Nick Cassidy and team-mate Ryo Hirakwa (#37 KeePer TOM’S Racing) have retained their Autobacs SUPER GT Series lead after finishing sixth at the latest round at the Autopolis in Japan.
“It was a tough one but we did what we could this weekend,” commented Cassidy.
The GT500 class victory went to the #36 TOM’S LC500 (Kazuki Nakajima/James Rossiter) while in the GT300 class, the victory was claimed by the #25 VivaC 86 MC (Takamitsu Matsui/Kenta Yamashita).
Fellow Kiwi Jono Lester finished a disappointing 17th.
“We just didn’t have the pace,” commented Lester. “This was a theme common across both Porsches in the 30-strong GT300 class. We both failed to reach the second phase of qualifying, where only the top 14 cars go through.
“My gut feeling was that we had a good race car. We were strong on older tyres, and on long ‘race simulation’ runs during practice. I was banking on this, and another come-from-behind result like Okayama.”
Cassidy has little time to rest with the next Super Formula round this coming weekend.
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