Photo: SUPER GT
LM Corsa’s No. 60 Lexus LC500 has been stripped of its second-place GT300 class finish in Sunday’s fifth round of the SUPER GT season at Suzuka.
Hiroki Yoshimoto and Shunsuke Kohno had finished second on the road behind the CarGuy Racing MKS Racing Ferrari 296 GT3, after Yoshimoto was passed by Rikuto Kobayashi for the lead at Spoon Curve on lap 35 of 49.
It marked the Osaka Toyopet-owned team’s first podium finish in SUPER GT since the 2021 season, and the best result of a tough first year with its new Lexus LC500.
However, the No. 60 car failed post-race technical inspection, and was disqualified for a minimum weight infraction.
It promotes factory Subaru drivers Takuto Iguchi and Hideki Yamauchi to second, behind CarGuy MKS pair Kobayashi and Zak O’Sullivan, while Team Mach duo Iori Kimura and Yusuke Shiotsu are promoted to the final podium spot.
Team Mach’s Toyota 86 Mother Chassis therefore scores its first podium since finishing second in 2022 at Suzuka.
In an additional post-race penalty, the Seven x Seven Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R has been dropped from seventh to ninth in the final results after Tsubasa Kondo was handed a 40-second timed penalty for a full-course yellow violation.
Kondo and Harry King had finished seventh on the road after starting from last on the grid, despite King serving an early drive-through penalty for a start infraction.
That means the Saitama Green Brave Toyota GR Supra moves up to sixth in the final results ahead of the No. 0 JLOC Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2 and the Kondo Racing Nissan GT-R NISMO GT3.
The LEON Racing Mercedes-AMG moves up to 13th place, thus gaining another point and putting Naoya Gamou and Togo Suganami 7.5 points clear of Tomonobu Fujii and Charlie Fagg, who failed to score points in the D’station Racing Aston Martin.
RESULTS (Revised): GT300
