Blancpain GT Series regular Mitsunori Takaboshi scored a podium on debut in the GT500 class of Super GT on the weekend when he teamed with Satoshi Motoyama to finish third in the Suzuka 1000km.
The Japanese ace was filling in for the injured Katsumasa Chiyo who was forced to skip this weekend while completing his recovery from his recent back issue.
After qualifying on the front row, veteran three-time series champion Motoyama battled strongly early but elected to pit out of sequence early – handing over to Takaboshi.
Far from looking like a rookie, Takaboshi continued to perform strongly and remained in contention throughout the race which was hit with a number of rain showers during the 1000km journey.
Apart from a 10-second stop-go penalty later in the race for passing under a yellow flag, Takaboshi and Motoyama remained strong throughout the 1000km to finish third.
“I’m really relieved to have made it through my first GT500 race,” Takaboshi said.
“I wanted to show what I could do and make it to the podium and so I was able to achieve my minimum goal.
“We had to ride on soft tires for the entirety of the race which made things tough, but I was able to really push hard in my second time taking the wheel, which really gave me confidence and I’m ecstatic to make it to the third step on the podium.”
Championship leaders Tsugio Matsuda and Ronnie Quintarelli showed amazing persistence despite carrying 100 kilograms of performance ballast. Qualifying 12th, the duo gradually worked their way through the pack to be up to fourth place in the later stages of the race.
Sadly a fuel issue stopped the car on the final lap but they were still classified sixth and remain in the championship lead.
The other two GT500 GT-Rs had an unlucky days at Suzuka. The No.24 Daiki Sasaki/Masataka Yanagida car was pushed into the gravel trap and lost a significant amount of time early in the race. They continued several laps down to finish 12th.
The Fuji 300km winning Calsonic entry of Hironobu Yasuda/Joao Paulo Lima De Oliveira was very fast early in the race but an oil fire in the car forced them out of the race.
GT Academy ace Jann Mardenborough and Kazuki Hoshino had a strong race but could only manage 10th place by the chequered flag in GT300. 2015 GT300 champion Andre Couto did make it onto the podium in his GT-R NISMO GT3 in third place with Ryuichiro Tomita.