RPM Generation

Suzuka 1000 and the Japan Cup at Suzuka this past weekend were a challenge for everyone involved.

Across three days, changing weather, championship pressure and one of the most important endurance races in Japan turned the circuit into the centre of GT racing in the country. The SRO Japan Cup reached its season finale with both GT3 championships still unresolved, before 30 cars lined up for the 50th running of the Suzuka 1000km and six and a half hours of racing into the evening.

For the Japan Cup, Saturday’s first race immediately tightened the championship picture.

The #24 Max Racing Mercedes-AMG moved into the lead after an opening-lap fight with the pole-sitting #45 PONOS Racing Ferrari, while an incident between the #27 AWD Racing Audi and #555 MAEZAWA Racing Ferrari brought out an early Safety Car. Before the pit window, however, a mistake by the #24 at Spoon allowed both PONOS and the #19 The Spirit of FFF Racing Lamborghini through.

Strategy ultimately decided the race.

Hitotsuyama with CORNES RACING executed the undercut with the #1 Ferrari 296 GT3, allowing Shintaro Kawabata to emerge in a position to attack the compromised Max Racing Mercedes. The #24 had suffered exhaust damage in its first-lap contact and could not match the Ferrari’s straight-line performance. Kawabata completed the move and the defending champions took their third win of the season ahead of Max Racing and the #88 miracolo TOKYO McLaren.

Behind them, Mineki Okura and Hiroshi Hamaguchi brought the #19 The Spirit of FFF Racing Lamborghini Huracán GT3 EVO2 home fourth overall and first in GT3 Am. That result put the pair three points ahead of PONOS heading into the final race of the season.

Sunday morning changed the conditions and the championship.

Rain arrived for the final Japan Cup race, turning an already high-pressure sprint into a wet Suzuka finale. Hitotsuyama responded with a second victory of the weekend, Kawabata and Akihiro Tsuzuki completing a remarkable turnaround to retain the championship despite entering the final race 13 points behind Max Racing. The #88 Miracolo TOKYO McLaren finished second, with the #555 MAEZAWA Racing Ferrari third and the championship-leading #24 Mercedes only fourth.

In GT3 Am, The Spirit of FFF Racing completed its own title run. Hamaguchi and Okura secured the class championship in the #19 Lamborghini, finishing the season ten points clear of the #45 PONOS Ferrari.

There was little time for Suzuka to settle down.

Just a few hours later, the 50th Suzuka 1000km began.

Even the grid had already produced controversy. The #77 Craft-Bamboo Racing Mercedes-AMG had originally set the fastest qualifying average, but was excluded after post-session technical checks found the car underweight. That promoted the #64 Miedecke Motorsport by Team MPC Ford Mustang GT3 EVO of Dennis Olsen, Christopher Mies and Frédéric Vervisch to pole, with the all-Japanese #45 PONOS Ferrari alongside it.

Morning rain left the circuit damp but drying for the 12:50 start.

Olsen converted pole into the early lead, while Ayhancan Güven immediately moved the #7 Absolute Racing Porsche past PONOS and into second. The Ford and Porsche separated themselves from the field during the opening hour, with the Mustang maintaining control through the first round of stops.

The early stages were already taking a toll. The popular #500 Team 5ZIGEN Nissan GT-R dropped from contention with suspension trouble, while Kenny Habul crashed the #75 Express Mercedes-AMG at 130R. Contact between the #91 Herberth Porsche and #89 KRC BMW then produced a Full Course Yellow.

But the race truly changed around the second pit cycle.

The #18 Porsche Center Okazaki 911 spun while exiting the pits and collected the #555 MAEZAWA Racing Ferrari, eventually triggering the race’s only Safety Car period. The intervention erased the Ford’s advantage and compressed the field.

That was the opportunity Laurin Heinrich needed.

Taking over the #8 AO by Absolute Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R, Heinrich restarted in fifth and immediately began moving forward. He passed the PONOS Ferrari, joined the fight involving the sister Absolute Porsche and JMR Corvette, then attacked Nicky Catsburg into 130R before setting off after Mies in the leading Mustang.

A ten-second gap disappeared rapidly.

Shortly after half-distance, Heinrich went around the Ford through the Esses and put the “Bushi Rex” Porsche into the lead. It would not lose it again.

From there, Alessio Picariello, Julien Andlauer and Heinrich controlled the second half of the race. Absolute’s pit work kept the Porsche clear, and as daylight disappeared over Suzuka, Heinrich stretched the margin until the contest at the front was effectively settled.

After 184 laps and six and a half hours, the #8 Porsche crossed the line 51.416 seconds ahead of the #64 Ford. It was Porsche’s first Suzuka 1000km victory since 1994 and its 12th overall in the event.

Behind them, the #7 Absolute Porsche recovered from a costly refuelling problem to finish third, with Güven setting a 1:59.966 race lap on his charge back through the field. The #2 JMR Corvette of Catsburg, Scott McLaughlin and Alexander Sims finished fourth, while the disqualified-from-qualifying #77 Craft-Bamboo Mercedes produced one of the drives of the race by climbing from 28th to fifth.

PONOS finished sixth as the highest-placed Japanese team. Team WRT’s #69 BMW won Bronze in seventh overall, High Class Racing’s Porsche finished eighth, the K-tunes Lexus took ninth and the #60 LM Corsa Ferrari, shared by Kei Nakanishi, Shigekazu Wakisaka and Giancarlo Fisichella, completed the top ten while winning Pro-Am.

Suzuka’s 50th 1000km ultimately belonged to Porsche, but the weekend was bigger than one endurance victory.

Two Japan Cup championships were decided, rain changed the complexion of Sunday morning, a qualifying disqualification rearranged the main-event grid, Ford produced its best Intercontinental GT Challenge result, and Porsche ended a 32-year wait at one of Japan’s great endurance races.

For one weekend, almost every form of GT racing drama arrived in the same place.