With Fujii having suffered a heavy impact with the barrier and then following cars just before their pit stop and driver change at Sugo, that has meant that the #777 crew have now dropped down to fourth within their drivers’ championship yet still only twelve and a half points behind the Mercedes AMG GT3 crew still leading the class.

Twenty-five points per round still await the winner of this three-hour affair as well as the season finale from Motegi in early November with another plus point for the team being the halving of their success weight tally to 57kg.

This three-hour race will be ran as usual on Sunday.

Photo credits – Team / Series / social media

Starting under clear skies and sunshine, progress within the opening laps proved to be frustrating for the #777 car as the characteristics of the Sugo circuit proved to be not to the ‘liking’ of the Aston Martin with its tight and twisting circuit layout.

With the mid-race driver change over to Charlie Fagg looming, the #777 was involved in an unseen three car incident that then saw the two other cars impact heavily with themselves and the pit lane entrance guardrail to end up in a crumpled mess upon either side of the racetrack.

Before that point of impact, however, the #777 can also be seen upon the side of the circuit on the uphill to the start straight also with significant front and rear end damage with the race then being immediately red flagged because of the scale and nature of the incident involved.

Importantly, we understand that all the drivers involved were seen removing themselves from their vehicles unaided, but the team have yet to officially confirm anything else moving forward. The race was later restarted and ran to its scheduled race length conclusion.

The next round to the series will be from Autopolis in about three weeks’ time.

Photo credits – Team / Series / social media

Unable to secure any championship points after a late puncture thwarted their efforts in Suzuka, the #777 crew were fortunate that the GT300 class leading Mercedes AMG GT3 powered crew also only collated just three championship points to leave the gap between crews to just 7.5 points going into this sixth round of the season, but then on the flip side to that – the gap between themselves and the chasing pack also reduced to just eleven points.

Presumably down to their DNF last time out, the success ballast within the #777 car has now been reduced from the 100kg to 65kg and with no alteration to the engines power output – unlike some which have again been adjusted.

This weekends visit to Sportsland Sugo will be another 300km affair with another GT300 entry of twenty-eight cars plus those from the more powerful GT500 class.

Over in Malaysia, the Thailand Super Series will be having the second quick fire visit to the Sepang International for its penultimate round to their 2025 where that will then conclude at Chang International Circuit at the end of October.

Within this race weekend, we again expect to see the #7 Team NZ Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT4 of Grahame Dowsett and Romain Leroux. Sadly for this Pro-Am pairing, just four points and a DNF last time out has seen them slip down the GT4 Drivers Championship for them to need nothing short of a minor miracle for them to achieve anything meaningful again this season.

Photo credits – Teams / Series / social media

Qualifying the car in fifth for today’s 300km race, it was this time Fagg who started the race for the team with all running according to plan over the initial laps as all the GT300 and GT500 acclimatised themselves to the literal heat of race pace.

Through an early Safety Car period for an incident involving a GT500 car, Fagg quietly held station in fifth as the race approached their pit stop window just ahead of halfway in race distance, eventually handing over to Fujii after a slightly elongated success penalty related fuel stop.

Re-emerging in seventh, the Japanese driver had everything to race for but a rear puncture nine laps from the end saw them drop places and eventually laps to finish P24 at the end.

The series now moves onto Sugo for another 300km race in a month’s time.

Photo credits – Team / Series / social media

The weekend started well for the #777 crew as earlier fast Free Practice times were replicated into an overall Pole position ahead of Sundays race.

Again running their series specific red livery, the car quickly established a controlling race lead ahead of their two ST-X class rivals as the race got underway around a dry Sugo circuit.

Just a couple of brief interruptions for cars stopping on track interrupted the flow as both the #777 Aston Martin came home to claim their first Super Taikyu Series race win of the season with its #47 crew also taking another class win for themselves. 

The series will now move onto Autopolis at the end of the month.



Photo credit – Team

This week, the respective driver crews return to their specific #777 and #47 entries with team owner Satoshi Hoshino again partnering team manager Tomonobu Fujii and Yuta Kamimura.

As a result of preferences made for their home track Fuji 24, the class position of the #777 car has now slipped to fifth in class with now a 59-point margin to the present ST-X class leader.

It will also be back-to-back race weekends for some parts of the D’Station Racing team having just competed within the Super GT’s sole fly away round of that championship over in Sepang, Malaysia last weekend where both Fujii and Charlie Fagg were at the wheel of that #777 AMR there.

Photo credits – Team / Series

With the rain still failing on race day, the start was delayed long enough for the forty plus split GT500 and GT300 class grid to take the start under a wet but drying track before the rains returned just before the midway point, giving the teams the additional headache of tyre selection.

With over fifteen of the seventy-nine laps completed by the GT300 class leaders being either under Full Course Caution and/or Safety Car, the multiple restarts allowed D’Station Racing’s ex WEC driver Fagg to slowly climb up the class order before claiming a third placed finish just before the end as he raced the circuit for the first time.

That results moves the #777 car up to third within the GT300 class, now twenty-two points behind the class leader after the #65 Mercedes AMR GT3 crew claimed another class win but with three rounds remaining including the postponed event from Suzuka last month.

Photo credits – Team / series / social media

They will again be joined by the pair of D’Station Racing AMR’s – the #777 for full season entrants of Satoshi Hoshino and Tomonobu Fujii as well as their #47 Japan Cup (this time) Vantage GT4 entry for Tatsuya Hoshino and Kenji Hama.

Whilst it was a surprise podium finish (P3 in Am) for the #8 car in the second race of the Fuji Speedway round last time out, their local track of Fuji was to be more challenging for D’Station Racing team with a P7 in class the best result the #777 could offer in race one before early contact lead to a DNF in race two whilst the #47 crew could not repeat their successes of the opening round at Sugo to finish with a P4 and P5 within the Japan Cup Am Class.

Track action for all runners begins this Thursday with private testing before official sessions on Friday and Qualifying on Saturday morning. Race one of each GTWC Asia and Japan Cup grids will be at later on Saturday afternoon before their second races across midday on Sunday.

Photo credits – Teams / Series / social media

Despite being first time out within one of the teams new 2024 Vantage GT3’s, the Am class pairing did secure a P3 in class finish at the end of race 1 although that was countered with a DNF in race 2.

Whilst the #777 crew run again within the main body of the GT World Challenge Asia Series, the sister #47 Vantage GT3 for Tatsuya Hoshino and Kenji Hama will run within the sub-Japan Cup class alongside sixteen other GT3 and GT4 entries. There will be thirty-three cars running within the main GTWCAsia grid making for a very busy racetrack.

Completing the AMR trilogy at the event will be the return of the #8 Earl Bamber Motorsport prepared Vantage GT3 for solo racer Setiawan Santosa.

Photo credits – Teams / series

Finishing the race eighth overall and again second overall in class, the team can now look forward to something new as the car is being entered into the Okayama round of the GT World Challenge Asia Series (Japan Cup) with an otherwise unstated two driver line up in August.

The next round of the Super Taikyu Series will be from Autopolis at the end of July but with the gap ever increasing to the #2 crew ahead, their best bet for championship status will be via misfortunate on track of their KTM rivals.

Photo credits - Team

That final round was cancelled by the series several weeks ago, so we are now left with a double finale as both the Japan Cup and overall GT World Challenge Series prizes are remain up for grabs at the Okayama Circuit with a continually impressive grid of both GT3 and GT4 machinery.

Competing within the Japan Cup we of course have the D’Station Racing team with their Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT3 for drivers Satoshi Hoshino and Tomonobu Fujii.

After previous double header rounds at Suzuka, Fuji and most recently at Sugo in late August, the #47 D’Station Racing crew elevated their standing within their GT3 Pro-Am class with a podium double – first a P2 before a class win last time out at Sugo to now lie third in class with two races remaining.

Sixty-one points behind the class leading Mercedes AMG GT3 crew of Jefri Ibrahim and Nick Foster, the AMR team will be buoyed up by their success at Sugo over that of the Mercedes crew’s poor results whilst making the most of their ‘local knowledge’ of the Okayama circuit to their advantage to hopefully end the year one place higher in the table than they are now, although any chance of winning the class are obviously long gone.

As usual for any GTWC Series, a one-hour pit stop punctuated race will be held on both Saturday and Sunday of this weekend.

Photo credits – Team / Series

Again Qualifying on the second row of the combined GT3/GT4 grid for this penultimate round from Sugo, it was Hoshino who would first pilot their #47 Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT3 for the first stint of the hour-long race on what was still a very damp track.

Luckily avoiding early contact within the mid-field that claimed a couple of cars, Hoshino was able to solidify his P4 running position around the greasy track after the Safety Car had already taken half over 10 minutes from his maximum drive stint for the lap one incident.

Pitting at the halfway mark, Fujii was able to come out in third behind the #27 and #777 cars but the nine second deficit was too much for the #47 car to counter as the D’Station Racing crew claimed a much deserved third place finish.

Sundays second race was to become even better as Fujii this time took the start from his P4 starting position as the #777 Car Guy Ferrari quickly exited the front of the group to soon establish a twenty second lead going into the pit stop window.

With Hoshino taking the #47 Vantage to the flag, he was racing with the two cars immediately ahead for fourth but that soon became P3 with just five minutes remaining. The gap to the leading #777 Ferrari however was somewhat tumbling per lap – down from the 20 plus seconds after the stop to 17 and then 12 seconds going into the final lap.

Despite a spinning Mercedes complicating matters at the final corner with a self-inflicted journey into the tyre wall at the end of the penultimate lap, a clearly slowing #777 going up the hill to the chequered flag was enough for Hoshino to pass not just the BMW car ahead but also the #777 car to claim their first overall race win.

Without clear evidence of why the #777 was slowing so much, those loss of points for them brings the #47 Aston Martin back into play for the overall Japan Cup GT3 honours going into the final round of the season at Okayama at the end of September. Thirty-six points behind the #777 with fifty points available, the Japan Cup will be the Car Guys Championship to lose and gives both Hoshino and Fujii great confidence going into their latest round of the World Endurance Champiosnhip at Fuji International in three weeks’ time.

Photo credits – GTWCAsia / Team

Whereas the opening round of the series for them at Suzuka came straight off the back of their World Endurance Championship duties at Monza, an error from Hoshino late into the weekends second hour long race denied them a potential podium finish before coming back at their local circuit of Fuji with two solid finishes within their Pro-Am class for some much-needed points.

Presently standing some thirty-nine points behind the domineering Ferrari 488 crew of Takeshi Kimura and former D’Station Racing Super GT racer Kei Cozzolino, the four remaining races of the 2022 season still leaves more than enough points available for a change of fortune.

The provisional entry list for this weekend’s two races again features seventeen GT3 cars with a further four GT4 cars to boot.

Photo credits – Team / GTWCAsia

After the three races at Suzuka, Fuji and most recently Sugo, the teams #47 Vantage GT8R crew presently lie in third position in their four car ST-1 class but this round will be the first for the #777 Vantage GT3 crew as prior rounds of the World Endurance Championship has so far kept the likes of Satoshi Hoshino and Tomonobu Fujii away overseas.

Amongst an expected grid of forty-nine cars, the #777 Vantage GT3 will indeed be piloted by Hoshino, Fujii alongside third driver Tsubasa Kondo whilst the #47 Vantage GT8R will be driven by Jake Parsons, Max Orido, Kenji Hama and Tatsuya Hoshino at this five hour round of the series.

Photo credits - Team