Felix Rosenqvist and team-mate Kazuya Oshima finished in sixth place in the final race of Japan’s Super GT series at Twin Ring Motegi on Sunday.
The Swedish-Japanese pairing qualified in tenth on the grid, but made progress in the early stages as Rosenqvist battled through to fifth thanks to an aggressive opening stint.
He handed over the Team LeMans-run Lexus LC500 to Oshima on lap 24 of 53, with the Japanese then crossing the line in sixth.
“We’ve had a difficult last few rounds, and with that in mind this actually feels like quite an OK result given where we’re coming from,” says Felix Rosenqvist. “We maximised the package we have and for that reason I think we should be pleased with the way we ended this season.”
Rosenqvist and Oshima have scored a second-place finish as their best result this season, adding another two top five finishes from eight races run.
“I have really enjoyed racing in Japan again this year,” says Rosenqvist (who raced in the country’s Super Formula series in 2017). “Super GT is an extremely competitive championship and good results are tough to come by. I think it needs to be stressed how fast these cars actually are; out of everything I’ve driven, this was probably the one that shocked me the most. The level here in Japan is very, very high and I want to thank everyone at Team LeMans and Lexus for having me this season. We’ve been through good times and bad, but we’ve always done our best and kept fighting. Arigatou.”
The 2018 Super GT title went to ex-Formula 1 world champion Jenson Button and Honda team-mate Naoki Yamamoto, who finished third at Motegi to beat Lexus pairing Nick Cassidy/Ryo Hirakawa to the crown.
Rosenqvist/Oshima end up tenth in the final classification.
The Motegi finale was won by Honda’s Tomoki Nojiri and Takuya Izawa.