BINGO LM Corsa and Max Racing win Japan Cup races at SUGO

The first two races of the SRO Japan Cup were held last weekend at Sportsland SUGO, with multiple contenders for the wins, though the most consistent saw the checkered first, like the No. 9 BINGO Racing with LM Corsa Ferrari 296 GT3 on Saturday (14) and the No. 24 Max Racing Mercedes AMG GT3 Evo on Sunday (15).
 
Race 1 started pacifically, with the No. 18 UpGarage ACR Ferrari keeping the lead, but with Akita still needing to warm up the tires, the No. 24 Max Racing Mercedes jumped in front, with Yuudai Uchida immediately opening a gap to the competition. The No. 296 Hitotsuyama Ferrari was keeping up with them, but once the race hit the 15 minute mark, it lost contact and stood right in front of the No. 9 BINGO LM Corsa Ferrari.
 
An off track trip at Rainbow Corner for the No. 555 Maezawa Ferrari neutralized the action, and with the track clearing process taking certain time, the pit window was opened with the yellow flag, which put the No. 296 in first and the No. 9 in second, while the No. 18 dropped to fifth and the No. 24 went down to seventh.
 
With 20 minutes to go, the green flag was waved again, and the top two was getting some distance away from the rest as the No. 666 Seven x Seven Porsche was holding the third position from the No. 45 PONOS Ferrari, despite the pressure that Kei Cozzolino was putting on Kiyoto Fujinami, with the position change coming with 13 minutes to go. Talking about being held up, with traffic appearing at the technical section of the track, the No. 296 opened the door for the No. 9 to overtake and take the lead, with Ukyo Sasahara not allowing any openings for Shintaro Kawabata to take it back.
 
With Cozzolino having clean air, the No. 45 rapidly closed the gap in the overall top two, passing Kawabata with six minutes to go, which would allow Cozzolino to fight for the win, but Ukyo Sasahara had the pace to secure the overall and GT3 Pro-Am Cup wins for the No. 9 BINGO LM Corsa Ferrari.
 
Japan Cup SUGO - Race 1 results
 
The No. 1 Team Macchina Ferrari had an easy run to the GT3 Am Cup win, while the No. 888 BINGO Porsche got GTC honors and the No. 39 TGR Indonesia Toyota was the best GT4.
 

The second race had three cars going off track at the first corner, though the polesitter No. 9 BINGO LM Corsa Ferrari stood in the lead while the No. 18 UpGarage ACR Ferrari opened the door to hand over the second place to the No. 24 Max Racing Mercedes.
 
During the first stint, Ukyo Sasahara had no threats as the No. 24 looked more in the defensive against the No. 296 Hitotsuyama Ferrari. Into the pit window, the No. 45 PONOS Ferrari found the barriers at the final corner, neutralizing the field as the car wasn’t going nowhere.
 
When the green flag was waved with 15 minutes to go, Yuudai Uchida found a way past Shinji Takei, now that the No. 9 was within striking distance, so the No. 24 was the new leader, leaving Takei to deal with Akihiro Tsuzuki as the No. 296 wasn’t leaving the rear wing of the No. 9.
 
With no threats around the No. 24 Max Racing Mercedes, it was a clear path to the Race 2 win, with the No. 9 BINGO LM Corsa Ferrari barely keeping second place against the No. 296 Hitotsuyama Ferrari.
 
Japan Cup SUGO - Race 2 results
 
The No. 1 Team Macchina Ferrari completed the GT3 Am Cup sweep with ease, as Tadao Uematsu would prove himself faster than some of the GT3 Pro-Am Cup frontrunners, and the No. 888 BINGO Porsche and the No. 39 TGR Indonesia Toyota also completed the weekend sweep in the GTC and GT4 Silver-Am classes.
 
Takei and Sasahara (No. 9) lead the standings with 43 points, while Uchida and Motojima (No. 24) have 35, Tsuzuki and Kawabata (No. 296) have 30 and Bankcy and Fujinami (No. 666) have 24 points.
 
Fuji Speedway is the next stop for the Japan Cup, with Rounds 3 and 4 set for 12 and 13 July.
 
PHOTOS: SRO