BINGO LM Corsa and PONOS score Japan Cup wins at Okayama

The penultimate weekend of SRO Japan Cup at Okayama just brought the title contenders closer, even though Ukyo Sasahara and Shinji Takei won the Saturday race in the No. 9 BINGO Racing with LM Corsa Ferrari 296 GT3, but couldn’t go past from third on Sunday as the No. 45 PONOS Racing Ferrari 296 GT3 of Kei Cozzolino and Yorikatsu Tsujiko commanded the show,
 
The first race started with the No. 45 PONOS Ferrari failing to leave its grid spot as the engine didn’t start, being brought back to the garage as the No. 666 Seven x Seven Porsche led the way once the green flag was waved, being closely followed by the No. 18 UpGarage Ferrari, though a failed attack from AKITA basically bunched up the field and made the No. 555 Maezawa Ferrari vulnerable as it lost the third position to the No. 1 Team Macchina Ferrari, which was also leading the GT3 Am Cup.
 
A spin caused by loss of traction took the No. 555 Maezawa Ferrari out of the race, bringing a full course yellow to rescue the crashed car, just before the pit window was opened. The situation evolved to a Safety Car, and the green flag was waved with 20 minutes to go, with no influence in the order at the top.
 
With Hirokazu Suzuki at the wheel, the No. 1 became easy prey for the GT3 Pro-Am contenders once the green flag flew again, with the No. 9 BINGO LM Corsa Ferrari quickly jumping to second while the No. 666 was hit with a drive through penalty due to overtaking under yellow flags, which gifted the lead to the No. 9, with Ukyo Sasahara opening the gap immediately as his pace advantage to Takashi Kobayashi was clear to see.
 
The hairpin made another victim with 12 minutes to go, as the third place No. 24 Max Racing Mercedes got pit maneuvered by the No. 296 Hitotsuyama Ferrari, with both cars falling out of contention as the No. 296 had a drive through because of the contact, promoting the No. 98 K-Tunes Ferrari to third.
 
With the pace advantage in hand, Ukyo Sasahara just had to bring the No. 9 BINGO LM Corsa Ferrari home to secure the overall win and the GT3 Pro-Am Cup win, while the No. 1 Team Macchina Ferrari kept the GT3 Am Cup win despite the massive pace drop in the second stint. The No. 39 TGR Indonesia Toyota was the best GT4 entry.
 
Japan Cup - Okayama Race 1 results
 

Unlike the Saturday race, the No. 9 BINGO LM Corsa Ferrari was starting right from the top, but Kei Cozzolino was having none of it and quickly took the lead for the No. 45 PONOS Ferrari, leaving Ukyo Sasahara in a chasing position from the go.
 
While Sasahara wasn’t giving Cozzolino any room to breathe, he wasn’t exactly in an attacking position, which wasn’t the case in the GT3 Am Cup, as Ryuichiro Oyagi found a way past Hirokazu Suzuki, putting the No. 81 DAISHIN Nissan in the class lead. Eventually an off track moment from Cozzolino opened the way for Sasahara to overtake, putting the No. 9 back in the overall lead.
 
The leaders came pretty late in the pit window for regular service and to serve success penalty, which gave the lead back to the No. 45 while the No. 666 Seven x Seven Porsche jumped to second, and the order also reversed in the GT3 Am Cup, putting the No. 1 back in the class lead.
 
Despite the best efforts from Bankcy to close down the gap, it wasn’t enough for the No. 666 Seven x Seven Porsche to challenge the No. 45 PONOS Ferrari for the overall and GT3 Pro-Am Cup wins. The No. 1 Team Macchina completed the GT3 Am Cup sweep thanks to Tadao Uematsu’s stint, while the No. 39 TGR Indonesia Toyota did the same between the GT4s.
 
Japan Cup - Okayama Race 2 results
 
Takei and Sasahara (No. 9) lead the standings with 93 points, while Tsuzuki and Kawabata (No. 296) sit in second with 89 and Bankcy (No. 666) becomes the third title contender with 87 points.
 
Tadao Uematsu and Hirokazu Suzuki got the GT3 Am Cup title as they scored 140 points over 79 from DAISHIN’s Ryuichiro Oyagi, and Tiger Wu conquered the GTC title as he has 133 points against the 52 from Satoshi Konno and Tomohia Furuya.
 
The remainder of the titles are still up for grabs in the final double header at Suzuka, which will be held on 13 and 14 September.
 
PHOTO: SRO