The #36 Toyota GR Supra shared by Sho Tsuboi and Ritomo Miyata was on course for at least second place until their charge was ended by a loose front left-wheel in the closing stages of what proved to be a weather-shortened curtain-raiser.
The sister #37 car of Ukyo Sasahara and Giuliano Alesi had already been ruled out of contention for a top result by a one-minute stop-and-go penalty, awarded when Sasahara entered a closed pit under an early full-course yellow period amid the first rain shower. "We have to go away and deeply reflect on this," Yamada told Motorsport.com."Car #37 went a lap down due to a penalty, so I was really hoping we could get a strong result with car #36, and we were running in a good position.It was just a simple human error.
"The timing was right on the edge and I wasn’t sure if there would be a penalty," said Yamada."But the driver [Sasahara] said he couldn’t see [the FCY display in the cockpit] either.