(Spoiler) Crowned SUPER GT Champions In Suzuka

[u/Michal_Baranowski]

https://www.dailysportscar.com/2024/12/08/toms-jloc-crowned-super-gt-champions-in-suzuka.html

[u/V8-Turbo-Hybrid]

This final race is bland in general but still a good result. All three GT500 automakers have been in podium, and Quintarelli, team Impula, and Car Guy NSX have finished their final race.

Toyota gets GT500 champion again, but it’s Au taken. JLOC finally gets GT300 champion, it’s another huge win for this team after 31 years.

[u/not_silphershadow]

GT500:

Let's start from Quali. I expected laptimes to drop into sub-1:43 (Oyu did 1:42.670 in 2023 winter testing) but alas it stayed in 1:43s. Still, 1:43.143 was one blistering lap from Nirei Fukuzumi, though I'll be honest there's so much less fanfare compared to when Yuji Kunimoto broke the previous record. I get that this format removes driver variability (looking at you Takuya Izawa) off of qualifying but aggregate qualifying just never works even in F1.

As for the race… yeah it's pretty boring to be honest. Sho Tsuboi and Kenta Yamashita controlled that whole race start to finish with the rest playing catchup. Not even Atsushi Miyake or Kakunoshin Ohta could catch Yamaken. That alone is enough display of just how much faster these 2 are when even your 'weaker' driver still ended up ahead of everyone else. As for Astemo NSX, that's their Suzuka curse gone. As always Ohta stole the show with his performance. But overall best pick of today went to Impul. Still continuing the old tradition of starting poorly only to claw back their spot after the start. Yeah, typical Impul Z moment.

I was a bit gutted to see Kunimitsu in P4. Their pace just wasn't there unfortunately but Yamamoto at least managed to contain charging Ren Sato in black ARTA and for once no one got sent into Shadow Realm™. A pretty underwhelming finish for Ronnie Quintarelli but he showed whatever he has left in that stint. Watching Quintarelli stepping out of that red #23 was pretty emotional.

3 very fun facts for data nerds: this is the first time since 2016 where GT500 champion finished all race in points, a feat accomplished only 6 times in 31 years. This is also the first time since 2016 where TWO teams always finished on points. This one only ever happened twice.

With 33 points separating TOM'S pair and Team Kunimitsu pair in GT500, this is officially the 2nd biggest point gap in JGTC/Super GT history, officially breaking last year's 26 points between au TOM'S pair and Niterra Z pair.

GT300:

What a momentous moment in history to see Isao Noritake finally hoisting that champions trophy after 31 years racing in JGTC and Super GT. As much as I want K2 Leon Racing to win, they absolutely deserved to win it. 4 race wins (3 in a row) in a season too, one of the best seasons in GT300 history by win number. This comes at the expense of equally great performing K2 Leon Racing who won 2 races and was regarded by many as very strong candidate to win until the last race where everything fell apart. Still, their best performance since 2020 deserves a praise.

While none of their machines win, there's plenty of good news with GTA-GT300 machines. There's Muta Racing's podium after a difficult season for them, apr's 2nd podium with LC500h, Subaru finally getting points (P7) for their hard work after a very, very unlucky season and Gainer with more points to their new Z GT300.

[u/Michal_Baranowski]

Pretty calm ending of the championship, but also pretty fair race. Colder and windy weather conditions were a factor in tyre warming, definitely they had a role in overall win battle. Suzuka in December is something odd comparing to Summer events.

GT500 - Deja vu from last season, TOM's Toyota #36 wins first, penultimate and the final race of the year. Same story in 2024. Third win for #36 this season, championship was already decided in qualifications. This win however felt like the most challenging all year long. #36 led from the start, but had to negotiate two rivals. Nissan #3 had a great chance to pass #36 but blew it on a restart and Real Racing Honda #17 came one pass too far. In this case #36 ends another dominant and successful campaign. Clearly the best team in GT500 right now. 33-point gap in the championship over runner-ups is by Super GT standards a landslide. 6 out of 8 races won this year by Toyota. Domination haven't seen since 2019.

Real Racing Honda #17 really came close to winning today. Kakunoshin Ohta couldn't however keep the car on the road in Casio Triangle chicane after making a move on Kenta Yamashita. Still, second place is a good ending to an underwhelming season for #17 crew. Two podiums, but just 10th in the championship...

Impul Nissan in third place after late pass on Kunimitsu Honda. Second podium in 2024 in their very last start in legendary Calsonic/Marelli colours. After #3's mistake, Impul ended the race as the best out of Nissans. Seeing Impul car next year in something different than blue colours will be just wrong...

Fourth position for Team Kunimitsu Honda #100 which secured their runner-up position in the championship. Pretty even and consistent season for the best Honda team this year, despite not winning a race in 2024.

Just seventh and eighth for factory Nismo cars. #3 stood a massive chance for winning today at Suzuka, however after FCY period Atsushi Miyake overcooked the throttle and spun off, luckily didn't get trapped in gravel outside of Degner 2. Too bad for them, because their pace looked better than TOM's #36 Supra. And just before the flag, #3 was passed by Team Rookie Toyota. Still, seventh overall was enough to jump into third position in the championship for Nismo #3 crew. Nismo #23 in eighth position and that's how they bid a farewell to Super GT 4-time champion and a legend - Ronnie Quintarelli. Such a great career. Another Super GT long-standing runner has retired. Time flies...

Sixth position today for Team Rookie Toyota #14. Not bad, but generally speaking quite a disappointing year for them. Losing Kenta Yamashita didn't help, but results-wise it's just a bad season for them. 11th in the championship.

Team Cerumo, TOM's #37 and SARD Toyotas couldn't do much to score third place in the championship. Their pace just wasn't goo enough. Feels like neither Toyota apart from #36 had a decent pace at Suzuka today. Still, 4th, 5th and 6th in the standings respectively after troubled 2023 season for those cars (#37 especially) is a huge improvement. Two wins for #37 just show that. Too bad their last two races this year weren't that good.

GT300 - championship drought for JLOC is over. Fourth win this year and after passing Muta and apr cars, #88 narrowly beats Leon Racing Mercedes for the class title. Definitely deserved win and championship.

Muta Racing Toyota in second and third in the championship. Maybe if it wasn't for a worse race at Motegi, their chances to fight would be bigger.

apr managed to show reasonable pace today. #31 Lexus entry in third position. Cruely for Leon Racing, they stood in a way for their championship hunt. #65 Mercedes came just one position short of winning GT300 crown this year. Great call to undercut everyone else, Leon Racing moved up several positions. One position not enough sadly...

Post-season thoughts - Super GT delivers another amazing year of competition. Clearly one of the greatest racing competition there is. Races are always interesting.

Doesn't change though that Toyota Team TOM's #36 ran like a steamroller for yet another championship. In comparison to last year, this year they had no real threat ultimately for the crown. Combining that with #37's revival, absolutely amazing year for Toyota and whole Team TOM's in GT500. Honda debuted Civic Type R-GT, so there is room for improvement. Nissan slipped a bit this year. Nismo cars maybe felt affected with changing to Bridgestone tyres.

GT3 cars were most successful this year in GT300, gaining on JAF GT runners. We will see whether this balance continues in 2025.

And hopefully Motorsport TV will carry on the broadcast. Without Tom Gaymor please though... Jake Sanson and Jamie Klein are doing fine.

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