2017 Okayama GT 300km

The 2017 Okayama GT 300km was the first round of the 2017 Super GT Series. It was held at the Okayama International Circuit in Mimasaka, Okayama Prefecture, Japan. Ryō Hirakawa and Nick Cassidy won the GT500 category whilst Nobuteru Taniguchi and Tatsuya Kataoka won the GT300 category.

Race details
Date 9 April 2017
Location Okayama International Circuit, Mimasaka, Okayama Prefecture, Japan
Course Permanent road course
3.703 km (2.301 mi)
Overall results
GT500 Winners
Ryō Hirakawa
Nick Cassidy
Lexus Team KeePer Tom's
GT300 Winners
Nobuteru Taniguchi
Tatsuya Kataoka
Goodsmile Racing & TeamUKYO

Race Report

Qualifying

The #8 Autobacs Racing Team Aguri entry of Tomoki Nojiri and Takashi Kobayashi claimed pole position with the time of 1:20.604. The session itself was filled with attrition, with two red flags as well as varying weather conditions ultimately determining the final part of qualifying. Daisuke Nakajima's best time was erased due to causing a red flag, thereby dropping the #16 Team Mugen entry down to seventh. The other red flag was caused by Kazuki Nakajima, whose best time was also erased; dropping him to eighth.

In the GT300 category, the front-row was locked out by a pair of Mercedes-AMG GT3's, with the #65 K2 R&D LEON Racing entry of Naoya Gamou and Haruki Kurosawa claiming pole position and the #4 Goodsmile Racing & TeamUKYO taking out second. [1]

GT500

Pos No Team Vehicle Qualifying 1 Qualifying 2 Grid
1 8 Autobacs Racing Team Aguri Honda NSX-GT 1:18.620 1:20.604 1
2 6 Lexus Team LeMans Wako's Lexus LC 500 1:18.558 1:20.960 2
3 37 Lexus Team KeePer Tom's Lexus LC 500 1:18.584 1:24.749 3
4 38 Lexus Team ZENT Cerumo Lexus LC 500 1:18.521 1:25.098 4
5 17 Real Racing Honda NSX-GT 1:18.648 1:26.930 5
6 19 Lexus Team WedsSport Bandoh Lexus LC 500 1:18.648 1'28.347 6
7 16 Team Mugen Honda NSX-GT 1:18.846 no time 7
8 36 Lexus Team au Tom's Lexus LC 500 1:18.975 no time 8
9 1 Lexus Team SARD Lexus LC 500 1:19.072 9
10 100 Team Kunimitsu Honda NSX-GT 1:19.089 10
11 24 Kondō Racing Nissan GT-R 1:19.234 11
12 64 Nakajima Racing Honda NSX-GT 1:19.269 12
13 12 Team Impul Nissan GT-R 1:19.315 13
14 23 NISMO Nissan GT-R 1:19.386 14
15 46 MOLA Nissan GT-R 1:19.616 15
Source(s): [2]

GT300

Pos No Team Vehicle Qualifying 1 Qualifying 2 Grid
1 65 K2 R&D LEON Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 1:26.254 1:25.044 1
2 4 Goodsmile Racing & TeamUKYO Mercedes-AMG GT3 1:25.825 1:25.166 2
3 25 VivaC Team Tsuchiya Toyota 86 MC 1:26.362 1:25.473 3
4 51 LM corsa Lexus RC F GT3 1:26.374 1:25.801 4
5 88 JLOC Lamborghini Huracán GT3 1:26.723 1:26.244 5
6 61 R&D Sport Subaru BRZ R&D Sport 1:26.898 1:26.248 6
7 87 JLOC Lamborghini Huracán GT3 1:26.552 1:26.484 7
8 11 Gainer Mercedes-AMG GT3 1:26.594 1:26.512 8
9 31 apr Toyota Prius apr GT 1:26.631 1:26.686 9
10 10 Gainer Nissan GT-R GT3 1:26.941 1:26.912 10
11 50 INGING & Arnage Racing Ferrari 488 GT3 1:26.803 1:27.046 11
12 21 Audi Sport Team Hitotsuyama Audi R8 LMS 1:26.838 1:27.896 12
13 2 Cars Tokai Dream28 Lotus Evora MC 1:26.170 1:28.010 13
14 30 apr Toyota Prius apr GT 1:26.207 no time 14
15 9 Pacific with Gulf Racing Porsche 911 GT3-R 1:26.955 15
16 3 NDDP Racing Nissan GT-R GT3 1:27.002 16
17 5 Team Mach Toyota 86 MC 1:27.006 17
18 55 Autobacs Racing Team Aguri BMW M6 GT3 1:27.054 18
19 33 D'station Racing Porsche 911 GT3-R 1:27.096 19
20 18 Team Upgarage with Bandoh Toyota 86 MC 1:27.159 20
21 111 Rn-sports Mercedes-AMG GT3 1:27.252 21
22 60 LM corsa Lexus RC F GT3 1:27.461 22
23 117 EIcars Bentley TTO Bentley Continental GT3 1:27.586 23
24 360 Tomei Sports Nissan GT-R GT3 1:27.746 24
25 26 Team Taisan SARD Audi R8 LMS 1:28.186 25
26 22 R'Qs Motor Sports Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG GT3 1:28.485 26
27 48 Dijon Racing Nissan GT-R GT3 1:28.585 27
28 35 Panther Team Thailand Toyota 86 MC 1:29.157 28
52 Saitama Toyopet Green Brave Toyota Mark X MC no time 29
7 BMW Team Studie BMW M6 GT3 no time 30
Source(s): [3]

Race

In what was a dominant display by the Lexus brand, the opening round of the Super GT season was won by the Lexus Team KeePer Tom's duo of Ryō Hirakawa and Nick Cassidy. The start was delayed due to several vehicles stopping on the formation lap. One of these included the pole sitting car of Tomoki Nojiri and Takashi Kobayashi. The race was eventually started under safety car conditions. Wasting no time, Cassidy made a bold move down the inside of Kazuya Oshima, locking up both wheels in the process. Shortly thereafter, the #52 Saitama Toyopet Green Brave GT300 entry crashed, bringing out the safety car. After a round of pitstops, the #6 Lexus Team LeMans Wako's entry was catapulted into the lead. A long battle between Andrea Caldarelli and Ryō Hirakawa ensued, which ultimately saw the #37 Lexus Team KeePer Tom's entry emerge victorious.

In the GT300 category, Nobuteru Taniguchi and Tatsuya Kataoka took victory ahead of Haruki Kurosawa and Naoya Gamou, with both Mercedes maintaining the top two spots, albeit in reversed order.[4]

     GT500 entries
Pos Class No Team Driver Vehicle Laps Time / Retired Grid
1 GT500 37 Lexus Team KeePer Tom's Ryō Hirakawa
Nick Cassidy
Lexus LC 500 81 2hr 12min 39.626sec 3
2 GT500 6 Lexus Team LeMans Wako's Andrea Caldarelli
Kazuya Oshima
Lexus LC 500 81 + 1.503 s 2
3 GT500 1 Lexus Team SARD Kohei Hirate
Heikki Kovalainen
Lexus LC 500 81 + 2.761 s 9
4 GT500 38 Lexus Team ZENT Cerumo Hiroaki Ishiura
Yuji Tachikawa
Lexus LC 500 81 + 2.939 s 4
5 GT500 36 Lexus Team au Tom's James Rossiter
Kazuki Nakajima
Lexus LC 500 81 + 7.607 s 8
6 GT500 19 Lexus Team WedsSport Bandoh Yuhi Sekiguchi
Yuji Kunimoto
Lexus LC 500 81 + 9.219 s 6
7 GT500 23 NISMO Tsugio Matsuda
Ronnie Quintarelli
Nissan GT-R 81 + 20.096 s 14
8 GT500 12 Team Impul Hironobu Yasuda
Jann Mardenborough
Nissan GT-R 81 + 32.360 s 13
9 GT500 16 Team Mugen Hideki Mutoh
Daisuke Nakajima
Honda NSX-GT 81 + 40.195 s 7
10 GT500 24 Kondō Racing Daiki Sasaki
João Paulo de Oliveira
Nissan GT-R 81 + 51.691 s 11
11 GT300 4 Goodsmile Racing & TeamUKYO Nobuteru Taniguchi
Tatsuya Kataoka
Mercedes-AMG GT3 77 + 4 laps 17
12 GT300 65 K2 R&D LEON Racing Haruki Kurosawa
Naoya Gamou
Mercedes-AMG GT3 77 + 4 laps 16
13 GT300 9 Pacific with Gulf Racing Jono Lester
Kyosuke Mineo
Porsche 911 GT3-R 77 + 4 laps 29
14 GT300 25 VivaC Team Tsuchiya Takamitsu Matsui
Kenta Yamashita
Toyota 86 MC 77 + 4 laps 18
15 GT300 55 Autobacs Racing Team Aguri Shinichi Takagi
Sean Walkinshaw
BMW M6 GT3 77 + 4 laps 32
16 GT300 10 Gainer Ryuichiro Tomita
Hiroki Yoshida
Nissan GT-R GT3 77 + 4 laps 24
17 GT300 3 NDDP Racing Kazuki Hoshino
Mitsunori Takaboshi
Nissan GT-R GT3 77 + 4 laps 30
18 GT300 51 LM corsa Yuichi Nakayama
Sho Tsuboi
Lexus RC F GT3 77 + 4 laps 19
19 GT300 33 D'station Racing Tomonobu Fujii
Sven Müller
Porsche 911 GT3-R 77 + 4 laps 33
20 GT300 31 apr Koki Saga
Rintaro Kubo
Toyota Prius apr GT 77 + 4 laps 11
21 GT300 87 JLOC Shinya Hosokawa
Kimiya Sato
Lamborghini Huracán GT3 77 + 4 laps 22
22 GT300 18 Team Upgarage with Bandoh Yuhki Nakayama
Shintaro Kawabata
Toyota 86 MC 77 + 4 laps 34
23 GT300 7 BMW Team Studie Jörg Müller
Seiji Ara
BMW M6 GT3 77 + 4 laps 44
24 GT300 21 Audi Sport Team Hitotsuyama Richard Lyons
Masataka Yanagida
Audi R8 LMS 76 + 5 laps 26
25 GT300 360 Tomei Sports Yusaku Shibata
Takayuki Aoki
Nissan GT-R GT3 76 + 5 laps 38
26 GT300 111 Rn-sports Keishi Ishikawa
Ryosei Yamashita
Mercedes-AMG GT3 76 + 5 laps 35
27 GT300 5 Team Mach Natsu Sakaguchi
Kiyoto Fujinami
Toyota 86 MC 76 + 5 laps 31
28 GT300 11 Gainer Katsuyuki Hiranaka
Björn Wirdheim
Mercedes-AMG GT3 76 + 5 laps 23
29 GT300 88 JLOC Manabu Orido
Kazuki Hiramine
Lamborghini Huracán GT3 76 + 5 laps 20
30 GT300 117 EIcars Bentley TTO Yuji Ide
Ryohei Sakaguchi
Bentley Continental GT3 76 + 5 laps 37
31 GT300 26 Team Taisan SARD Shinnosuke Yamada
Jake Parsons
Audi R8 LMS 75 + 6 laps 39
32 GT300 60 LM corsa SARD Akira Iida
Hiroki Yoshimoto
Lexus RC F GT3 75 + 6 laps 36
33 GT300 35 Panther Team Thailand Nattavude Charoensukhawatana
Nattapong Horthongkum
Toyota 86 MC 74 + 7 laps 42
34 GT300 22 R'Qs Motor Sports Masaki Jyonai
Hisashi Wada
Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG GT3 74 + 7 laps 40
35 GT300 48 Dijon Racing Masaki Tanaka
Hiroshi Takamori
Nissan GT-R GT3 74 + 7 laps 41
36 GT500 17 Real Racing Koudai Tsukakoshi
Takashi Kogure
Honda NSX-GT 73 + 8 laps 5
37 GT300 2 Cars Tokai Dream28 Kazuho Takahashi
Hiroki Katoh
Lotus Evora MC 57 + 24 laps 27
38 GT500 64 Nakajima Racing Kosuke Matsuura
Bertrand Baguette
Honda NSX-GT 57 + 24 laps 12
Ret GT300 50 INGING & Arnage Racing Akihiro Tsuzuki
Morio Nitta
Ferrari 488 GT3 49 Retired 25
Ret GT300 30 apr Hiroaki Nagai
Kota Sasaki
Toyota Prius apr GT 42 Retired 28
Ret GT300 61 R&D Sport Hideki Yamauchi
Takuto Iguchi
Subaru BRZ R&D Sport 36 Retired 21
Ret GT500 100 Team Kunimitsu Naoki Yamamoto
Takuya Izawa
Honda NSX-GT 5 Retired 10
Ret GT300 52 Saitama Toyopet Green Brave Taku Bamba
Shigekazu Wakisaka
Subaru BRZ R&D Sport 3 Retired 43
DNS GT500 8 Autobacs Racing Team Aguri Tomoki Nojiri
Takashi Kobayashi
Honda NSX-GT Did Not Start
Source(s): [5][6]

References

  1. "Okayama Super GT: ARTA upsets Lexus teams to take pole". motorsport.com. 2017-04-08. Retrieved 2018-03-25.
  2. "Round 1 OKAYAMA GT500 - Qualifying". supergt.net. Retrieved 2018-03-24.
  3. "Round 1 OKAYAMA GT300 - Qualifying". supergt.net. Retrieved 2018-03-24.
  4. "Okayama Super GT: Hirakawa, Cassidy win season opener". motorsport.com. 2017-04-09. Retrieved 2018-03-25.
  5. "Round 1 OKAYAMA GT500 - Race". supergt.net. Retrieved 2018-03-24.
  6. "Round 1 OKAYAMA GT300 - Race". supergt.net. Retrieved 2018-03-24.
Preceded by
2016 Motegi GT 250km II
Super GT
2017
Succeeded by
2017 Fuji GT 500km
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