2014.08.09

SUBARU BRZ R&D SPORT wins GT300 class pole as Sasaki extends his record for most individual PPs

Round 5 Fuji Speedway : Qualifying GT300

The official qualifying for the FUJI GT 300km RACE, Round 5 of the 2014 AUTOBACS SUPER GT took place at Fuji Speedway (one lap 4.563km) in Shizuoka Pref. on the afternoon of Aug. 9. The winner of the pole position in the GT500 class was the No. 17 KEIHIN NSX CONCEPT-GT driven by Koudai Tsukakoshi. The GT300 class pole winner was the No. 61 SUBARU BRZ R&D SPORT driven by Kota Sasaki, who extended his own record for most GT300 poles.

 

The Q1 session for the GT300 class started on schedule at 2:00 in the afternoon. This 15-minute session would determine the top 13 teams qualifying to move on to Q2. Although light rain fell from time to time, it wasn’t enough to affect the track conditions. This made for fairly good conditions throughout the session. Based on the results from the morning practice, the battle for pole position was expected to take place in the low 1 min. 39 sec. range to the high 38 sec. range. As early as five minutes into the session, however, the No. 360 OKINAWA MSA-RUN UP GT-R (Hiroki Yoshida) was quick to take the top position on the time board with a fast time of 1’39.210. Following this in order were last round’s pole sitter, the No. 10 GAINER Rn-SPORTS SLS (Hideki Yamauchi), the No. 3 B-MAX NDDP GT-R (Kazuki Hoshino) and the No. 2 SYNTIUM-Apple-MP4-12C (Hiroki Katoh).
Then, 8 minutes into the session, the No. 0 MUGEN CR-Z GT (Tomoki Nojiri) broke into the 38 sec. range with a time of 1’38.875. Next, the No. 55 ARTA CR-Z GT (Takashi Kobayashi) took the top spot on the time board with a lap time of 1’38.344. The GAINER Rn-SPORTS SLS also came in with a time of 1’38.862, but it wasn’t fast enough to tale top position.
During the last three minutes of the session, it was now the MUGEN CR-Z GT that took the top spot away from the ARTA CR-Z GT by running a time of 1’38.176. Eventually, this battle between the two young drivers Nojiri and Kobayashi ended with Kobayashi holding the faster time and the tentative pole position.
Perhaps held back by the 20 kg of handicap weights carried for the first time this season after its win in the last round, the No. 88 MANEPA LAMBORGHINI GT3 (Takayuki Aoki) could do no better than 21st position, while the No. 11 GAINER DIXCEL SLS (Bjorn Wirdheim) now standing in 2nd place in the series standings only managed 19th position, and the No. 9 Otonokizaka High NAC PORSCHE with DR (Takuya Shirasaka) that had recorded the fastest time in the morning practice also failed to make the cut-off for Q2 by ending up in 20th place. Clearing that cut-off line to qualify for Q2 at the very end by moving up to 12th position after sitting below the line in 14th position for much of the session was the No. 31 OGT Panasonic PRIUS (Koki Saga).
Ending up below the cut-off line in 14th position just 0.088 sec. behind No. 33 PUMA KRH PORSCHE (Kyosuke Mineo) in 13th place and a mere 1.360 sec. behind the pole spot was the No. 30 IWASAKI apr GT-R (Masami Kageyama), showing what a closely fought session it had been.

 

 

The GT300 class Q2 started nine minutes behind schedule at 2:49 due to the Red Flag brought out when the No. 22 GREENTEC SLS AMG GT3 came to a stop in the pit lane after the start of the GT500 Q1 session. Seven minutes for time attacks were then left to decide the class pole position and the rest of the top 13 grid positions.
Just after the start, rain began to fall, making the track conditions slipperier than in Q1. Once again it was the No. 0 MUGEN CR-Z (Yuhki Nakayama) that was quick to show its speed by breaking into the 1 min. 38 sec. range with four minutes remaining in the session with a time of 1’38.641. Just after that, the No. 61 SUBARU BRZ R&D SPORT (Kota Sasaki) took the top spot on the time board with a 1’38.419 lap. After his teammate Takuto Iguchi had gotten the team through to Q2 by qualifying 8th in Q1, the record holder for most GT300 pole positions, Sasaki was ready to go for a full attack to take another pole.
That scenario would be challenged, however, by Morio Nitta in the No. 31 OGT Panasonic PRIUS. In the last two minutes of the session, Nitta came through with a time of 1’38.414 to take top position. Then, moments later Sasaki flew through another attack to record exactly the same time of 1’38.414, not a thousandth of a second different! According to the regulation that says the first of the two machines recording identical times gets priority, it appeared as if the PRIUS had won its first pole position in a while. But Sasaki in the BRZ wasn’t finished. He made one more attack and blasted out a time of Sasaki 1’38.256 to take the top position again. Nitta also made another attempt, but it fell short of the mark.
With this, the pole position went to the SUBARU BRZ R&D SPORT. It also extended Sasaki’s record for most GT300 PPs to 12. Qualifying 2nd was the OGT Panasonic PRIUS, while 3rd and 4th positions went to the MUGEN CR-Z GT and ARTA CR-Z GT (Shinichi Takagi) respectively.

The forecast says that Typhoon #11 will affect tomorrow’s race and bring the possibility of a big change in track conditions. This means that no one can predict what effect these qualifying results will have and who will the advantage in the race. With the start scheduled for an hour earlier than usual at 1:00 in the afternoon, everyone is anxious for the action to begin.

 

 

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