Oyu came out on top in a thrilling end to the Q2 pole shootout at Sugo as he posted a record-breaking 1m09.413s lap in the #8 ARTA Honda NSX-GT he shares with Tomoki Nojiri.
The #23 NISMO Nissan Z had been the car to beat up to that point, as Tsugio Matsuda paced both practice and Q1, but in the final reckoning Quintarelli came up just 0.073s shy of Oyu.
Last year's pole record, set by Sena Sakaguchi, was beaten by the top three in qualifying, with Nobuharu Matsushita going third-fastest on board the Real Racing Honda despite carrying a stage one fuel flow restrictor.
Best of the Toyota GR Supras was the SARD car of Yuichi Nakayama in fourth, followed by Yuji Tachikawa in the Cerumo machine and Giuliano Alesi in the only one of the two TOM'S entries to clear Q1, the #37 car.
Completing the order in Q2 were two more Nissans, the Kondo Racing car of Daiki Sasaki and the points-leading #3 NDDP Racing Z that is carrying a nominal 98kg of ballast, including a stage three restrictor.
Mitsunori Takaboshi scraped through Q1 in eighth at the wheel of the NDDP car despite an off on what was still a slightly damp and greasy track following earlier rain, although conditions were good enough for slick tyres.
The #36 TOM'S crew that sits second in the points, and also carries the stage three restrictor this wekeend, was knocked out in Q1 in 12th place with Ritomo Miyata at the wheel, while the Suzuka-winning #16 ARTA Honda of Nirei Fukuzumi could only manage 13th.
GT300: K-tunes Lexus romps to dominant pole
In the GT300 class, it was the K-tunes Racing Lexus RC F GT3 of veterans Morio Nitta and Shinichi Takagi that took pole.
Takagi set a blistering time of 1m17.098s in Q2 to beat his nearest rival, Eijiro Shimizu in the Shade Racing Toyota GR86 GT, by a massive 0.670s as he bid to banish memories of K-tunes being stripped of pole at Sugo last year.
Subaru driver Hideki Yamauchi went into Q2 aiming for a fifth consecutive pole at Sugo but in the end fell 0.757s short in third place.
Of the four cars carrying the maximum 100kg of success ballast, quickest was the Kondo Racing Nissan GT-R NISMO GT3 of Teppei Natori, who managed an impressive fifth, followed by the UpGarage Honda NSX GT3 of Shun Koide in sixth - which followed team-mate Takashi Kobayashi topping his Q1 group.
Bruno Spengler ended up 16th and slowest in Q2 in the Team Studie BMW M4 GT3 after Seiji Ara rebounded from an off in practice to clear Q1 on what was still a mostly wet track for the opening group.
The track dried enough for slicks in the second group, but the Inging Toyota GR86 GT of Hibiki Taira went out on wets and made the transition to slicks too late, leaving he and Yuui Tsutsumi 17th on the grid.
A crash for Koki Saga in practice meant the apr Lexus LC500h did not appear in qualifying at all and will start from the back of the grid.
GT500 qualifying results:
1. #8 ARTA MUGEN NSX-GT 1'09''413
2. #23 MOTUL AUTECH Z 1'09''486
3. #17 Astemo NSX-GT 1'09''607
4. #39 DENSO KOBELCO SARD GR Supra 1'10''274
5. #38 ZENT CERUMO GR Supra 1'10''510
6. #37 Deloitte TOM'S GR Supra 1'10''623
7. #24 Realize Corporation ADVAN Z 1'10''727
8. #3 Niterra MOTUL Z 1'10''735
9. #14 ENEOS X PRIME GR Supra 1'10''613 (Q1)
10. #100 STANLEY NSX-GT 1'10''675
11. #19 WedsSport ADVAN GR Supra 1'10''789
12. #36 au TOM'S GR Supra 1'10''800
13. #16 ARTA MUGEN NSX-GT 1'10''804
14. #1 MARELLI IMPUL Z 1'10''949
15. #64 Modulo NSX-GT 1'11''241
GT300 qualifying results:
1. #96 K-tunes RC F GT3 1'17''098
2. #20 Shade Racing GR86 GT 1'17''768
3. #61 SUBARU BRZ R＆D SPORT 1'17''855
4. #52 Saitama Toyopet GB GR Supra GT 1'17''867
5. #56 Realize Nissan Mechanic Challenge GT-R 1'18''426
6. #18 UPGARAGE NSX GT3 1'18''472
7. #6 DOBOT Audi R8 LMS 1'18''481
8. #10 PONOS GAINER GT-R 1'18''561
9. #27 Yogibo NSX GT3 1'18''602
10. #4 Goodsmile Hatsune Miku AMG 1'18''739*
11. #87 Bamboo Airways Lamborghini GT3 1'18''767
12. #11 GAINER TANAX GT-R 1'18''782
13. #360 RUNUP RIVAUX GT-R 1'19''123
14. #65 LEON PYRAMID AMG 1'19''126
15. #5 Mach Syaken Air Buster MC86 1'19''454
16. #7 Studie BMW M4 1'19''909
17. #2 muta Racing GR86 GT 1'19''848 (Q1)
18. #60 Syntium LMcorsa GR Supra GT 1'28''164
19. #88 JLOC Lamborghini GT3 1'20''755**
20. #50 ANEST IWATA Racing RC F GT3 1'28''514
21. #9 PACIFIC Vspo NAC AMG 1'26''400
22. #22 R'Qs AMG GT3 1'31''660
23. #30 apr GR86 GT 1'30''048***
#31 apr LC500h GT no time
#48 Shokumou Q's Frontier GT-R no time
*stripped of best lap for crossing the white line on pit exit
**stripped of best lap for crossing the white line on pit entry
***stripped of best lap for exceeding track limits
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