The 2017 Okayama GT 300km was the first round of the 2017 Super GT Series. It was held at the Okayama International Circuit in Mimasaka, Okayama Prefecture, Japan. Ryō Hirakawa and Nick Cassidy won the GT500 category whilst Nobuteru Taniguchi and Tatsuya Kataoka won the GT300 category.

Race Report

Qualifying The #8 Autobacs Racing Team Aguri entry of Tomoki Nojiri and Takashi Kobayashi claimed pole position with the time of 1:20.604. The session itself was filled with attrition, with two red flags as well as varying weather conditions ultimately determining the final part of qualifying. Daisuke Nakajima's best time was erased due to causing a red flag, thereby dropping the #16 Team Mugen entry down to seventh. The other red flag was caused by Kazuki Nakajima, whose best time was also erased; dropping him to eighth.

In the GT300 category, the front-row was locked out by a pair of Mercedes-AMG GT3's, with the #65 K2 R&D LEON Racing entry of Naoya Gamou and Haruki Kurosawa claiming pole position and the #4 Goodsmile Racing & TeamUKYO taking out second.

GT500

Pos No Team Vehicle Qualifying 1 Qualifying 2 Grid 1 8 Autobacs Racing Team Aguri Honda NSX-GT 1:18.620 1:20.604 1 2 6 Lexus Team LeMans Wako's Lexus LC 500 1:18.558 1:20.960 2 3 37 Lexus Team KeePer Tom's Lexus LC 500 1:18.584 1:24.749 3 4 38 Lexus Team Cerumo Lexus LC 500 1:18.521 1:25.098 4 5 17 Real Racing Honda NSX-GT 1:18.648 1:26.930 5 6 19 Lexus Team WedsSport Bandoh Lexus LC 500 1:18.648 1'28.347 6 7 16 Team Mugen Honda NSX-GT 1:18.846 no time 7 8 36 Lexus Team au Tom's Lexus LC 500 1:18.975 no time 8 9 1 Lexus Team SARD Lexus LC 500 1:19.072 9 10 100 Team Kunimitsu Honda NSX-GT 1:19.089 10 11 24 Kondō Racing Nissan GT-R 1:19.234 11 12 64 Nakajima Racing Honda NSX-GT 1:19.269 12 13 12 Team Impul Nissan GT-R 1:19.315 13 14 23 NISMO Nissan GT-R 1:19.386 14 15 46 Nissan GT-R 1:19.616 15 Source(s):

GT300

Pos No Team Vehicle Qualifying 1 Qualifying 2 Grid 1 65 K2 R&D LEON Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 1:26.254 1:25.044 1 2 4 Goodsmile Racing & TeamUKYO Mercedes-AMG GT3 1:25.825 1:25.166 2 3 25 VivaC Toyota 86 MC 1:26.362 1:25.473 3 4 51 LM corsa Lexus RC F GT3 1:26.374 1:25.801 4 5 88 JLOC Lamborghini Huracán GT3 1:26.723 1:26.244 5 6 61 R&D Sport Subaru BRZ R&D Sport 1:26.898 1:26.248 6 7 87 JLOC Lamborghini Huracán GT3 1:26.552 1:26.484 7 8 11 Gainer Mercedes-AMG GT3 1:26.594 1:26.512 8 9 31 apr Toyota Prius apr GT 1:26.631 1:26.686 9 10 10 Gainer Nissan GT-R GT3 1:26.941 1:26.912 10 11 50 INGING Motorsport & Arnage Racing Ferrari 488 GT3 1:26.803 1:27.046 11 12 21 Audi Sport Audi R8 LMS 1:26.838 1:27.896 12 13 2 Lotus Evora MC 1:26.170 1:28.010 13 14 30 apr Toyota Prius apr GT 1:26.207 no time 14 15 9 Pacific with Gulf Racing Porsche 911 GT3-R 1:26.955 15 16 3 Nissan GT-R GT3 1:27.002 16 17 5 Team Mach Toyota 86 MC 1:27.006 17 18 55 Autobacs Racing Team Aguri BMW M6 GT3 1:27.054 18 19 33 D'station Racing Porsche 911 GT3-R 1:27.096 19 20 18 with Bandoh Toyota 86 MC 1:27.159 20 21 111 Rn-sports Mercedes-AMG GT3 1:27.252 21 22 60 LM corsa Lexus RC F GT3 1:27.461 22 23 117 EIcars Bentley TTO Bentley Continental GT3 1:27.586 23 24 360 Nissan GT-R GT3 1:27.746 24 25 26 Team Taisan SARD Audi R8 LMS 1:28.186 25 26 22 R'Qs Motor Sports Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG GT3 1:28.485 26 27 48 Dijon Racing Nissan GT-R GT3 1:28.585 27 28 35 Panther Team Thailand Toyota 86 MC 1:29.157 28 52 Saitama Toyopet Green Brave Toyota Mark X MC no time 29 7 BMW Team Studie BMW M6 GT3 no time 30 Source(s):

Race In what was a dominant display by the Lexus brand, the opening round of the Super GT season was won by the Lexus Team KeePer Tom's duo of Ryō Hirakawa and Nick Cassidy. The start was delayed due to several vehicles stopping on the formation lap. One of these included the pole sitting car of Tomoki Nojiri and Takashi Kobayashi. The race was eventually started under safety car conditions. Wasting no time, Cassidy made a bold move down the inside of Kazuya Oshima, locking up both wheels in the process. Shortly thereafter, the #52 Saitama Toyopet Green Brave GT300 entry crashed, bringing out the safety car. After a round of pitstops, the #6 Lexus Team LeMans Wako's entry was catapulted into the lead. A long battle between Andrea Caldarelli and Ryō Hirakawa ensued, which ultimately saw the #37 Lexus Team KeePer Tom's entry emerge victorious.

In the GT300 category, Nobuteru Taniguchi and Tatsuya Kataoka took victory ahead of Haruki Kurosawa and Naoya Gamou, with both Mercedes maintaining the top two spots, albeit in reversed order.

     GT500 entries

Pos Class No Team Driver Vehicle Laps Time / Retired Grid 1 GT500 37 Lexus Team KeePer Tom's Ryō Hirakawa Nick Cassidy Lexus LC 500 81 2hr 12min 39.626sec 3 2 GT500 6 Lexus Team LeMans Wako's Andrea Caldarelli Kazuya Oshima Lexus LC 500 81 + 1.503 s 2 3 GT500 1 Lexus Team SARD Kohei Hirate Heikki Kovalainen Lexus LC 500 81 + 2.761 s 9 4 GT500 38 Lexus Team Cerumo Hiroaki Ishiura Yuji Tachikawa Lexus LC 500 81 + 2.939 s 4 5 GT500 36 Lexus Team au Tom's James Rossiter Kazuki Nakajima Lexus LC 500 81 + 7.607 s 8 6 GT500 19 Lexus Team WedsSport Bandoh Yuhi Sekiguchi Yuji Kunimoto Lexus LC 500 81 + 9.219 s 6 7 GT500 23 NISMO Tsugio Matsuda Ronnie Quintarelli Nissan GT-R 81 + 20.096 s 14 8 GT500 12 Team Impul Hironobu Yasuda Jann Mardenborough Nissan GT-R 81 + 32.360 s 13 9 GT500 16 Team Mugen Hideki Mutoh Daisuke Nakajima Honda NSX-GT 81 + 40.195 s 7 10 GT500 24 Kondō Racing Daiki Sasaki João Paulo de Oliveira Nissan GT-R 81 + 51.691 s 11 11 GT300 4 Goodsmile Racing & TeamUKYO Nobuteru Taniguchi Tatsuya Kataoka Mercedes-AMG GT3 77 + 4 laps 17 12 GT300 65 K2 R&D LEON Racing Haruki Kurosawa Naoya Gamou Mercedes-AMG GT3 77 + 4 laps 16 13 GT300 9 Pacific with Gulf Racing Jono Lester Kyosuke Mineo Porsche 911 GT3-R 77 + 4 laps 29 14 GT300 25 VivaC Takamitsu Matsui Kenta Yamashita Toyota 86 MC 77 + 4 laps 18 15 GT300 55 Autobacs Racing Team Aguri Shinichi Takagi Sean Walkinshaw BMW M6 GT3 77 + 4 laps 32 16 GT300 10 Gainer Ryuichiro Tomita Hiroki Yoshida Nissan GT-R GT3 77 + 4 laps 24 17 GT300 3 Kazuki Hoshino (racing driver) Mitsunori Takaboshi Nissan GT-R GT3 77 + 4 laps 30 18 GT300 51 LM corsa Yuichi Nakayama Sho Tsuboi Lexus RC F GT3 77 + 4 laps 19 19 GT300 33 D'station Racing Tomonobu Fujii Sven Müller Porsche 911 GT3-R 77 + 4 laps 33 20 GT300 31 apr Koki Saga Rintaro Kubo Toyota Prius apr GT 77 + 4 laps 11 21 GT300 87 JLOC Kimiya Sato Lamborghini Huracán GT3 77 + 4 laps 22 22 GT300 18 with Bandoh Yuhki Nakayama Shintaro Kawabata Toyota 86 MC 77 + 4 laps 34 23 GT300 7 BMW Team Studie Jörg Müller Seiji Ara BMW M6 GT3 77 + 4 laps 44 24 GT300 21 Audi Sport Richard Lyons Masataka Yanagida Audi R8 LMS 76 + 5 laps 26 25 GT300 360 Yusaku Shibata Takayuki Aoki Nissan GT-R GT3 76 + 5 laps 38 26 GT300 111 Rn-sports Keishi Ishikawa Ryosei Yamashita Mercedes-AMG GT3 76 + 5 laps 35 27 GT300 5 Team Mach Natsu Sakaguchi Kiyoto Fujinami Toyota 86 MC 76 + 5 laps 31 28 GT300 11 Gainer Katsuyuki Hiranaka Björn Wirdheim Mercedes-AMG GT3 76 + 5 laps 23 29 GT300 88 JLOC Manabu Orido Kazuki Hiramine Lamborghini Huracán GT3 76 + 5 laps 20 30 GT300 117 EIcars Bentley TTO Yuji Ide Ryohei Sakaguchi Bentley Continental GT3 76 + 5 laps 37 31 GT300 26 Team Taisan SARD Shinnosuke Yamada Jake Parsons Audi R8 LMS 75 + 6 laps 39 32 GT300 60 LM corsa SARD Akira Iida Hiroki Yoshimoto Lexus RC F GT3 75 + 6 laps 36 33 GT300 35 Panther Team Thailand Toyota 86 MC 74 + 7 laps 42 34 GT300 22 R'Qs Motor Sports Masaki Jyonai Hisashi Wada Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG GT3 74 + 7 laps 40 35 GT300 48 Dijon Racing Masaki Tanaka Hiroshi Takamori Nissan GT-R GT3 74 + 7 laps 41 36 GT500 17 Real Racing Koudai Tsukakoshi Takashi Kogure Honda NSX-GT 73 + 8 laps 5 37 GT300 2 Kazuho Takahashi Hiroki Katoh Lotus Evora MC 57 + 24 laps 27 38 GT500 64 Nakajima Racing Kosuke Matsuura Bertrand Baguette Honda NSX-GT 57 + 24 laps 12 Ret GT300 50 INGING Motorsport & Arnage Racing Morio Nitta Ferrari 488 GT3 49 Retired 25 Ret GT300 30 apr Hiroaki Nagai Kota Sasaki Toyota Prius apr GT 42 Retired 28 Ret GT300 61 R&D Sport Hideki Yamauchi Takuto Iguchi Subaru BRZ R&D Sport 36 Retired 21 Ret GT500 100 Team Kunimitsu Naoki Yamamoto Takuya Izawa Honda NSX-GT 5 Retired 10 Ret GT300 52 Saitama Toyopet Green Brave Taku Bamba Shigekazu Wakisaka Subaru BRZ R&D Sport 3 Retired 43 DNS GT500 8 Autobacs Racing Team Aguri Tomoki Nojiri Takashi Kobayashi Honda NSX-GT Did Not Start Source(s):

References