> Yamawaki/Takagi and Manoppo/Nonaka unstoppable at Sugo
> 0.041s covers Q2’s top three
> Results: Q1 | Q2
K-tunes Racing and Toyota Gazoo Racing Indonesia have locked out their respective Japan Cup class pole positions at Sugo ahead of Sunday’s two 60-minute races.
Daisuke Yamawaki and Shinichi Takagi topped Q1 and Q2 in their Ferrari, which secured Race 2 pole by just 0.002s, while the Supra shared by Haridarma Manoppo and Seita Nonaka sealed GT4 top spot in both sessions.
Q1
The scrap for Japan Cup’s first-ever standalone pole position boiled down to Yamawaki versus Shinji Takei who disputed top spot throughout Q1.
Bingo’s Corvette set consecutive fastest times early in the first 15-minute session before Tatsuya Hoshino hit the front. However, those early efforts were soon beaten by Yamawaki who completed the first sub-1m23s lap just after half-distance.
Takei hit back immediately but was then relieved of provisional pole next time around by the K-tunes Ferrari, which then lowered the benchmark again one lap later. And it was that effort – 1m22.221s – that secured pole for Yamawaki.
Tadao Uematsu briefly jumped up to second until Takei improved twice more before the chequered flag. 0.165s ultimately covered the front row.
Uematsu’s Team Macchina McLaren beat Yorikatsu Tsujiko’s Comet Ferrari to third overall, while Akira Mizutani’s VSR with ANR Lamborghini and D’station’s Aston Martin featuring Hoshino completed row three.
In GT4, Manoppo proved unstoppable aboard the TGR Indonesia Supra that remained on top throughout and ultimately sealed pole by 0.7s. from YZ Racing’s Yuki Fujii. Sunrise BLVD’s Yoshitomo Makino completed the top three.
Q2
Just 0.041s separated the top three in an ultra-competitive second session that saw Takagi narrowly beat Yuki Nemoto and Ukyo Sasahara.
The 15 minutes boiled down to a frantic 90 seconds at two-thirds distance when Bingo’s Corvette first hit the front, ANR with VSR’s Lamborghini went faster by 0.039s, and K-tunes’ Ferrari found another two thousandths to seal pole.
Early pace setter Morio Nitta rounded out the Pro-Am entries in K-tunes’ Lexus, while Uematsu – who contested both sessions due to his solo driver status – bagged Am pole in fifth. The Comet Ferrari driven by Yusuke Yamasaki completed the top six.
Further back, Nonaka was made to work for GT4 pole by Daiki Fujiwara who remained fastest until the closing stages. 0.271s separated the Toyota from Sunrise BLVD’s Porsche, which beat Wakayama Toyota With Hojust Racing’s Takeshi Suehiro to second.
Races one and two begin at 10:30 and 15:15 JST (GMT +9) on Sunday. Both are live on SRO’s GT World YouTube channel and J Sports across Japan.
