NISMO Nissan Z gets four-place grid penalty for Sugo

Matsuda incurred the punishment after accumulating seven penalty points in the series’ ‘moral hazard prevention system’ following last month’s fifth round at Suzuka.

Having already picked up five penalty points - which forced him to miss an hour of practice time at Round 4 at Fuji - Matsuda surpassed the six-point threshold for a grid penalty by forcing Kazuki Hiramine’s Impul Nissan off the road during their battle for second.

Matsuda was handed a drive-through penalty, relegating the #23 NISMO car to fifth place at the finish, while Hiramine went on to take the win alongside Bertrand Baguette.

One more penalty point for Matsuda in either of the next two rounds at Sugo and Autopolis would result in an automatic eight-place grid drop, the second-most severe punishment on SUPER GT’s scale, with 10 points resulting in a one-race ban.

The points-leading car in the GT300 class also goes to Sugo with a four-place grid penalty, as Kondo Racing’s Joao Paulo de Oliveira has now amassed six penalty points.

 

De Oliveira and his teammate in the Kondo Nissan GT-R NISMO GT3, Kiyoto Fujinami, lost a strong chance of a podium finish at Suzuka after picking up a drive-through penalty and then a post-race time penalty that dropped them out of the points in 13th place.

The Brazilian driver picked up the first penalty for an incident not caught on TV, as he rear-ended the #88 JLOC Lamborghini of Yuya Motojima exiting the final chicane on lap 42, and then lost the point he and Fujinami would have collected for finishing 10th after passing the Team Studie BMW of Seiji Ara during a full-course yellow period.

De Oliveira and Fujinami, who will once again run with 100kg of success weight at Sugo, still hold a seven-point lead over Gainer Nissan pair Ryuichiro Tomita and Riki Okusa.

Elsewhere, Mugen Honda driver Toshiki Oyu is now one point away from incurring a second grid penalty of the season after picking up another penalty point at Suzuka.

Oyu had already been given a four-place grid drop at Fuji in August for amassing six penalty points, and picked up one more for forcing the #23 Nissan off the road at Turn 1 immediately after a pitstop, something for which he escaped punishment in the race itself.

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