Nissan returns to championship-winning ways in SuperGT as Impul's Bertrand Baguette and Kazuki Hiramine end a seven-year drought at Motegi. The GT300 crown also goes to Nissan after a dramatic showdown. Full report:
Baguette and Hiramine arrived at the final round of the season with a 2.5 point deficit to the #3 NDDP Nissan of Katsumasa Chiyo and Mitsunori Takaboshi, who had scored two wins compared to one for the Impul crew prior to Motegi.
Nissan’s celebrations at Motegi were doubled by Kiyoto Fujinami and Joao Paulo de Oliveira taking the GT300 title in dramatic fashion in the #56 Kondo Racing Nissan GT-R NISMO GT3.At the start, Makino held the lead from pole position in the Kunimitsu Honda, while Baguette briefly passed the Bandoh Toyota of Yuji Kunimoto before dropping back to third.
By the time Chiyo came into the pitlane to serve his drive-through, major drama had unfolded lower down the order that ultimately necessitated a safety car. Sho Tsuboi , Daiki Sasaki and Yuichi Nakayama were all involved in a multi-car pile-up with the #30 apr and #25 Tsuchiya GT300 cars, with many suffering terminal damage as a result.
Hiramine closed in on Yamamoto twice during the remainder of the race but was never able to make a move, allowing the Kunimitsu team to score its first victory of the season by just over one second. The Real team had emerged as the main contender to Impul following early drama for NDDP, but Tsukakoshi lost places to both Yamashita and Yamashita after taking over the car from Matsushita during the team’s mandatory stop, eventually finishing a disappointing fifth.
That was despite de Oliveira suffering a puncture and then shedding his front-right wheel during his stint, which left he and Fujinami down in 19th place at the chequered flag.
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