Super GT Series: Rain delivers lots of excitement at Sportsland Sugo

Frederic Makowiecki and Kohei Hirate are the winners of Super GT Series race at Sportsland Sugo, the seventh round of the championship. For the duo in the #3 Craftsports Motul Nissan GT-R Nismo, it’s their first win of the season. Hirate recorded his eighth victory in the GT500 category while Makowiecki climbed to the top podium spot for the third time in a career.

The rain-affected race delivered lots of excitement and some surprises in the results, with Narain Karthikeyan and Tadasuke Makino finishing second in the #64 Honda NSX-GT of Modulo Nakajima Racing. Nismo’s Tsugio Matsuda and Ronnie Quintarelli completed the podium in the #23 Nissan.

Victorious #3 Nissan GT-R

Ryo Hirakawa and Nick Cassidy were the best among Lexus crews, finishing fourth in the #37 KeePer Tom’s LC500, staying second in the championship and decreasing a gap to championship leaders Kazuya Oshima/Kenta Yamashita (Lexus Team LeMans), who finished sixth at Sugo.

The season’s finale is scheduled for November 3 at Twin Ring Motegi. Oshima/Yamashita leads the championship with 70 points, seven more than Hirakawa and Cassidy, and one of those two crews will take the title.

GT300 winners Nirei Fukuzimi and Shinichi Takagi

In the GT300 class, Shinichi Takagi and Nirei Fukuzumi took the victory in the #55 ARTA Honda NSX GT3 Evo to increase their championship lead to Morio Nitta/Sena Sakaguchi (LM Corsa #96 Lexus RC F GT3), who finished third at Sugo.

The second place at Sugo went to Nobuteru Taniguchi and Tatsuya Kataoka in Goodsmile Racing’s #4 Mercedes-AMG GT3, who are third in the championship. All three crews are still in the fight for the GT300 championship title.

Check the results of Super GT race at Sugo

Photos: Super GT, Sho Tamura,