# 2017 Okayama GT 300km

The 2017 Okayama GT 300km was the first round of the 2017 Super GT Series. It was held at the Okayama International Circuit in Mimasaka, Okayama Prefecture, Japan. Ryō Hirakawa and Nick Cassidy won the GT500 category whilst Nobuteru Taniguchi and Tatsuya Kataoka won the GT300 category.

## Race Report
### Qualifying

The #8 Autobacs Racing Team Aguri entry of Tomoki Nojiri and Takashi Kobayashi claimed pole position with the time of 1:20.604. The session itself was filled with attrition, with two red flags as well as varying weather conditions ultimately determining the final part of qualifying. Daisuke Nakajima's best time was erased due to causing a red flag, thereby dropping the #16 Team Mugen entry down to seventh. The other red flag was caused by Kazuki Nakajima, whose best time was also erased; dropping him to eighth.
In the GT300 category, the front-row was locked out by a pair of Mercedes-AMG GT3's, with the #65 K2 R&D LEON Racing entry of Naoya Gamou and Haruki Kurosawa claiming pole position and the #4 Goodsmile Racing & TeamUKYO taking out second.

#### GT500

| Pos | No | Team | Vehicle | Qualifying 1 | Qualifying 2 | Grid |
| 1 | 8 | Autobacs Racing Team Aguri | Honda NSX-GT | 1:18.620 | 1:20.604 | 1 |
| 2 | 6 | Lexus Team LeMans Wako's | Lexus LC 500 | 1:18.558 | 1:20.960 | 2 |
| 3 | 37 | Lexus Team KeePer Tom's | Lexus LC 500 | 1:18.584 | 1:24.749 | 3 |
| 4 | 38 | Lexus Team ZENT [ja] Cerumo | Lexus LC 500 | 1:18.521 | 1:25.098 | 4 |
| 5 | 17 | Real Racing | Honda NSX-GT | 1:18.648 | 1:26.930 | 5 |
| 6 | 19 | Lexus Team WedsSport Bandoh | Lexus LC 500 | 1:18.648 | 1'28.347 | 6 |
| 7 | 16 | Team Mugen | Honda NSX-GT | 1:18.846 | no time | 7 |
| 8 | 36 | Lexus Team au Tom's | Lexus LC 500 | 1:18.975 | no time | 8 |
| 9 | 1 | Lexus Team SARD | Lexus LC 500 | 1:19.072 | | 9 |
| 10 | 100 | Team Kunimitsu | Honda NSX-GT | 1:19.089 | | 10 |
| 11 | 24 | Kondō Racing | Nissan GT-R | 1:19.234 | | 11 |
| 12 | 64 | Nakajima Racing | Honda NSX-GT | 1:19.269 | | 12 |
| 13 | 12 | Team Impul | Nissan GT-R | 1:19.315 | | 13 |
| 14 | 23 | NISMO | Nissan GT-R | 1:19.386 | | 14 |
| 15 | 46 | MOLA [ja] | Nissan GT-R | 1:19.616 | | 15 |
| Source(s): |||||||

#### GT300

| Pos | No | Team | Vehicle | Qualifying 1 | Qualifying 2 | Grid |
| 1 | 65 | K2 R&D LEON Racing | Mercedes-AMG GT3 | 1:26.254 | 1:25.044 | 1 |
| 2 | 4 | Goodsmile Racing & TeamUKYO | Mercedes-AMG GT3 | 1:25.825 | 1:25.166 | 2 |
| 3 | 25 | VivaC Team Tsuchiya [ja] | Toyota 86 MC | 1:26.362 | 1:25.473 | 3 |
| 4 | 51 | LM corsa | Lexus RC F GT3 | 1:26.374 | 1:25.801 | 4 |
| 5 | 88 | JLOC | Lamborghini Huracán GT3 | 1:26.723 | 1:26.244 | 5 |
| 6 | 61 | R&D Sport | Subaru BRZ R&D Sport | 1:26.898 | 1:26.248 | 6 |
| 7 | 87 | JLOC | Lamborghini Huracán GT3 | 1:26.552 | 1:26.484 | 7 |
| 8 | 11 | Gainer | Mercedes-AMG GT3 | 1:26.594 | 1:26.512 | 8 |
| 9 | 31 | apr | Toyota Prius apr GT | 1:26.631 | 1:26.686 | 9 |
| 10 | 10 | Gainer | Nissan GT-R GT3 | 1:26.941 | 1:26.912 | 10 |
| 11 | 50 | INGING Motorsport & Arnage Racing | Ferrari 488 GT3 | 1:26.803 | 1:27.046 | 11 |
| 12 | 21 | Audi Sport Team Hitotsuyama [ja] | Audi R8 LMS | 1:26.838 | 1:27.896 | 12 |
| 13 | 2 | Cars Tokai Dream28 [ja] | Lotus Evora MC | 1:26.170 | 1:28.010 | 13 |
| 14 | 30 | apr | Toyota Prius apr GT | 1:26.207 | no time | 14 |
| 15 | 9 | Pacific with Gulf Racing | Porsche 911 GT3-R | 1:26.955 | | 15 |
| 16 | 3 | NDDP Racing [ja] | Nissan GT-R GT3 | 1:27.002 | | 16 |
| 17 | 5 | Team Mach | Toyota 86 MC | 1:27.006 | | 17 |
| 18 | 55 | Autobacs Racing Team Aguri | BMW M6 GT3 | 1:27.054 | | 18 |
| 19 | 33 | D'station Racing | Porsche 911 GT3-R | 1:27.096 | | 19 |
| 20 | 18 | Team Upgarage [ja] with Bandoh | Toyota 86 MC | 1:27.159 | | 20 |
| 21 | 111 | Rn-sports | Mercedes-AMG GT3 | 1:27.252 | | 21 |
| 22 | 60 | LM corsa | Lexus RC F GT3 | 1:27.461 | | 22 |
| 23 | 117 | EIcars Bentley TTO | Bentley Continental GT3 | 1:27.586 | | 23 |
| 24 | 360 | Tomei Sports [ja] | Nissan GT-R GT3 | 1:27.746 | | 24 |
| 25 | 26 | Team Taisan SARD | Audi R8 LMS | 1:28.186 | | 25 |
| 26 | 22 | R'Qs Motor Sports | Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG GT3 | 1:28.485 | | 26 |
| 27 | 48 | Dijon Racing | Nissan GT-R GT3 | 1:28.585 | | 27 |
| 28 | 35 | Panther Team Thailand | Toyota 86 MC | 1:29.157 | | 28 |
| | 52 | Saitama Toyopet Green Brave | Toyota Mark X MC | no time | | 29 |
| | 7 | BMW Team Studie | BMW M6 GT3 | no time | | 30 |
| Source(s): |||||||

### Race

In what was a dominant display by the Lexus brand, the opening round of the Super GT season was won by the Lexus Team KeePer Tom's duo of Ryō Hirakawa and Nick Cassidy. The start was delayed due to several vehicles stopping on the formation lap. One of these included the pole sitting car of Tomoki Nojiri and Takashi Kobayashi. The race was eventually started under safety car conditions. Wasting no time, Cassidy made a bold move down the inside of Kazuya Oshima, locking up both wheels in the process. Shortly thereafter, the #52 Saitama Toyopet Green Brave GT300 entry crashed, bringing out the safety car. After a round of pitstops, the #6 Lexus Team LeMans Wako's entry was catapulted into the lead. A long battle between Andrea Caldarelli and Ryō Hirakawa ensued, which ultimately saw the #37 Lexus Team KeePer Tom's entry emerge victorious.
In the GT300 category, Nobuteru Taniguchi and Tatsuya Kataoka took victory ahead of Haruki Kurosawa and Naoya Gamou, with both Mercedes maintaining the top two spots, albeit in reversed order.
* GT500 entries
| Pos | Class | No | Team | Driver | Vehicle | Laps | Time / Retired | Grid |
| 1 | GT500 | 37 | Lexus Team KeePer Tom's | Ryō Hirakawa Nick Cassidy | Lexus LC 500 | 81 | 2hr 12min 39.626sec | 3 |
| 2 | GT500 | 6 | Lexus Team LeMans Wako's | Andrea Caldarelli Kazuya Oshima | Lexus LC 500 | 81 | + 1.503 s | 2 |
| 3 | GT500 | 1 | Lexus Team SARD | Kohei Hirate Heikki Kovalainen | Lexus LC 500 | 81 | + 2.761 s | 9 |
| 4 | GT500 | 38 | Lexus Team ZENT [ja] Cerumo | Hiroaki Ishiura Yuji Tachikawa | Lexus LC 500 | 81 | + 2.939 s | 4 |
| 5 | GT500 | 36 | Lexus Team au Tom's | James Rossiter Kazuki Nakajima | Lexus LC 500 | 81 | + 7.607 s | 8 |
| 6 | GT500 | 19 | Lexus Team WedsSport Bandoh | Yuhi Sekiguchi Yuji Kunimoto | Lexus LC 500 | 81 | + 9.219 s | 6 |
| 7 | GT500 | 23 | NISMO | Tsugio Matsuda Ronnie Quintarelli | Nissan GT-R | 81 | + 20.096 s | 14 |
| 8 | GT500 | 12 | Team Impul | Hironobu Yasuda Jann Mardenborough | Nissan GT-R | 81 | + 32.360 s | 13 |
| 9 | GT500 | 16 | Team Mugen | Hideki Mutoh Daisuke Nakajima | Honda NSX-GT | 81 | + 40.195 s | 7 |
| 10 | GT500 | 24 | Kondō Racing | Daiki Sasaki João Paulo de Oliveira | Nissan GT-R | 81 | + 51.691 s | 11 |
| 11 | GT300 | 4 | Goodsmile Racing & TeamUKYO | Nobuteru Taniguchi Tatsuya Kataoka | Mercedes-AMG GT3 | 77 | + 4 laps | 17 |
| 12 | GT300 | 65 | K2 R&D LEON Racing | Haruki Kurosawa [ja] Naoya Gamou | Mercedes-AMG GT3 | 77 | + 4 laps | 16 |
| 13 | GT300 | 9 | Pacific with Gulf Racing | Jono Lester Kyosuke Mineo [ja] | Porsche 911 GT3-R | 77 | + 4 laps | 29 |
| 14 | GT300 | 25 | VivaC Team Tsuchiya [ja] | Takamitsu Matsui Kenta Yamashita | Toyota 86 MC | 77 | + 4 laps | 18 |
| 15 | GT300 | 55 | Autobacs Racing Team Aguri | Shinichi Takagi Sean Walkinshaw | BMW M6 GT3 | 77 | + 4 laps | 32 |
| 16 | GT300 | 10 | Gainer | Ryuichiro Tomita Hiroki Yoshida | Nissan GT-R GT3 | 77 | + 4 laps | 24 |
| 17 | GT300 | 3 | NDDP Racing [ja] | Kazuki Hoshino (racing driver) Mitsunori Takaboshi | Nissan GT-R GT3 | 77 | + 4 laps | 30 |
| 18 | GT300 | 51 | LM corsa | Yuichi Nakayama Sho Tsuboi | Lexus RC F GT3 | 77 | + 4 laps | 19 |
| 19 | GT300 | 33 | D'station Racing | Tomonobu Fujii Sven Müller | Porsche 911 GT3-R | 77 | + 4 laps | 33 |
| 20 | GT300 | 31 | apr | Koki Saga Rintaro Kubo | Toyota Prius apr GT | 77 | + 4 laps | 11 |
| 21 | GT300 | 87 | JLOC | Shinya Hosokawa [ja] Kimiya Sato | Lamborghini Huracán GT3 | 77 | + 4 laps | 22 |
| 22 | GT300 | 18 | Team Upgarage [ja] with Bandoh | Yuhki Nakayama Shintaro Kawabata | Toyota 86 MC | 77 | + 4 laps | 34 |
| 23 | GT300 | 7 | BMW Team Studie | Jörg Müller Seiji Ara | BMW M6 GT3 | 77 | + 4 laps | 44 |
| 24 | GT300 | 21 | Audi Sport Team Hitotsuyama [ja] | Richard Lyons Masataka Yanagida | Audi R8 LMS | 76 | + 5 laps | 26 |
| 25 | GT300 | 360 | Tomei Sports [ja] | Yusaku Shibata Takayuki Aoki | Nissan GT-R GT3 | 76 | + 5 laps | 38 |
| 26 | GT300 | 111 | Rn-sports | Keishi Ishikawa Ryosei Yamashita | Mercedes-AMG GT3 | 76 | + 5 laps | 35 |
| 27 | GT300 | 5 | Team Mach | Natsu Sakaguchi Kiyoto Fujinami | Toyota 86 MC | 76 | + 5 laps | 31 |
| 28 | GT300 | 11 | Gainer | Katsuyuki Hiranaka Björn Wirdheim | Mercedes-AMG GT3 | 76 | + 5 laps | 23 |
| 29 | GT300 | 88 | JLOC | Manabu Orido Kazuki Hiramine | Lamborghini Huracán GT3 | 76 | + 5 laps | 20 |
| 30 | GT300 | 117 | EIcars Bentley TTO | Yuji Ide Ryohei Sakaguchi | Bentley Continental GT3 | 76 | + 5 laps | 37 |
| 31 | GT300 | 26 | Team Taisan SARD | Shinnosuke Yamada Jake Parsons | Audi R8 LMS | 75 | + 6 laps | 39 |
| 32 | GT300 | 60 | LM corsa SARD | Akira Iida Hiroki Yoshimoto | Lexus RC F GT3 | 75 | + 6 laps | 36 |
| 33 | GT300 | 35 | Panther Team Thailand | Nattavude Charoensukhawatana [th] Nattapong Horthongkum [th] | Toyota 86 MC | 74 | + 7 laps | 42 |
| 34 | GT300 | 22 | R'Qs Motor Sports | Masaki Jyonai Hisashi Wada | Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG GT3 | 74 | + 7 laps | 40 |
| 35 | GT300 | 48 | Dijon Racing | Masaki Tanaka Hiroshi Takamori | Nissan GT-R GT3 | 74 | + 7 laps | 41 |
| 36 | GT500 | 17 | Real Racing | Koudai Tsukakoshi Takashi Kogure | Honda NSX-GT | 73 | + 8 laps | 5 |
| 37 | GT300 | 2 | Cars Tokai Dream28 [ja] | Kazuho Takahashi Hiroki Katoh | Lotus Evora MC | 57 | + 24 laps | 27 |
| 38 | GT500 | 64 | Nakajima Racing | Kosuke Matsuura Bertrand Baguette | Honda NSX-GT | 57 | + 24 laps | 12 |
| Ret | GT300 | 50 | INGING Motorsport & Arnage Racing | Akihiro Tsuzuki [ja] Morio Nitta | Ferrari 488 GT3 | 49 | Retired | 25 |
| Ret | GT300 | 30 | apr | Hiroaki Nagai Kota Sasaki | Toyota Prius apr GT | 42 | Retired | 28 |
| Ret | GT300 | 61 | R&D Sport | Hideki Yamauchi Takuto Iguchi | Subaru BRZ R&D Sport | 36 | Retired | 21 |
| Ret | GT500 | 100 | Team Kunimitsu | Naoki Yamamoto Takuya Izawa | Honda NSX-GT | 5 | Retired | 10 |
| Ret | GT300 | 52 | Saitama Toyopet Green Brave | Taku Bamba Shigekazu Wakisaka | Subaru BRZ R&D Sport | 3 | Retired | 43 |
| DNS | GT500 | 8 | Autobacs Racing Team Aguri | Tomoki Nojiri Takashi Kobayashi | Honda NSX-GT | | Did Not Start | |
| Source(s): |||||||||