SARD boss concedes Sekiguchi triggered huge Fuji SUPER GT crash

In order to defend the lead from the chasing #3 NISMO Nissan Z of Takaboshi, Sekiguchi tried to take advantage of the slipstream offered by the #50 Arnage Toyota 86 MC of Takeshi Suehiro, who was driving at less than 100km/h along the pit straight due to a gear shift problem.

Sekiguchi moved out of the slipstream as he approached the Toyota GT300 car at nearly 300km/h and carried on in the lead, but the SARD driver's late move left an unsighted Takaboshi with little time to react to the slow Arnage car.

Due to the difference in closing speeds, Takaboshi was forced to swerve to the left to avoid a collision, but that caused him to lose control and crash heavily into the guardrail.

Such were the forces involved in the impact that the Nissan bounced back on track and spun multiple times before coming to a rest near the pit exit, with several pieces of debris thrown up in the air.

Takaboshi was able to extract himself from the car without external assistance and was later taken in an ambulance for check-ups, where it was revealed that he suffered no fractures. He was subsequently taken to hospital as a precaution.

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Although the crash was caused by a series of unusual events, not least the slow-moving GT300 car on a straight that measures more than a kilometre in length, some drivers have suggested Sekiguchi shouldn’t have left it so late to duck out of the slipstream when he had two cars running behind him.

Wakisaka, himself a three-time champion in GT500, strongly suggested that Sekiguchi could have acted differently to avoid the incident that brought a premature end to the race.

"Regarding the incident with Takaboshi, there are some who would say [Sekiguchi’s driving] was dangerous," he told Motorsport.com's Japanese edition.

"But I’m the team boss and Sekiguchi is an important driver to us. Therefore, while protecting him, I want to ensure something like this never happens again.

'There are good parts of Sekiguchi's [attacking] spirit, and there may be a few dangerous things. We're thinking about whether we could have done things a little differently with Sekiguchi, and we want to take that into the future."

Finish

Photo by: Masahide Kamio

For his part, Sekiguchi told Motorsport.com's Japanese edition that he simply wanted to take as much advantage of the slipstream as possible from both the Arnage Toyota and the Toyota Prius GT300 car that was running just ahead of the leaders before diving for the pitlane.

"As was the case with the Prius in front [of the Arnage car], my aim was to use the slipstream to the limit," said Sekiguchi.

"As for Takaboshi, who was behind me, it seemed he didn't see [the Arnage car] and was too slow to react, and crashed due to a sudden swerve. I heard that he is ok physically, so that is a relief."

The SARD Toyota of Sekiguchi and Yuichi Nakayama jumped into third place by pitting just before the first full course yellow period - which was eventually followed by a red flag - caused by Hisashi Wada crashing his #22 R’Qs Mercedes-AMG GT3 at the exit of Turn 13.

When the race restarted after a long stoppage, the two-leading TOM’S Toyota GR Supras clashed at the first restart at Turn 1, allowing Sekiguchi to come through and take the lead of the race.

However, a first victory for SARD since 2020 went begging when Sekiguchi was found to have touched the front-left corner of his Toyota during the second stoppage, breaching the regulations regarding cars being worked on during a red flag.

Wakisaka took blame for the penalty as he said Sekiguchi was following his instruction to check the car for damage.

"Since we had the announcement that drivers could get out of the cars, I instructed Sekiguchi to check himself where the damage was," Wakisaka said. "Then he touched the car. I think it's my mistake."

Yuhi Sekiguchi, Juichi Wakisaka, #39 DENSO KOBELCO SARD GR Supra

Photo by: Masahide Kamio

Sekiguchi added: "I just tapped the canard [aerodynamic device] with my finger to see if it was broken. I'm very disappointed that was interpreted as working on the car. 

"But rules are rules, so I have to accept it and we'll try again."

Since all subsequent laps after the race resumed took place under the safety car, the SARD Toyota was handed a 40-second penalty in lieu of the drive-through, dropping Sekiguchi and Nakayama to 13th in the final classification.