K-Tunes Recover from Race 1 Disaster to Take GT3 Pro-Am Win at Okayama as Max Racing Strike First

GT3 Pro-Am

Max Racing's Shibata and Motojima set the benchmark in Qualifying 1, putting their Mercedes-AMG GT3 EVO on pole with a 1:29.603. They converted that pace into the Round 5 victory, leading Takei and Sasahara's BINGO RACING with LM corsa Porsche 911 GT3 R to the flag, with Tsuzuki and Kawabata completing the podium for Hitotsuyama with CORNES RACING.

K-Tunes Racing's Suenaga and Fukuzumi went fastest in Qualifying 2, setting a 1:28.220 in the Ferrari 296 GT3 EVO. The pole, however, did not translate into a strong Race 1 result, with the pair finishing ten laps down in 14th. AWD Racing's Swinimer and Parsons also had an unfortunate race, retiring twelve laps into the race.

The second race brought the response K-Tunes needed. Suenaga and Fukuzumi converted their Qualifying 2 pole into victory, leading Maezawa and Yokomizo's MAEZAWA RACING Ferrari and Uematsu and Yamashita's TOKYO miracle McLaren 720S GT3 to the podium.

The result split the GT3 Pro-Am wins across the two rounds, with Max Racing taking the opening race before K-Tunes completed the comeback in Race 2.

GT3 AM

The Am category remained a three-car fight throughout the weekend. Tsujiko and Yamasaki of PRIDE RACING led Qualifying 1, with Okura and Hamaguchi's Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2 for The Spirit of FFF Racing in P2, and Nishikawa and Tanaka's RUNUP SPORTS Nissan GT-R NISMO GT3 in P3.

The order reversed in Qualifying 2, with Okura and Hamaguchi moving to the top by 0.867 seconds over PRIDE RACING, while Nishikawa and Tanaka remained third.

The Spirit of FFF Racing carried that qualifying pace into Race 1 to take the class win, ahead of PRIDE RACING and RUNUP SPORTS. Race 2 reversed the result again, with PRIDE RACING taking the win over The Spirit of FFF Racing. RUNUP SPORTS completed the class podium for the second consecutive race.

GT4 Pro-Am

With just two entries, the GT4 PA battle was a straight fight between ZENKO RS GARAGE with SUNRISE BLVD.'s Makino and Suehiro and AKILAND RACING's Oyama and Kunimoto.

Makino and Suehiro led across both qualifying sessions and both races in the Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 RS CS. They took Race 1 before extending their advantage in Race 2, where the AKILAND RACING Toyota GR Supra GT4 EVO II finished three laps down.

GT4 AM

TEAM POP RACE's Orido and Ho were the sole entry in GT4 Am, running the Mercedes-AMG GT4. They qualified inside the overall top 15 in both sessions before finishing 12th overall in Race 1, three laps down. Race 2 saw the pair finish last overall, four laps behind the leader.

Okayama ultimately belonged to the contrasting fortunes of the GT3 Pro-Am field. Max Racing struck first, K-Tunes Racing responded in Race 2, and the remaining categories settled into more consistent patterns as Japan Cup moved through Rounds 5 and 6.