Nakajima Honda hit with grid penalty for Motegi race
The Nakajima Honda squad has been hit with a four-place grid penalty for this weekend's penultimate round of the SUPER GT season at Motegi.
Watch: Super GT: Nakajima Honda hit with grid penalty for Motegi race
The sanction has been applied to the #64 Honda NSX-GT according to SUPER GT's 'moral hazard prevention system', as Hiroki Otsu has accumulated six penalty points since the start of the season.
After first picking up three points for a full-course yellow infraction during July's first race at Motegi, Otsu gained a further three for overtaking under red flags during last month's Autopolis round.
It means he will have to sit out the latter hour of practice on Saturday morning at Motegi, while he and Izawa will also drop four places on the grid.
Otsu is the first driver to fall foul of the revised rule for this season, which gives a four-place grid drop to any driver accumulating six penalty points. Previously, the punishment for amassing six penalty points was sitting out the entirety of practice for the following race.
Eight penalty points will result in missing all of free practice along with an eight-place grid drop, while 10 points results in a one-race ban - both punishments remain the same as in 2020.
In the previous race at Autopolis, ARTA Honda driver Nirei Fukuzumi triggered the least severe penalty, missing one hour of practice, for accumulating four penalty points. That followed him ignoring the red light at the end of the pits in the preceding Sugo race.
Serving a similar penalty this weekend at Motegi is Studie BMW GT300 driver Tomohide Yamaguchi, who overtook under yellow flags at Autopolis.
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