Honda’s Makino “Disappointed” By Q2 Gap to Toyota

Photo: SUPER GT

Honda SUPER GT driver Tadasuke Makino has expressed disappointment at not being able to put up a stronger challenge against Toyota in qualifying for this weekend’s opening round of the season at Okayama International Circuit.

Makino was Honda’s top representative in Saturday’s Q2 pole shootout, putting the No. 100 Team Kunimitsu Civic Type R-GT he shares with Naoki Yamamoto fourth on the grid for Sunday’s 300km curtain-raiser.

However, his best lap of 1:16.619 fell a little under two tenths shy of the record-setting pace established by Nirei Fukuzumi in the No. 14 Rookie Racing Toyota, with TOM’S driver Sho Tsuboi making it a one-two for the GR Supra contingent.

“That lap was my maximum, it was a really good lap,” Makino told Sportscar365. “But still there is a big gap to Toyota, so I am a little bit disappointed.

“The situation is quite similar to last year. In sector three, they are especially quick.

“Overall, compared to last year, we have built things up on every side. But we need to see the race pace, because the No. 1 [TOM’S] and No. 14 cars are both quick on a long run — at Sepang, the No. 14’s long run was unbelievably quick.”

Makino added he hopes for rain on Sunday to challenge Toyota, with current forecasts suggesting a strong possibility of inclement weather in the morning at Okayama.

“I don’t know what will happen tomorrow, but I hope it’s wet, because our car was strong in testing in the wet,” he said. “That would be better for us than dry conditions.”

Besides the Team Kunimitsu car, ARTA’s No. 16 car was the only other member of the Honda contingent to clear Q1, going on to qualify eighth, while the Sakura marque’s remaining three cars filled out positions 11 through 13.

That was despite Real Racing, whose No. 17 car qualified 11th in the hands of Koudai Tsukakoshi, showing promise with the fifth-fastest time in morning practice.

Honda’s SUPER GT project leader Masahiro Saeki said that the change of conditions from practice to qualifying, with track temperatures lowering owing to increased cloud cover in the afternoon, impacted some of the Civic teams.

“From this morning, it was clear that we were in a difficult position, including in terms of tire selection,” Saiki told reporters post-qualifying.

“In qualifying the No. 100 car was able to recover from that, and even though there was still a bit of a gap to the top cars, in that sense it was a positive session.

“As for the No. 16 car, this year there are now ten cars in Q2 and they were not able to find a good track position and got caught up in traffic.

“The No. 17 car also looked good this morning [in practice] and it seems that the set-up went in the wrong direction considering the change in temperature.

“During winter testing, the No. 1 and No. 14 looked really strong, so it’s no surprise to see they are at the front here, but we will do our best to challenge them.”

The No. 8 ARTA Honda meanwhile was unable to take part in the GT500-only portion of free practice owing to engine trouble, limiting Tomoki Nojiri to 12th on the grid.

Makino: “Not Much Has Changed” with ‘Semi-Works’ Team Kunimitsu

While there are few changes to the Honda roster this year, one notable change is that the Kunimitsu Civic is now being maintained in-house by HRC Japan at its Sakura factory after the team split with previous maintenance garage ATJ.

A press statement from HRC said that the change followed a “request from the team”, and that the move was designed to “increase the future possibility of building a works structure for four-wheel racing as we have used in two-wheel racing.”

However, the engineering system for the No. 100 car remains unchanged, with Servus Japan’s Satofumi Hoshi continuing in his role as race engineer, and Makino says the atmosphere in the team hasn’t been impacted by the move to ‘semi-works’ status.

“There are some new members, but the engineers are the same, Hoshi-san is doing a really good job, so from my side it doesn’t feel like much has changed,” said Makino.

It’s understood that HRC Japan staff make up around half of the team, with employees from Servus Japan, which also operates the Team UpGarage Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo in the GT300 class, making up the remainder.