Okayama – Sakaguchi takes pole, Toyota strong

Called to replace Sacha Fenestraz, absent due to administrative problems, Sena Sakaguchi will not take long to make an impression. The KeePer TOM's freelancer actually outperformed the competition this Saturday during the qualifying session in Okayama.

Sena Sakaguchi completed the fastest qualifying lap in 1'17"701. On the timesheet, the Japanese and his teammate Ryo Hirakawa were ahead of the duo of No. 14 Oshima/Yamashita, thus offering the first row to Toyota.

The Japanese manufacturer can even boast of dominated qualifications since three other GR Supra complete the Top 5: the No. 36 of TOM'S (Sekiguchi/Tsuboi), the No. 39 of Denso Kobelco Sard (Kovalainen/Nakayama) and the No. 38 of Zent Cerumo (Tachikawa/Ishiura).

You have to go down to 6th position to see another mark on this ranking. The Izawa/Otsu (Modulo) duo set the 6th time at the wheel of the No. 64 Honda NSX-GT.

The Belgian Bertrand Baguette and his partner Koudai Tsukakoshi (Astemo) will only be 9th on the grid this Sunday near Okayama.

Note that no Nissan GT-R reached Q2 during the qualifying session this Saturday.

In GT300, the No. 11 Nissan GT-R of the Hiranaka/Yasuda (Gainer) tandem will start from pole this Sunday. The two men will start in front of Hiroki Yoshida and Kohta Kawaai (Saitama Toyotep), second in their No. 52 Supra GT.

This Sunday, a race of a total of 300 kilometers is planned on the Okoyama circuit.