2014.08.31

PETRONAS TOM'S RC F Goes from Pole to Win for Its First Victory of the Season!

Round 6 Suzuka Circuit : Race GT500

The “43rd Suzuka 1000km”, Round 6 of the 2014 AUTOBACS SUPER GT was held at the Suzuka Circuit (one lap 5.807 km x 173 laps) in Mie Pref. on August 31. In this longest race of the SUPER GT series, the No. 36 PETRONAS TOM'S RC F driven by Kazuki Nakajima and James Rossiter started from pole position and ran on to win the GT500 class race. In the GT300 class, the No. 60 TWS LM corsa BMW Z4 team (Akira Iida, Hiroki Yoshimoto and Shinya Sato) prevailed to win their first-ever GT race.

 

 

 

Following a parade of Mie Prefectural Police motorcycle officers and patrol cars, the formation lap of the Suzuka 1000km race rolled off the grid at 12:24 pm.
In this longest race of the series, the teams were ready to make the 173-lap, 1,000 km race to victory. The first to jump into the lead was the pole-starting No. 36 PETRONAS TOM'S RC F (James Rossiter), followed by the No. 17 KEIHIN NSX CONCEPT-GT (Hiroki Tsukakoshi). Then, the first accident of the race occurred on the Dunlop Corner of the first lap when the No. 1 ZENT CERUMO RC F (Koudai Hirate) collided with No. 100 RAYBRIG NSX CONCEPT-GT (Takashi Kogure) and sent it into a spin that dropped No. 100 far back in the pack.

From lap two to lap four, Rossiter recorded three consecutive fastest laps to open up a gap over the No. 17 KEIHIN NSX CONCEPT-GT in 2nd position. By the seventh lap, however, Rossiter was already coming up on GT300 class back markers, which allowed the No. 17 KEIHIN NSX CONCEPT-GT to close the gap again. Then on the 130R curve of the 10th lap, the No. 17 KEIHIN NSX CONCEPT-GT pulled even with No. 36 PETRONAS TOM'S RC F and Tsukakoshi was able to grab the lead away from Rossiter coming out of the chicane.
On the 11th lap, the No. 19 WedsSport ADVAN RC F (Yuhi Sekiguchi) suffered a burst right front tire that forced it to make an emergency pit stop. Then on the 14th lap, the No. 46 S Road MOLA GT-R (Satoshi Motoyama) running in 4th position began to lose speed, causing it to make a pit stop as well and change tires while also refueling. But as it started to leave the pit to return to the race, a fire started in its engine well and this eventually forced the No. 46 S Road MOLA GT-R to retire from the race. Troubles continued on the 19th lap when the No. 24 D'station ADVAN GT-R (Daiki Sasaki) suffered a burst on its right front tire. While these accidents were occurring in the early stages of the race, the No. 17 KEIHIN NSX CONCEPT-GT was gradually opening up a lead over the No. 36 PETRONAS TOM'S RC F.
On the 25th lap, the No. 18 Weider Modulo NSX CONCEPT-GT (Naoki Yamamoto) was the first to make its routine pit stop, followed by the No. 39 DENSO KOBELCO SARD RC F (Oliver Jarvis) on lap 28 and the No. 36 PETRONAS TOM'S RC F, now running in 2nd place, on lap 29. The leading No. 17 KEIHIN NSX CONCEPT-GT, the No. 8 ARTA NSX CONCEPT-GT (Kosuke Matsuura), now having replaced No. 36 in second place, and the No. 23 MOTUL AUTECH GT-R (Ronnie Quintarelli) in 3rd place, continued to run, putting off their first routine pit stop. On the 33rd lap, the No. 8 ARTA NSX CONCEPT-GT and the No. 23 MOTUL AUTECH GT-R made their first pit stop, followed on lap 34 by the No. 17 KEIHIN NSX CONCEPT-GT, the No. 12 CALSONIC IMPUL GT-R (Joao Paulo de Oliveira), the No. 1 ZENT CERUMO RC F and the No. 6 ENEOS SUSTINA RC F (Kazuya Oshima) and others all at once. These movements gradually showed which teams were running on a 5-stint race strategy and which were going to make six stints.

On its first lap coming out of the pit to resume the race, the No. 17 KEIHIN NSX CONCEPT-GT (Toshihiro Kaneishi) was passed on the “S” turns by the No. 36 PETRONAS TOM'S RC F (Kazuki Nakajima) and relinquished the lead. As Kaneishi picked up the pace and began to widen it gap with the No. 23 MOTUL AUTECH GT-R (Tsugio Matsuda) in 3rd place, Kazuki Nakajima, now in the lead in car No. 36, continued to open up an increasing margin of lead over Kaneishi in 2nd place. On the 58th lap, the No. 36 PETRONAS TOM'S RC F made its second routine pit stop, during which a problem with the driver’s harness caused a delay that allowed the No. 17 KEIHIN NSX CONCEPT-GT, running on a 5-stint strategy, to take the lead again and hold it through the 68th lap. On the 69th lap, the No. 23 MOTUL AUTECH GT-R, No. 12 CALSONIC IMPUL GT-R and the No. 6 ENEOS SUSTINA RC F made their next pit stop, while the No. 36 PETRONAS TOM'S RC F (Rossiter) followed with a stop on the 70th lap, retaking the lead in the process. Although this put the No. 17 KEIHIN NSX CONCEPT-GT (Tsukakoshi) tentatively in 2nd place, it could actually count on a margin of more than 30 seconds lead due to its 5-string strategy.

 

 

On the 75th lap, as it was trying to make its pit stop, the No. 32 Epson NSX CONCEPT-GT (Daisuke Nakajima) was hit by the No. 12 CALSONIC IMPUL GT-R (Joao Paulo de Oliveira). This caused the No. 32 Epson NSX CONCEPT-GT to spin out near the entrance to the pit road and suffer a big time loss. This collision resulted in a 15-second penalty stop for the No. 12 CALSONIC IMPUL GT-R.

As the race entered its middle stages, the leading No. 36 PETRONAS TOM'S RC F made its third routine pit stop on lap 87, and on that same lap, the 2nd-place No.17 KEIHIN NSX CONCEPT-GT ran off the track on the 130R high-speed curve. Although Tsukakoshi was able to make it back on the track, a hit on the barrier caused serious damage to the car and, despite taking the lead momentarily on lap 88, No. 17 soon had to return to the garage for repairs and, unfortunately, drop out of the race at that point. This put the No. 23 MOTUL AUTECH GT-R (Quintarelli) in the tentative lead until the 104th lap, when Quintarelli returned to the pit for a routine stop and the lead returned once again to the No. 36 PETRONAS TOM'S RC F (Kazuki Nakajima).
When the No. 36 PETRONAS TOM'S RC F ended its 4th routine pit stop on lap 117, Matsuda (now at the wheel of No. 23) tried to pass Rossiter (No. 36) on his first lap out of the pit, but Rossiter held him off in a side-by-side battle that saw the two cars bumping each other. Their battle continued through the chicane, but Rossiter managed to defend his lead in the No. 36 PETRONAS TOM'S RC F and gradually pull away from the No. 23 MOTUL AUTECH GT-R.

Eventually, No. 36 PETRONAS TOM'S RC F ran on to victory with a big lead at the end of the 173-lap race, in what would effectively be a pole-to-checkers victory in this big race with its proud tradition. Although it lost out in the battle for the lead, by finishing 2nd the No. 23 MOTUL AUTECH GT-R garnered enough points to move ahead of the No. 37 KeePer TOM'S RC F (finishing 7th this day) to take the lead in the series standings. Also, due to the No. 39 DENSO KOBELCO SARD RC F dropping out of the race after a tire came off on lap 147, and when the No. 8 ARTA NSX CONCEPT-GT that moved into 3rd place as a result had to make another pit stop on lap 158 that dropped it to 4th position, the No. 18 Weider Modulo NSX CONCEPT-GT that had been coming on strong in the latter stages managed to finish the race in 3rd place. Thus, as with the previous day’s qualifying, in the end each of the three makers had one car in the on the winners’ podium.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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