Heikki Kovalainen wins Super GT title in Japan

  • Published on 13 Nov 2016 15:53
  • comments 0
  • By: Dominik Wilde

Heikki Kovalainen has won the Super GT title in Japan.

The former-Formula One driver, who won the 2008 Hungarian Grand Prix, claimed victory in the season finale at Motegi, racing a Lexus alongside ex-GP2 man Kohei Hirate.

The last round of the season was a double header event after a May round was canned after the Kumamoto earthquakes, with a second event added to the final weekend of the season to compensate.

Despite being fourth in the standings going into the weekend, Kovalainen and Hirate finished the first race in second place, behind the duo of Daiki Sasaki and Masataka Yanagida, which gave them a three point lead over reigning champions Tsugio Matsuda and Ronnie Quintarelli going into the final race of the year.

Kovalainen and Hirate started the race from pole position, holding onto the lead through the pit stop phase to win.

Surprisingly, it was their first win of the year, after finishing second three times. They had never finished a race this year lower than eighth.

The triumph was Team SARD's first title in 23 years, Kovalainen's first title since his 2004 Dallara-Nissan World Series triumph, and it was Hirate's second Super GT crown after winning the series in 2013.

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