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SARD Toyota driver Heikki Kovalainen believes a lack of rear downforce during last weekend's Okayama SUPER GT season stopped the team from challenging the lead GR Supras.

Ex-Formula 1 driver Kovalainen and his teammate Yuichi Nakayama completed an all-Toyota top four in Sunday's curtain-raiser behind the winning Rookie Racing GR Supra and the two TOM'S entries.
However, the Denso-liveried #39 machine was off the pace of the leading three Toyotas, with Nakayama unable to maintain the third spot he inherited when the #37 TOM'S car dropped from first to fourth with a slow pitstop in a crowded pitlane.
Nakayama finally came home fourth, 30 seconds behind the winning Rookie Racing car of Kenta Yamashita, holding off Koudai Tsukakoshi's Real Racing Honda by just four tenths of a second.
Kovalainen, who was at the wheel of the SARD machine for the start, said that he and Nakayama struggled with rear grip and therefore tyre degradation more than expected.
"We were a bit slow straight away from practice and qualifying was hard for us, we only just scraped through to Q2 and in Q2 the gap to the other cars was too big," Kovalainen told Motorsport.com. "We were just missing performance. We have to figure that out.
"It’s probably a combination of some details, nothing major. There’s nothing wrong with the basic concept of the car. But we saw on the data this weekend we are missing rear downforce compared to normal.
"There was something strange going on there. We struggled a bit with the rear grip and we had a more rear degradation than the other cars. I managed to stay with the #36 [TOM'S car] for most of my stint, but the two guys in front were too fast.
"Nakayama-san had more degradation with the rear going away more than expected, so there was no chance [to challenge the top three]. At least we know we have a strong package, we just need to take full advantage."
Kovalainen - who hailed the off-season as the best he's had since his 2016 title - nonetheless scored his best result in a season-opening race since the 2017 season.
The Finnish driver said that Toyota's performance around a track where the GR Supra wasn't necessarily expected to dominate bodes well for the rest of the campaign.

"They’ve done a great job at TRD, and in terms of our team we've had a very good winter; we understood more than we’ve done in the past," said Kovalainen.
"This weekend we didn’t quite get it right, but I enjoyed the race anyway, trying to hang on to the cars in front. But of course we want to take the next step next time at Fuji."

Kovalainen is entering his seventh season in SUPER GT with the SARD Toyota team, having  first switched to the Japanese championship two years after the end of his full-time grand prix career in 2015. Since clinching the GT500 title with Kohei Hirate in 2016, the Finnish driver has won a race every season but has not been able to string together another championship challenge, with a fifth-place in the 2019 standings' his best result during that period. But Kovalainen ended last season on a high note, winning the third Fuji race in the new Toyota GR Supra, and claimed SARD was "working more like a professional team" under the guidance of new team director Juichi Wakisaka, formerly of the LeMans squad. Kovalainen and his teammate Yuichi Nakayama topped the timesheets on the second day in the first pre-season test at Okayama last month, before finishing fifth overall in the following Fuji test. Asked if it marked his best pre-season since he won the championship five years ago, Kovalainen told Motorsport.com: “Yeah. I think we made more progress with the car this winter than in other winters in the past. “The other Toyotas look strong, TOM’S is always there, I’m sure it will be a close fight. But as long as we are in the group, we have a fighting chance, which is a good position."

 He added: “We’ve done a lot of tyre work and set-up work, and there’s been some good and bad stuff. Hopefully we can put it together for the first round.

“The feeling is not so bad, the car is working pretty well. We don’t have any massive issues, it all seems ok. Some days better, some days worse. 

“If anything I’d say it feels like a better winter than some other years for our team. Perhaps we are in a better position now compared to other years.”

Much of SARD team’s struggles in recent years were pinned on the team’s inability to extract the maximum out of the Lexus LC500 package, which ran between 2017-19 and delivered success for the marque’s other teams.

However, a switch to the GR Supra model last year has offered the SARD a chance to catch up with the other Bridgestone-shod Toyota teams.

Kovalainen says he believes he and SARD have a shot at adding to their 2016 title triumph with the Supra this year, but admits that this would largely depend on how the team performs in the latter half of the season due to the series’ success handicap rules. 

“I think we have a chance,” Kovalainen said when asked if he’s confident of securing a second title in the GT500 ranks. "Our team seems solid now, we have a good organisation, good management, a good engineering team. We’ve tried to eliminate our weaknesses.

"I’ve really enjoyed this winter and working with the team. We want to start the season well, but the key part of the season is usually later on. It will always come down to the last one or two rounds, and I’m sure it will be the same again. But so far, so good."

motorsport.com