2018 Okayama GT 300km

The 2018 Okayama GT 300km was the first round of the 2018 Super GT Series. It was held at the Okayama International Circuit in Mimasaka, Okayama Prefecture, Japan.

Race details
Round 1 of 8 of the 2018 Super GT Series
Date 8 April 2018
Location Okayama International Circuit, Mimasaka, Okayama Prefecture, Japan
Course Permanent road course
3.703 km (2.301 mi)
Overall results
GT500 Winners
Koudai Tsukakoshi
Takashi Kogure
#17 Real Racing
GT300 Winners
Yuhki Nakayama
Takashi Kobayashi
#18 Team UpGarage

The GT500 category was won by Koudai Tsukakoshi and Takashi Kogure in the #17 Real Racing Honda NSX-GT, whilst Yuhki Nakayama and Takashi Kobayashi won the GT300 category in the #18 Team UpGarage Toyota 86.

Race Report

Qualifying

Rain affected both qualifying sessions for the GT500 and GT300 categories, which shuffled the grid owing to changing track conditions.[1]

GT500

In a what was tumultuous qualifying session, the #17 Real Racing outfit piloted by Koudai Tsukakoshi and Takashi Kogure achieved pole position, after the #24 Kondō Racing Nissan GT-R of Mitsunori Takaboshi and João Paulo de Oliveira had set the pace in the first qualifying session. 2009 Formula One World Champion Jenson Button qualified fifth on his Super GT debut, whilst Swede Felix Rosenqvist qualified in fourth place, cementing a solid run in his debut. One of the biggest shocks to come out of qualifying was the defending champions Ryō Hirakawa and Nick Cassidy failing to get into the second part of qualifying. [1]

Pos No Team Vehicle Qualifying 1 Qualifying 2 Grid
1 17 Real Racing Honda NSX-GT 1:18.351 1:26.905 1
2 8 Autobacs Racing Team Aguri Honda NSX-GT 1:18.696 1:27.058 2
3 3 NDDP by B-Max Racing Nissan GT-R 1:18.605 1:27.486 3
4 6 Lexus Team LeMans Wako's Lexus LC 500 1:18.576 1:27.570 4
5 100 Team Kunimitsu Honda NSX-GT 1:18.332 1:27.985 5
6 24 Kondō Racing Nissan GT-R 1:18.160 1:28.659 6
7 19 Lexus Team WedsSport Bandoh Lexus LC 500 1:18.619 1:29.793 7
8 23 NISMO Nissan GT-R 1:18.370 1:35.248 8
9 1 Lexus Team KeePer Tom's Lexus LC 500 1:18.796 9
10 38 Lexus Team ZENT Cerumo Lexus LC 500 1:18.877 10
11 12 Team Impul Nissan GT-R 1:18.944 11
12 16 Team Mugen Honda NSX-GT 1:18.992 12
13 64 Nakajima Racing Honda NSX-GT 1:18.994 13
14 36 Lexus Team au Tom's Lexus LC 500 1:19.108 14
15 39 Lexus Team SARD Lexus LC 500 1:19.315 15
Source(s): [2]

GT300

The qualifying session for the GT300 category was just as hectic. The Toyota 86 MC entries in the GT300 class appeared to be the pace setters throughout the weekend, with the #25 Tsuchiya Engineering entry of Takamitsu Matsui and Sho Tsuboi set the initial pace in Q1 with a time of 1:25.232. But, it was ultimately the #88 JLOC Lamborghini Huracán GT3 of Marco Mapelli and Kazuki Hiramine took the pole with a time of 1:33.925 in Q2. [1]

Pos No Team Vehicle Qualifying 1 Qualifying 2 Grid
1 88 JLOC Lamborghini Huracán GT3 1:26.220 1:33.925 16
2 21 Audi Team Hitotsuyama Audi R8 LMS 1:25.966 1:34.082 17
3 11 Gainer Nissan GT-R Nismo GT3 1:25.619 1:34.798 18
4 65 K2 R&D LEON Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 1:26.173 1:34.804 19
5 25 Tsuchiya Engineering Toyota 86 MC 1:25.232 1:35.154 20
6 96 LM corsa Lexus RC F GT3 1:26.043 1:35.236 21
7 31 apr Toyota Prius apr GT 1:25.770 1:35.543 22
8 55 Autobacs Racing Team Aguri BMW M6 GT3 1:26.307 1:35.729 23
9 18 Team UpGarage Toyota 86 MC 1:25.926 1:35.756 24
10 61 R&D Sport Subaru BRZ R&D Sport 1:25.674 1:36.623 25
11 777 CarGuy Racing Honda NSX GT3 1:26.008 1:36.623 26
12 5 Team Mach Toyota 86 MC 1:26.029 1:36.990 27
13 26 Team Taisan Audi R8 LMS 1:26.141 1:37.176 28
14 2 Cars Tokai Dream28 Lotus Evora MC 1:25.492 1:43.462 29
15 0 Good Smile Racing with Team Ukyo Mercedes-AMG GT3 1:26.316 30
16 34 Modulo Drago Corse Honda NSX GT3 1:26.505 31
17 10 Gainer Nissan GT-R Nismo GT3 1:26.524 32
18 52 Saitama Toyopet GreenBrave Toyota Mark X MC 1:26.604 33
19 360 Tomei Sports Nissan GT-R Nismo GT3 1:26.646 34
20 7 D'station Racing Porsche 911 GT3-R 1:26.730 35
21 9 Pacific with Gulf Racing Porsche 911 GT3-R 1:26.730 36
22 87 JLOC Lamborghini Huracán GT3 1:26.880 37
23 50 Arnage Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 1:26.971 38
24 60 LM corsa Lexus RC F GT3 1:27.001 39
25 30 apr Toyota Prius apr GT 1:27.009 40
26 117 EIcars Bentley Bentley Continental GT3 1:27.070 41
27 22 R'Qs Motor Sports Mercedes-AMG GT3 1:27.339 42
28 35 Arto Panther Team Thailand Lexus RC F GT3 1:27.587 43
29 48 Dijon Racing Nissan GT-R Nismo GT3 1:27.779 44
Source(s): [3]

Race
     GT500 entries
Pos Class No Entrant Drivers Vehicle Laps Time / Retired Grid
1 GT500 17 Real Racing Koudai Tsukakoshi
Takashi Kogure		 Honda NSX-GT 82 1hr 55min 14.381sec 1
2 GT500 100 Team Kunimitsu Jenson Button
Naoki Yamamoto		 Honda NSX-GT 82 + 1.610 s 5
3 GT500 1 Lexus Team KeePer Tom's Ryō Hirakawa
Nick Cassidy		 Lexus LC 500 82 + 5.582 s 9
4 GT500 6 Lexus Team LeMans Wako's Kazuya Oshima
Felix Rosenqvist		 Lexus LC 500 82 + 5.759 s 4
5 GT500 23 NISMO Tsugio Matsuda
Ronnie Quintarelli		 Nissan GT-R 82 + 36.990 s 8
6 GT500 24 Kondō Racing Mitsunori Takaboshi
João Paulo de Oliveira		 Nissan GT-R 82 + 48.375 s 6
7 GT500 3 NDDP by B-Max Racing Satoshi Motoyama
Katsumasa Chiyo		 Nissan GT-R 82 + 59.362 s 3
8 GT500 38 Lexus Team ZENT Cerumo Hiroaki Ishiura
Yuji Tachikawa		 Lexus LC 500 82 + 1:00.357 s 10
9 GT500 19 Lexus Team WedsSport Bandoh Yuji Kunimoto
Kenta Yamashita		 Lexus LC 500 82 + 1:05.532 s 7
10 GT500 16 Team Mugen Hideki Mutoh
Daisuke Nakajima		 Honda NSX-GT 82 + 1:06.532 s 12
11 GT500 8 Autobacs Racing Team Aguri Tomoki Nojiri
Takuya Izawa		 Honda NSX-GT 82 + 1:07.199 s 2
12 GT500 39 Lexus Team SARD Heikki Kovalainen
Kamui Kobayashi		 Lexus LC 500 82 + 1:10.110 s 15
13 GT500 36 Lexus Team au Tom's Yuhi Sekiguchi
Kazuki Nakajima		 Lexus LC 500 82 + 1:11.410 s 14
14 GT500 12 Team Impul Jann Mardenborough
Daiki Sasaki		 Nissan GT-R 82 + 1:11.838 s 11
15 GT500 64 Nakajima Racing Kosuke Matsuura
Bertrand Baguette		 Honda NSX-GT 81 + 1 lap 13
16 GT300 18 Team UpGarage Yuhki Nakayama
Takashi Kobayashi		 Toyota 86 MC 77 + 5 laps
17 GT300 7 D'station Racing Tomonobu Fujii
Sven Müller		 Porsche 911 GT3 R 77 + 5 laps
18 GT300 25 Tsuchiya Engineering Takamitsu Matsui
Sho Tsuboi		 Toyota 86 MC 77 + 5 laps
19 GT300 65 K2 R&D LEON Racing Haruki Kurosawa
Naoya Gamou		 Mercedes-AMG GT3 77 + 5 laps
20 GT300 11 Gainer Katsuyuki Hiranaka
Hironobu Yasuda		 Nissan GT-R Nismo GT3 (2018) 76 + 6 laps
21 GT300 55 Autobacs Racing Team Aguri Shinichi Takagi
Sean Walkinshaw		 BMW M6 GT3 76 + 6 laps
22 GT300 88 JLOC Kazuki Hiramine
Marco Mapelli		 Lamborghini Huracán GT3 76 + 6 laps
23 GT300 0 Goodsmile Racing by Team Ukyo Nobuteru Taniguchi
Tatsuya Kataoka		 Mercedes-AMG GT3 76 + 6 laps
24 GT300 26 Team Taisan Shinnosuke Yamada
Shintaro Kawabata		 Audi R8 LMS 76 + 6 laps
25 GT300 50 Arnage Racing Masaki Kano
Hideto Yasuoka		 Mercedes-AMG GT3 76 + 6 laps
26 GT300 52 Saitama Toyopet GreenBrave Taku Bamba
Shigekazu Wakisaka		 Toyota Mark X MC 76 + 6 laps
27 GT300 87 JLOC Yuya Motojima
Kimiya Sato		 Lamborghini Huracán GT3 76 + 6 laps
28 GT300 10 Gainer Kazuki Hoshino
Hiroki Yoshida		 Nissan GT-R Nismo GT3 (2018) 76 + 6 laps
29 GT300 96 K-Tunes Racing LM Corsa Yuichi Nakayama
Morio Nitta		 Lexus RC F GT3 76 + 6 laps
30 GT300 777 CarGuy Racing Takeshi Kimura
Naoki Yokomizo		 Honda NSX GT3 76 + 6 laps
31 GT300 9 Pacific with Gulf Racing Rintaro Kubo
Keishi Ishikawa		 Porsche 911 GT3 R 76 + 6 laps
32 GT300 60 LM Corsa – OTG Motor Sports Hiroki Yoshimoto
Ritomo Miyata		 Lexus RC F GT3 75 + 7 laps
33 GT300 61 R&D Sport Takuto Iguchi
Hideki Yamauchi		 Subaru BRZ R&D Sport 75 + 7 laps
34 GT300 22 R'Qs Motor Sports Masaki Jyonai
Hisashi Wada		 Mercedes-AMG GT3 75 + 7 laps
35 GT300 30 apr Racing Hiroaki Nagai
Kota Sasaki		 Toyota Prius apr GT 75 + 7 laps
36 GT300 117 Elcars Bentley Yuji Ide
Ryohei Sakaguchi		 Bentley Continental GT3 (2016) 74 + 8 laps
37 GT300 48 Dijon Racing Masaki Tanaka
Taiyou Iida		 Nissan GT-R Nismo GT3 (2017) 74 + 8 laps
38 GT300 2 Cars Tokai Dream28 Kazuho Takahashi
Hiroki Katoh		 Lexus Evora MC 74 + 8 laps
39 GT300 35 Arto Panther Team Thailand Nattavude Charoensukhawatana
Nattapong Horthongkum		 Lexus RC F GT3 74 + 8 laps
Ret GT300 21 Audi Team Hitotsuyama Richard Lyons
Ryuichiro Tomita		 Audi R8 LMS 42 Retired
Ret GT300 5 Team Mach Natsu Sakaguchi
Yuya Hiraki		 Toyota 86 MC 41 Retired
Ret GT300 31 apr Racing Natsu Sakaguchi
Yuya Hiraki		 Toyota Prius apr GT 30 Retired
Ret GT300 34 Modulo Drago Corse Ryo Michigami
Hiroki Otsu		 Honda NSX GT3 18 Retired
Ret GT300 360 Tomei Sports Yusaku Shibata
Takayuki Aoki		 Honda NSX GT3 17 Retired
Source(s): [4][5]

References
  1. "Okayama Super GT: Honda locks out front row, Button fifth". motorsport.com. 7 April 2018. Retrieved 9 April 2018.
  2. "Round 1 OKAYAMA GT500 - Qualifying". supergt.net. Retrieved 2018-04-08.
  3. "Round 1 OKAYAMA GT300 - Qualifying". supergt.net. Retrieved 2018-04-08.
  4. "Round 1 OKAYAMA GT500 - Race". supergt.net. Retrieved 2018-07-10.
  5. "Round 1 OKAYAMA GT300 - Race". supergt.net. Retrieved 2018-07-10.
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