CarGuy wins Race 1 at Suzuka after late charge

Sometimes risks are taken to overcome a difficult situation, and CarGuy Racing did exactly that to win the first race of the FANATEC GT World Challenge Asia weekend at Suzuka, with Kei Cozzolino trusting Takeshi Kimura’s choice for slicks on the final stint, which made possible the outstanding recover of the No. 777 Ferrari 488 GT3 Evo, as Cozzolino took the car out of a mid table position.

Compared to the first GTWC Asia weekend at Sepang, the grid had a massive improvement at Suzuka, with the 16 GT3s, 7 GT4s and a single TC invitational car massively outnumbering the eight cars present in Malaysia, as the recently created FANATEC Japan Cup attracted a good number of local teams to the series.

The track was clearly wetter than in Qualifying, but the drivers were still feeling brave, though that bravery was soon halted by a Safety Car halfway into Lap 1, caused by a crashed No. 27 Yogibo Ferrari, that went from pole position to a contact with the No. 18 EBM Porsche, and then into the barriers.

After 15 minutes of neutralization the green flag was back, but with the No. 8 EBM Porsche off the track and stuck, the Safety Car was back again. With the green flag coming back near the start of the pit window, Kantadhee Kusiri’s job was to keep the No. 18 EBM Porsche in front despite the pressure of the No. 19 B-Max Lamborghini, but despite keeping a close distance, the lead change wasn’t materializing. To make matters worse, the No. 19 was penalized for pushing a car off the track, along with the eventual pace drop.

Getting out of the No. 19’s strike zone didn’t mean that the No. 18 was safe, as the No. 30 Porsche Okazaki car was approaching fast, and with Yuta Kamimura knowing more than well how to pick water to cool down the tires without compromising the race line, he passed Tanart Sathienthirakul with six minutes to go, with the Thai driver also falling victim of Nick Foster in the No. 888 Triple Eight Mercedes and of a charging Kei Cozzolino in the No. 777 CarGuy Ferrari.

Cozzolino then proceeded to go past the No. 888 and the No. 20 within the final minute, consolidating the monstrous performance that turned the No. 777 CarGuy Ferrari from out of contention in 11th due to a spin into a race win. Basically no one in the field could even hold Cozzolino, as he was multiple seconds faster than the whole field, which made possible his heroic charge.

In the post race interview, it was revealed that Takeshi Kimura’s decision to put slick tires for Cozzolino’s stint given the drying track, which was met with uncertainty by Cozzolino but he still carried on with the plan.

GTWC Asia - Suzuka Race 1 results

Within the GT4 field prevailed the logic established in the Qualifying session, as the No. 55 Team Scala Mercedes of Jun Tashiro and Tatsuya Tanigawa kept domination by outpacing the No. 14 GTO Mercedes.

PHOTO: SRO