The last day of official pre-season testing for the 2021 Autobacs Super GT Series has concluded from Fuji Speedway. Saturday’s weather was fine, cool, and sunny as expected, while overnight rain showers greeted those who arrived in the morning for Sunday’s two test sessions.
It was anticipated that the rainfall would last throughout the day, which is why both sessions on Saturday were lengthened by 30 minutes, and why Sunday’s afternoon session was shortened by nearly an hour. Instead, the rain completely stopped before Test Session 3 began at 9:30 local time.
Just ten minutes into the 2 hour, 15 minute Session 3, a red flag was brought out when the #12 Calsonic Impul Nissan GT-R came to a stop at Dunlop Corner (Turn 10) – however, the car resumed under its own power and continued to run near the front of the leaderboards.
A dry line gradually formed around Fuji Speedway, and lap times began to tumble down into the sub-90 second range for GT500 cars. The leaderboard order shuffled frequently during this time, but with fifteen minutes left in the session, it looked as if Tsugio Matsuda in the #23 Motul Autech Nissan GT-R would keep the top spot with a time of 1’29.033.
Just as the chequered flag waved for Session 3, the #16 Red Bull Motul Mugen NSX-GT of Toshiki Oyu jumped to the top of the board with a best time of 1’28.834, edging ahead of Matsuda by two-tenths of a second.
Koudai Tsukakoshi in the #17 Astemo NSX-GT was 3rd, Ritomo Miyata in the #19 WedsSport Advan Toyota GR Supra was 4th, and Kazuya Oshima in the #14 Eneos X Prime GR Supra was 5th.
One car whose day ended prematurely was the #37 KeePer TOM’s GR Supra of Ryo Hirakawa and super-sub Sena Sakaguchi. After coming to a stop at Panasonic Corner (Turn 16) at the end of Session 3, the #37 KeePer Supra was brought back to the garage for repairs, and it was determined that the car could not be fixed in time to run during Session 4, starting from 14:00 local time.
This one-hour session saw a brief rain shower at the south end of the circuit, and then another red flag when the GT300-class #360 RunUp Rivaux Nissan GT-R GT3 of Takayuki Aoki went off course at the 100R Corner (Turns 4 & 5), but Aoki avoided contact with the sponge barriers and continued on with his run, as the GT500 cars continued with their runs, and the track dried out yet again.
Ronnie Quintarelli took over from Matsuda in the #23 Motul GT-R, and in the middle of Session 4, the four-time GT500 Champion posted the fastest time of the day with a 1’28.397. That will be very encouraging for a number of Nissan supporters, who have seen the manufacturer struggle to keep pace with Toyota and Honda in recent years.
“In the afternoon, I drove for one short run, and then we did a long run test,” said Quintarelli. “We were able to choose a set of durable tyres for the second round here at Fuji. We tried something new and it was OK. Compared to last year, the Michelin tyres have definitely improved.”
“The car is basically the same as last year, but we have made more progress with the set-up and also with the engine. However, no matter how much we increase the power, the drivers always say they want more power!” Quintarelli laughed. “We were able to get a good response for the opening round in Okayama, and especially for the second round in Fuji.”
After leading Session 3, Oyu finished 2nd in Session 4 and 2nd overall on Sunday, his best lap of 1’28.709 just three-tenths shy of Quintarelli’s time.
The other Dunlop-clad Honda, the #64 Modulo NSX-GT, set the third-quickest time at the hands of GT500 sophomore Hiroki Otsu.
Koudai Tsukakoshi, driving the #17 Astemo NSX-GT, was fourth-fastest on the day.
And the top Toyota was the #36 au TOM’s GR Supra of Saturday pace-setter Sho Tsuboi, who was fifth-fastest on Sunday.
In GT300, the #56 Realize Nissan Automobile College GT-R of João Paulo de Oliveira was the fastest of the 28 cars for the second consecutive day of testing.
Right at the end of session 4, Oliveira jumped to the top of the leaderboard with a time of 1’37.128, seven-tenths slower than what he ran on Saturday – attributed to the damp conditions and lack of rubber on track.
“The car felt good again today, especially during the race simulations,” said Oliveira. “We set the top time for both days, which is a great feeling. I feel more confident with the car set-up and the life of the tyres. I can’t go into details, but of course we are also working on practicing with Success Weight in anticipation of the second round at Fuji.”
“But this year, we have more GR Supra GTs, and I feel they are a big threat. Even though we set the top time this time, I cannot believe that our rivals have gone as fast as they could. I’m sure they’re not running at full throttle (laughs). Even in the Okayama test, the Supras were about 1.5 seconds faster than the estimated race lap time. But now we have confidence in the car, so we’ll do our best from the opening round!”
Just seven-thousandths of a second behind Oliveira was FIA F4 Japanese Champion, Hibiki Taira, in the Dunlop-clad #96 K-Tunes Lexus RC F GT3. Taira has been standing in for Sena Sakaguchi, who has been standing in at TGR Team KeePer TOM’s for Sacha Fenestraz due to visa issues.
And after setting the fastest time of Session 3, the #52 Saitama Toyopet GreenBrave Toyota GR Supra GT of Kohta Kawaai was just 0.038 seconds off the top time set by Oliveira in 3rd place – fastest of the GT300 regulation cars.
Completing the overall top 5 in GT300 were the #360 RunUp GT-R of Aoki in 4th, and the #88 JLOC Lamborghini Huracán GT3 of Yuya Motojima in 5th.
The 2021 Autobacs Super GT Series begins at Okayama International Circuit, with practice and qualifying on 10 April, and the Takanokono Hotel Okayama GT 300km Race on Sunday, 11 April.
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