Last weekend (December 3-5) marked the fourth world final of the FIA Certified Gran Turismo Championships and our last on GT Sport before moving on to GT7 next year. This impending change was highlighted when Porsche unveiled its new and exciting all-electric car Vision Gran Turismo for GT7 as part of the Nations Cup broadcast on Sunday. It was also great to see Lewis Hamilton make an appearance to congratulate our 2021 Nations Cup champion.
Overall, the World Finals were once again a great success – run and recorded from a distance for the second year in a row. The freedom that we have in the series makes it fascinating that we can create very different races in different cars for the finals, and those scenes really make an impression. You can also identify the different characters of our competitors.
It really struck me this weekend how high the level of the competitors has become. They’re all so fast, so it all comes down to very small margins, having the strength to drive 100% the whole race and dare I say a little luck sometimes.
The weekend started on Friday with the Toyota Gazoo Racing GT Cup. Although not part of the official championships, close action is still guaranteed in the Toyota GR Yaris and newer GR86 cars. The final race around the famous Circuit de la Sarthe saw experienced Japanese driver Tomoaki Yamanaka (yamado_racing38) win just four tenths of a second behind last year’s champion Takuma Miyazono (Kerokkuma_ej20). It was also very nice to see another Japanese rider, Rikuto Kobayashi (TX3_tokari71), take third place. Not because he’s Japanese, but because he’s only 16 and a really exciting prospect for years to come.
Saturday Manufacturer Series World Final was to be another really exciting series climax with Team Toyota and Team Mazda tied on points after World Series events this year.
In the end, Mazda could not do anything against the three impeccable performances of the Brazilian Igor Fraga of Team Toyota (IOF_RACING17), the Spaniard Coque López (coqueIopez14) and the Japanese Tomoaki Yamanaka. For Fraga and Yamanaka, this was their second Manufacturer Series victory for Toyota, after lifting the Boccioni-inspired trophy in 2019.
López started them off with the victory in Race 1 at Autodrome Lago Maggiore – GP II before Yamanaka – starting from pole obtained thanks to the victory in Race 1 – rode beautifully and benefited from a tire strategy. different for the rest of the peloton to win on the Tokyo Expressway – East Outer Loop. Igor Fraga was a huge fan of the 24-hour Nürburgring circuit, and he maintained his focus and lead throughout the five laps of the 25.4km track. You can hear on team radio that these three compete a lot as a team and work hard for each other while driving or working on strategy.
The Mazda team finished second in the points standings after struggling to come back from a disappointing seventh place in the opening race, despite placing third in Race 2 and second in Race 3. points advantage over Mercedes-Benz, fourth.
The world final of the Nations Cup Sunday, 32 competitors representing 18 different countries and territories. Three regional semi-finals would create the field of 16 drivers for the grand final.
The Asia-Oceania semi-final took place on an intriguing combination of the Mazda Roadster Touring Car on Australia’s Mount Panorama circuit and produced some extraordinarily tight races. A thrilling final saw 2020 Nations Cup champion Takuma Miyazono (Kerokkuma_ej20) win the race by three tenths of a second.
Then it was the turn of the Europe, Middle East & Africa region which contained three of the top four on the points table, including Italian Valerio Gallo who has been in incredible shape all year round. Only the top six would qualify for the Grand Final and anything was possible in a 15-lap race around the Autodromo Nazionale Monza No Chicane in the Gran Turismo version of a 1980s formula car, the F1500T-A.
A daring pneumatic strategy by Spaniard Coque López almost paid off, but it was Gallo and his closest rival on the points table, Spaniard Jose Serrano (PR1_JOSETE), who had a superb battle on the last lap . Gallo crossed the checkered flag by four hundredths of a second to add to his lead on the points table.
The North American, Central and South American semi-finals were full of incidents around Blue Moon Bay Speedway – Infield A in identical Ford GTs. With just five places left in the Grand Final, another close finish saw Lucas Bonelli (BRA) (TGT_BONELLI) cross the finish line first, followed by Igor Fraga (BRA), Angel Inostroza (CHI) (YASHEAT_Loyrot ), Juan Hernandez (GUA) (TX3_Kangreti) and Andrew Brooks (CAN) (PX7-Deafsun), who took the last place of the Grand Final.
Gran Turismo’s original Dragon Trail – Seaside circuit was the scene of the Grand Final with another Ford GT car, this time the LM Spec II Test Car, providing the equipment. The 16 best Gran Turismo riders in the world lined up on the grid. Serrano had done all he could to stay in the race by taking pole position just three hundredths of a second behind his great rival Gallo.
Gallo got off to a good start, but with different pitstop strategies in play it was hard to undo.
At 18th out of 22, a Miyazono error allows Gallo to regain the lead. Incredibly, however, on the penultimate lap, Frenchman Baptiste Beauvois (R8G_TSUTSU), who had started last on the grid after a costly error in qualifying, passed Gallo and took the lead on the softer compound of the tire while that Gallo had to run to the end. on the mids. A small mistake allowed Gallo to get back on the last lap and he was able to hang on in the last corners to win the race and the Championship.
Fourth on the track for Serrano, he secured second place in the general classification of the series. Miyazono’s progression to third place in the Grand Final placed him third in points, just ahead of Beauvois, whose inspired motivation promoted him to fourth overall.
Once again it has been a truly exciting World Finals weekend and congratulations to all of our champions who will be honored at the FIA awards ceremony in Paris later this month. I would also like to say a big thank you to all the drivers who have competed in the Online Series and World Series this year.
