Rossi Takes Single Season Record With Suzuka Pole

Matteo Rossi secured the single-season record for the amount of pole positions in a season in Qualifying for the GT Super Series season finale at the Suzuka Circuit.

After failing to capitalize on two previous chances to take the record for his own, Rossi shined bright in drying conditions. With everyone on Intermediate Tires, the Michelin-shod Aston Martin put in the quickest time in the session on its third lap, after the tires warmed up properly. Before that point, Fabian Rei and newly crowned champion Chris Winter took turns having provisional pole position, before the Italian put in a time a quarter of a second clear of second place qualifying Fabian Rei. This is Rossi’s sixth pole position of the season, seventh of his career, and it gives him the single season record for the amount of pole positions in a season; previously it was shared by Ricardo Llosa and Frank Zimmer at five.

Chris Winter ended up qualifying in third place, more than a half of a second off of Rossi’s pace. Rounding out the top five in qualifying was Denis van Walkwijk and Li Qi, putting in lap times that were separated by two hundredths of a second. The top six qualifiers were Manufacture Trophy entries, rounding out the group was Drivers Championship runner up-elect Evgeny Restov. The fastest Independent Trophy driver was the winner from Sepang in Ai Tsukimura, she was nearly nine tenths off of the pace set by Matteo Rossi in the changing conditions.

The next independent runner was Gia Van Dycke in ninth, the second car to be more than one second off of pole position pace. Qualifying third in class, twelfth overall, is Sam Winton in his best qualifying performance since his eighth place starting position at the Nurburgring. Directly behind Winton was the class winner from Zhuhai, China in Koyomi Setou, continuing her strong form since taking the helm of the Best In The World Lamborghini.

Qualifying Results – Round of Japan

Pos#ClassDriverTeamTime
16MMatteo RossiGulf1:51.814
214MFabian ReiGerald Pereria+0.250
302MChris WinterSolvalou+0.565
427MDenis van WalwijkScuderia Italia+0.723
564MLi QiCarson+0.741
628MEvgeny RestovScuderia Italia+0.820
718IAi TsukimuraTsuchigami+0.871
841MPaul TravesenGerald Pereria+1.053
921IGia Van DyckeBelgio+1.146
1003MMorgan Le FaySolvalou+1.216
1163MJoey AlliotCarson+1.232
1231ISam WintonWinton+1.282
1311IKoyomi SetouBest In The World1.286
1445IHelena BertinelliEuromotor+1.458
1524MAmato AgostiniPagani+1.535
1656IDarren Older Jr.Commonwealth+1.573
1705IAndrej KremnickyAoi+1.652
1844IDiego VercuisseEuromotor+1.745
193IMelanie BourneBoutsen Ginion+1.770
2025MAnton RobishaudPagani+1.803
2155IJames DouglasTom Douglas+1.811
2288IHarrison WilkinsonLKM+1.883
2332IKjeld AxelsenRMR+1.888
24555IAntonio Reyna-SanchezTom Douglas+1.905
2577INathan ScottMinarae+1.927
262IAkinori KikkawaBoutsen Ginion+1.937
27007MJohn MagnusFalken+1.975
2866IYuya KurosawaToshio+2.080
2999IDaniel EinfeldtPeople's Republic+2.142
3009IAlexi MelvanovChris Short+2.556