Nirei Fukuzumi claimed a dominant pole in qualifying for the penultimate round of the 2023 SUPER GT season at Autopolis to boost the ARTA Honda team’s championship chances.
With the top three teams in the standings failing to progress into Q2, ARTA driver Fukuzumi made the most of his rivals’ troubles to clinch a second pole in the space of three rounds. The ex-Formula 2 driver posted a new lap record of 1m31.131s in the #16 Honda NSX-GT, which put him nearly half a second clear of Sena Sakaguchi in the Racing Project Bandoh Toyota. Yuichi Nakayama was third in the SARD Toyota, edging out the Rookie Racing Toyota of Kazuya Oshima by just 0.
ARTA was able to repair the #8 Honda NSX in time for Q1 following a heavy shunt for Toshiki Oyu in practice, but Oyu was only able to qualify 10th with a time that was eight tenths off the session’s best. The #24 Kondo Nissan that was on pole at Autopolis last year was 11th with Kohei Hirate at the wheel, ahead of the #36 TOM’S Toyota of Sho Tsuboi and the #1 Impul Nissan of Kazuki Hiramine, while Tsugio Matsuda was a disappointing 14th-fastest in the #23 NISMO Nissan.
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