The 2018 Okayama GT 300km was the first round of the 2018 Super GT Series. It was held at the Okayama International Circuit in Mimasaka, Okayama Prefecture, Japan.

Race details
Round 1 of 8 of the 2018 Super GT Series
Date 8 April 2018
Location Okayama International Circuit, Mimasaka, Okayama Prefecture, Japan
Course Permanent road course
3.703 km (2.301 mi)
Overall results
GT500 Winners
Japan Koudai Tsukakoshi
Japan Takashi Kogure
#17 Real Racing
GT300 Winners
Japan Yuhki Nakayama
Japan Takashi Kobayashi
#18 Team UpGarage

The GT500 category was won by Koudai Tsukakoshi and Takashi Kogure in the #17 Real Racing Honda NSX-GT, whilst Yuhki Nakayama and Takashi Kobayashi won the GT300 category in the #18 Team UpGarage Toyota 86.

Race Report

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Qualifying

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Rain affected both qualifying sessions for the GT500 and GT300 categories, which shuffled the grid owing to changing track conditions.[1]

GT500

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In a what was tumultuous qualifying session, the #17 Real Racing outfit piloted by Koudai Tsukakoshi and Takashi Kogure achieved pole position, after the #24 Kondō Racing Nissan GT-R of Mitsunori Takaboshi and João Paulo de Oliveira had set the pace in the first qualifying session. 2009 Formula One World Champion Jenson Button qualified fifth on his Super GT debut, whilst Swede Felix Rosenqvist qualified in fourth place, cementing a solid run in his debut. One of the biggest shocks to come out of qualifying was the defending champions Ryō Hirakawa and Nick Cassidy failing to get into the second part of qualifying. [1]

Pos No Team Vehicle Qualifying 1 Qualifying 2 Grid
1 17 Real Racing Honda NSX-GT 1:18.351 1:26.905 1
2 8 Autobacs Racing Team Aguri Honda NSX-GT 1:18.696 1:27.058 2
3 3 NDDP [ja] by B-Max Racing Nissan GT-R 1:18.605 1:27.486 3
4 6 Lexus Team LeMans Wako's Lexus LC 500 1:18.576 1:27.570 4
5 100 Team Kunimitsu Honda NSX-GT 1:18.332 1:27.985 5
6 24 Kondō Racing Nissan GT-R 1:18.160 1:28.659 6
7 19 Lexus Team WedsSport Bandoh Lexus LC 500 1:18.619 1:29.793 7
8 23 NISMO Nissan GT-R 1:18.370 1:35.248 8
9 1 Lexus Team KeePer Tom's Lexus LC 500 1:18.796 9
10 38 Lexus Team ZENT [ja] Cerumo Lexus LC 500 1:18.877 10
11 12 Team Impul Nissan GT-R 1:18.944 11
12 16 Team Mugen Honda NSX-GT 1:18.992 12
13 64 Nakajima Racing Honda NSX-GT 1:18.994 13
14 36 Lexus Team au Tom's Lexus LC 500 1:19.108 14
15 39 Lexus Team SARD Lexus LC 500 1:19.315 15
Source(s): [2]

GT300

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The qualifying session for the GT300 category was just as hectic. The Toyota 86 MC entries in the GT300 class appeared to be the pace setters throughout the weekend, with the #25 Tsuchiya Engineering entry of Takamitsu Matsui and Sho Tsuboi set the initial pace in Q1 with a time of 1:25.232. But, it was ultimately the #88 JLOC Lamborghini Huracán GT3 of Marco Mapelli and Kazuki Hiramine took the pole with a time of 1:33.925 in Q2. [1]

Pos No Team Vehicle Qualifying 1 Qualifying 2 Grid
1 88 JLOC Lamborghini Huracán GT3 1:26.220 1:33.925 16
2 21 Audi Team Hitotsuyama Audi R8 LMS 1:25.966 1:34.082 17
3 11 Gainer Nissan GT-R Nismo GT3 1:25.619 1:34.798 18
4 65 K2 R&D LEON Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 1:26.173 1:34.804 19
5 25 Tsuchiya Engineering Toyota 86 MC 1:25.232 1:35.154 20
6 96 LM corsa Lexus RC F GT3 1:26.043 1:35.236 21
7 31 apr [ja] Toyota Prius apr GT 1:25.770 1:35.543 22
8 55 Autobacs Racing Team Aguri BMW M6 GT3 1:26.307 1:35.729 23
9 18 Team UpGarage Toyota 86 MC 1:25.926 1:35.756 24
10 61 R&D Sport Subaru BRZ R&D Sport 1:25.674 1:36.623 25
11 777 CarGuy Racing Honda NSX GT3 1:26.008 1:36.623 26
12 5 Team Mach Toyota 86 MC 1:26.029 1:36.990 27
13 26 Team Taisan Audi R8 LMS 1:26.141 1:37.176 28
14 2 Cars Tokai Dream28 Lotus Evora MC 1:25.492 1:43.462 29
15 0 Good Smile Racing with Team Ukyo Mercedes-AMG GT3 1:26.316 30
16 34 Modulo Drago Corse Honda NSX GT3 1:26.505 31
17 10 Gainer Nissan GT-R Nismo GT3 1:26.524 32
18 52 Saitama Toyopet GreenBrave Toyota Mark X MC 1:26.604 33
19 360 Tomei Sports [ja] Nissan GT-R Nismo GT3 1:26.646 34
20 7 D'station Racing Porsche 911 GT3-R 1:26.730 35
21 9 Pacific with Gulf Racing Porsche 911 GT3-R 1:26.730 36
22 87 JLOC Lamborghini Huracán GT3 1:26.880 37
23 50 Arnage Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 1:26.971 38
24 60 LM corsa Lexus RC F GT3 1:27.001 39
25 30 apr [ja] Toyota Prius apr GT 1:27.009 40
26 117 EIcars Bentley Bentley Continental GT3 1:27.070 41
27 22 R'Qs Motor Sports Mercedes-AMG GT3 1:27.339 42
28 35 Arto Panther Team Thailand Lexus RC F GT3 1:27.587 43
29 48 Dijon Racing Nissan GT-R Nismo GT3 1:27.779 44
Source(s): [3]

Race

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     GT500 entries
Pos Class No Entrant Drivers Vehicle Laps Time / Retired Grid
1 GT500 17 Real Racing   Koudai Tsukakoshi
  Takashi Kogure
Honda NSX-GT 82 1hr 55min 14.381sec 1
2 GT500 100 Team Kunimitsu   Jenson Button
  Naoki Yamamoto
Honda NSX-GT 82 + 1.610 s 5
3 GT500 1 Lexus Team KeePer Tom's   Ryō Hirakawa
  Nick Cassidy
Lexus LC 500 82 + 5.582 s 9
4 GT500 6 Lexus Team LeMans Wako's   Kazuya Oshima
  Felix Rosenqvist
Lexus LC 500 82 + 5.759 s 4
5 GT500 23 NISMO   Tsugio Matsuda
  Ronnie Quintarelli
Nissan GT-R 82 + 36.990 s 8
6 GT500 24 Kondō Racing   Mitsunori Takaboshi
  João Paulo de Oliveira
Nissan GT-R 82 + 48.375 s 6
7 GT500 3 NDDP [ja] by B-Max Racing   Satoshi Motoyama
  Katsumasa Chiyo
Nissan GT-R 82 + 59.362 s 3
8 GT500 38 Lexus Team ZENT [ja] Cerumo   Hiroaki Ishiura
  Yuji Tachikawa
Lexus LC 500 82 + 1:00.357 s 10
9 GT500 19 Lexus Team WedsSport Bandoh   Yuji Kunimoto
  Kenta Yamashita
Lexus LC 500 82 + 1:05.532 s 7
10 GT500 16 Team Mugen   Hideki Mutoh
  Daisuke Nakajima
Honda NSX-GT 82 + 1:06.532 s 12
11 GT500 8 Autobacs Racing Team Aguri   Tomoki Nojiri
  Takuya Izawa
Honda NSX-GT 82 + 1:07.199 s 2
12 GT500 39 Lexus Team SARD   Heikki Kovalainen
  Kamui Kobayashi
Lexus LC 500 82 + 1:10.110 s 15
13 GT500 36 Lexus Team au Tom's   Yuhi Sekiguchi
  Kazuki Nakajima
Lexus LC 500 82 + 1:11.410 s 14
14 GT500 12 Team Impul   Jann Mardenborough
  Daiki Sasaki
Nissan GT-R 82 + 1:11.838 s 11
15 GT500 64 Nakajima Racing   Kosuke Matsuura
  Bertrand Baguette
Honda NSX-GT 81 + 1 lap 13
16 GT300 18 Team UpGarage   Yuhki Nakayama
  Takashi Kobayashi
Toyota 86 MC 77 + 5 laps
17 GT300 7 D'station Racing   Tomonobu Fujii
  Sven Müller
Porsche 911 GT3 R 77 + 5 laps
18 GT300 25 Tsuchiya Engineering   Takamitsu Matsui
  Sho Tsuboi
Toyota 86 MC 77 + 5 laps
19 GT300 65 K2 R&D LEON Racing   Haruki Kurosawa
  Naoya Gamou
Mercedes-AMG GT3 77 + 5 laps
20 GT300 11 Gainer   Katsuyuki Hiranaka
  Hironobu Yasuda
Nissan GT-R Nismo GT3 (2018) 76 + 6 laps
21 GT300 55 Autobacs Racing Team Aguri   Shinichi Takagi
  Sean Walkinshaw
BMW M6 GT3 76 + 6 laps
22 GT300 88 JLOC   Kazuki Hiramine
  Marco Mapelli
Lamborghini Huracán GT3 76 + 6 laps
23 GT300 0 Goodsmile Racing by Team Ukyo   Nobuteru Taniguchi
  Tatsuya Kataoka
Mercedes-AMG GT3 76 + 6 laps
24 GT300 26 Team Taisan   Shinnosuke Yamada
  Shintaro Kawabata
Audi R8 LMS 76 + 6 laps
25 GT300 50 Arnage Racing   Masaki Kano
  Hideto Yasuoka
Mercedes-AMG GT3 76 + 6 laps
26 GT300 52 Saitama Toyopet GreenBrave   Taku Bamba
  Shigekazu Wakisaka
Toyota Mark X MC 76 + 6 laps
27 GT300 87 JLOC   Yuya Motojima
  Kimiya Sato
Lamborghini Huracán GT3 76 + 6 laps
28 GT300 10 Gainer   Kazuki Hoshino
  Hiroki Yoshida
Nissan GT-R Nismo GT3 (2018) 76 + 6 laps
29 GT300 96 K-Tunes Racing LM Corsa   Yuichi Nakayama
  Morio Nitta
Lexus RC F GT3 76 + 6 laps
30 GT300 777 CarGuy Racing   Takeshi Kimura
  Naoki Yokomizo
Honda NSX GT3 76 + 6 laps
31 GT300 9 Pacific with Gulf Racing   Rintaro Kubo
  Keishi Ishikawa
Porsche 911 GT3 R 76 + 6 laps
32 GT300 60 LM Corsa – OTG Motor Sports   Hiroki Yoshimoto
  Ritomo Miyata
Lexus RC F GT3 75 + 7 laps
33 GT300 61 R&D Sport   Takuto Iguchi
  Hideki Yamauchi
Subaru BRZ R&D Sport 75 + 7 laps
34 GT300 22 R'Qs Motor Sports   Masaki Jyonai
  Hisashi Wada
Mercedes-AMG GT3 75 + 7 laps
35 GT300 30 apr Racing   Hiroaki Nagai
  Kota Sasaki
Toyota Prius apr GT 75 + 7 laps
36 GT300 117 Elcars Bentley   Yuji Ide
  Ryohei Sakaguchi
Bentley Continental GT3 (2016) 74 + 8 laps
37 GT300 48 Dijon Racing   Masaki Tanaka
  Taiyou Iida
Nissan GT-R Nismo GT3 (2017) 74 + 8 laps
38 GT300 2 Cars Tokai Dream28   Kazuho Takahashi
  Hiroki Katoh
Lexus Evora MC 74 + 8 laps
39 GT300 35 Arto Panther Team Thailand   Nattavude Charoensukhawatana
  Nattapong Horthongkum
Lexus RC F GT3 74 + 8 laps
Ret GT300 21 Audi Team Hitotsuyama   Richard Lyons
  Ryuichiro Tomita
Audi R8 LMS 42 Retired
Ret GT300 5 Team Mach   Natsu Sakaguchi
  Yuya Hiraki
Toyota 86 MC 41 Retired
Ret GT300 31 apr Racing   Natsu Sakaguchi
  Yuya Hiraki
Toyota Prius apr GT 30 Retired
Ret GT300 34 Modulo Drago Corse   Ryo Michigami
  Hiroki Otsu
Honda NSX GT3 18 Retired
Ret GT300 360 Tomei Sports   Yusaku Shibata
  Takayuki Aoki
Honda NSX GT3 17 Retired
Source(s): [4][5]

References

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  1. ^ a b c "Okayama Super GT: Honda locks out front row, Button fifth". motorsport.com. 7 April 2018. Retrieved 9 April 2018.
  2. ^ "Round 1 OKAYAMA GT500 - Qualifying". supergt.net. Retrieved 2018-04-08.
  3. ^ "Round 1 OKAYAMA GT300 - Qualifying". supergt.net. Retrieved 2018-04-08.
  4. ^ "Round 1 OKAYAMA GT500 - Race". supergt.net. Retrieved 2018-07-10.
  5. ^ "Round 1 OKAYAMA GT300 - Race". supergt.net. Retrieved 2018-07-10.
Preceded by Super GT
2018
Succeeded by