Goodsmile Racing finishes 27th at the second round of Super GT at Fuji Speedway after a series of unfortunate events occurred in the later stages of the race. Prior to the race, the team placed 10th during the qualifying session which would be the position they would start in for the race.
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The race started earlier than usual and the #4 Hatsune Miku AMG would gain some positions on the first few laps. There have been a rule change to pitstops where all teams must change all four of their tyres which would prevent teams from doing fuel only race strategies. The team decided to pit on the 21st lap.
The first incident of the race took place on the 36th lap when the leading GT500 car, the #8 ARTA NSX-GT spun on it’s out-lap shortly after their pitstop and getting stuck on the kerb. The safety car was not deployed as the car’s engine was still running so a recovery vehicle pulled them out so they could get back on track.
Things were looking steady for the #4 Miku AMG until she suddenly took an urgent pit stop. The front left tyre has failed and they had no choice to pit in for new tyres. The team tried to fight back for position setting the fastest lap in it’s class in the process only to result with another trip to the pitstop with the same front left tyre failing with only 7 laps to go. The team would leave the pit in last place of 27th position.
The race ended after 66 laps with the #17 Keihin NSX crossing the finish line taking victory in GT500 while the #2 Syntium Lotus Evora MC takes victory in GT300 for the first time since their last win in 2010.
As Goodsmile Racing scored no points in this race, the team has dropped to 13th place in the drivers’ standing. What would have been a steady race ended up with unfortunate events caused by tyre failures. The next race will be at the Suzuka International Circuit on the 22nd and 23rd of August.
Full race replay can be seen here: