SUPER GT Rd.3 Sepang: No.17 Car Finishes 4th in Intense Battle at First Overseas Round in Six Years
On June 27–28, the third round of the 2025 SUPER GT season, the “SUPER GT MALAYSIA FESTIVAL 2025,” was held at Sepang International Circuit in Malaysia. This marked the series’ first overseas round in six years and the first time in 12 years that the event returned to Malaysia, drawing significant attention both locally and internationally.
The event kicked off with the first official practice session on the evening of Thursday, June 26, followed by a second practice session on Friday morning and qualifying in the late afternoon. As with Round 2, qualifying followed a knockout format, where the top 10 cars in Q1 advanced to Q2. GT500 Class Qualifying Q1 began at 5:03 PM local time. Driving in Q1, Tsukakoshi overcame concerns from earlier practice to deliver a strong performance, finishing second and handing over to Koide for Q2. Despite a red flag early in Q2 due to trouble with another car, once the session resumed, Koide pushed hard and secured 7th position on the grid for the No.17 Astemo CIVIC TYPE R-GT.
The 55-lap race began on Saturday, June 28, in the late afternoon to avoid the intense heat. With heavy cloud cover easing the temperature slightly, the formation lap got underway at 4:30 PM local time. Starting driver Koide held off pressure from car No.1 (au TOM’S GR Supra) right after the start and overtook car No.3 (Niterra MOTUL Z), finishing the opening lap in 6th. Around Lap 8, the field began mixing with the GT300 class. By Lap 10, Koide overtook car No.64 (Modulo CIVIC TYPE R-GT) to move into 5th and continued to close in on the leading pack.
A smooth pit stop for fuel and tires on Lap 20 saw Tsukakoshi take over driving duties. He set his personal best lap time of 1:54.704 on Lap 30. After all GT500 cars had completed their pit stops, the No.17 car maintained 5th position by Lap 32.
In the final phase of the race, the gap to car No.19 (WedsSport ADVAN GR Supra) ahead narrowed to just 0.7 seconds with 20 laps remaining. While trying to find a way past, car No.100 (STANLEY CIVIC TYPE R-GT) closed in from behind and overtook on Lap 48, dropping No.17 to 6th. However, in the final four laps, Tsukakoshi made a decisive move to reclaim 5th from the No.19 car and crossed the finish line in that position.
A post-race 10-second time penalty issued to the No.100 car elevated No.17 to 4th place in the official results.
Round 4 will take place at Fuji Speedway on August 2–3, featuring an exciting new race format: two sprint races with no weight handicaps.
