Team Impul's Hirakawa could manage no better than sixth in the final race of the 2023 campaign, after qualifying ninth and then spending the first half of the race stuck behind the slower KCMG machine of Yuji Kunimoto.
Post-race, Hirakawa said he was baffled by his lack of one-lap pace after a relatively strong showing in qualifying for Saturday’s first race, when he was second-fastest in his Q1 group.
