The SUZUKA GT 300km RACE, Round 3 of the 2020 SUPER GT series took place at Suzuka circuit.
In the GT500 class, the No. 23 MOTUL AUTECH GT-R (Tsugio Matsuda/Ronnie Quintarelli) came through with a magnificent first win of the season in a race interrupted by three Safety Car breaks. The GT300 class race was also won by a NISSAN GT-R, the No. 11 GAINER TANAX GT-R (Katsuyuki Hiranaka/Hironobu Yasuda).
for Suzuka Circuit. Unfortunately, however, the race had to be held without spectators due to countermeasures for the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
The skies were clear and the air temperature of 32 degrees Celsius before the 1:00 start of the race made for typical mid-summer conditions. After the start, there was a collision that sent a car off the track in the opening lap that brought out the Safety Car to neutralize the race early on.
After the restart, a fierce 3-way battle for the lead developed between the pole- starting No. 64 Modulo NSX-GT (Takuya Izawa), the No. 23 MOTUL AUTECH GT-R (Ronnie Quintarelli) and the No. 38 ZENT GR Supra (Yuji Tachikawa). After the three leading GT500 cars began to catch up with the GT300 back markers around lap 13 of the race, passing the GT300 cars added another aspect to maneuvering of the top three.
Here it was Quintarelli in car No. 23 that emerged in the lead, with No. 38 now in 2nd position. After that, a damaged machine spread parts on the track that brought out the Safety Car for the second time in the race.
When the race was restarted again, car No. 38 developed machine trouble that caused it to retire from the race. And by the time all of the cars had completed their routine pit stops, car No. 23 (Tsugio Matsuda) was in the lead chased by the No. 100 RAYBRIG NSX-GT (with Naoki Yamamoto having taken over the wheel from Tadasuke Makino).
As the battle heated up between the NISSAN GT-R NISMO GT500 (No. 23) and the Honda NSX-GT (No. 100), a GT300 car ran off the track in an accident that brought out the Safety Car for the third time in the race. After the restart, Matsuda in car No. 23 began to open up a margin of lead and run clear from the field.
Eventually, the No. 23 MOTUL AUTECH GT-R (Tsugio Matsuda/ Ronnie Quintarelli) expanded its lead and went on to win its first victory of the season in this accident-ridden race. After struggling to perform well on the opening round and Round 2 of the season, this represented a great comeback for NISSAN GT-R NISMO GT500 at Suzuka.
Finishing 2nd was the No. 100 RAYBRIG NSX-GT (Naoki Yamamoto/Tadasuke Makino), while 3rd place went to the No. 36 au TOM’S GR Supra (Yuhi Sekiguchi/Sacha Fenestraz) in its 3rd straight podium finish of the season.
PRIUS PHV apr GT (Yuhki Nakayama) led in the first half of the race but lost ground due to delays in its pit stop work. In the second half of the race, the No. 11 GAINER TANAX GT-R (Katsuyuki Hiranaka/Hironobu Yasuda) that had worked up steadily from its 7th-position grid start emerged in the lead and ran on to victory.
The battle for 2nd place was so fierce that it involved machine crashes, but it was the No. 18 UPGARAGE NSX GT3 (Takashi Kobayashi/ Kousuke Matsuura), while 3rd place went to the No. 2 SYNTIUM Apple LOTUS (Hiroki Katoh/ Masataka Yanagida) that had won the previous Round 2.