How Nissan blew open SUPER GT’s Class One equilibrium

For the last two years, SUPER GT fans have become spoiled with unthinkably dramatic title-deciders in the GT500 class - first Ryo Hirakawa's TOM'S Toyota running out of fuel practically within sight of the chequered flag in 2020, and then Naoki Yamamoto's Kunimitsu Honda being eliminated in a crash with a Honda GT300 car last year.

This time around, the season finale at Motegi was much more straightforward for Impul Nissan pair Bertrand Baguette and Kazuki Hiramine, who clinched the title by taking second place from third on the grid in what was, at least by SUPER GT standards, a fairly tame race at the head of the field.

The drama of the '20 and '21 showdowns evened each other out in terms of which manufacturer came out on top, meaning Toyota and Honda both took a title each in the first two years of the Class One rules. An aerodynamics freeze for 2021 essentially kept the competitive order of the previous season preserved in aspic, with the over-dragged Nissan GT-R clearly lagging behind.

But this year, certainly after qualifying for the curtain-closer, Nissan never looked like it would allow the chance for its first GT500 title since 2015 to slip away, having established the superiority of the new Z over the Honda NSX-GT and Toyota GR Supra.

In the end it was Baguette and Hiramine who got the job done for Team Impul, but it just as easily could have been the NDDP Racing duo of Katsumasa Chiyo and Mitsunori Takaboshi who came away with the title. Heck, without such poor reliability, even Ronnie Quintarelli and Tsugio Matsuda might have had a sniff in the #23 NISMO car.

The #3 NDDP Racing-branded car turned out to be the stronger of NISMO's two entries

The last time any of SUPER GT’s ‘big three’ manufacturers enjoyed such a margin over the opposition was in 2019, when the Lexus LC500 was streets ahead of that year’s NSX, which was stuck with the previous year’s aerodynamic package, and the GT-R, which was hobbled by a mid-season engine rules tweak.

This time around, there’s not really any factor that explains away Honda and Toyota’s lack of performance. The Z was simply faster more of the time.

Baguette, who in hindsight can be said to have timed his move from Honda to Nissan over the winter to utter perfection, feels that Nissan struck a perfect balance between downforce and drag, enabling the car to be competitive at a variety of different tracks - unlike the 2020 version of the GT-R, which was king at Suzuka but off the pace elsewhere.

“The Z was definitely the more consistent car across all the tracks,” Baguette told Motorsport.com. “They corrected the issue with the GT-R which was the drag. We gained a lot of straight line speed, the top speed was really good, which helps the driver a lot.

“The main strength of the NSX was the downforce. They focused on that a lot, they did a lot of wind tunnel testing. Maybe the Z has a bit less downforce, but it’s still cornering just as well, so maybe the mechanical grip is higher.”

The Nissan was competitive on just about every circuit, unlike the Honda or Toyota

Certainly the straight line superiority of the Z was clear for all to see at Motegi when Baguette was engaged in battle with the Real Racing Honda of Nobuharu Matsushita, who along with teammate Koudai Tsukakoshi went into the final round still in title contention.

Matsushita made a move up the inside of Baguette at the Turn 10 hairpin, but Baguette hung around the outside and got back ahead along the back straight preceding the downhill Turn 11 right-hander, completing the pass before arriving at the braking zone. “I was confident if I had a better exit I could get alongside and overtake him,” recalled the Belgian.

Such scenes suggested to those in the Honda camp that Nissan must have made considerable progress on the engine front in the last year as well.

“I think simply they have a lot of power,” was the verdict of Real Racing engineer Yasuhiro Tasaka. “The reason Toyota is so quick beyond 250km/h at Fuji is low drag, but at Motegi, where the straights are short, we were still passed [by the Impul Nissan]. The drag doesn’t really matter here. So it must be horsepower.”

Honda SUPER GT project leader Masahiro Saiki added: “The [Nissan] fuel consumption is also surprisingly good. I think we still have a slight advantage in terms of fuel efficiency, but they are catching up. I had heard from Nissan drivers that it wasn't easy to drive, but considering their results, I think they must have an engine with good driveability.”

Honda's updated Type S NSX-GT scored three wins, but fell short of the title

While Nissan was the only manufacturer to bring an entirely new car to the GT500 class, Honda and Toyota also were able to take advantage of the aerodynamics freeze being lifted to update the NSX and GR Supra respectively. 

In Honda’s case, this allowed the car to be updated to resemble the final, ‘Type S’ version of the NSX. But the fundamental body shape remains the same, with a much larger profile than the new Z. That makes it slower in a straight line, despite the potency of its engine, especially the ‘Spec 2’ version introduced for the final few rounds of the season.

“The real strength of the Z is that it’s fast enough in a straight line on any track, but doesn’t show any real weakness on ‘cornering’ or ‘braking’ circuits,” said Tomohiro Onishi, Honda’s head of car development. “It doesn’t show any weak points. It generates enough downforce without increasing the drag.”

The age of the NSX platform, based on a road car first released in 2016, might also be a factor, according to Onishi. “We have been using the NSX for a long time, and inevitably the drag and balance eventually reach a plateau,” he said.

Does Honda need to consider a new GT500 base model for 2024?

So, what about the GR Supra, whose body shape the Z resembles? That too was updated this year with revised front aerodynamics, and while the drivers were encouraged in pre-season testing, it seems the step wasn’t big enough to compete with the NSX and Z at tracks like Suzuka.

Combined with the fact the Toyota camp appears to have fallen behind in the engine department compared to its rivals, and the ingredients were in place for an average season that featured wins at Okayama (for Rookie Racing) and Fuji (for TOM'S), but not much else to brag about.

“We’re slow in a straight line, and the Z is faster on acceleration,” said Rookie Racing’s Kenta Yamashita. “It feels like we’re fundamentally behind, and it’s been like that all year. We have more front downforce than last year, but it’s not enough. I want a bit more at the front.”

On why Toyota had the edge in the opening round at Okayama, which is similar in character to Motegi in terms of being a ‘braking’ circuit with few long straights, Yamashita said: “I think it was because both the NSX and Z were new models and they hadn’t been set up properly yet. I think we also got it right with tyre selection and the others got it wrong.”

Victory in the Okayama opener proved a false dawn for Toyota and Rookie Racing

While Toyota’s performance deficit was probably too large to allow any of its teams to fight for the title, perhaps Honda could have done in the event one of its two leading squads in the final standings, Team Kunimitsu and Real Racing, had been a little more consistent.

Kunimitsu started and ended the year well, with second at Okayama and victory at Motegi - both tracks dominated by braking and low-speed corners. Real Racing excelled at Suzuka, with two second places there, one of which would have almost certainly been a victory without a refuelling issue that forced Tsukakoshi to slow down in his second stint.

After seeing his car trailing home a disappointing fifth at Motegi, Real Racing engineer Tasaka said: “We need to find a set-up for low-speed circuits. That’s the reason we failed [to win the title], and I’m aware that we can’t win the championship unless we improve there.

“Motegi is a track where you brake hard, have a short turning phase and apply the throttle abruptly. Okayama is also a circuit where hard braking and traction are important, but these are not my speciality. 

“The car behaves differently at the S-curve at Suzuka, or the ‘roller coaster’ at Autopolis, or SP and the final corner at Sugo. We have to come up with mechanical solutions for places where there is little aerodynamic effect.”

The Real Racing Honda was quick in high-speed corners, but struggled when it mattered at Motegi

Tasaka neatly summarises the challenges facing all GT500 teams, namely how to find a set-up that works in both fast and slow corners, all without sacrificing too much straight line speed. That’s exactly what Nissan managed with the new Z this year, humbling Honda and Toyota in the process.