2015.10.07

GT-R's wearing Yokohama and Bridgestone are looking strong! Impressive lap time coming out of two hybrids in GT300.

With the season's seventh round "SUPER GT IN KYUSHU 300km" approaching in three weeks, an open tire test was held at the venue, Autopolis, on October 6 and 7. Seven cars from GT500 class and ten cars from GT300 class, totaling 17 cars, participated in the 2-day testing held under a clear sky over both days. A total of four sessions were conducted during the two days, a 2-hour session in the morning and afternoon each day. Overall top times of the two days were marked by No.24 D'station ADVAN GT-R wearing Yokohama tires in GT500 class and No.31 TOYOTA PRIUS apr GT wearing Bridgestone tires in GT300 class. No.2 SYNTIUM Apple LOTUS, which suffered a damage on the car after going off the track on the first day, was not able to repair the car and cancelled its testing on the second day.

 

 

No.12 and No.24 GT-R's getting a good feedback for Round 7.

Although the test was open to the fans and general public, it was not an official test organized by GTA, it was a tire test jointly held by the tire manufacturers. For that reason, one car from each model and tire maker, in another words, from the GT-R squad No.1 MOTUL AUTECH GT-R wearing Michelin, No.12 CALSONIC IMPUL GT-R wearing Bridgestone, and No.24 D'station ADVAN GT-R with Yokohama tires, were participating in the test. Similarly, No.19 WedsSport ADVAN RC F wearing Yokohama and No.36 PETRONAS TOM'S RC F wearing Bridgestone represented RC F and No.64 Epson NSX CONCEPT-GT with Dunlop and Bridgestone user No.100 RAYBRIG NSX CONCEPT-GT were at the test out of the NSX CONCEPT-GT, making it seven cars showing up at the circuit. Nonetheless, engineers and drivers from the teams that were not participating in the test were also at the track to take home some data from the test to get ready for the upcoming Round 7.

 

No.24 D'station ADVAN GT-R (Daiki Sasaki / M. Krumm) marked the top time of the morning session on the first day, and No.12 CALSONIC IMPUL GT-R (Hironobu Yasuda / Joao Paulo de Oliveira) marked a faster time, 1 min 34.211 sec, in the afternoon. Second day was the same with No.24 and No.12 cars taking the top in the morning and afternoon, respectively, however, No.24 car marked the fastest lap time of the two days at 1 min 34.082 sec, which was also a record-breaking time. In terms of two days in total, the GT-R squad was looking good with No.1 MOTUL AUTECH GT-R (Tsugio Matsuda / Ronnie Quintarelli, Michelin) also taking the third position. For RC F, No.19 WedsSport ADVAN RC F (Juichi Wakisaka / Yuhi Sekiguchi) wearing the same Yokohama as No.24 car sat at the fourth position. No.100 RAYBRIG NSX CONCEPT-GT (Naoki Yamamoto / Takuya Izawa) was fifth.

 

GT500 class driver ranking leader No.12 CALSONIC IMPUL GT-R was putting a full effort in testing tires throughout the two days. After checking on the new tires in the morning of first day, the team was mainly working on the tire test in a long run in the afternoon and on the whole second day. However, they seemed to be having their own special testing menu. Factory manager Shinichiro Takahashi was saying at the mid-day of second day, "(Hironobu) Yasuda cannot drive in the official practice due to a moral hazard issue. Since he needs to run the official qualifying in the afternoon after just driving in the Circuit Safari, we will probably let Yasuda drive with new (tires) from the afternoon on the second day. But since we still have three weeks (to the real race), I'm not sure how long the driver can remember the feeling... It's difficult." He also showed some concerns about the tire test in general, "I think the air and track temperatures will drop significantly at the race, so the tires we test today will probably be positioned as hard or medium tire. For the soft tire, we will leave the decision with Bridgestone after predicting how much of a drop (in air and track surface temperature) can be expected." But Takahashi concluded with a strong comment at the end, "Long straight will be difficult since the (fuel) restrictor is tighter, but (in return) our handicap weight is light, so we will go for the win this time. We must stay in front of the cars of higher ranking when you consider about the series. But, honestly, we are targeting the win this time and there is a pretty good feeling we can do that." From the outcome, the team was able to prove its speed in terms of race lap and close the test at Autopolis in a good momentum that may give them a huge lead in the series title contention.

 

 

 

 

 

What's on the minds of GT500 teams and tire manufacturers?

It seemed each tire manufacturer and team were testing more than five sets of tires in each session, and both Yutaka Suzuki, the team manager of No.1 MOTUL AUTECH GT-R, and Nagataka Tezuka, an engineer of M-TEC that maintains No.100 RAYBRIG NSX CONCEPT GT, expressed that since it was a tire test, the basic testing menu, in principle, was not about how to set up the car, but it was about checking and selecting tires as well as doing a check-up in a long run.

 

"We brought in 15 different types of tires for No.19 car and No.24 car each, but mainly the 80% was of different compounds. The rest of what we brought in had some modification in the structure too. I think our competitors were concerning about the pick-up (refers to when tire debris stuck on the tread of tire. It causes reduction of grip of tire and vibration), but we had no problem under the condition today. So I'm confident to say ‘We will win!' if the race will be held under a similar condition like today. But, you know, nobody can predict how the condition will be on the race day…" Shuichi Fujishiro, an engineer of Yokohama which showed good performances, showed a bitter smile as he finished his comment.

 

Masataka Yanagida (No.46 S Road MOLA GT-R) joined the Michelin testing team as a driver of No.1 MOTUL AUTECH GT-R and Team Manager Toshiomi Oeki of No.46 car also participated in the meeting after the test, so for Michelin it was more like GT-R + Michelin taking on the test instead of just No.1 car. At Bridgestone, in contrast, the tire engineers were very busy holding meetings with different user teams after each session as the manufacturer enjoys numerous users including No.12 CALSONIC IMPUL GT-R as well as the Lexus RC F fleet and the Honda NSX CONCEPT-GT squad.

 

 

 

TOYOTA apr PRIUS GT and ARTA CR-Z GT were looking good in GT300.

In GT300, No.55 ARTA CR-Z GT (Shinichi Takagi / Takashi Kobayashi) topped the afternoon session of the first day with a lap time which eventually became the best time of the day. No.31 TOYOTA PRIUS apr GT (Koki Saga / Yuichi Nakayama) was the fastest of the afternoon session of the first day as well as the two sessions on the second day, and the overall fastest of the two days was also No.31 car. Two hybrid cars are fitted with Bridgestone tires. No.10 GAINER TANAX GT-R (Andre Couto / Katsumasa Chiyo, Dunlop) of the current driver ranking leader Couto marked the third fastest time following the two hybrids despite loading 74kg of handicap weight, the amount which the car need to mount at the Round 7. Since the title may fall to No.10 car at Round 7 if it wins the race, it seemed the battle had already started with No.31 and No.55 cars whose immediate objective is to stop No.10 car.

 

After the session on the first day, each participating GT300 class team looked back and described their respective testing. Team manager Hiroto Kaneso of No.31 TOYOTA PRIUS apr GT, a hybrid wearing Bridgestone, commented with a smile at the end, "Our testing menu this time was simply to test the tires Bridgestone brought in. Since there was no limit on the number of sets they can bring in, there were a lot. We ran seven different sets of tires today."

 

At No.10 GAINER TANAX GT-R, on the other hand, Takashi Ishibashi, an engineer of Dunlop, said "We were about the same as Bridgestone, but the precise number of sets was uh…" His lips were rather tight, but he gave an honest comment on the direction of their tires. "We have added anti-abrasion and a measures for the pick-up to the tires we will supply for Autopolis. However, since this is our first time to run with GT-R, we unexpectedly found good tires at one side, but at the other side, some of the tires we expected were actually not suitable, and so on. So, it was difficult."

 

 

Ranking leader Andre Couto of No.10 GAINER TANAX GT-R looked back his session, "We were able to fully complete our testing menu and find tires that felt good. We still need to run in a long distance tomorrow, but today turned out to be a satisfying test day."

 

Contrastingly, Team manager Kaneso of No.31 TOYOTA PRIUS apr GT commented with a bitter smile, "Bridgestone had an obvious advantage under the condition like today. So, if it will be like today (at Round 7 in three weeks), either we or No.55 (No.55 ARTA CR-Z GT) will get the pole for sure. But we are aware well enough that Yokohama's race pace is good, and we are a bit worried that, may be, Dunlop has both (of a one-shot speed at qualifying and a consistent pace at the race)." Nevertheless, their focus is still on the upcoming Round 7 in three weeks, "The championship contention will end if we let No.10 car to get 20 points (win) here (at Round 7 Autopolis), so we must stop that..."

 

 

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