It all looked so good for Ronnie Quintarelli and Tsugio Matsuda on Saturday. Quintarelli had just earned a first pole position for Nissan's flagship car since 2019, and was understandably bullish about the chances of he and Matsuda making it four wins in five starts at Suzuka.
But in the end, the NISMO duo had to be content with a distant fifth place at the flag, only third among the Nissan crews, while Impul pair Kazuki Hiramine and Bertrand Baguette snatched away the victory.
