2016.08.28

ZENT CERUMO RC F comes from 8th-grid start to claim a first win of the season!

Round6 Suzuka Circuit : Race GT500 Review

On August 28, the “45th International Suzuka 1000km” race, Round 6 of the 2016 AUTOBACS SUPER GT series was held at the Suzuka Circuit in Mie Prefecture. Competing in difficult conditions that saw rain falling intermittently in this famed race with its long tradition, the winner of the GT500 race was the No. 38 ZENT CERUMO RC F driven by Yuji Tachikawa and Hiroaki Ishiura, in an outstanding come-from-behind victory after starting from 8th position on the grid. In the GT300 class, the winner was the No. 61 SUBARU BRZ R&D SPORT team (Takuto Iguchi/Hideki Yamauchi).

 

 

 

The long-awaited race day of the Suzuka 1000km dawned under rainy skies, but by the time of the Pit Walk event, the rain had stopped and the track was beginning to dry, although the skies remained cloudy. On the grid there were signs that the teams were still debating their tire choices. However, by the time the Parade Run led by the Mie Prefectural Police started at 12:30, all of the GT500 class cars on the grid had chosen slick tires.
When the race finally started, the pole-sitting No. 15 Drago Modulo NSX CONCEPT-GT (Hideki Mutoh) took the lead, followed by the 2nd-position starter, the No. 46 S Road CRAFTSPORTS GT-R (Satoshi Motoyama). Behind them, the No. 38 ZENT CERUMO RC F (Yuji Tachikawa) had pulled off an amazing dash from 8th position on the grid. On the fifth lap, Tachikawa had passed the No. 8 ARTA NSX CONCEPT-GT (Kosuke Matsuura) to move into 4th position and by lap seven he was closing in on the top three.
Keeping this momentum, Tachikawa overtook the No. 12 CALSONIC IMPUL GT-R on the first corner of lap 12, and on the fifteenth lap he battled side-by-side with the No. 46 S Road CRAFTSPORTS GT-R and prevailed to move into 2nd position. Pressing on, Tachikawa gradually closed the gap on the leading No. 15 Drago Modulo NSX CONCEPT-GT and finally moved onto the inside of Mutoh (No. 15) in the Hitachi Automotive Systems Chicane of lap 22 and grabbed the lead, having come all the way from 8th on the starting grid.
The GT500 class cars had all finished their first routine pit stop between the 25th and 28th laps. At this point, Hiroaki Ishiura, now at the wheel in the No. 38 ZENT CERUMO RC F, was running in the lead, with the No. 12 CALSONIC IMPUL GT-R (Hironobu Yasuda) and the No. 46 S Road CRAFTSPORTS GT-R, now driven by Mitsunori Takaboshi in his GT500 debut, filled out the new top three.

Meanwhile, the No. 36 au TOM'S RC F was moving up, having prevailed in several battles in the middle stages of the race. At the wheel of car No. 36, Daisuke Ito passed the No. 19 WedsSport ADVAN RC F and went on to overtake the No. 46 S Road CRAFTSPORTS GT-R on the same lap. This put the No. 36 au TOM'S RC F in position for a podium finish.
The teams performed their second routine stop from around the 52nd lap of the race. At the front, the leading No. 38 ZENT CERUMO RC F made its stop at the end of the 58th lap. On the next lap, the No. 12 CALSONIC IMPUL GT-R in 2nd position made its stop, but just after it left the pit to rejoin the race. A fire broke out on the car’s left side. The fire was quickly put out but the No. 12 CALSONIC IMPUL GT-R was sadly forced to retire from the race.
Furthermore, a penalty was issued on the 2nd-place No. 46 S Road CRAFTSPORTS GT-R for apparently passing another car when the Yellow Flag was being displayed, which required to team to take a ten-second stop penalty. This moved the No. 36 au TOM'S RC F up into 2nd place, while the No. 6 WAKO'S 4CR RC F (Andrea Caldarelli) that had worked free from the middle group moved into 3rd place. This put three LEXUS RC F cars in the lead for the middle stages of the race.

 

 

In the middle stages of the race, the No. 46 S Road CRAFTSPORTS GT-R that had struggled to keep competitive in the early stages was now performing well. Coming out of the second corner of the 82nd lap, the No. 2 SYNTIUM Apple LOTUS GT300 class car crashed and brought out the Safety Car until the car could be cleared from the track. When the SC left the track and the race resumed, the No. 46 S Road CRAFTSPORTS GT-R (Mitsunori Takaboshi) passed the 3rd-place-running No. 6 WAKO'S 4CR RC F (Kazuya Oshima) with a bold move to the outside on the 130R curve of the 99th lap.
Meanwhile, in the race for the lead, the No. 38 ZENT CERUMO RC F (Ishiura) that had held the lead ever since Tachikawa had taken it with his amazing driving in the first stint of the race, was now being chased by the always-strong Suzuka 1000km competitor, the No. 36 au TOM'S RC F, following some fast pit work after the SC intervention. After changing drivers from Daisuke Ito to Nick Cassidy in their pit stop at the end of the 115th lap, No. 36 found itself in the lead when the No. 38 ZENT CERUMO RC F made its pit stop on the next lap.
About ten laps later, the No. 36 au TOM'S RC F was still running in the lead, but from around the 125th lap, rain began to fall on Suzuka circuit. The rain fell particularly hard on the west end of the circuit and numerous cars were running off the track at the Soon Curve. It was here at the Spoon that Tachikawa, now at the wheel of the No. 38 ZENT CERUMO RC F, overtook Cassidy in the No. 36 au TOM'S RC F on the 129th lap of the race. With the track conditions were changing minute-by-minute, the two Lexus RC F cars continued their battle for the lead.
However, the winner of this dual would be the No. 38 ZENT CERUMO RC F, as it gradually pulled away with an increasing lead over the No. 36 au TOM'S RC F even through its final routine stop at the end of the 142nd lap and went on to take the checkered flag first.
With five laps remaining in the race, the rain was falling quite hard now on the east end of the circuit, causing all of the cars to run with great care, but Ishiura in the No. 38 ZENT CERUMO RC F was able to hold on to his lead and take the checkers as the winner! This brought the Lexus RC F camp its first win of the season. For the No. 36 au TOM'S RC F, it just missed a third consecutive Suzuka 1000km win by finishing 2nd. For the No. 46 S Road CRAFTSPORTS GT-R finishing 3rd, it was a great accolade to mount the podium for Takaboshi in his GT500 debut.

It looked as if fourth place would go to the ranking leader, the No. 1 MOTUL AUTECH GT-R, in a race that barely showed the effect of carrying the largest weight handicap in the field. However, on the final lap the car ran out of gas unexpectedly and came to a stop. This gave 4th place to the No. 6 WAKO'S 4CR RC F and 5th place to the No. 19 WedsSport ADVAN RC F. This gave the Lexus RC F camp a 1-2-4-5 finish.
Meanwhile, the Honda NSX CONCEPT-GT cars that have been fast at Suzuka, the No. 15 Drago Modulo NSX CONCEPT-GT unfortunately had to return to the garage on the 82nd lap, leaving the No. 100 RAYBRIG NSX CONCEPT-GT to be the top Honda finisher in 7th place.

 

 

 

 

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