Hitotsuyama lifts Japan Cup title in thrilling weekend at Suzuka

The last weekend of SRO Japan Cup in 2025 at Suzuka had three teams as serious candidates for the title, with very little margin between them, but after a rainy Saturday and a messy Sunday that saw two title rivals blew their chances in one go, Akihiro Tsuzuki and Shintaro Kawabata, from the No. 296 Hitotsuyama with Comes Racing Ferrari 296 GT3, stood away from the risky battles and were gifted with the GT3 title.
 

With the rain being a factor in the first race, the start was given only after some Safety Car laps, with the No. 24 Max Racing Mercedes taking the lead while the No. 666 Seven x Seven Porsche being the closest chaser, but fortunes were flipped as the No. 24 got a 5 second stop and go penalty because Yudai Uchida overcooked the last chicane, cutting the corner via the astroturf before the start.
 
Despite the wet track keeping Uchida at bay until he serves his penalty, Bankcy couldn’t find a way past him, which was actually attracting the No. 18 UpGarage Ferrari to the fight as Akita had his moments being faster than Bankcy. The top two went for the pit stop pretty early in the window while Akita stood longer on track, and because of the shuffling in the pits, the No. 296 Hitotsuyama Ferrari was ahead of all those with service done, which effectively turned into the overall lead once the cycle was complete.
 
Although the track was drying in the ideal line, few teams took the gamble on slicks, as it was better to pick standing water when possible than keep guessing where the grip was. With the wet spots getting smaller, the warmed up slicks finally became the major trump card, with the No. 18 enjoying the gains as Takashi Kobayashi kept smashing the lap times one after another, coming from fourth place to the lead with 14 minutes to go, while the No. 45 PONOS Ferrari jumped from sixth to second with six minutes to go.
 
With half a minute separating first and second, and Kei Cozzolino failing to gain on Kobayashi, and not even a failed attempt of slowing down to beat the clock closed the gap too much, meaning that Kobayashi just had to bring the No. 18 UpGarage Ferrari back home to score the win. On seventh place overall, the No. 1 Team Macchina Ferrari inherited the Am Cup lead and win from the penalized and then retired No. 81 DAISHIN Nissan, while the No. 82 ZENKO RS Sunrise Porsche broke the streak of GT4 wins from the No. 39 TGR Indonesia Toyota.
 
Japan Cup - Suzuka Race 1 results
 

In much better conditions, the Race 2 started with the No. 45 PONOS Ferrari taking the lead, with only two of the three title contenders in the overall top five, and with the pace of the pro drivers being roughly similar, the order was kept the same until the pit window came.
 
After no changes in the first stint, all top contenders and the title fighters went to the pits next to the end of the window, with the No. 45 keeping the lead while the No. 181 NORIK Ferrari jumped to second, leaving the No. 9 BINGO LMCorsa Ferrari to defend the third place from the No. 666 Seven x Seven Porsche, and after trying all tricks of the book, Bankcy had a contact and spun Shinji Takei.
 
Damage and a penalty eventually threw both the No. 9 and No. 666 out of contention, leaving the door totally open for the No. 296 Hitotsuyama Ferrari to do a title winning run from fourth place, with Akihiro Tsuzuki just having to keep his position to score the needed points, but he jumped to third some minutes later and a desperate maneuver from the No. 24 Max Racing Mercedes in the No. 181 opened the door for the No. 296 to take second place.
 
With the gap being too big to counter, the No. 45 PONOS Ferrari had a peaceful run to the win, with the No. 296 Hitotsuyama Ferrari coming home in second, giving the title to Akihiro Tsuzuki and Shintaro Kawabata.
 
Japan Cup - Suzuka Race 2 results
 
Tsuzuki and Kawabata (No. 296) finished the season with 122 points against 104 from Tsujiko and Cozzolino (No. 45), who passed Bankcy (No. 666)a and their 103 points, as well Takei and Sasahara (No. 9) and their 97 points. Along with the overall GT3 title, Kawabata and Tsuzuki lifted the GT3 Pro-Am Cup title and the overall GT3 teams title.
 
Tadao Uematsu and Hirokazu Suzuki (No. 1) had the GT3 Am Cup title by a large margin, confirmed at Okayama, while Tiger Wu was the GTC champion and Hardidarma Manoppo and Seita Nonaka (No. 39) lifted the overall GT4 title and the GT4 Silver-Am Cup title.
 
The new calendar for the Japan Cup is still to be announced, without any estimated date for the announcement.
 
PHOTOS: SRO