The 2013 42nd International Pokka Sapporo 1000km was the fifth round of the 2013 Super GT season and the 42nd running of the 1000 km Suzuka event. It took place on August 18, 2013 at the Suzuka Circuit in Suzuka City, Japan.
Contents
Background
Team Kunimitsu drivers Takuya Izawa and Takashi Kogure led the GT500 championship standings by one point over Lexus Team DENSO SARD's Juichi Wakisaka and Hiroaki Ishiura, while Team Mugen led the GT300 championship over Autobacs Racing Team Aguri in the second Honda CR-Z.
Following the SUGO race, the Japan Automobile Federation adjusted the Balance of Performance for Suzuka. The fuel tanks on the FIA GT3 cars were increased in capacity from a maximum of 100L to 110L. The miniumum ground clearance for the JAF-GT cars was increased from 45mm to 53mm and a fuel flow restrictor was added to the fuel rigs for JAF-GT teams.
Team Mach returned to the championship at Suzuka, however they had swapped their Ferrari 458 Italia GT3 they started the season with, replacing it with a Nissan GT-R GT3. Tomei Sports Nissan GT-R GT3 was not entered for the race, nor was the Dijon Racing Callaway Corvette Z06.R GT3 which had competed in two of the four rounds in the season.
With Suzuka being the longest race on the championship calendar, bonus points would be awarded for all 10 points scoring positions. Instead of 20 points being awarded for the win, 25 points were awarded to the winner of the race. With the race also being the longest on the calendar, 15 of the 23 GT300 teams elected to run a third driver in their car. Gran Turismo Academy winner Lucas Ordóñez was entered in the race with NDDP Racing while former World Touring Car Championship and American Le Mans Series driver Jörg Müller was entered as a third driver for the GSR Hatsune Miku team. As in the 2012 race, 2013 All-Japan Formula Three champion Yuichi Nakayama was the third driver for apr, while Carlo van Dam returned to Super GT with the Cars Tokai Dream28 McLaren.
Qualifying
Qualifying was held on August 17, 2013 with the first of the sessions for the GT300 cars. Tetsuya Yamano was the fastest GT300 driver in the first session, breaking the track record with a 2:01.481, a record set by Yamano's teammate Kota Sasaki in the practice session earlier that day. The teams ranked 1st, 3rd, 5th and 6th in the GT300 championship prior to Suzuka weren't fast enough to qualify for the second session. The #87 JLOC Lamborghini Gallardo GT3 with Hiroki Yoshimoto driving had technical trouble and only ran one lap and was off the pace. In the first GT500 class session Frédéric Makowiecki set the fastest laptime in the first session, who set the fastest time on his last lap of the session, beating the #6 Lexus Team LeMans ENEOS being driven by Yuji Kunimoto.
In the second GT300 qualifying session for the thirteen fastest cars in the first qualifying session, Kota Sasaki wasn't able to beat his teammate's Q1 time but was still able to get their fourth pole position of the 2013 season with a 2:01.693, 0.782 seconds faster than Daiki Sasaki in the #3 NDDP Raciing Nissan GT-R GT3. The #50 Arnage Racing Aston Martin V12 Vantage GT3 that won the 2012 race and finished second in the GT300 championship qualified third fastest with Hideto Yasuoka driving. In the final session, for the eight fastest GT500 cars, Ronnie Quintarelli in the #23 NISMO Nissan GT-R did a 1:52.157 early on in the session, which was fast enough for pole position. The #18 Weider Dome Racing Honda HSV-010 GT that was fastest in Q1 with Makowiecki driving was second fastest in Q2 with Naoki Yamamoto driving.
Race
The race was held on August 18, 2013. The race started at 12:35pm and all cars racing made clean starts, with Quintarelli and Sasaki leading leading the race from their respective pole positions. Kazuki Nakajima managed to overtake Yamamoto for 2nd place on the opening lap, but as the leaders caught up to the slower GT300 cars Yamamoto re-passed Nakajima for 2nd. On lap 20 after GT300 cars slowed Quintarelli and Yamamoto managed to overtake him for the overall race lead. The #61 Subaru BRZ led from pole position and was able to consistently lap faster than the field, after one-third race distance Sasaki and Takuto Iguchi who drove the 2nd stint in the car was 90 seconds ahead of the #4 GSR Hatsune Miku BMW. However as the overall leaders were on their 66th lap, the #86 JLOC Lamborghini Gallardo GT3 with Shinya Hosokawa driving blew a tyre and from the resulting damage there was a small fire on the Lamborghini. The safety car was deployed and many teams elected to make their second of four compulsory pitstops.
The #1 MOLA GT-R, #24 Kondo Racing GT-R and the #38 Cerumo SC430 along with many GT300 competitors (the #2 McLaren, the #3 GT-R, the #5 GT-R, the #9 Porsche, and the #87 Lamborghini) were all judged to be in violation of the safety car regulations and all were given 90 second stop-go penalties. Following the #1 car serving its penalty and due to the timing of the safety car Ronnie Quintarelli in the #23 NISMO Nissan GT-R was back into the lead of the GT500 class while the #61 R&D Sport Subaru BRZ was still leading GT300, now with Tetsuya Yamano driving. Masataka Yanagida had a close call after colliding with a slower GT300 car on his outlap in the #23 GT-R, but the incident allowed Frédéric Makowiecki to close in. Makowiecki ended up passing Yanagida for the lead on lap 116. Further behind in the GT500 class Seiji Ara had brought the #19 SC430 from 12th on the grid to 4th place and in a battle with Tsugio Matsuda for 3rd place. However Ara ran wide after trying to pass a GT300 car and dropped to 6th place, behind both the TOM's cars.
The #61 R&D Sport Subaru BRZ was again leading GT300 by a large margin but with around 30 laps left in the race the rear diffuser on the car was damaged from an earlier incident and had now caused aerodynamic issues as well as damage to the right-rear tyre from bodywork rubbing on it. Sasaki slowed his pace down and Nobuteru Taniguchi in 2nd and Naoya Gamou in 3rd both improved their laptimes to try to catch Sasaki before the end of the race. Sasaki ended up pitting the car and the team worked on the car fast enough for Sasaki to rejoin just behind Taniguchi who inherited the lead. With fresher rear tyres and more fuel on board Sasaki was able to push again and with 14 laps left overtook Taniguchi for the race lead, and held him off to win the GT300 class, the first win for the Subaru BRZ in Super GT.
In the GT500 class, both the leading #18 HSV-010 and the #23 GT-R made their last pitstop at the end of lap 139. Yamamoto took over the wheel of the #18 and managed to stay in front of Quintarelli in the pitstops, and over the course of the final stint was able to hold him off for the GT500 race win, and the first time both Yamamoto and Makowiecki won in Super GT. the #36 Lexus Team Petronas TOM'S entry of Kazuki Nakajima and James Rossiter finished in 3rd place after João Paulo de Oliveira ran off course with 3 laps to go and dropped the #12 Calsonic Team Impul Nissan GT-R to 4th.
The #4 GSR Hatsune Miku BMW that finished 2nd in the GT300 class was later disqualified after it failed post-race inspections. The #52 OKINAWA-IMP RACING with SHIFT Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG GT3 inherited 2nd place and the #62 Leon Racing Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG GT3 was given 3rd place. 32 of the 38 starters managed to complete enough laps to be classified in the final race result.
Race
Race result is as follows.