2016.07.24

Forum Engineering ADVAN GT-R comes from 9th on the grid to victory!

Round4 Sportsland Sugo : Race GT500 Review

The SUGO GT 300km RACE, Round 4 of the 2016 AUTOBACS SUPER GT series, was held at Sportsland SUGO (Miyagi Prefecture) on July 24. In the GT500 class, the No. 24 Forum Engineering ADVAN GT-R driven by Daiki Sasaki and Masataka Yanagida came from 9th position on the starting grid and used a no-tire-change strategy to score a brilliant come-from-behind victory.
The GT300 race was won by the No. 31 TOYOTA PRIUS apr GT driven by Koki Saga and Yuichi Nakayama.

 

 

 

 

The time had come for the start of the first SUPER GT race in two months, round 4 of the 2016 season. From 1:05 in the afternoon, the cars started out on their test run to the grid, where the 14 cars of the GT500 class would line up behind the No. 6 WAKO'S 4CR RC F in pole position. Trouble struck early, however, as the No. 12 CALSONIC IMPUL GT-R suffered a drive train problem coming out onto the straight on the test run that brought it to a stop. This meant that No. 12 would have to make a pit start.
During the subsequent Pit Walk event for crowds of fans, light rain began to fall, but by the time of the start, the track was still dry. All the cars mounted slick tires, and after the Parade Lap led by five patrol motorcycles and one patrol car of the Miyagi Prefectural Police, the cars entered the formation lap.

At the start of the race, the No. 6 WAKO'S 4CR RC F (Andrea Caldarelli) kept the lead going into the first turn. It was followed by the No. 17 KEIHIN NSX CONCEPT-GT (Takashi Kogure) and the No. 38 ZENT CERUMO RC F (Hiroaki Ishiura). There was little contention in the order through the first lap, but after that began the type of fierce contests on the track that SUGO races are known for.
On the third lap, there was a slight bumping between the No. 24 Forum Engineering ADVAN GT-R (Masataka Yanagida) and No. 8 ARTA NSX CONCEPT-GT (Tomoki Nojiri) as they battled for 10th position. This caused Nojiri’s car to spin. Then, on the fifth lap as GT300 back markers began to appear in front of the GT500 class leaders, their battle for the lead became suddenly close and harried. The No. 17 KEIHIN NSX CONCEPT-GT and No. 38 ZENT CERUMO RC F were suddenly on the tail of the leading No. 6 WAKO'S 4CR RC F, and the fight was on.
At the approach to the first turn of the sixth lap, the presence of a GT300 car triggered movement in the 3-way battle for the GT500 class lead. It resulted in a collision between No. 6 WAKO'S 4CR RC F and the GT300 class’ No. 22 R’Qs SLS AMG GT3. It caused both machines to spin out and that allowed the No. 17 KEIHIN NSX CONCEPT-GT to move into the lead.
With Honda president Takahiro Hachigo, who had come to SUGO for the race, looked on, the No.17 KEIHIN NSX CONCEPT-GT proceeded to build up a margin of lead of 2.961 sec. by the tenth lap, but the timing of the appearance of GT300 back markers soon caused that lead to diminish quickly. By lap 16, the No. 38 ZENT CERUMO RC F was moving up on the tail of the No. 17 KEIHIN NSX CONCEPT-GT, and when it cut in on the inside of the Horseback Corner, the two machines collided. This caused the No. 17 KEIHIN NSX CONCEPT-GT to spin out.

 

 

As one after another of the lead cars suffered spins, it was now the No. 38 ZENT CERUMO RC F that moved into the lead, and approaching it from behind was the No. 39 DENSO KOBELCO SARD RC F (Heikki Kovalainen) that had been moving up steadily from its 8th-position grid start, passing one car after another. Kovalainen was driving with an aggressiveness worth of a former F1 driver with one F1 win to his credit. After passing the No. 100 RAYBRIG NSX CONCEPT-GT on lap 12, Kovalainen went on to pass the No. 37 KeePer TOM'S RC F (James Rossiter) on lap 20. Then, at the first turn of the 23rd lap, he overtook the No. 38 ZENT CERUMO RC F in one swift move to take the lead.
Meanwhile, staging an equally impressive charge through the pack as Kovalainen came Yuhi Sekiguchi in the No. 19 WedsSport ADVAN RC F with an amazing display of speed. On lap 24 Sekiguchi passed the No. 37 KeePer TOM'S RC F, and then on the 25th lap he passed the No. 38 ZENT CERUMO RC F while brushing it lightly. From there he started chasing Kovalaine.
However, a crash by the GT300 class No. 5 MACH SYAKEN MC86 coming out of the last turn of lap 26 and the Safety Car had to be brought out to control the race while the crash was cleaned up. The intervention of the SC would have a big effect on the race from that point on.
This season, a new regulation prohibiting pit stops during an SC control period was instated. As a result, when the race was restarted on the 31st lap the No. 24 Forum Engineering ADVAN GT-R, No. 15 Drago Modulo NSX CONCEPT-GT, No. 46 S Road CRAFTSPORTS GT-R and No. 100 RAYBRIG NSX CONCEPT-GT of the GT500 class all immediately headed for the pits to avoid the confusion on the track.
On the other hand, the LEXUS RC F cars in the lead group stayed out on the track until the No. 38 ZENT CERUMO RC F, now running in 3rd position, also made its pit stop at the end of 35th lap. Then, on the 44th lap, the No. 19 WedsSport ADVAN RC F in 2nd place also made its pit stop. This was followed by the No. 39 DENSO KOBELCO SARD RC F making its pit stop on the 46th lap.

 

 

However, when the LEXUS RC F leaders returned to the race after their pit stops, they found one car already running in front of them. It was one of the four cars that had immediately pitted after the Safety Car interval, the No. 24 Forum Engineering ADVAN GT-R, now running with some margin of lead. In fact, the No. 24 Forum Engineering ADVAN GT-R had elected for a no-tire-change- strategy when it made its pit stop. “Believing the people from Yokohama Tire, I made that decision during the Safety Car run,” said team manager Masahiko Kondo later. Based on that decision, a quick pit stop was made and Daiki Sasaki took over from Yanagida at the wheel and returned to the race.

Behind the No. 24 Forum Engineering ADVAN GT-R now running in the lead, the No. 39 DENSO KOBELCO SARD RC F (Kohei Hirate) had quickly warmed up its tires and was approaching No. 24. Although the No. 39 DENSO KOBELCO SARD RC F was able to close the gap on the No. 24 Forum Engineering ADVAN GT-R over infield portion of the track, when it came to the speed contest over the latter half of the course, No. 24 would pull away again each time, making an overtake difficult.
What’s more, the battle behind No. 39 between the No. 38 ZENT CERUMO RC F (Yuji Tachikawa), No. 19 WedsSport ADVAN RC F (Yuji Kunimoto) and the No. 6 WAKO'S 4CR RC F (Kazuya Oshima) was intensifying. But, as the race entered its final stages and patches of blue sky began to appear between the clouds, the gap between the leading No. 24 Forum Engineering ADVAN GT-R and the No. 39 DENSO KOBELCO SARD RC F in 2nd place began to narrow again. At the same time, the three LEXUS RC F cars in 3rd to 5th position were also closing in on the leaders.
As the race entered the 72nd lap with not much time remaining, the gap narrowed even more between the top five cars. “I was just running on will power,” said the No. 24 Forum Engineering ADVAN GT-R’s Sasaki later. The condition of his tires was getting worse, but he was able to keep the lead by making skillful use of the GT300 back markers. This kept the top five cars in a close-fought battle. On the 76th lap, in the midst of this battle, the No. 38 ZENT CERUMO RC F succeeded in passing the No. 39 DENSO KOBELCO SARD RC F. There were five laps remaining and it looked as if the battle for the lead was intensifying.
However, on last turn of that 76th lap the GT300 class No. 18 UPGARAGE BANDOH 86 crashed, sending pieces of the tire barrier scattering around in a dangerous state. For this reason, the Red Flag was displayed to control the race, and the decision was made to end the race as of the running order of the 74th lap.

After that, with the decision to end the race as it was, the No. 24 Forum Engineering ADVAN GT-R got its first win of the season. This also gave the Nissan GT-R NISMO GT500 camp its third straight victory of the season. As a result of the positions of the cars the point of the 74th lap where the race as officially ended, 2nd place went to the No. 39 DENSO KOBELCO SARD RC F and the third spot on the podium went to the No. 38 ZENT CERUMO RC F. Places 2nd to 5th all went to LEXUS RC F cars. Among the Honda NSX CONCEPT-GT cars, the best finish was the 6th place by the No. 17 KEIHIN NSX CONCEPT-GT.

 

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