The third round of the season on Sunday was red-flagged and not resumed following the horror crash involving Nissan driver Tsugio Matsuda and the JLOC Lamborghini of Kosuke Matsuura at 130R on lap 59 of 77.
At the time of the stoppage, the only car in the GT500 field that had not completed both of its mandatory refuelling stops was the NISMO-run #3 NDDP Racing Nissan of Katsumasa Chiyo and Mitsunori Takaboshi, which was provisionally declared the winner.
However, a mass protest filed by the majority of the other GT500 teams - only ARTA and Kondo Racing did not do so besides NISMO - the #3 Nissan was handed a 60-second penalty as compensation for not completing its second stop.
That dropped Chiyo and Takaboshi to fourth in the revised results, which remain provisional subject to an appeal by NISMO, with the Racing Project Bandoh Toyota team instead promoted to a first victory since 2016.
Impul Nissan driver Baguette, who alongside team-mate Kazuki Hiramine finished fourth on the road but has been provisionally promoted to third, says that the rules must be clarified to prevent similar confusion in any subsequent 450km races halted by red flags.
The Belgian told Motorsport.com: “We knew there was a high chance that the race would not restart after the crash because of the damage to the barriers, as there was a similar incident in Super Taikyu recently, although the most important thing was Tsugio’s safety, of course.
“The problem is that there is nothing really written in the rules for that particular situation. At the same time, it is clearly written in the rules that every car has to do two pitstops.
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“It’s quite a tricky situation. What penalty do you give? They gave the #3 car a 60-second time penalty, but they were still P4. I don’t think that’s the actual place they would have finished if they pitted a second time.
“For sure they need to come up with something, because it’s not normal for a car that was running towards the back and was quite slow for most of the race is suddenly winning.
“I have nothing against the #3 [crew], it’s not their fault, they were P1 when the race was red-flagged. But the rules need to be changed so this can’t happen again in the future.”
Baguette added that if the rules remained unchanged, it could encourage teams to leave their final refuelling stops until the last possible moment to try and benefit from a red flag.
“If you are P11 or P12, why not? You could gamble on a red flag and have a chance to win the race,” he said. “The situation is not right.
“It’s not correct that a car that did only one pitstop wins the race when all the others did two and you are required by the rules to do two.”
Author’s view
Not having the result of the Suzuka 450km finalised more than 72 hours after the end of the race is an embarrassment, but what makes the situation even worse is that this exact scenario was already flagged as a potential issue a year ago.
After the huge crash involving the NDDP Racing Nissan of Takaboshi in the Fuji Golden Week race last year, organisers considered what would happen in future 450km races in the event some cars had not completed their obligation to make two refuelling stops.
Race director Naoki Hattori clearly stated in a press conference ahead of the following race at Suzuka that any car that was ahead by virtue of having not completed its mandatory stops would be subject to a penalty.
It just so happened in the Fuji case that Takaboshi’s crash happened at a time when all the GT500 cars in the field had completed one stop, so it was logical on that occasion for race direction to declare the requirement to complete two stops null and void.
Perhaps it’s that precedent that NISMO will argue means that Chiyo and Takaboshi should be allowed to keep the win at Suzuka.
But, as Baguette rightly says, it’s nonsense that a car that was running 10th at the time of the second round of stops beginning on lap 42 should be allowed to win simply by virtue of leaving their final trip to the pits later than anybody else.
Frankly, to overturn the 60-second penalty that Chiyo and Takaboshi were given would be an insult to the fans, as well as hugely unfair on the Racing Project Bandoh team that earned a hard-fought first win in seven years on merit.
Fingers crossed that the officials see sense and confirm the Bandoh Toyota as the rightful winner - and that the rules are changed so that everyone knows what to expect the next time a race is red-flagged and not restarted.
