until Abu Dhabi Autonomous Racing League
Takuma Miyazono won the FIA certified Nations Cup competition in the Gran Turismo Championships by three points over Valerio Gallo, despite the Italian winning two of the three races in the World Final.
Miyazono completes the triple having won the GR Supra GT Cup on Friday and was a part of the three driver Subaru team that ended on top in the Manufacturer Series on Saturday.
The Japanese driver entered the three-race long final on the highest points count as drivers carried over the scores they had earned in the Sydney World Tour event held earlier in the year, which Miyazono won.
It was a disappointing start for Miyazono who was a victim in the aggressive track action at the end of the first event, dropping from third to ninth in the final few laps.
Williams Esports’ driver Gallo was victorious and had the championship points lead at the end of the first race.
For the second race Miyazono was able to convert his second pole position into a race win, emerging beating Serrano by 0.022s on the long run from the final corner to the finish line.
WHAT. A. FINISH. 😱
It's a drag race to the line between @Kerokkuma_ej20 & @Jose_Serrano_16 💪 #GTSport #FIAGTC
— Gran Turismo (@thegranturismo) December 20, 2020
Serrano’s mistake in braking too late for that final corner caused a four-point swing, putting himself and Miyazono both on 25 points.
They were seven points ahead of the trio of drivers on 18 points including Gallo who scored a single point in the second round after completing the race in 10th place.
Gallo started on pole position for the double-points final race at Le Mans, with championship rivals Miyazono in seventh and Serrano in eighth.
If they finished where they started then Gallo would’ve been the 2020 champion and he pulled out a sizeable gap over the rest of the drivers as he was one of only two drivers to start on the soft tyre.
Miyazono opted for the mediums at the start, with each of the drivers having to use the soft, medium and hard compound tyres over the course of the 10 lap race.
A one-lap undercut by Miyazono on the rest of the medium tyre starters put him at the head of that pack, and on the soft compound tyres he was able to overtake Adriano Carrazza for second.
Second place would’ve been enough for Miyazono to win the Nations Cup, but on the softer tyres the Japanese driver passed Gallo for the race lead before both stopped for the hard tyres.
On the final lap Gallo slipstreamed back ahead of Miyazono to win the final race, but a lack of points from the second race meant Miyazono won the Nations Cup by three points.
Miyazono becomes the third different driver to win the Nations Cup, with past champions Mikail Hizal and Igor Fraga not taking part this year.
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