With consecutive wins and strong placings across multiple rounds, including winning the final at Twin Ring Motegi (2–3 November), TOM’S Racing driver Kiwi Nick Cassidy, has fallen just two heartbreaking points short of taking out his second Super GT series title.
Although Kazuya Oshima and Kenta Yamashita came into the final as favourites, with a strong seven-point lead over Cassidy and co-driver Ryo Hirakawa, it nearly didn’t go the way of the Japanese duo after a controversial incident. Yamashita sent his car down the inside of Yuhi Sekiguchi, with the former locking up and the pair coming out of the corner side by side before entering the final chicane, where they collided and skated off the track. No official action was taken, and the pair returned to the track.
Yamashita sprinted away from Sekiguchi from there, and, with second place in the bag for the round, all they needed to do was cross the finish line to take the title ahead of Cassidy and Hirakawa. For LeMans, it’s the second Super GT crown — the team claimed its first some 17 years ago in a Toyota Supra.