GOODSMILE RACING & TeamUKYO RACE REPORT 2
2025 AUTOBACS SUPER GT Round2 FUJI GT 3Hours RACE GW SPECIAL
Date: May 3 (Sat, Holiday) – May 4 (Sun, Holiday), 2025
Venue: Fuji Speedway (Shizuoka Prefecture)
Spectators: Qualifying – 33,300 / Race – 49,200
Qualifying Result: 12th
Race Result: 9th
Points Earned: 7 pts
Series Standing: 7th (21 pts total)
The 2nd round of the 2025 SUPER GT was held at Fuji Speedway during Golden Week, as in previous years. Thanks to the fine weather, a total of 82,500 fans gathered at the circuit over the two days, making it a hugely successful event.
This round adopted the 3-hour endurance race format, introduced last year, requiring each team to make two mandatory pit stops, including refueling. The allowed tire allocation was six sets of dry tires and eight sets of wet tires.
For this race, the Balance of Performance (BoP) for the Mercedes-AMG GT3 set the base weight at 1280 kg, with an additional 50 kg BoP weight, totaling 1330 kg. On top of that, a success weight of 28 kg (2 kg per point) was added for the 14 points earned at the opening Okayama round, resulting in a race weight of 1358 kg. The engine’s air restrictor was enlarged from φ34.5 mm (used at Okayama) to φ35 mm × 2, taking the characteristics of Fuji Speedway into account.
May 3 (Sat, Holiday) [Official Practice & Qualifying]
Official Qualifying Weather: Q1 / Q2 – Sunny
Track: Dry
Temperatures:
GT300 Q1 start – Air 20°C / Track 33°C
GT300 Q2 start – Air 19°C / Track 31°C
The previous day’s setup day had been hit by heavy rain and strong winds, with lightning warnings in effect. However, by early morning the weather cleared, and Saturday turned into a full day of sunshine for practice and qualifying.
At 9:00 AM, official practice began. Car #4 GOODSMILE Hatsune Miku AMG was driven by Kataoka, though he didn’t immediately go out, instead waiting for the track conditions to improve after Friday’s heavy rain.
At 9:10 AM, he went on track to check the setup. On his 4th lap he set a 1:37.506, placing 10th at that stage. However, Kataoka reported, “The car is extremely difficult to drive. It feels unstable,” and returned to the pits for adjustments.
Going back out, he improved to 1:37.051 on his 11th lap, but continued to complain, “I don’t know what it is, but it’s still hard to drive. The car’s movements are unstable.” Despite multiple pit stops and setup changes, the balance didn’t improve: “Fixing one problem made other areas worse. The overall balance isn’t getting better.” At one point, Kataoka even got out of the car to have a heated discussion with the engineers about the issues.
He also handled the FCY (Full Course Yellow) test and the GT300 exclusive practice during the session. While the car balance improved somewhat compared to the beginning, the best lap remained his 11th-lap 1:37.051, which left the team only 15th by the end as rivals improved.
During the Circuit Safari (a fan event held after practice), Taniguchi took the wheel for his first laps of the weekend, checking the car’s condition ahead of qualifying in the afternoon.
The GT300 qualifying was divided into two groups, A and B, based on team rankings. GOODSMILE RACING & Team UKYO was assigned to the latter Group B.
At 2:48 PM, Q1 Group B began, with Car #4 taking part.
Driver Kataoka handled Q1, entering the track as soon as the session started, gradually bringing the tires up to temperature before attacking. On his 5th lap, he set a 1:36.760, temporarily placing 7th, but then dropped to 10th as rivals improved. On the very next lap, however, he recorded a 1:36.382, finishing 6th and successfully advancing to Q2.
At 3:23 PM, Q2 began, featuring the top 9 cars from each group (18 total). For Car #4, Taniguchi took over driving duties.
He went out immediately at the green light, warming the tires and preparing for his push laps.
The Dunlop-equipped teams showed strong pace, with Car #61 Subaru setting a 1:34.882 to go fastest, only to be beaten moments later by Car #777 Aston Martin, which clocked 1:34.820.
Taniguchi improved on the team’s Q1 time with a 1:36.290, but it wasn’t enough to match the frontrunners, leaving Car #4 in 12th place overall at the end of qualifying.
After qualifying, the mechanics continued investigating the handling issues late into the night. Eventually, they discovered a suspension failure, which was identified as the root cause and decided to replace it.
May 4 (Sun, Holiday) [Race Day]
Weather: Sunny
Track: Dry
Air / Track Temperatures:
Pre-start (14:00) – 24°C / 40°C
Early phase (14:30) – 25°C / 36°C
Mid phase (15:30) – 23°C / 34°C
Late phase (16:30) – 20°C / 32°C
Finish (17:20) – 17°C / 23°C
In the morning, the skies were mostly cloudy, and the peak of Mt. Fuji was hidden. However, by the time the warm-up session began, strong sunshine broke through, raising the air temperature to 25°C and the track temperature to 41°C, with Mt. Fuji clearly visible once again.
At 12:40 PM, the warm-up session began. Kataoka took the wheel to make the final setup checks ahead of the race. Thanks to the overnight work, the car’s balance had improved dramatically. However, on his third lap, a left-front tire puncture occurred. He carefully nursed the car back to the pits without body damage, had the tire replaced, and continued running for the remaining minutes.
Despite the puncture, the car’s balance was now so good that Kataoka remarked, “I wish we could redo qualifying right now.” Even in the limited time, the team was able to further fine-tune the suspension setup for the race.
At 2:10 PM, the parade lap led by Shizuoka Prefectural Police motorcycles took place. On the following lap, the formation lap was run behind the safety car, and finally, the 3-hour race got underway.
Just before the start, Car #18 Mercedes-AMG suffered mechanical trouble and left the grid for the pits, giving Car #4 a free position gain. When the lights went out, Kataoka—well known for his lightning starts—reacted sharply. Before reaching Turn 1, he had overtaken the #87 Lamborghini and #60 Lexus RCF, moving into 9th. Then, diving inside at Turn 1, he passed the #11 Fairlady Z and #52 Supra, climbing from 12th on the grid to 7th place in one brilliant start.
From there, he tried to chase further, but the leading group’s pace was strong. He gradually lost ground to Car #2 ahead while defending his 7th position. By Lap 3, the #56 GT-R was within a second, and a fierce battle ensued. The #56 repeatedly attacked on the inside, but Kataoka held his line calmly. On Lap 12, at the hairpin, the two ran side by side, continuing the fight through 300R, but at the Dunlop Corner braking zone Kataoka prevailed, keeping his position.
However, during this battle, the #6 Ferrari, which had started from 27th, surged through the field with incredible pace. On Lap 13, the Ferrari caught and passed Car #4 at the hairpin, dropping Kataoka to 8th.
On Lap 18, the #62 GT-R spun after contact with the #87 Lamborghini, stopping beyond Turn 2. This triggered an FCY (Full Course Yellow). Spotting the stopped car, the #45 Ferrari and #65 Mercedes-AMG both dived into the pits just before the FCY came into effect, completing their first stops, with the #65 also changing drivers. Since this was earlier than their planned pit window, Car #4 decided to stay out.
The FCY was lifted on Lap 21, and cars began making their first pit stops. Since Car #4 was still maintaining a good pace, the team decided to stay out and continue running.
As rivals pitted, the car steadily climbed the order, reaching 2nd place by Lap 37. At that point, the call was made to the pit. On Lap 38, Kataoka came in for fuel and a tire change, but remained in the car for a double stint. He rejoined in 14th place. However, just before pitting, he had been caught in a GT500 pack and lost pace, which allowed the #56 GT-R to get ahead. From then on, Car #4 found itself chasing the #56.
While shadowing the #56, Car #4 moved back up as others pitted, rising to 10th by Lap 44.
On Lap 56, the #777 Aston Martin, running 2nd, suffered a left-rear puncture and was forced to pit, promoting Car #4 to 9th.
Gradually, the gap to the #56 shrank, but it was difficult to get into overtaking range. By Lap 61, they were finally within a second, looking for an opportunity, but an overtake did not materialize.
On Lap 59, the #5 MC86 pitted and rejoined without changing tires (fuel only), slotting back onto the track just ahead of Car #4. By then, Car #4 had been promoted to 8th.
At Lap 60 (with about 1h 10m remaining), Taniguchi began preparing to drive. On Lap 63, when the #45 Ferrari made its second stop, Car #4 climbed to 7th. On Lap 66, the #65 Mercedes-AMG pitted, moving Car #4 up to 6th.
At Lap 70, Car #4 came in for its second stop: fuel, four new tires, and a driver change to Taniguchi. He rejoined in 10th, using the out-lap to carefully warm the tires. In the same lap, the #61 Subaru had stopped as well but only changed two tires, allowing it to rejoin in 5th.
By Lap 74, the #56 GT-R, which had climbed to 2nd, came in for its second stop and rejoined just ahead of Car #4. With his tires already warmed, Taniguchi immediately closed the gap and looked for a chance to attack, but could not complete the overtake.
On Lap 78, while running 8th, the #360 GT-R was overtaken simultaneously by the #56 GT-R and Car #4, dropping it back and placing Car #4 in 9th.
On Lap 87, the race-leading #2 car pitted and rejoined in 4th without changing tires.
With every team having now completed their two mandatory stops, the running order became clear. The number 777 Aston Martin led ahead of the number 61 Subaru and the number 6 Ferrari, while the number 4 machine was classified in ninth. At that point Taniguchi was about three seconds behind the number 56 and thirty seconds clear of the number 5, but the gap to the car ahead continued to open. From there, he drove in clean air, running a solitary stint until the finish.
On Lap 99, the leading Aston Martin suffered a tire blowout, forcing an emergency stop. This seemed to worsen its fuel consumption, requiring a third splash-and-dash pit stop, which dropped it to 3rd place. The lead then passed to the #61 Subaru, with the #6 Ferrari in 2nd.
On Lap 106, the GT500 class leader took the checkered flag. The cars ahead of Car #4 were already on Lap 107, but since Car #4 was running just behind the GT500 winner, it took the checkered flag at 106 laps completed, finishing in 9th place.
In a dramatic twist, during the final lap, the #61 Subaru, which had led late into the race, suffered a mechanical failure at the Dunlop Corner and stopped. This allowed the #6 Ferrari—which had started all the way back in 27th—to complete an incredible comeback and take victory. The #61 Subaru dropped to the tail of the 107-lap group, ultimately finishing 8th, just one place ahead of Car #4.
■Comments from the Team
I was expecting us to be able to fight a little higher up, so it’s disappointing. Not realizing during practice that the damper was broken meant we couldn’t get into the necessary setup work, and that ended up costing us. Looking back, missing the chance to dive into the pits under the FCY was also a mistake. That alone could have gained us two or three more positions.
Still, I think the team extracted almost everything from our performance, and we also gathered valuable new data. With that in mind, it was a weekend we can build on, and I’d like to treat this race as one to endure while focusing on the next rounds.
In practice, we fell behind in responding to the poor balance of the car, and that became the reason we couldn’t fight at the front. If we had been able to sort the setup properly, I think we could have raised our qualifying performance, which in turn would have allowed us to start further up and contest the race more strongly. That said, we still secured a minimum haul of points, so I see this as a weekend where we simply had to endure and accept what we got.
In the final race, I took over from Kataoka in 10th place, but the cars ahead were pulling away, and those behind never came close, so I found myself running in isolation. The car’s potential wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t particularly good either. I think the fact that we couldn’t identify the root cause of the poor handling in practice and therefore couldn’t advance the setup is what led to this result.
We did discover the cause after qualifying, which was good, but it meant the race itself was essentially run without proper preparation. If everything had gone right, I think we could have been fighting for fourth or fifth, which makes it a bit frustrating. That said, at least we avoided scoring no points. It wasn’t ideal that the championship frontrunners finished ahead of us, but I hope we can take the lessons from what happened here and apply them to the next rounds, especially the upcoming Fuji race.
Practice was tough, with the car in poor condition and all our focus going into just trying to get it to a level we could accept. We kept making setup changes, and eventually reached something workable for qualifying, but that still only gave us 12th. I was hoping we could find some improvements before the race, and in the end, we discovered the problem with the rear damper. Once it was fixed, the car regained its proper performance. In warm-up, I thought, “Now we can do this,” but then we had a puncture. That raised concerns that if we kept the setup as it was, we might risk more punctures, so we adjusted the car to be gentler on the tires, even at the cost of outright performance.
In the race, the start went extremely well, and I was able to make up positions quickly, but once things settled, the performance wasn’t as strong as it had felt in warm-up. Even so, with the harder tires, we were able to run a stable race. At the first stop, I changed to a new set of the same compound and stayed in for a double stint. The lap times were very consistent, though not particularly fast, but I managed to keep us inside the top ten and hand the car over to Taniguchi in a solid position.
