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Jamie Klein

UpGarage Honda stripped of last-gasp Sugo GT300 win

The #18 UpGarage Honda NSX GT3 shared by Takashi Kobayashi and Shun Koide had earned its third win of the season in thrilling style, as the leading Saitama Toyopet Toyota GR Supra ran out of fuel in sight of the chequered flag.

Kobayashi surged by the ailing Toyota driven in the closing stint by Hiroki Yoshida to snatch the win by just eight tenths of a second.

However, the #18 machine failed post-race technical inspection due to a ride height infraction and was disqualified as a result.

It means that the Saitama Toyopet Toyota of Yoshida and Kohta Kawaai inherits its first victory of the season.

Shade Racing duo Katsuyuki Hiranaka and Eijiro Shimizu move up to second, while Team LeMans Audi pair Yoshiaki Katayama and Roberto Merhi are promoted to the final step on the podium.

The #18 car's disqualification has major implications for the title battle, as Kobayashi and Koide had been poised to move into a commanding 15-point lead with only two races to go.

Instead, Yoshida and Kawaai now stand to lead the championship on 50 points, 10 clear of Kobayashi and Koide as well as Team Studie BMW driver Seiji Ara, who failed to score at Sugo.

Kondo Racing Nissan pair Joao Paulo de Oliveira and Teppei Natori, who are promoted to 10th, now sit 11 points off the lead.

Revised GT300 results:

Pos. No. Car Drivers Laps Time/Diff Tire SW
1 52 SAITAMATOYOPET GB GR Supra GT Hiroki Yoshida
Kohta Kawaai
79 2:25'47.096 BS 90
2 20 SHADE RACING GR86 GT Katsuyuki Hiranaka
Eijiro Shimizu
78 2:24'31.619 DL 3
3 6 DOBOT Audi R8 LMS Yoshiaki Katayama
Roberto Merhi
78 2:24'38.406 YH 45
4 61 SUBARU BRZ R&D SPORT Takuto Iguchi
Hideki Yamauchi
78 2:24'48.069 DL 69
5 4 GOODSMILE HATSUNE MIKU AMG Nobuteru Taniguchi
Tatsuya Kataoka
78 2:24'56.539 YH 27
6 65 LEON PYRAMID AMG Naoya Gamou
Takuro Shinohara
78 2:24'59.021 BS 72
7 50 ANEST IWATA Racing RC F GT3 Igor Fraga
Yuga Furutani
78 2:24'59.744 YH 3
8 96 K-tunes RC F GT3 Morio Nitta
Shinichi Takagi
78 2:25'14.206 DL 15
9 10 PONOS GAINER GT-R Hironobu Yasuda
Riki Okusa
78 2:25'16.445 DL 39
10 56 REALIZE NISSAN MECHANIC CHALLENGE GT-R JP de Oliveira
Teppei Natori
78 2:25'19.299 YH 100
11 31 apr LC500h GT Koki Saga
Kazuto Kotaka
78 2:25'44.039 BS 42
12 11 GAINER TANAX GT-R Ryuichiro Tomita
Keishi Ishikawa
77 2:24'32.547 DL 78
13 7 Studie BMW M4 Seiji Ara
Bruno Spengler
77 2:25'03.688 MI 100
14 88 JLOC Lamborghini GT3 Takashi Kogure
Yuya Motojima
77 2:25'04.703 YH 48
15 360 RUNUP RIVAUX GT-R Takayuki Aoki
Takuya Otaki
77 2:25'10.632 YH  
16 22 R'Qs AMG GT3 Hisashi Wada
Masaki Jyonai
77 2:25'16.559 YH  
17 9 PACIFIC VSPO NAC AMG Ryohei Sakaguchi
Jiatong Liang
77 2:25'25.177 YH  
18 27 Yogibo NSX GT3 Yugo Iwasawa
Reimei Ito
77 2:25'25.534 YH 30
19 87 Bamboo Airways Lamborghini GT3 Kosuke Matsuura
Natsu Sakaguchi
77 2:25'30.486 YH 57
20 48 Shokumou K's Frontier GT-R Taiyo Ida
Yuki Tanaka
76 2:24'48.506 YH  
21 60 Syntium LMcorsa GR Supra GT Hiroki Yoshimoto
Shunsuke Kohno
76 2:25'04.314 DL 24
22 5 MACHSYAKEN AIR BUSTER MC86 Yusuke Tomibayashi
Takamitsu Matsui
71 2:17'12.210 YH  
Ret 30 apr GR86 GT Hiroaki Nagai
Manabu Orido
54 2:25'23.203 YH 6
Ret 2 muta Racing GR86 GT Yuui Tsutsumi
Hibiki Taira
10 14'56.215 BS 100
  18 UPGARAGE NSX GT3 Takashi Kobayashi
Shun Koide
Disqualified YH 100
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