> Corvette wins new championship’s first race
> Fujii and Kano take GT4 spoils for YZ Racing
> Result: Race 1
Bingo Racing’s Corvette shared by Shinji Takei and Ukyo Sasahara has claimed victory in the first-ever standalone Japan Cup race at Sportsland Sugo this morning, while GT4’s win went the way of Yuki Fujii and Masaki Kano in YZ Racing’s BMW.
Up front, the decisive moment came with 25 minutes remaining when Sasahara swept around the outside of Shinichi Takagi’s K-tunes Racing Ferrari at Turns 1 and 2, dived down the inside into the next corner and completed the pass via a little contact exiting Turn 4. Eight seconds separated the C7 GT3-R and 296 GT3 at the chequered flag.
ANR with VSR’s Lamborghini recovered from a drive-through penalty to complete the overall podium. Akira Mizutani was penalised for spinning Comet’s Ferrari on lap one, but his co-driver Yuki Nemoto continued the subsequent charge and passed Tadao Uematsu’s Team MACCHINA McLaren on the final lap. However, the solo driver did at least celebrate Am class victory on the rostrum.
Further back, YZ’s BMW claimed GT4 victory from WAKAYAMA TOYOTA with HOJUST RACING and Toyota Gazoo Racing Indonesia.
The latter’s Supra, driven initially by Haridarma Manoppo, started on pole but lost significant time and four positions avoiding Comet’s spun Ferrari. Fujii was the chief beneficiary and led the opening stint thereafter while Manoppo fought his way back up to second before the pit window opened after 25 minutes.
The two cars, now driven by Kano and Seita Nonaka, emerged in the same positions. However, it was the charging Takeshi Suehiro – who shared the #38 Toyota with Toshiyuki Ochiai – that finished second after reeling in and passing TGR Indonesia’s entry which then slipped to fourth behind Sunrise BLVD's Porsche (Yoshitomo Makino and Daiki Fujiwara).
Race 2 begins at 15:15 JST (GMT +9). Watch it live on youtube.com/gtworld and J Sports.
