2016.08.27

First Team Pole Position for Drago Modulo NSX CONCEPT-GT!

Round6 Suzuka Circuit : Qualifying GT500 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.

 

Saturday morning brought cloudy skies at Suzuka Circuit for Round 6 of the SUPER GT series. But, while the official qualifying for the 11th and 12th rounds of the FIA-F4 series was being run, blue skies began to appear between the clouds, and by the time the Pit Walk event started at 12:30, the intense summer heat of this season had returned to the Suzuka track. And, by the time of the start of the GT300 class qualifying Q1 session at 2:30 in the afternoon summer skies were overhead.

The official Q1 session for the GT500 class started at 2:50. The first to take to the track with about 9 min. 20 sec. remaining in the session was Mitsunori Takaboshi in the No. 46 S Road CRAFTSPORTS GT-R, who was making his GT500 class debut in this round. Takaboshi had come to the qualifying with only 20 laps of driving time in the car from the morning practice, and he would be the first to begin his time attacks.
On his second flying lap, Takaboshi recorded a time of 1’48.163. This became the target time for the other drivers, who proceeded to better it one after another. First was the No. 38 ZENT CERUMO RC F (Hiroaki Ishiura) with a time of 1’48.129, followed by the No. 19 WedsSport ADVAN RC F (Yuhi Sekiguchi), No. 12 CALSONIC IMPUL GT-R (Joao Paulo Lima De Oliveira) and the No. 24 Forum Engineering ADVAN GT-R (Daiki Sasaki), all bettering Takaboshi’s time.

But, all of these times would be bettered soon by the fastest car from the morning practice, the No. 15 Drago Modulo NSX CONCEPT-GT (Oliver Turvey). Turvey’s time of 1’47.638 would then stand as the fastest for the Q1 session here at Honda’s home course. Meanwhile, the second fastest car for the Q1 session, the No. 100 RAYBRIG NSX CONCEPT-GT (Takuya Izawa), spun out at the exit to the Degner Corner and ended the session in 13th position, thus failing to qualify for Q2.
Finishing in second position was the winner of Round 4, the No. 24 Forum Engineering ADVAN GT-R. The third fastest finisher was the No. 19 WedsSport ADVAN RC F, giving 2nd and 3rd positions to two cars on Yokohama tires. The 4th spot went to the No. 12 CALSONIC IMPUL GT-R, with 5th going to the No. 8 ARTA NSX CONCEPT-GT (Tomoki Nojiri) and 6th to the No. 38 ZENT CERUMO RC F.
Meanwhile the rookie that had caught everyone’s attention at the start of the session, Takaboshi in the No. 46 S Road CRAFTSPORTS GT-R, managed to finish in 7th position and qualify his team for Q2, where Satoshi Motoyama would take the wheel. After his successful debut, Takaboshi smiled and looked relieved as he commented, “I had been able to run well in the morning’s official practice, so I had the confidence to run my best in the qualifying.

 

 

After the GT300 class Q2 session, the GT500 class Q2 started at 3:35 in the afternoon. The first to move out onto the track with nine minutes remaining in the session was the No. 24 Forum Engineering ADVAN GT-R (Masataka Yanagida). Next to take to the track was the No. 46 S Road CRAFTSPORTS GT-R (Satoshi Motoyama). After this, the other Q2 qualifies joined them one after another.
While the cars bettered their own times as the session neared the final checkered flag, it was Satoshi Motoyama in the No. 46 S Road CRAFTSPORTS GT-R who recorded an amazing time, as if in answer to the Q1 efforts of his new teammate, Takaboshi. Motoyama’s time of 1’47.587 was a new course record, but it was soon to be beaten by Hideki Mutoh in the No. 15 Drago Modulo NSX CONCEPT-GT.

Mutoh had run at a faster pace than Motoyama through the first and second sectors of the course and finished with a lap of 1’47.456 to just barely beat out the No. 46 S Road CRAFTSPORTS GT-R’s time! This became the first pole position of the season for the Honda NSX CONCEPT-GT, and it was also the first career pole for Mutoh in the GT500 class. It was also the first pole for the Drago Modulo Honda Racing since its founding. Back in the pit, team manager Ryo Michigami smiled as he commenting that he had been more tense watching Mutoh’s performance than if he had been driving himself.
Qualifying second and third were two Nissan cars, the No. 46 S Road CRAFTSPORTS GT-R and No. 12 CALSONIC IMPUL GT-R (Hironobu Yasuda) respectively. The No. 19 WedsSport ADVAN RC F (Yuji Kunimoto) qualified 4th as the fastest of the LEXUS RC F cars.

 

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