André Couto crowned GT 300 champion in Japan

Local racer André Couto has been crowned the GT 300 champion with one round to go into the Super GT championship. This was a victory he dedicated to a “special one”, his late son Afonso, who succumbed to leukemia in 2010.
“I have to say that ‘we are the champions.’ Chiyo and Tomita [the other partner driver for this season], it was a great season. Thanks to the team, they are great (…) I would like to dedicate this victory to many people, they all know who they are, but especially to a special one, which is my son who is in heaven now, but I am sure he was watching us today,” he said.
The overall championship win was achieved through a second-
place finish yesterday in Round 7 of Japan’s Super GT championship, held at Autopolis in Japan’s Oita Prefecture.
Racing alongside his teammate Katsumasa Chiyo, the pair had a difficult task ahead of them in order to secure the title prior to the last round, which will take place in Motegi in mid-November. Starting from 14th position on the grid, and with a huge weight handicap of 74 kilograms as a result of victory in the last round, the chances of clinching the championship were slim. However, the duo did not take a backward step, not even for one second.
With an outstanding race performance from start to finish, they managed to bring the No. 10 Gainer Tanax GT-R from fourteenth into second, only being beaten around the 60-lap race by the B-Max GT-R of Kazuki Hoshino and Mitsunori Takaboshi.
This is the first time that the 39-year-old Macau resident has won an international-level motor-
sports championship. RM