Subject to appeal, fan favourite Toyota SuperGT team BANDOH_19 finally ended a painful seven-year win drought at Suzuka, along with tyre supplier Yokohama. Here's how they did it:
There was confusion as the NDDP Nissan was initially declared the winner, but the car shared by Katsumasa Chiyo and Mitsunori Takaboshi was only ahead by virtue of having not completed its mandatory second stop.
Kunimoto, who likewise hadn't won a SUPER GT race since Bandoh's 2016 triumph, pinpointed the much improved warm-up of the Yokohama tyre as a key factor in the team's performance. "This time we were able to lead more or less throughout, so I’m really grateful to Yokohama, TCD [Toyota Customising & Development] and the team."
That followed a number of near misses in recent years, most notably last year's Autopolis round where the Kondo Z looked to have winning pace but lost out to its Bridgestone-shod rivals on strategy.
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