Following a qualifying session in the electric Hyundai Ioniq 5 N, plus Gran Turismo 7 licence tests, the racing began at Trial Mountain in tuned road cars, purportedly with nearly 1000bhp.
Race 1
Takuma Miyazono started the 10-lap race on pole position in a Lamborghini Gallardo, but Valerio Gallo eased by early on in his customary Honda NSX.
Four laps in and Jose Serrano in the Mercedes-AMG GT Black Series nipped by Miyazono. The 2024 Toyota Gazoo Racing GT Cup champion then set about Gallo. He reached him with two laps remaining, but despite the best efforts of the attacker, the Italian driver held on to win.
That meant Gallo scored valuable points counting towards the overall standings.
Race 2
However, in the new F3500-A V12 formula-style car, Gallo made a mistake, visiting Monza’s unforgiving gravel traps. He was then caught up in an unavoidable multi-car crash later on.
Serrano won the 12-lap epic, showcasing the new classic race car coming to Gran Turismo 7 soon, but just 0.1s ahead of French entrant Kylian Drumont.
Grand Final
Heading into the title-deciding final race, it meant Serrano was ahead in the standings, five points ahead of both Drumont and Gallo.
As is tradition, the car used was the Red Bull X2019 Competition, a fictional race car penned by Formula 1 auteur Adrian Newey.
The reigning champion led the field away, the grid in points order, at the 24-hour layout of the Nürburgring, combining Grand Prix and Nordschleife configurations.
With seven laps, and a requirement to use three different tyre types, Serrano initially bolted on the softest option – the key to a quick strategy seemingly being to spend the least amount of time on the hard compound tyres as possible.
The leader pitted after two laps, switching from softs to mediums, but did pick up a one-second penalty for colliding with Robbie Heck and another for cutting a chicane.
Others were looking to save fuel in the slipstream, Drumont, Kaj de Bruin and Miyazono all raced in a pack. They pitted at the end of the third lap, Moyazono having used the least fuel at this stage. The Japanese driver went for hards, Drumont and De Bruin softs.
The latter two then hunted down Serrano, passing by as he completed one of his penalties on the Döttinger Höhe.
At the final stops, De Bruin jumped Drumont, with a 3.2s gap, thanks to fuel saving earlier in the race. And that, with two laps left, seemed to be the race in the bag.
Except, Miyazono and Gallo were charging in fifth and sixth on soft tyres, and closing quickly. On the final lap, the 2020 Nations Cup champion was suddenly up to second and reaching for the lead and thus the title.
Gallo, however, was caught behind Serrano and Drumont and significantly lost out to Miyazono.
De Bruin ran out of fuel at the end, Miyazono flying by to claim the race win and a second Nations Cup title. After a kerfuffle at the final corner, Drumont grabbed second, with home hero de Bruin crawling to third ahead of Gallo.
“I was more tense than when I drove in Sydney four years ago,” said champion Miyazono.
Gran Turismo World Series Nations Cup 2024 results
- Japan – Takuma Miyazono – 50 points
- France – Kylian Drumont – 47 points
- Spain – Jose Serrano – 42 points
- Italy – Valerio Gallo – 14 points
- Netherlands – Kaj de Bruin – 33 points
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