Suzuka 1000 Km, Corvette dominates and lights up FP1

The long-awaited moment has finally arrived: it’s time for the most anticipated race of the Land of the Rising Sun. Suzuka 1000 Km weekend is here. Over 30 cars have taken to the track today for several free practice sessions. And we noticed that there are some extreme beautiful livery on the field…

Adding to the excitement, an unusual night session has been scheduled for this weekend. However, the track lit up for the wrong reason when the #99 JMR Corvette, driven by Sims, Catsburg, and McLaughlin, suddenly caught fire. The blaze was quickly brought under control once the car came to a stop along the circuit.

The first free practice session of the Suzuka 1000 km ended with a major surprise: topping the timesheets was Ritomo Sasahara, the Japanese driver of the Callaway Corvette C7 GT3-R, who clocked an impressive 2:01.549. It was a remarkable lap, especially considering the tough track conditions—and even more surprising given that Sasahara is competing in the Bronze class.

The track remained damp and slippery for most of the session, making setup work difficult for the teams and challenging the drivers to find the right balance. In these tricky conditions, driving skill and track knowledge made the difference, rewarding Sasahara and other unexpected frontrunners.

In second place, we saw another standout performance: Neubauer, also a Bronze-rated driver, brought the Ferrari 296 GT3 just 86 thousandths behind the leader—proving once again that wet conditions are a great equalizer. Completing the top three was the first of the PRO drivers, Dries Weerts, in the BMW M4 GT3 EVO, just 0.137 seconds off the pace.

BMW in good shape for the race

BMW appeared to be particularly comfortable on the wet Japanese track, with Dan Harper also finishing strong in fifth place, driving another M4 GT3 EVO. Slotting between the two BMWs in fourth was Scott McLaughlin in the new Corvette Z06 GT3.R, putting in a solid and consistent session.

Further down the order were some of the more anticipated names. Laurens Vanthoor and Buus, both in the Porsche 911 GT3 R (992), struggled to find proper traction on the slippery asphalt, finishing sixth and seventh respectively. Following them was the AMG GT3 EVO of Mikaël Grenier, who had trouble matching the leaders’ pace but showed promising race pace overall.

A very positive performance also came from Kanamaru in the Nissan GT-R NISMO GT3, who finished ninth overall and was the fastest among the Silver drivers, followed closely by the Audi R8 LMS EVO II driven by Chinese driver Yi.

A stampede unleashed for the Suzuka 1000 Km.

Sunday’s race will be streamed in full on the GT World Challenge website, with timings available according to different time zones.