Round 5 of the AUTOBACS SUPER GT championship took place at Suzuka Circuit in Mie Prefecture on August 22-23. Following two strong results at the previous two Fuji rounds, Pull was eager to fight for another points finish. Since the west part of the circuit got resurfaced back in February, it was crucial for NILZZ Racing to collect as much data as possible during Saturday morning’s Free Practice session. However, because of two quick red flag interruptions due to incidents involving other cars, the team’s original plan got heavily compromised. Wanting to give his teammate and gentleman racer Taiyo Ida as much practice time as possible on the newly resurfaced track, Pull wasn’t able to do a proper qualifying or a long-run simulation.

Going blind into qualifying later that afternoon, the team opted for a single tyre warm-up lap, but the high track temperature of 46°C meant that Pull’s Yokohama ADVAN tyres weren’t quite in the optimal operating window once he started his first push lap. With the track gaining grip and thus becoming faster near the end of the session, Pull went for a second push attempt. However, after being impeded at the end of his run, Pull lost a few crucial tenths, causing him and the team to narrowly miss out on a second consecutive Q2 appearance this season. His 11th-fastest time in his Q1 group resulted in P21 on the grid.

The temperatures increased even further for the start of the 300 km race on Sunday, with the air and track temperatures reading 34°C and 49°C, respectively. Right from the beginning, Pull was on it, overtaking a total of five cars on the opening lap alone, including the current GT300 championship-leading #56 REALIZE NISSAN MECHANIC CHALLENGE GT-R of KONDO RACING. After 15 laps, the #48 Kenko K’s Frontier WM NILZZ GT-R was comfortably running in the points, as Pull continued to push to gain more ground. To extract even more performance out of the car, Pull selflessly decided to turn off the air conditioning, turning the inside of his cockpit into a moving sauna.

Similar to the previous races this season, Pull was tasked with an extended stint, during which his overall pace exceeded that of not only the other Nissan GT-R NISMO GT3 entries, but also multiple top teams fighting for the championship. This was done to put the team into the best possible situation before handing the wheel to gentleman racer Ida. Thus, Pull was one of the last drivers to box. By the time he pitted on lap 32, the tyres had reached their limit, turning the closing laps of his stint into a challenging affair. Paired with the scorching temperatures and his decision to turn off the air conditioning for maximum performance, Pull suffered a heatstroke after climbing out of the car, but the team quickly took care of him. Teammate Ida couldn’t quite match Pull’s pace from earlier in the race, causing the Pro-Am duo to lose track position, dropping down to eventually P24, despite being on track for a points finish. A late race push remained unsuccessful, unfortunately, as a heavy crash by a fellow GT300 class competitor in the 130R caused the Safety Car to be deployed with five laps to go, ending the race under yellow.

Despite the unlucky result, it was Pull’s driving that shone brightly in Suzuka, showcasing the potential of the car and taking the positives into the next round at Sportsland SUGO on September 19-20.

James Pull:

“The Suzuka round was quite challenging. The two red flags in Free Practice compromised our driving plan for the weekend, making us rely on previous data. Running into traffic on my second push attempt was unfortunate, as my time would’ve been good enough to get into Q2. It meant we had a lot of ground to gain in the race. Having some of the top teams of the season around me at the start, I knew I immediately had to make some moves right from the beginning. I had some great on-track battles and overtaking five cars in a single lap alone was obviously a fantastic feeling.

The GT300 class is highly competitive, and knowing that we’re one of the only few Pro-Am teams in the series, I had to make an extra effort to get us into a great position. That’s why I decided to turn off the air conditioning, despite knowing the risks of doing so in those hot temperatures. Suffering a heatstroke after my stint was scary, but I would do it all over again to achieve the best possible result. This is what racing in SUPER GT means to me.

While the final result isn’t what we were hoping for, we were able to show our speed and potential. I’m already looking forward to Sportsland SUGO, as this is another drivers track, just like Suzuka.”