The second round was when the player lost his right to compete due to an emergency pit stop. Bando Masa aims to win Toyota for the first time in about 20 years at Sepang[Bando Masa's “Let me write it!” '/No. 44]| Column | autosport web

Manager Bando Masataka, who is a representative of TOYOTA GAZOO Racing's TEAM WedsSport BANDOH, has participated in the Super GT GT500 class, a top category in Japan, and continues to take on various challenges as a young businessman. Coach Masa will write about what he finds interesting and what he is working on in his daily races and his business career!

The 44th column in the serialization will look back at the battle of the No. 19 WedsSport ADVAN GR Supra at the 2025 Super GT Round 2 held at Fuji Speedway from May 3rd to 4th, and deliver predictions on the podium for the third round of the overseas race, Sepang, at full throttle.

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Osu! This is Bando Masa. It's been a little while since the second round of Super GT Fuji, but in a flash, Round 3 Sepang was approaching.

Have you all lost a “Super GT” during the approximately two-month interval? In this column, I would like to start with a look back at the second round of Fuji.

Round 2 Fuji was held as a 3-hour race at Fuji Speedway. Car No. 19 WedsSport ADVAN GR Supra finished 14th in the final, earning second place in the qualifying round. regrettable. It was a truly frustrating race.

In the second round of the Fuji, car No. 19 Weds Sport, Sakaguchi Harunami, was in good form, recording the fastest time of 1 minute 27.481 seconds in the mixed running time of the official practice session held on Saturday, and Kunimoto Yusuke recorded the top time of 1 minute 27.414 seconds in the GT500 class occupying time.

However, in the afternoon's official qualifying quarter, Oyu Tofumiki, who recorded 1 minute 26.093 for car No. 38, was 0.083 seconds, and Car No. 19 WedsSport was second in 1 minute 26.176 seconds.

This result was a combination of the highly perfect car of the No. 38 KeePer with Oyu's amazing driving experience. Car No. 19 also had a qualifying attack without any mistakes, but was completely defeated.

However, Kunimoto passed the lead in Q1 with a time of 0.324 seconds behind second place. It was a truly amazing attack as Kunimoto was the first time he had Q1 top time.

What I would like to tell you all here is that for Car No. 19, Kunimoto and Q2, Sakaguchi, were choosing different tires. I don't know which tire was correct, but I have proven that both types have potential tires.