2014.10.05

Great come-from-behind victory for PETRONAS TOM'S RC F!

Round7 Chang International Circuit : Race GT500

The BURIRAM UNITED SUPER GT RACE, Round 7 of the AUTOBACS SUPER GT series, was held on the afternoon of October 5 at Chang International Circuit (Thailand). The GT500 class winner of the first SUPER GT race on the new circuit was the PETRONAS TOM'S RC F driven by Kazuki Nakajima and James Rossiter, in dramatic reversal that gave the team their second consecutive series victory. In the GT300 class, the No. 3 B-MAX NDDP GT-R driven by Kazuki Hoshino and Lucas Ordonez won for the first time this season.

 

 

 

 

The race started at 3:00 in the afternoon with the air temperature at 34 degrees Celsius and the track surface temperature at 52 degrees. This was the long-awaited start of a 66-lap BURIRAM UNITED SUPER GT RACE that marked the first SUPER GT round in Thailand at the Chang International Circuit.
After one formation lap, the race got underway at 3:03. The pole-sitting No. 46 S Road MOLA GT-R (Satoshi Motoyama) got the hole shot and led the race through the first turn with the GT-R teams No. 24 D'station ADVAN GT-R (Michael Krumm) and the No. 23 MOTUL AUTECH GT-R (Ronnie Quintarelli) giving chase with the rest of the pack. However, the No. 12 CALSONIC IMPUL GT-R (Hironobu Yasuda) that was trying to catch up from a 10th-position start, was knocked off the track in some tight scuffling in the middle of the pack at Turn 3 and ended up dropping back to the very rear of the pack.
By the end of the third lap, the leaders were already catching up on GT300 class back markers and the No. 8 ARTA NSX CONCEPT-GT (Kosuke Matsuura) was able to pass the No. 23 MOTUL AUTECH GT-R and move into 3rd position on lap four, only to run off the track on the fifth lap and allow the No. 23 MOTUL AUTECH GT-R to move up again. Also, on Turn 3 of the same fifth lap, there was a collision between the No. 32 Epson NSX CONCEPT-GT (Daisuke Nakajima) and the No. 39 DENSO KOBELCO SARD RC F (Oliver Jarvis) that caused both machines to spin out and fall far back in the pack.
While these upsets were occurring back in the field, a gap opened up between the two leading GT-R machines as Motoyama in front pressed hard on the fifth and sixth laps to gain a 5-second lead. But, on the seventh and eighth laps the chasing Michael Krumm was able to narrow the margin again and close to within less than one second of Motoyama by the 11th lap. In the process the two leading cars had gradually pulled away from the rest of the field and made the race for the lead a one-on-one battle.
It was from around the 25th lap that this battle at the front heated up again. On lap 26 the gap between them was down to half a second and for a while the two machines were nose-to-tail. Then, the No. 24 D'station ADVAN GT-R suddenly developed trouble in its shift mechanism on the 31st lap and fell back to 4th position in the field. Once he managed to recover from the trouble, Krumm made his routine pit stop on lap 32 along with the No. 23 MOTUL AUTECH GT-R running in 3rd position, at which time Daiki Sasaki took over the wheel of car No. 24.
On the next lap, 33, the No. 8 ARTA NSX CONCEPT-GT in 2nd position, the No. 18 Weider Modulo NSX CONCEPT-GT made their pit stops, but the No. 8 ARTA NSX CONCEPT-GT had suffered damage to its left rear and had to enter the garage for repairs.

 

 

Still managing to hold the lead, the No. 46 S Road MOLA GT-R made its pit stop on lap 37 and the wheel was turned over to Masataka Yanagida. However, also making its pit stop on that same 37th lap, the No. 36 PETRONAS TOM'S RC F (James Rossiter＞Kazuki Nakajima) and the No. 37 KeePer TOM'S RC F (Andrea Caldarelli＞Daisuke Ito) that made its stop on the next lap (38), both opted not to make a tire change. As a result, Ito in the No. 37 KeePer TOM'S RC F was able to get back into the race ahead of the No. 46 S Road MOLA GT-R.
In this way, when all the cars had finished their pit stops on lap 41, the order of the top four machines was the No. 37 KeePer TOM'S RC F in the lead followed by the No. 46 S Road MOLA GT-R, the No. 36 PETRONAS TOM'S RC F and the No. 38 ZENT CERUMO SC430, which had also opted for no tire change. Behind them in 5th position was the No. 24 D'station ADVAN GT-R, which had changed all four tires.
However, Yanagida’s pace was faster than that of Ito struggling to stay in front. Yanagida was thus able to overtake Ito on the first turn of lap 44 and finally recover the lead. But behind him, the No. 36 PETRONAS TOM'S RC F that had passed the No. 37 KeePer TOM'S RC F on lap 46 was closing in. Soon the two lead machines were nose-to-tail and locked in battle, until the No. 46 S Road MOLA GT-R suddenly developed engine trouble while exiting the last turn of lap 48 that kept Yanagida from accelerating as he wanted. This enabled Nakajima to easily slip past him into the lead. Continuing to run slow, Yanagida returned to the pit on the next lap and unfortunately had to end the race there.
This put the two TOM’S machines, the No. 36 PETRONAS TOM'S RC F and the No. 37 KeePer TOM'S RC F, in a 1-2 lead, but now they had the No. 24 D'station ADVAN GT-R (Sasaki) and the No. 12 CALSONIC IMPUL GT-R (Joao Paulo de Oliveira) chasing them and closing in. In the closing stages of the race the two GT-Rs were running at a fast pace in the 1 min. 25 sec. range, and the were able to pass the No. 37 KeePer TOM'S RC F on the 60th and 62nd laps respectively to move into 2nd and 3rd positions chasing the leading No. 36 PETRONAS TOM'S RC F. In the end, however, the No. 36 PETRONAS TOM'S RC F was able to hold on and take the checkers first by a margin of 1.9 sec. Finishing 2nd and 3rd respectively were the No. 24 D'station ADVAN GT-R, which had recorded the fastest lap of the race, and the No. 12 CALSONIC IMPUL GT-R that had dropped to the very back of the pack after its first-lap accident and managed to fight back magnificently throughout the race.
With its right-on race strategy, the No. 36 PETRONAS TOM'S RC F scored its second consecutive win of the series in dramatic come-from-behind style, thus putting Rossiter alone in the lead in the season ranking. Sitting three points back in 2nd position in the standings is the No. 37 KeePer TOM'S RC F. Six points back in 3rd position in the standings is the No. 23 MOTUL AUTECH GT-R, which finished the race today in 10th place due to mishaps like a driver’s penalty as the result of a collision with a GT300 class car. Also holding out hopes a title victory in the final round of the regular series are the No. 12 CALSONIC IMPUL GT-R currently seven points behind the leader, and Naoki Yamamoto of the No. 18 Weider Modulo NSX CONCEPT-GT team currently 14 points from the top.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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