Super GT Okayama
Yamashita "not that happy" to win after late Okayama scare
Toyota SUPER GT driver Kenta Yamashita admits he was "not that happy" with the way he clinched Rookie Racing's Okayama victory as a late scare almost cost the team dearly.
Jamie Klein
Edited: Apr 17, 2022, 12:06 PM
Copy link
Share on Viber
Yamashita and his teammate aboard the #14 Rookie Toyota GR Supra, Kazuya Oshima, commanded the 82-lap race, with Oshima opening a comfortable lead in his stint from pole before handing off to Yamashita.
However, a late full-course yellow period almost ended up costing the team the win as Yamashita lost a major chunk of time to the chasing Team Kunimitsu Honda NSX-GT of Naoki Yamamoto.
In the end, Yamashita - who had been leading by more than 10 seconds heading into the closing stages - held on by just 1.8s from Yamamoto at the finish.
Read Also:
Post-race, he revealed that contact with the car ahead of him on track after the full-course yellow, the Team LeMans Audi R8 LMS GT3 of Yoshiaki Katayama, almost proved disastrous.
"Oshima was really quick in his stint," said Yamashita. "Before the race I said, ‘I’ll be happy if you can hand over to me with a 10-second advantage’, and in the end he handed over with 17 seconds, so I felt I had no choice but to win.
"I wanted to extend the gap even further, but it was harder than I thought to keep up the pace, I had trouble with the GT300 cars, and then when the Studie BMW went off in front of me, there was a full course yellow, and after that the car in front of me [LeMans Audi] had a half-spin and we made contact, so there were a lot of perilous moments.
"Because the pace was not good, the #100 [Kunimitsu Honda] caught up by a lot, and although we won I was not that happy. That said, we were still able to somehow win and so it was a good start to our championship bid."
Yamashita and Oshima's victory at Okayama marked Rookie Racing's second in SUPER GT as an independent outfit, with their first coming at the same track a year ago.
Oshima, whose Q2 effort on Saturday put the #14 machine on pole, admitted to being surprised at just how much pace the team had over the weekend.
"Since we won last year’s opener, we’ve grown a lot as a team," said Oshima. "So I came to the track thinking we can get a good result, but I was surprised at just how well things went.
"The car was in good condition and the tyres were able to run to the end without dropping off, so I think it’s really thanks to everyone in the team [that we could win].
"Qualifying for the next race [at Fuji] will be tough because of the success weight [42kg], but because the race is longer [450km] I think our chances of a good result will increase.
"There are some things from this race that we need to work on, so I want to improve on those and prepare so that we can fight for consecutive wins."
- Stream every qualifying session and race of the 2022 SUPER GT season only on Motorsport.tv.
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 Okayama SUPER GT: Rookie Toyota wins thrilling opener
Next article Honda SUPER GT podium at Okayama exceeded expectations
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
More from
Kazuya Oshima
Toyota’s Oshima ‘close to tears’ with best finish in four years
Super Formula
Super Formula
Sugo
Toyota’s Oshima ‘close to tears’ with best finish in four years
Toyota's struggling Super Formula veteran showing signs of recovery
Super Formula
Super Formula
Suzuka pre-season test
Toyota's struggling Super Formula veteran showing signs of recovery
Is Rookie Racing mega-factory an ominous sign for its rivals?
Super GT
Super GT
Fuji March testing
Is Rookie Racing mega-factory an ominous sign for its rivals?
More from
ROOKIE Racing
Latvala gets second Fuji 24h outing in hydrogen-powered Toyota
Super Taikyu
Super Taikyu
Latvala gets second Fuji 24h outing in hydrogen-powered Toyota
Yamashita released from hospital after heavy Suzuka crash
Super GT
Super GT
Yamashita released from hospital after heavy Suzuka crash
Yamashita taken to hospital after Suzuka SUPER GT test crash
Super GT
Super GT
Yamashita taken to hospital after Suzuka SUPER GT test crash
Latest news
Dale Jr. explains why he doesn't use 'Earnhardt' in his signature
NASCAR Cup
NAS NASCAR Cup 39 min
Dale Jr. explains why he doesn't use 'Earnhardt' in his signature
NASCAR to allow brake rotor and pad changes after Phoenix qualifying
NASCAR Cup
NAS NASCAR Cup
Charlotte II
1 h
NASCAR to allow brake rotor and pad changes after Phoenix qualifying
Why Christian Horner banned Mercedes' name as Red Bull built its own F1 engine
Formula 1
F1 Formula 1
Singapore GP
1 h
Why Christian Horner banned Mercedes' name as Red Bull built its own F1 engine
Laurent Mekies extends contract as Red Bull's F1 team boss
Formula 1
F1 Formula 1
Singapore GP
2 h
Laurent Mekies extends contract as Red Bull's F1 team boss
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