Super GT Okayama: Toyota locks out front row for season opener

Returning to the track he won at last year alongside teammate Kenta Yamashita, Oshima posted a time of 1m17.251s right at the end of the 10-minute Q2 pole shootout to beat Yuichi Nakayama’s SARD Toyota by one-and-a-half tenths.

In a qualifying session dominated by Toyota, with four of the GR Supras progressing to the second leg of qualifying, Tadasuke Makino provided the strongest challenge in the Kunimitsu Honda but ultimately had to settle for third on the grid.

Having sat second for much of the qualifying with a time that was just 0.001s slower than Yuji Kunimoto’s benchmark in the Bandoh Toyota, Makino managed to go fractionally quicker on his final lap but was nearly three tenths off the ultimate pace.

Yuji Tachikawa qualified fourth in the Cerumo Toyota, ahead of the best of the new Nissan Z cars, the #24 Kondo Racing machine of two-time GT500 champion Kohei Hirate.

Giuliano Alesi was sixth in the #36 TOM’S Toyota in his first qualifying session as a GT500 driver, beating the second Nissan of Impul driver Bertrand Baguette, although Alesi's teammate Sho Tsuboi had topped the times in Q1.

Kunimoto’s fastest time, which had put him fourth-fastest in the Bandoh Toyota, was later deleted due to a track limits infraction, leaving him eighth and last among the Q2 runners.

Both the NISMO-entered Nissan Zs were eliminated in the first part of qualifying, with Tsugio Matsuda ninth in the #23 car and Mitsunori Takaboshi only managing the 14th-quickest time in the #3 machine.

Reigning Super Formula champion Tomoki Nojiri was 10th-fastest for Honda squad ARTA, while the similarly Bridgestone-equipped Real Racing entry of Koudai Tsukakoshi was another surprise dropout in 12th.

The only Toyota not to make it into Q2 was the #37