In a race full of upsets, the champion au TOM'S GR Supra gets an awesome come-from-behind victory! In the GT300 race the LEON PYRAMID AMG also comes from behind to win
The opening round of the 2025 AUTOBACS SUPER GT series, the OKAYAMA GT 300km RACE, took place on April 13th at the Okayama International Circuit (one lap 3,703m × 82 laps). Unlike the previous day's qualifying in fine weather conditions, rain fell this day from morning until part way through the race, after which the rain stopped and the track began to dry, making for difficult changing conditions. In such conditions, the 2024 GT500 champions, the No. 1 au TOM'S GR Supra（Sho Tsuboi/Kenta Yamashita）came from 2nd position on the starting grid to execute a magnificent come-from-behind win to start it on the way to a third consecutive championship. In the GT300 class, the No. 65 LEON PYRAMID AMG（Naoya Gamou/Togo Suganami）started from 4th position on the grid to win the race with a show of speed in both the rainy first half and the dry conditions of the second half.
Due to the rain, the opening round of the 2025 season started from a Safety Car run and also saw accidents in the early stages that brought a Red Flag stoppage. After that, when the race was re-started, Tsuboi, who started from
2nd position on the grid in the No. 1 au TOM'S GR Supra, passed the pole- starting No. 14 ENEOS X PRIME GR Supra（Kazuya Oshima/Nirei Fukuzumi）to take the lead. What's more, as the race saw a number of Safety Car interventions and an improvement in the weather causing the track to become dry, this brought difficult decisions about changing to dry-use tires.
However, despite losing the lead it had built up several times, Car No. 1 continued to run on steadily and also complete its tire change with no mistakes. In the second half of the race, Yamashita never gave the pursuing rivals a chance to close the gap and ran on to finish the 82 laps of the race and take the team's second straight win at Okayama. Behind him, the No. 37 Deloitte TOM'S GR Supra（Ukyo Sasahara/ Giuliano Alesi）that had succeeded in passing car No. 14, finished the race in 2nd place, but only to be given a 10-sec. penalty for forcing another car to run off the track, which dropped it to 6th position. This gave 2nd place to car No. 14, while 3rd place went to the No. 39 DENSO KOBELCO SARD GR Supra（Yuhi Sekiguchi/Sacha Fenestraz）. With this, the TOYOTA GR Supra GT500 was still able to dominate the podium in the 2025 season opener.
The top finisher among the Honda CIVIC TYPE R-GT cars was the No. 8 ARTA MUGEN CIVIC TYPE R-GT #8（Tomoki Nojiri/Nobuharu Matsushita） in 4th place. Among the Nissan Z NISMO GT500 cars, the No. 23 MOTUL AUTECH Z （Katsumasa Chiyo/Mitsunori Takaboshi）was the top finisher in 7th place.
In the first half of the GT300 race, there was a collision between the No. 777 D'station Vantage GT3（Tomonobu Fujii/Charlie Fagg）that started the race from 2nd position on the grid and the pole-starting No. 4 GOOD SMILE HATSUNE MIKU AMG (Nobuteru Taniguchi/Tatsuya Kataoka）as they battled for the lead, which sent car No. 777 off the track. This accident also dropped car No. 4 back with a penalty. This put Togo Suganami in the lead driving the No. 65 LEON PYRAMID AMG.
Although he lost the lead at one point to the No. 18 UPGARAGE AMG GT3（Takashi Kobayashi /Yuto Nomura）, in the final stages car No. 65, now driven by Naoya Gamou, caught up again to run side- by-side with No. 18. Then, these two cars collided, sending No. 18 off the track and resulting in a 5 sec. penalty for No. 65. However, it still had enough of a lead to hold off the No. 26 ANEST IWATA RC F GT3（Igole Omura Fraga/ Hironobu Yasuda）in 2nd place and take the win. Following in 3rd place came the No. 56 REALIZE NISSAN MECHANIC CHALLENGE GT-R（Joao Paulo Lima de Oliveira/Kohei Hirate）.
*Spectators: April 13 (race day / rain to cloudy): 14,500 / 12th (qualifying day/ clear to cloudy): 8,700)
Winner Comments
No. 1 au TOM'S GR Supra [GT500]
Sho Tsuboi: "After being disappointed with yesterday's results, I still came away with confidence about the ability to perform well in the rain, so I was determined to end this race day with a victory. I started the race with a strong feeling that I would pass any rival no matter what the conditions. In the early stages I was able to make my move and expand my lead, and since the wet-use tire also performed well when the track got dry. I felt that I made up for yesterday. The teams also brought everything together well, and the strategy was perfect. In that sense I feel this was a perfect day."
Kenta Yamashita: "Like last year, Tsuboi and the team created a good lead over the field, so when I got the car I was able to run from there with ease. When the Safety Car came out midway through, I thought, ‘Oh, no' but I was able to warm up the tires and build a big lead again after the re-start. So, I think I was able to do what I thought I could."
No. 65 LEON PYRAMID AMG [GT300]
Naoya Gamou:"The race development was very difficult. The teams' decisions and the fact that Suganami was able to save the tires from serious wear in his long run in the rainy first half, were great. However, the fact that I collided with car No. 18 （UPGARAGE AMG GT3） is something I really regret, but I told myself that it was part of what happens in races and I kept on chasing and took the lead. Since this is my home ground my family and friends came out to cheer me on, and I am really glad we won."
Tougo Suganami: "This was the first race since I came back to the team this season, so I am really very happy. The conditions at the start of the race were very difficult, but the Bridgestone tire still performed very well, and the team set up the car so well that it was really fun to drive. But, after we won, Gamou-san didn't seem very excited, so I want to run a race next time that will make feel really happy."
