2014.08.01

Midsummer Triple! 300km battle gets underway at burning hot Fuji.

Round5 Fuji Speedway : Preview

Previous Round 4 SUGO, the AUTOBACS SUPER GT Round 5 “FUJI GT 300km RACE” held on August 9 and 10, and Round 6 Suzuka 1000km are known as “Midsummer triple” as well as a climax in the middle phase of season because they are held during summer time in July and August. Rain kept the SUGO round from severe heat, but Fuji in the middle of summer is hot hence the heat of race should also get high. Also, with this season being consisted of 8 races, the upcoming race will exactly be the turning point. Fans are encouraged to bring their enthusiasm and enjoy the race at Fuji Speedway during the summer holiday.

 

This season had already made a stop at Fuji for its Round 2, and it was No.12 CALSONIC IMPUL GT-R (Hironobu Yasuda/Joao Paulo de Oliveira) taking the victory after NISSAN GT-R and LEXUS RC F showcased a head-to-head battle. However, there were three RC Fs in the top 5 starting with No.1 ZENT CERUMO RC F (Yuji Tachikawa/Kohei Hirate) at second position.

 

 

At Fuji Speedway where the speed on the straight is a key factor for victory, it is most likely that the fight will be decided between these two models. However, out of the two models, cars which have already scored a win this season, No.37 KeePer TOM'S RC F (Daisuke Ito/Andrea Caldarelli), CALSONIC IMPUL GT-R and ZENT CERUMO RC F, as well as No.6 ENEOS SUSTINA RC F (Kazuya Oshima/Yuji Kunimoto), placed in the upper group of ranking, may be forced to play defensive considering the heavier handicap weight they have to carry.

 

Given the above, the upcoming race may become a decisive point to the teams with lighter handicap weight such as No.23 MOTUL AUTECH GT-R (Tsugio Matsuda/Ronnie Quintarelli), No.46 S Road MOLA GT-R (Satoshi Motoyama/Masataka Yanagida), and No.39 DENSO KOBELCO SARD RC F (Hiroaki Ishiura/Oliver Jarvis). Especially, MOTUL AUTECH GT-R and S Road MOLA GT-R can be the team to watch as they wear Michelin tires which are strong in summer. No.36 PETRONAS TOM'S RC F (Kazuki Nakajima/James Rossiter), which mis-selection of tires caused them to sink to the bottom of the pack despite starting from pole position at last race, should be added to the candidate list also.

 

 

NSX CONCEPT-GT squad was not able to match the pace with GT-R and RC F at Round 2 as there were multiple problems occurring within the squad. However, the squad has been showing some progress in improving their machine in last two races. At Round 5 SUGO, No.100 RAYBRIG NSX CONCEPT-GT (Takashi Kogure/Hideki Mutoh) placed second in the qualifying and, in the race, No.17 KEIHIN NSX CONCEPT-GT (Koudai Tsukakoshi/Toshihiro Kaneishi) captured its first podium-finish of this season at third place in the race after putting on a fierce run in the final phase of race. In addition, No.18 Weider Modulo NSX CONCEPT-GT (Naoki Yamamoto/Frederic Makowiecki) broke the track’s record time even in the middle of race, proof of squad’s upturn as a whole.
Although it was not a battle with all cars executing their full potential with the rain roughing the race at SUGO, these results should be taken positively. If the squad continues to get the “results” at the power circuit Fuji, then it would be enough to say that the level of NSX CONCEPT-GT has reached to the same level as its rivals. The hope is on the squad, especially on the three cars that showed impressive performance at previous race, to grab a podium finish once again.

 

 

 

When it comes to cars favoring Fuji in GT300 class, it would be the JAF-GT300 specification hybrid cars, CR-Z and PRIUS. However, the race at Fuji this time will be held in the middle of summer. The key will be whether a proper measure has been taken against the heat, which is a weak point of hybrids. Eyes should be kept on No.55 ARTA CR-Z GT (Shinichi Takagi/Takashi Kobayashi) with one win already in this season, defending champion No.0 MUGEN CR-Z GT (Yuhki Nakayama/Tomoki Nojiri), and No.31 OGT Panasonic PRIUS (Morio Nitta/Koki Saga), which has not been able to execute its full potential yet.

 

 

Mercedes Benz SLS has been showing strong performance in recent races, thus, teams like No.11 GAINER DIXCEL SLS (Katsuyuki Hiranaka/Bjorn Wirdheim), though facing a bad luck at previous round in SUGO, and second place No.65 LEON SLS (Haruki Kurosawa/Tsubasa Kurosawa) will be interesting to see how they perform. Lamborghinis would want to get on the flow with the momentum created by the victory at last race brought in by No.88 MANEPA LAMBORGHINI GT3 (Manabu Orido/Takayuki Aoki). Nonetheless, there was an option to take a no-tire-change strategy at previous race, but will Fuji in summer allow that?
It seems that the momentum that BMW Z4s had in the beginning of the season has dropped recently. However, No.7 Studie BMW Z4 (Jorg Muller/Seiji Ara) and No.60 TWS LM corsa BMW Z4 (Akira Iida/Hiroki Yoshimoto) are still showing the speed, so all they need is probably a little bit of luck. 80kg handicap weight is challenging to handle for the point leader No.4 GOODSMILE HATSUNE MIKU Z4 (Nobuteru Taniguchi/Tatsuya Kataoka), but if they can pick up some point in this difficult time, then that will help them in the battle for the title at the final phase of the season. They should be determined especially with Fuji Speedway being one of their favorite circuit.

 

 

The event was held in fall last year, but this year’s second race at Fuji is taking place in midsummer. For that, fans can expect to see a bit different battle compared to the past years. Summer holiday season should bring many crowd to the stand and the heat of cheers given by the fans to their favorite teams should reach maximum level. Fans should also be fully prepared for the heat if watching the race at the track and enjoy the excitement at the fullest. And those that are unfortunately not coming to the circuit should not miss the broadcast on J SPORTS as well as programs including GT Plus!

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