Super GT News

Team Studie's BMW M4 GT3 was "in the zone" on the way to a landmark first win for the squad in last weekend's Suzuka SUPER GT race, Seiji Ara says.

In just its third outing in Japan's top sportscar series, Studie's Michelin-shod M4 was victorious in the hands of Ara and Tsubasa Kondo, who was standing in for the team's absent regular driver Augusto Farfus.

It marked BMW's first win in SUPER GT's GT300 class since 2018, while for Studie it was also a maiden victory as an independent outfit since its split from Goodsmile Racing at the end of 2013.

The Suzuka weekend second started well as Ara and Kondo initially qualified the M4 in a strong second, later being promoted to pole when the #10 Gainer Nissan was thrown out of qualifying for a ride height infringement.

Ara took the start and maintained the lead until handing over to Kondo, who withstood an attack from the Team Mach Toyota 86 Mother Chassis car that had jumped up the order by virtue of not changing tyres at its pitstop.

But the Mach challenge soon faded, leaving Kondo alone to secure his second GT300 win and a first for veteran racer Ara.

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"Since 2014 I’ve been with Studie, and this is the team’s first win," said Ara. "Up to now, we’ve only been second, and ‘Bob’ [team owner Yasuaki Suzuki] told me before the race ‘second is the same as last’.

"I think he would have been in a bad mood if we had finished second, but finally we could give him this present. It’s also my first win in GT300. I’ve won a few times in GT500, but… GT300 is really hard, right!