Actual pair Koudai Tsukakoshi and Nobuharu Matsushita took the win on the street after an exciting battle with the #8 ARTA Honda shared by Nojiri and Toshiki Oyu, solely to be disqualified following post-race inspection for a worn skid block.
Nojiri and Oyu arrived at Sugo carrying solely 22kg of success ballast, having failed to attain for the reason that opening spherical of the season at Okayama, whereas Tsukakoshi and Matsushita had a nominal 58kg, together with a stage one gas circulation restrictor.
The 2-time Tremendous Method champion conceded that dropping out to a automobile with a heavier handicap was a supply of frustration even when he and Oyu ended up inheriting victory.
“When the official outcomes confirmed us because the winners, I had blended emotions,” Nojiri instructed the official SUPER GT web site. “That is as a result of now we have to confess that we misplaced on-track to the #17 automobile, which was carrying a gas circulation restrictor, whereas we had been gentle on success ballast.
“The very fact we gained on this state of affairs is one thing that may proceed to hang-out us, so now we have no selection however to construct on this for the following race at Autopolis and attempt to win with our personal energy.”
Nojiri added that he was happy along with his personal stint after constructing a spot of 12 seconds within the opening a part of the race, though his cushion was under 10 seconds by the point he stopped on lap 32 of 84 handy over to Oyu.
“We began from the highest, and contemplating the race distance [300km] the technique was merely to go flat out. I used to be in a position to construct a spot, so I feel I did my job correctly [as the starting driver],” he stated.
Â
The #8 crew was jumped throughout the pitstop part by the Actual Racing Honda as Matsushita reeled off a sequence of fast laps earlier than pitting on lap 33, with a fast cease – eight seconds sooner than ARTA – put Tsukakoshi forward on observe.
Oyu was in a position to get again forward of Tsukakoshi after the crimson flag interruption that adopted Naoki Yamamoto’s enormous crash, however could not draw back and at last misplaced the lead once more on the finish of lap 76.
Nonetheless, Oyu stated that he knew early on that the ARTA crew had made a mistake on tyre selection, however managed to carry off the attacking NISMO Nissan of Tsugio Matsuda till the chequered flag.
“After I handed [Tsukakoshi], the tempo was good, however then I realised, ‘we selected that form of tyre’, and it was onerous to maintain up the tempo,” mirrored Oyu. “After all, I used to be managing the tyre, however that wasn’t the difficulty.
“We selected a tyre that we hadn’t used a lot as much as that time, and on prime of that it did not maintain up in addition to we anticipated. I feel everybody was combating pick-up, however even then our tyres undoubtedly did not match the situations.”
Following information of the #17 automobile’s disqualification, Oyu added: “After all, I needed to win [on the road], however what issues most is the consequence. Whether or not or not we may win this time can have a big effect on the championship.
“Whereas the #16 automobile [sister ARTA Honda] was in a position to win [at Suzuka], we had been having a run of unhealthy and unsatisfying races, so I am actually glad we may lastly put an finish to that run.”
Nojiri and Oyu go into the ultimate two races of the season at Autopolis and Motegi with a deficit of 19 factors to the championship leaders, NDDP Nissan duo Katsumasa Chiyo and Mitsunori Takaboshi.
Extra reporting by Kenichiro Ebii
Motorsport.television is exhibiting all qualifying classes and races for the 2023 SUPER GT season. For extra info, click on right here.
