Super GT Sugo
Dunlop suffers "mystery" loss of pace in Sugo qualifying
Team Mugen's Ukyo Sasahara was left baffled by a "mystery" drop in pace for both of Dunlop's SUPER GT entries in the second phase of qualifying for this weekend's Sugo round.
Jamie Klein
Edited: Sep 17, 2022, 11:43 AM
Copy link
Share on Viber
Dunlop was looking well placed for its first pole position of the 2022 season after the opening segment of qualifying on Saturday afternoon, as Toshiki Oyu broke the lap record at Sugo with a time of 1m09.660s at the wheel of the #16 Mugen Honda NSX-GT.
Hiroki Otsu was second-quickest in the #64 Nakajima Racing Honda, which had set the pace earlier that morning in practice and is carrying zero success ballast this weekend.
Read Also:
However, just 40 minutes later, the competitive order had shifted entirely as Sasahara was unable to come close to his teammate's benchmark time, ending Q2 down in seventh on a 1m10.335s and almost seven tenths down on the pole time set by Racing Project Bandoh's Sena Sakaguchi.
Takuya Izawa was eighth and slowest in Q2 after suffering an off at SP Corner on his attack lap.
"I simply didn’t have enough grip," Sasahara told Motorsport.com. "I’m still surprised at how things can change so much from Q1 to Q2. In Q1, both Dunlop cars were dominating, but in Q2, even with no mistake the #64 car couldn’t get pole for sure.
"The tyre felt completely different to free practice, and after Q1 I was sure we could be on pole. It seems to be the same for both Dunlop cars.
"We want to just stay on track and score as many points as we can. But first we need to understand what happened in qualifying, otherwise tomorrow will be difficult as well. At the moment it feels like a mystery!"
- Stream every qualifying session and race of the 2022 SUPER GT season only on Motorsport.tv.
Izawa meanwhile was left to rue a mistake he feels cost he and Otsu a chance to start much higher up the order, even if he conceded that Sakaguchi's pole time would have likely been out of reach.
"I touched the grass on the inside at SP one and the car became unsettled, so it was just my mistake," Izawa told Motorsport.com. "Maybe it was not enough for pole position but maybe it was enough for second or third position, so I'm disappointed about this result.
"We have the lightest car in the field [in terms of success ballast] so we must get a good result tomorrow. Maybe if the tyre works well for the race, we can still aim for a podium."
Izawa also said he apologised to Sakaguchi for impeding the Bandoh Toyota on what turned out to be the pole-winning lap as he rejoined the track following his off.
"This was also my mistake, coming back on to the racing line," he said. "I should have come off the throttle to let the #19 car by, but I thought there was a chance to do one more lap."
Sakaguchi estimated that the time loss from getting stuck behind Izawa was around three tenths of a second.
We want your opinion!
What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?
Take our 5 minute survey.
- The Motorsport.com Team
Read and post comments
Read also :
Share Or Save This Story
Copy link
Share on Viber
Previous article Sugo SUPER GT: Bandoh Toyota scores fourth pole of 2022
Next article BMW's Farfus forced to skip Autopolis SUPER GT round
Top Comments
There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?
View More & Comment
More from
Jamie Klein
Super Formula Fuji: Ayumu Iwasa wins as Kakunoshin Ohta misses chance to seal title
Super Formula
Super Formula
Fuji II
Super Formula Fuji: Ayumu Iwasa wins as Kakunoshin Ohta misses chance to seal title
Super Formula Fuji: Igor Fraga wins while Kakunoshin Ohta closes on title
Super Formula
Super Formula
Fuji II
Super Formula Fuji: Igor Fraga wins while Kakunoshin Ohta closes on title
Latest news
TV ratings released for NASCAR Cup season finale
NASCAR Cup
NAS NASCAR Cup
Homestead-Miami
1 h
TV ratings released for NASCAR Cup season finale
Chase Elliott's car chief leaves Hendrick for NASCAR Truck crew chief role
NASCAR Truck
NSTR NASCAR Truck
Homestead
1 h
Chase Elliott's car chief leaves Hendrick for NASCAR Truck crew chief role
“I was getting beat up” – How Daniel Ricciardo burned out on ‘humiliating’ F1 return
Formula 1
F1 Formula 1 5 h
“I was getting beat up” – How Daniel Ricciardo burned out on ‘humiliating’ F1 return
Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
You have 2 options:
- Become a subscriber.
- Disable your adblocker.
Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here
Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page
Manage Alerts
Subscribe