The MOTEGI GT 250km RACE, Round 8 of the 2019 AUTOBACS SUPER GT series, was held at the Twin Ring Motegi circuit (lap = 4.801 km x 53 laps) in Tochigi Pref.
on November 3 (Sun.). In the GT500 class, the race winner was the No. 37 KeePer TOM’S LC500 (Ryo Hirakawa/Nick Cassidy, but the season championship title went to the No. 6 WAKO’S 4CR LC500 that finished 2nd, giving drivers Kazuya Oshima and Kenta Yamashita their first Drivers Championship title.
In the GT300 class, the No. 11 GAINER TANAX GT-R driven by Katsuyuki Hiranaka and Hironobu Yasuda won the race, while the Drivers Championship title went to the No. 55 ARTA NSX GT3 pair of Shinichi Takagi and Nirei Fukuzumi.
The venue for the final round of the 2019 season, Twin Rings Motegi, was blessed with fair skies on race day. In the early running, the pole-starting No. 36 au TOM’S LC500 (Kazuki Nakajima) ran out in the lead followed by the two title contenders.
The No. 37 KeePer TOM’S LC500 (Nick Cassidy) and the No. 6 WAKO’S 4CR LC500 (Kazuya Oshima), with the No. 23 MOTUL AUTECH GT-R (Ronnie Quintarelli) and the No.17 KEIHIN NSX-GT (Koudai Tsukakoshi) also joining in the fight up front. Emerging from these to take 2nd place was car No. 37. Meanwhile, top ranked car No. 6 fell back to 4th place, making its title hopes uncertain.
In the second half of the race, the No. 37 KeePer TOM’S LC500 (Ryo Hirakawa) moved into the lead. Needing a 2nd-place finish to ensure its title win, the No. 6 WAKO’S 4CR LC500 (Kenta Yamashita) aggressively put the pressure on the No. 36 au TOM’S LC500 (Yuhi Sekiguchi).
The side-by-side battle staged by these two cars was eventually won by Yamashita in car No. 6 to take the 2nd-place finish it needed.
With this 2nd-place finish, the No. 6 WAKO’S 4CR LC500 pair of Kazuya Oshima and Kenta Yamashita won their first Drivers Championship title. The race was won by the No. 37 KeePer TOM’S LC500. With this their LEXUS TEAM KeePer TOM’S claimed the Team Championship title.
The LEXUS LC500 cars that will be retired with this season ended up winning the top four places spectacularly in this, their final race. The top finishing Honda NSX-GT was the No. 17 KEIHIN NSX-GT (Koudai Tsukakoshi/Bertrand Bagette) that finished in 5th place. The top finisher among the NISSAN GT-R NISMO GT500 teams was the No. 23 MOTUL AUTECH GT-R (Tsugio Matsuda/Ronnie Quintarelli) that finished 8th.
In the GT300 class race, the pole-starting No.720 McLaren 720S (Seji Ara/Alex Palou) gradually lost position in the field while the 3rd-grid starting No. 65 LEON PYRAMID AMG (Naoya Gamou/Togo Suganami) adopted an no-tire-change strategy that put it in the lead in the second half until it suddenly came to a stop on the last lap of the race. This gave the race win to the No. 11 GAINER TANAX GT-R (Katsuyuki Hiranaka/ Hironobu Yasuda).
In the title race, the top ranked No. 55 ARTA NSX GT3 (Shinichi Takagi/Nirei Fukuzumi) that started the race in 5th position and gradually moved up to finish in 4th place. With this, the ARTA pair of Takagi and Fukuzumi became the GT300 champions.