to the cars behind but had just enough pace to cross the finish line first, grabbing the team’s first win of the season and the Prelude’s first Super GT win.

The #8 ARTA crossed the line a close second, making it a 1-2 finish for the Honda Prelude in only its third race. The No.37 Deloitte Team TOM'S car finished third, bringing home a podium after a difficult start to the season.

The championship-leading No.36 au Team TOM'S Supra finished fourth, overcoming the 80kg ballast and the fuel flow restriction on the car. The Modulo Prelude rounded off the top five in what was a successful outing for the Hondas.

In GT300, the Green Brave Supra comfortably won the race after their gamble to swap only two tyres paid off. The ENEOS Mercedes finished second as the CarGuy Ferrari finished a close third, just half a second ahead of the Ponos Ferrari in fourth. The Realize Kondo Nissan rounded off the top five.

The GT500 standings are led by the No.36 au Team TOM'S squad of Sho Tsuboi and Kenta Yamashita with 48 points to their names. The ROOKIE Racing lineup of Nirei Fukuzumi and Kazuya Oshima is 20 points back in second and just one point ahead of the STANLEY Kunimitsu pair of Naoki Yamamoto and Tadasuke Makino in third.

The championship battle is as tight as ever in GT300 as the top ten are separated by just 16 points. It's a two-way tie up top between the Green Brave Supra and the Hyper Water Inging at 40 points each. The Kondo Nissan is third with 38 points to their name.

Reigning champions LEON Mercedes are one point behind in fourth. The championship top two heading into this race, the D'Station Aston Martin and the apr Lexus, failed to score points and are fifth and sixth with 35 and 34 points, respectively.

The following Super GT round will be held at Suzuka from 22 to 23 August.