Champions made after final round of Japan Cup from Okayama
Sunday, August 25, 2024
Whilst the #777 crew of Satoshi Hoshino and Tomonobu Fujii’s endeavours within the main Championship again proved fraught within incident and accident resulting with another DNF on the opening lap of the first race and a distant P11 in Pro-Am finish at the end of race 2, it was the #47 Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT4 entry of Hoshino and Hama who eventually secured all the headlines.
Like any championship in any discipline – to win it, first you must finish it and that is precisely what the duo did within the four event – eight race format after the pair swapped from the Vantage GT3 platform in favour of their more usual GT4 format after the second round from Fuji International.
Not counting any championship points from those four opening races, their very inclusion and the omission of the other three crews within the Am class for the two remaining events all but secured the GT4 Am Drivers Championship having finished each of those four races with maximum points.
We just wonder what may have happened had they stayed within the GT3 Am Class?
The final Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT3 from the Earl Bamber Motorsport team saw Setiawan Santosa follow up his recent podium run with a pair of P4 finishes within his Am Class within the main series as that now moves onto Shanghai to round off another successful year in three weeks time.
Photo credits – Team / series
Photo credits – Team / series
