Nick Cassidy and Ryo Hirakawa have finished a strong fourth at the latest Super GT Series round at Fuji Speedway in Japan. Having started 14th on the grid and dropped to 12th after the first safety car intervention, the #37 TOM’S Lexus worked its way through to fourth.
It was the #6 WAKO’S 4CR LC500 of Kazuya Oshima/Kenta Yamashita that took the win from the Kunimitsu Honda duo of Naoki Yamamoto and Jenson Button. The Honda pair scored their first podium finish since May’s first Fuji race and now keep their title hopes alive heading into the final three races of the season.
Ronnie Quintarelli and Tsugio Matsuda had to settle for third, having led the majority of the race in the NISMO GT-R.
“A tough one today,” commented Cassidy. “We went a lap down with a little bad luck just before our second pit stop so had to fight back! Had good speed and pulled the lap back and some.”
Cassidy and Hirakawa remain second overall in the championship, 16 points behind Kazuya Oshima/Kenta Yamashita.
GT500 results:
| Po | No | Driver | Car | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 6 | Kazuya Oshima Kenta Yamashita | Lexus | |
| 2 | 1 | Naoki Yamamoto Jenson Button | Honda | 31.214 |
| 3 | 23 | Tsugio Matsuda Ronnie Quintarelli | Nissan | 36.658 |
| 4 | 37 | Ryo Hirakawa Nick Cassidy | Lexus | 55.881 |
| 5 | 12 | Daiki Sasaki James Rossiter | Nissan | 1’00.276 |
| 6 | 16 | Hideki Mutoh Daisuke Nakajima | Honda | 1’18.436 |
| 7 | 8 | Tomoki Nojiri Takuya Izawa | Honda | 1’30.137 |
| 8 | 17 | Koudai Tsukakoshi Bertrand Baguette | Honda | 1 Lap |
| 9 | 19 | Yuji Kunimoto Sho Tsuboi | Lexus | 1 Lap |
| 10 | 64 | Narain Karthikeyan Tadasuke Makino | Honda | 3 Laps |
| 11 | 3 | Kohei Hirate Frederic Makowiecki | Nissan | 37 Laps |
| – | 24 | Mitsunori Takaboshi Jann Mardenborough | Nissan | 71 Laps |
| – | 36 | Kazuki Nakajima Yuhi Sekiguchi | Lexus | 73 Laps |
| – | 39 | Heikki Kovalainen Yuichi Nakayama | Lexus | 93 Laps |
| – | 38 | Yuji Tachikawa Hiroaki Ishiura | Lexus | 106 Laps |
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