Tsugio Matsuda and Ronnie Quintarelli produced a fighting comeback drive to win a second consecutive Super GT crown at Motegi.
The Motul Nissan duo managed to recover from a poor qualifying performance to scythe through the field to finish second, which was enough to claim the championship.
Starting from 12th on the grid, Matsuda and Quintarelli coped admirably on a drying track as they surged up to sixth spot by lap 10 and the pair’s progress continued after a slick pit stop.
As the race ticked towards its climax they emerged in the lead with the #37 Lexus of Andrea Caldarelli and Ryo Hirakawa in hot pursuit.
In the end, Calderelli and Hirakawa proved too strong taking the race victory by 0.5s from Matsuda and Quintarelli.
The Motul Nissan squad scooped the title by five points from the #12 Nissan of Hironobu Yasuda and Joao Paulo Lima De Oliveira.
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The Raybrig Honda NSX of Naoki Yamamoto and Takuya Izawa claimed the final spot on the podium.
“It was the never-give-up spirit of the whole team that allowed us to achieve this victory,” said NISMO Team Principal, Yutaka Suzuki.
“This could be seen in the amazing effort from Ronnie (Quintarelli) as well as the fastest pit work in the race.
“You could say that our mechanics really created a stir. Tsugio’s out-lap was a fitting reward for all the team’s hard work.
“This was definitely a race fit for NISMO and it enables us to take home the championship.”
VIDEO: Super GT Round 8, Motegi
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