2015.05.03

MOTUL AUTECH GT-R team takes perfect pole-to-checkers win!

Round2 Fuji Speedway : Race GT500

The FUJI GT 500km RACE, Round 2 of the 2015 AUTOBACS SUPER GT series, took place on the afternoon of May 3rd at Fuji Speedway (Shizuoka Pref). The GT500 class winner was the No. 1 MOTUL AUTECH GT-R driven by Tsugio Matsuda and Ronnie Quintarelli in a perfect race from pole position to win. In the GT300 class, the No. 10 GAINER TANAX GT-R (Andre Couto / Katsumasa Chiyo / Ryuichiro Tomita) scored its second consecutive win of the season.

 

  

 

 

 

This race weekend was blessed with good weather in the area around Fuji Speedway. On race day, despite gathering clouds as the day wore on, conditions were good with an air temperature at the 14:00 start of 25degree C. and a track surface temperature at 39degree.
At the start, the pole-sitting No. 23 MOTUL AUTECH GT-R (Ronnie Quintarelli) got a clean start to take the lead followed closely by the second-position starting No. 12 CALSONIC IMPUL GT-R (Joao Paulo Lima De Oliveira). Meanwhile, behind the two leaders the No. 100 RAYBRIG NSX CONCEPT-GT (Naoki Yamamoto) collided with the No. 46 S Road MOLA GT-R in the Dunlop Corner, dropping it back to the very back of the pack. The No. 46 S Road MOLA GT-R was given a drive-through penalty that put it at the back of the pack as well.
On the third lap of the race, the No. 36 PETRONAS TOM'S RC F (James Rossiter) passed the No. 38 ZENT CERUMO RC F (Yuji Tachikawa). After that, the No. 17 KEIHIN NSX CONCEPT-GT (Koudai Tsukakoshi) that had dropped back one place from its sixth-position start passed the No. 24 D'station ADVAN GT-R (Daiki Sasaki) to regain 6th position.
Then, on the sixth lap the No. 39 DENSO KOBELCO SARD RC F (Kohei Hirate) overtook the No. 24 D'station ADVAN GT-R (Daiki Sasaki), and on the ninth lap the No. 6 ENEOS SUSTINA RC F (Kazuya Oshima) and the No. 19 WedsSport ADVAN RC F (Yuhi Sekiguchi) also moved up in the field.
On the other hand, the No. 38 ZENT CERUMO RC F running in 4th position collided with a GT300 car. It took the CERUMO team two hours to repair the resulting damage and get the No. 38 car back into the race, but in the end it failed to complete enough laps to officially complete the race. Through the early stages of the race the No. 1 MOTUL AUTECH GT-R continued to lead with the No. 12 CALSONIC IMPUL GT-R following one or two seconds behind. On the ninth lap, tire trouble caused one of the GT300 machines to spin out at the entrance to the first turn. When fire broke out on this machine the Safety Car was called out to control the race and line up the cars on the main straight in their running order on the 12th lap, after which they continued running behind the Safety Car until the 15th lap.

 

 

After the restart, the No. 1 MOTUL AUTECH GT-R continued to run steadily in the lead. The No. 12 CALSONIC IMPUL GT-R continued to trail it in 2nd position but never close enough to its tail to cause a threat. It was on the 40th lap that the leading No. 1 MOTUL AUTECH GT-R made the first of its routine pit stops. Quintarelli turned the wheel over to Matsuda for the second stint. On the next lap the No. 12 CALSONIC IMPUL GT-R made its pit stop and changed drivers from De Oliveira to Yasuda. Coming back out of the pit lane, the No. 12 car managed to get in front of No. 1, but with its tires not yet warmed up, it was shaky going into the first turn and the in the end the No. 1 MOTUL AUTECH GT-R was able to regain the lead. With the second routine pit stops as well, both the NISMO and TEAM IMPUL crews worked quickly to get the cars back in the race with virtually no difference in pit time. In the closing stages of the race, Quintarelli in the No. 1 MOTUL AUTECH GT-R gradually opened up his lead over the No. 12 CALSONIC IMPUL GT-R (De Oliveira). More than 20 seconds behind the leaders in 3rd position ran the No. 36 PETRONAS TOM'S RC F (Rossiter > Daisuke Ito > Rossiter). In 4th position was the No. 17 KEIHIN NSX CONCEPT-GT (Koudai Tsukakoshi > Hideki Mutoh > Tsukakoshi) and in 5th came the No. 39 DENSO KOBELCO SARD RC F (Kohei Hirate > Heikki Kovalainen > Hirate). As for the No. 46 GT-R (Satoshi Motoyama) that had lost position due to the penalty, aggressive driving brought it gradually back up through the pack, but a burst left rear tire on 100R turn caused it to drop far back in position once again.
As the race approached its final stages, the No. 64 Epson NSX CONCEPT-GT (Daisuke Nakajima) that had been running strongly in 7th position also suffered a burst left rear tire on the 63rd lap that forced it to make an emergency pit stop and drop far back in the order.
In the end, the No. 1 MOTUL AUTECH GT-R finished 110-lap the race with a lead of more than 11 seconds over the 2nd-place No. 12 CALSONIC IMPUL GT-R in an impressive pole-to-checkers victory - its first of the season - that also gave the GT-R camp a 1-2 finish. In 3rd place came the No. 36 PETRONAS TOM'S RC F, while in 4th place came the No. 17 KEIHIN NSX CONCEPT-GT.
This win put Tsugio Matsuda in a tie with Satoshi Motoyama for most wins, at 15 each. It also brought the Matsuda/Quintarelli pair up to 2nd position in the drivers ranking. Driving hard from a 14th-position start, the No. 37 KeePer TOM'S RC F (Andrea Caldarelli > Ryo Hirakawa > Caldarelli) managed to finish 6th and maintain their lead in the ranking.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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