Ogino takes first win of PSCJ in Motegi

Round one and two of the Porsche Sprint Challenge Japan took place at the Twin Ring Motegi on 25 April. There were eight participants in the GT3-I class with gen I of 991 GT3 Cup. There were three cars in the GT4 class. In total, 11 cars were lined up for the season opener of PSCJ 2021.

During the qualifying session, Ogino took pole positon. Nagashima, who won the season opener during the last season, got second grid with only 0.2 sec. behind the pole sitter. In the GT4 class, Sawa, the Porsche Japan junior driver, took pole position with a record lap in Motegi. This was his first race with a GT car. Two hours after the qualifying session, the first round of PSCJ 2021 got started. Pole sitter Ogino had a good start and made a gap of three sec. In the opening lap. He successfully defended the gap through 10 laps and despite the battle with Nagashima. At the checker, the gap was more than five seconds. Ogino won the race with pole to finish.

In the GT4 class, Sawa secured his position from start to finish. He even passed one GT3 Cup Car and showed his ability to adjust to the 718 Cayman GT4 Clubsport in his first race with a GT car.

The next round started at 14:50 p.m. The grids for round two were set by the best time of the previous round. Ogino, again, started from pole position with Nagashima next to him, just like in the previous race. They laped with two seconds of gap until the middle of the 10 laps race. Nagashima sliced the gap to almost half by lap 5. Ogino knew Nagashima got closer as he saw it in his mirror. The battle between the two finished during lap 8. Nagashima tried to close the gap but went out onto the gravel. Ogino took advantage of Nagashima’s mistake and took the second victory of the day.

In the GT4 class, Sawa won the overall race. He had battles with some cars of the GT3-I class. Once he went up to sixth position in overall. At the end he got the checkered flag at seventh.

Round three and four of the Porsche Sprint Challenge Japan will take place on 16 May at Sportland Sugo in Miyagi pref.