2015.11.01

MOTUL AUTECH GT-R wins out in a GT-R showdown to take its second win of the season

Round 7 Autopolis : Race GT500

The SUPER GT in KYUSHU 300km RACE, Round 7 of the 2015 AUTOBACS SUPER GT series, was held at the AUTOPOLIS Circuit (Oita Prefecture) on the afternoon of November 1. In the GT500 class race that saw fierce battles around the track befitting the late-season title ambitions of the teams, the No. 1 MOTUL AUTECH GT-R driven by Tsugio Matsuda and Ronnie Quintarelli came from 3rd position on the starting grid to win its second race of the season and move into 2nd position in the season ranking. Starting from pole position, the No. 12 CALSONIC IMPUL GT-R (Hironobu Yasuda/Joao Paulo Lima De Oliveira) finished the race in 2nd place to maintain their lead in the season ranking. In the GT300 class race, the No. 3 B-MAX NDDP GT-R (Kazuki Hoshino/Mitsunori Takaboshi) won its second race of the season. Also, the No. 10 GAINER TANAX GT-R (Andre Couto/Katsumasa Chiyo) charged up hard from 14th position on the grid to finish the race in 2nd place and thus with the series driver's title for Couto and the Team title for GAINER.

 

  

 

At 2:00 in the afternoon, a motorcade of Oita Prefecture police motorcycles and patrol cars led a parade at the front of the SUPER GT machines to promote traffic safety. As the police motorcade left the track, the GT cars entered the formation lap to start the race.
After a smooth start, most of the cars came through the opening lap in their grid order, with the pole-starting No. 12 CALSONIC IMPUL GT-R (Joao Paulo Lima De Oliveira) holding the lead, followed by the No. 38 ZENT CERUMO RC F (Yuji Tachikawa) and the No. 1 MOTUL AUTECH GT-R (Ronnie Quintarelli) close in trail. Soon these three machines were slowly opening up a margin of lead over the rest of the pack. Behind them, the battle for 4th place was raging with as many as ten machines vying for position at one point, but the battle eventually came down to a 3-way contest between the No. 24 D'station ADVAN GT-R (Michael Krumm), the No. 19 WedsSport ADVAN RC F (Yuhi Sekiguchi) and the No. 36 PETRONAS TOM'S RC F (James Rossiter).
From around the ninth lap, the No. 12 CALSONIC IMPUL GT-R and the No. 38 ZENT CERUMO RC F picked up the pace. The result was a fierce charge that saw De Oliveira and Tachikawa battling nose-to-tail and at times side-by-side. And while the spectators' eyes were glued to this fight for the lead, the No. 1 MOTUL AUTECH GT-R that had been biding its time and saving strength, suddenly made a concerted charge to quickly rejoin the battle for the lead. After gaining the inside on the hairpin turn of the 20th lap, the No. 1 MOTUL AUTECH GT-R drew side-by-side with the No. 38 ZENT CERUMO RC F and the fans watched as the two machines raced down the "roller coaster" straight together. Then on the 23rd lap, after crossing the control line 0.9 sec. ahead of the No. 38 ZENT CERUMO RC F that had been holding 2nd position until then, the No. 1 MOTUL AUTECH GT-R took the opportunity of a slight overrun by the No. 38 ZENT CERUMO RC F at the second hairpin to move ahead into 2nd place. This brought a slight lull in the battle for the lead. The No. 12 CALSONIC IMPUL GT-R continued to run in the lead with the No. 1 MOTUL AUTECH GT-R two to three seconds behind.

 

  

 

At the end of the 31st lap, the No. 37 KeePer TOM'S RC F (Andrea Caldarelli > Ryo Hirakawa) that had been part of the battle for 7th place made its routine pit stop. Apparently sparked by this move, the mid-pack group all began making their routine pit stops from the next lap. On the 35th lap, the No. 1 MOTUL AUTECH GT-R (Quintarelli > Tsugio Matsuda) in 2nd place and the No. 36 PETRONAS TOM'S RC F (Rossiter > Daisuke Ito) in 4th place made their pit stops, and taking absolute minimum time for the stops, at 41.4 and 42.6 sec. respectively, the two machines returned to the race with new drivers to begin the second stint. Two laps later, the No. 38 ZENT CERUMO RC F (Tachikawa > Hiroaki Ishiura) running in 3rd position made its pit stop, taking 43.6 sec. before leaving the pit again. In this way, the pits were also a scene desperate struggle to earn precious seconds.
Running strongly in the lead, the No. 12 CALSONIC IMPUL GT-R team stretched out its first stint longer than its rivals before finally heading back for its pit stop at the end of lap 39. Here, the TEAM IMPUL mechanics showed their skills brilliantly. Compared to the NISMO team, also known for their skill in pit work, the IMPUL team finished four seconds faster at 37.3 sec. and got Hironobu Yasuda out onto the track to start the second stint. However, now on fresh but still cold tires, there was no way that Yasuda could be expected to hold off the hard-charging No. 1 MOTUL AUTECH GT-R coming up from behind with tires well warmed up, having finished its pit stop four laps earlier. Eventually, the No. 1 MOTUL AUTECH GT-R crossed the control line ahead of the No. 12 CALSONIC IMPUL GT-R. Although the ensuing contest would see the gap between the two leaders open and close numerous times, the order would remain unchanged after that. Determined not to let No. 1 get away, Yasuda (No. 12) hung tough all the way to the end, making a concerted charge from the hairpin of the 47th lap. The battle continued, with the lines of the two machines crossing frequently, but still the order stayed the same.
With this, the victory went to the No. 1 MOTUL AUTECH GT-R. The win mover the Matsuda/Quintarelli pair up to 2nd position in the season ranking. With just two points separating them from the leaders, they will compete for a second consecutive season title in the final round of the series. As for Yasuda in the No. 12 CALSONIC IMPUL GT-R, he had been unable to close the gap on the final lap and finished in 2nd place, just 0.3 sec. behinds Matsuda. Although, they had lost the race to the checkered flag, the Yasuda/De Oliveira pair succeeded in staying atop the season ranking as they go into the final round of the series.
The battle for 3rd was won by the No. 17 KEIHIN NSX CONCEPT-GT 3, whose second-stint driver Koudai Tsukakoshi has a reputation for being strong at Autopolis. He showed his prowess in a stunning charge after the track became slightly wet that took him past the No. 36 PETRONAS TOM'S RC F (Daisuke Ito) and the No. 38 ZENT CERUMO RC F (Hiroaki Ishiura) to claim the last spot on the podium.
As for the drivers championship title race, in addition to the two ranking leaders, four more teams will also go into the final round with a chance for the title, including the No. 38 team of Tachikawa and Ishiura, the No. 46 pair of Satoshi Motoyama and Masataka Yanagida (S Road MOLA GT-R), the No. 100 team of Naoki Yamamoto and Takuya Izawa (RAYBRIG NSX CONCEPT-GT) and the No. 36 Ito/Rossiter team.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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