Subaru BRZ 300GT gets the Pole and a 6th place at Suzuka

Subaru BRZ 300GT gets the Pole and a 6th place at Suzuka

The third round of the Japanese Super GT took place on the historic Suzuka track, theatre of epic battles and milestone of Japanese motorsport. Subaru presented itself at the third round with the BRZ GT300 modified in its aerodynamic set-up, which allowed the car to be even more competitive and to make the most of its potential. 

After passing scrutineering, the car took to the track to get data on the changes made, which immediately gave a positive feeling to the two drivers Takuto Iguchi and Hideki Yamauchi. The two most important days were 3 and 4 June, after the one on the 2nd was cancelled due to bad weather, making the track unusable. 

In qualifying the main task for the Subaru Racing Team had to be to reconfirm itself at the top as it had already done in the last practice sessions. The afternoon qualifying, divided into two sessions, began with Q1 in which Iguchi led. In his first attempt he managed to run a free lap without traffic and posted a 1.57.254, which allowed him to pass the cut-off and go into Q2 with the fourth fastest time. In the second qualifying session, the car passed into the hands of Yamauchi, a true specialist of the fast lap. In fact, he managed to lower the time to 1.55.775, taking off 1.5 seconds. With that lap, the team took pole position, equalling the existing record for the most poles in the competition. 

The first driver to start the race was Yamauchi and the race strategy involved two stints, one only for tyre change and refuelling and a second with the driver change included. The Subaru got off to a strong start straight away with the Japanese driver trailing everyone by around 8 seconds after the first part of the race. After an accident occurred to another car, the race went under FCY (full course yellow) and then Safety Car, cancelling all the accumulated advantage. At the restart Yamauchi was able to break away from the pack again, taking over seven seconds. 

After the first pit stop, the Subaru BRZ GT300 returned to 13th position. After climbing up the rankings to third place, it was Iguchi's turn. With the pace he set in the race by lap 47 he was already 6th and would have taken the lead towards the end of the race. Unfortunately a red flag put an end to the race, not allowing the car to complete its comeback, thus finishing 6th after leading most of the race.

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