The perfect move for Team LeMans and the Oshima-Yamashita duo at Fuji

For a long time, these Fuji 500 miles seemed to work in Nissan's favor. Both the No. 500 GT-R GT23 – Team Nismo of Ronnie Quintarelli and Tsugio Matsuda and the No. 3 – NDDP Racing with B-Max of Frédéric Makowiecki – Kohei Hirate dominated the start of the race, before the scenario took a turn for the worse. favor of Lexus and Team LeMans.

First of all, it was Frédéric Makoweicki who was sent into a spin by the Lexus n°19 – Team Bandoh, in the wake of a restart following the exit of the Lexus n°38 – ZENT Cerumo, victim a problem with a nut on a wheel.

The No. 23 Nissan then leads the No. 36 Lexus – Team at Tom's of Nakajima – Sekiguchi, but a new neutralization occurs after the stop of the No. 24 – Kondo Racing Nissan of Jann Mardenborough, victim of an engine problem in view of the pit lane.

An incident which will decide the outcome of the race, since the Lexus LC 500 n°6 – Team LeMans of Kazuya Oshima and Kenta Yamashita managed to dive into the pit lane before it closed under safety car regime.

A profitable call for the team, which, when the race restarts, then has a solid lead over the competition which can never return. Lexus thus signs its second success in a row in this 500-mile event, after the Team's victory at Tom's last year.

It is also the second victory in a row for the Oshima – Yamashita tandem this year, after the success of Buriram in Thailand and despite a significant weight handicap on the No. 6.

The podium is completed by the No. 1 Honda NSX-GT – Team Kunimitsu of Jenson Button and Naoki Yamamoto and the No. 500 Nissan GT-R GT23 – Team Nismo of Quintarelli – Matsuda.

In GT300, Lamborghini scored a first victory this year with the No. 3 Huracan GT87 Evo – JLOC de Couto – Takahashi – Fujinami.

Discover the full report of the Fuji 500 miles event, in issue 2228 of AUTOhebdo, available tomorrow evening in digital version and this Wednesday on newsstands.