Free of any success ballast following a disastrous result in the season opener, Makino lapped the Toyota-owned circuit in 1m26.420s in the #100 Honda NSX-GT Type S to take Team Kunimitsu team’s first pole position since last year’s finale at Motegi.
Makino secured the top spot in qualifying by 0.076s from the Racing Project Bandoh Toyota of Sena Sakaguchi, who was again able to take advantage of the one-lap prowess of Yokohama tyres to secure a spot on the front row of the grid.