A late Safety Car hampers D'Station Racing progress through the ranks in Super GTs visit Autopolis
Sunday, October 20, 2024
With Qualifying being cancelled yesterday due to lingering fog and later torrential rain and thunderstorms, that session was rescheduled for an early start this morning giving the teams little time to address any problems that may have arisen in-between sessions.
For the #777 D’Station Racing AMR of Fujii and Fagg, that equation into another second row start within their GT300 class as the race was started was eventually started under new dry conditions.
Early battles from Fujii within the opening laps saw that battle be for the class lead before their first pit stop of the race on lap 29. A heavy ‘off’ for a GT500 car brought out the Safety Car for the first time on lap 38 as Fagg then found himself heavily involved amongst the GT500 frontrunners when the race went back to green.
Cycling through the remainder of the race, their championship rivals within the #2 Toyota was given a drive through penalty just ahead of another GT500 going off into the barriers to bring out the Safety Car again – all of which helped the cause of the #777 P3 in class at the time.
Then with just twelve minutes remaining, a third heavy off for a GT500 car brought out the Safety Car for a third and final time which thwarted the #777 D’Station final charge back up the order following their final pit stop to see them eventually finish P5 overall and yet still behind the #2 car that finished second in class to extend their points deficit between them with two rounds still to go.
Photo credits – Team / Series / social media