Honda’s Otsu admits he was “too soft” in Autopolis lead battle

Otsu and Miyata launched into an exciting duel for honours within the penultimate spherical of the season, with Miyata in the end popping out on prime within the #36 TOM’S Toyota GR Supra he shares with Sho Tsuboi to take the lead of the championship.

The #16 ARTA Honda NSX-GT of Otsu and Nirei Fukuzumi, who took pole on Saturday, completed second however will head to subsequent month’s Motegi finale dealing with a frightening deficit of 13 factors with solely 21 on provide.

Fukuzumi was accountable for the race for the opening two stints of the race earlier than coming in on lap 59 of 97 handy over to Otsu, who at one stage was main by 5 seconds.

However that hole was rapidly overturned by a charging Miyata, who made the decisive go with 10 laps to go after a number of laps of fierce battling.

Reflecting on his stint, Otsu informed Motorsport.com: “We had been in two minds in regards to the tyre selection after I took over from Nirei. He began on mushy tyres, however switched to hards for the second stint, and at last we selected softs for the ultimate stint.

“After all the benefit is that the warm-up is nice, so I used to be capable of quickly get better the positions I misplaced [on cold tyres] and construct a niche, so I assumed I might hold going like that. 

“However in the midst of the stint I began to get decide up and the tyres wore out, the tempo dropped and I used to be caught by the #36 automobile.

“I used to be decided to defend the lead, however I couldn’t… I feel I used to be a bit too mushy in my defence, which is one thing to work on. I’m annoyed I couldn’t hold on.”

Hiroki Otsu, #16 ARTA MUGEN NSX-GT

Photograph by: Masahide Kamio

Requested if Miyata’s raid on the inside the Flip 11 hairpin took him unexpectedly, Otsu replied: “I assumed he was coming from a dangerous distance. We had been fighting braking with our automobile. In that sense, I used to be taken considerably unexpectedly.

“I ought to have caught extra firmly to the within line… I feel I confirmed him a weak spot for him to use. That’s one thing I’ve to mirror on.”

Otsu added that, with he and Fukuzumi now needing a miracle to assert the championship, he’ll merely goal to attain a second victory of the season within the Motegi finale.

“The championship is trying powerful, however we’ve a extremely sturdy bundle, and we’ve all the time been on the prime in the previous few races,” he stated.

“We’ve made some errors, however everybody within the staff has carried out an important job, so for the ultimate race I wish to goal for the win as a end result of all of the work we’ve carried out this season. And if we win the championship as nicely, it’s a bonus.”

Miyata: Win “payback” for being blocked in Q1

For his half, Miyata stated he had been given additional motivation to get forward of Otsu after the #16 ARTA automobile had blocked team-mate Tsuboi on his sizzling lap within the first a part of qualifying on Saturday.

That left the #36 TOM’S squad ranging from a lowly twelfth on the grid, however Miyata had labored his method again as much as fifth place by the point of his ultimate pitstop having taken over from Tsuboi on the first spherical of stops on lap 34.

He then made quick work of the Actual Racing Honda of Koudai Tsukakoshi and the Cerumo Toyota of Hiroaki Ishiura earlier than making a vital go on Mitsunori Takaboshi within the NDDP Racing Nissan, which had been main the standings heading to Autopolis.

“Tsuboi was blocked by the #16 automobile [in Q1] in a method that I’m sure would have resulted in a penalty if it occurred in Tremendous Formulation, so I assumed, ‘I’m positively getting payback for that!’” stated Miyata.

#36 au TOM’S GR Supra

Photograph by: Masahide Kamio

“Overtaking at Autopolis is hard, so realistically we thought we had been aiming for round fourth place, however personally I used to be all the time excited about profitable. 

“Secretly, I used to be considering ‘we’ve to win’ and ‘I’ve to get payback’, and I knew Tsuboi was annoyed as nicely, so I used to be decided to complete in entrance [of Otsu]. In that sense, I’m actually comfortable to have carried out that.”

Motorsport.tv is displaying all qualifying classes and races for the 2023 SUPER GT season. For extra info, click here.