Subaru has won the first of Gran Turismo 7’s flagship esports series events, taking victory in the World Series Round 1 Manufacturers Cup.
The 2020 world champion team, represented by Japan’s Takuma Miyazono who was part of that successful squad, won the 14-lap race of the new Watkins Glen circuit by a relatively comfortable four seconds. Not only that, Miyazono’s victory came in the new Subaru BRZ Gr.3 car, making it a trio of firsts.
After a one-lap shootout qualifying, Miyazono was only third on the grid. It was defending champion Toyota on pole, courtesy of Igor Fraga, grabbing top spot by just under two tenths. Mehdi Hafidi took second for Nissan, just a thousandth of a second ahead of Miyazono.
Neither Mazda nor Honda took part in the event, despite qualifying to do so and being listed as entries — and with Mazda as one of three marques sponsoring the series.
After a relatively steady opening lap, Miyazono surprised everyone by heading into the pits for his compulsory stop — and was followed in by Jaguar’s Adam Tapai. Naturally the duo came out in ninth and tenth places, but in clean air for the remaining 13 laps.
It was a tactic that Luca Bonelli (AMG) and Roberto Sternberg (Volkswagen) opted to mimic on the next lap, but it wasn’t until Hafidi came in on lap three that the effect of the undercut became apparent. After running on his own for a couple of laps, Miyazono got past the Nissan and had over a second’s advantage.
At the front Nico Romero, driving the Genesis in the brand’s first ever World Series appearance, had closed in on Fraga. Both pitted on lap five, and came out staring at the back of a Nissan GT-R, emerging behind both Miyazono and Hafidi.
Fraga then slipped further back as Romero overtook on the back straight, and Romero was on the move again as Hafidi made an error in the final turn to allow the Genesis up into a net second. That became true second as the front-runners finally made their mandatory stops.
Miyazono was uncatchable though, coming home just under four seconds ahead of Romero, with Hafidi in third. Bonelli snatched fourth from Fraga, who almost lost out on the line to Jose Serrano’s Porsche.
With the victory, Subaru scores the maximum three World Series points, with two for Genesis, and one for Nissan. These points will accumulate across the season, through the three online rounds, the Showdown, and the World Final, with the manufacturer scoring the most becoming 2022 champion.
Nations Cup will follow at the same time on July 24, with the World Series Showdown live event coming from Red Bull Hangar-7 in Salzburg, Austria, next weekend, July 30-31.
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