After winning the second round of the season at Fuji, TOM’S duo Sho Tsuboi and Ritomo Miyata talked down their prospects of doing the same in the following race at Suzuka. That’s to be expected; cars rarely win races carrying 40kg of success ballast, after all.
And yet, come qualifying at Suzuka, the #36 Toyota GR Supra qualified a startling second, and was promoted to the top spot when the Kondo Racing Nissan was stripped of pole for a fuel tank infraction. Come the race, Tsuboi and Miyata were fighting for the win with the Racing Project Bandoh Toyota, which was ahead when the red flags were shown just beyond three-quarters distance following a huge crash involving Nissan’s Tsugio Matsuda.
