2016.08.27

Coming from behind, UPGARAGE BANDOH 86 wins a first GT300 pole

Round6 Suzuka Circuit : Qualifying GT300 Review

The official qualifying for the 45th International SUZUKA 1000km race, Round 6 of the 2016 AUTOBACS SUPER GT series, was held at the Suzuka Circuit (Mie Prefecture) on the afternoon of August 27 (Sat.). In the GT500 class qualifying, the No. 15 Drago Modulo NSX CONCEPT-GT driven by Hideki Mutoh and Oliver Turvey won pole position with a course record time. In the GT300 class, the No. 18 UPGARAGE BANDOH 86 driven by Yuhki Nakayama and Shinnosuke Yamada won class pole, also with a course record. For both teams it was their first Drivers and Team poles.

 

A heavy cloud cover hung over Suzuka during the morning’s official practice, but as time passed the clouds began to give way to blue sky, and the time of the start of the afternoon’s qualifying sessions it was clear summer skies. After the 2:30 start of the GT300 Q1 session, all of the cars except the No. 5 MACH SYAKEN MC86 that had suffered a crash, went out on the track one after another. One of the later to leave the pit was the No. 2 SYNTIUM Apple LOTUS SUPER GT driven by Tadasuke Makino who was making his SUPER GT debut.
The first to break the two-minute barrier and set a target time was the No. 33 Excellence Porsche (Naoya Yamano), and quickly beating that time were the No. 3 B-MAX NDDP GT-R (Jann Mardenborough) and No. 26 TAISAN SARD FJ AUDI R8 (Yuya Motojima). Then the No. 25 VivaC 86 MC (Takeshi Tsuchiya) brought the top time down to 1’59.069.
With five minutes remaining in the session, the No. 88 MANEPA LAMBORGHINI GT3 (Kazuki Hiramine) was the first to break the 1’59 barrier with a time of 1’58.934.Next, the No. 65 LEON CVSTOS AMG-GT (Naoya Gamou) and the No. 18 UPGARAGE BANDOH 86 (Shinnosuke Yamada) both recorded identical times of 1’58.923 to move into the top spot. But, it was Makino in car No. 2 that came in with a new top time. After recording a first attack time of 1’58.484, Makino ran two more attacks. Then on the next lap he succeeded in breaking into the 1’57 range. This time broke the existing course record of 1’58.811. It was an impressive show of speed by Makino that belied his rookie status.
Behind Makino, three drivers recorded times in the 1’58 range, Gamou, Yamada and Hiramine. Gamou is a driver in his second year in GT300, while Yamada is a GT rookie like Makino and Hiramine is also a young driver in his second full year in GT competition. This meant that all four top positions went to future potential ace drivers who have polished their skills in F3 and FIA-F4 competition.
Meanwhile, cars like the No. 11 GAINER TANAX AMG GT3 (Katsuyuki Hiranaka) and the 15 other cars behind it unable to break the 2’00 barrier failed to qualify for Q2. As for the No. 30 TOYOTA PRIUS apr GT (Kota Sasaki) that qualified in 12th position, it was given a driving manner penalty for obstructing the attack run of another car, resulting in the cancellation of No. 30’s best time, which dropped it down to 15th position. As a result, the No. 21 Hitotsuyama Audi R8 LMS (Richard Lyons) that had been in 15th position was able to move up and qualify for Q2. The No. 7 Studie BMW M6 (Seiji Ara) that had suffered machine trouble in the morning practice, had fix the problem and taken part in Q1 only to suffer a slow-down in one of its attacks and fail to qualify for Q2.

 

 

At 12 minutes, the Q2 session is three minutes shorter than Q1. All of the cars began to move out to the track as soon as the session started. And, after warming up the tires and getting a grasp of their car’s condition, the drivers began making their time attacks about four minutes into the session.
The first to break the 2-minut barrier was the No. 4 GOODSMILE HATSUNE MIKU AMG (Nobuteru Taniguchi), but its time was soon bettered by the No. 61 SUBARU BRZ R&D SPORT (Hideki Yamauchi) to take the top position on the time board with a lap in the low 1’58 range. Then, the No. 18 UPGARAGE BANDOH 86 (Yuhki Nakayama) moved to the top spot with the first time in the 1’57 range, at 1’57.876. But this would only be the start of a rush of new best times.
When the top pole contender, the No. 2 SYNTIUM Apple LOTUS (Hiroki Katoh), made its next time attack, its time of 1’58.124 failed to reach that of Nakayama in car No. 18 and Katoh had to settle for 2nd position. Then Nakayama Yuichi in the No. 31 TOYOTA PRIUS apr GT gave it his best shot, bringing his best time down to 1’58.092, moving him into 2nd position but failing to catch Nakayama. But Katoh (No. 2) wouldn’t give up, continuing to make two more attacks but failing to better his time and finally finishing the session in 3rd position.
This gave pole position to the No. 18 UPGARAGE BANDOH 86. This was a long-awaited first pole position, both for the team, now in its second year, and for Nakayama. Also, since Nakayama’s time didn’t better the course record time set by Makino in Q1, Makino’s name will stay in the record books at least until next year’s Suzuka race.

 

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