2016.08.28

SUBARU BRZ R&D SPORT proves its strength at Suzuka once again with GT300 victory

Round6 Suzuka Circuit : Race GT300 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).

 

 

Due to the length of the Suzuka 1000km race, there is no morning free practice session held as in the other GT rounds. Instead, the usual 8-minute warm-up time before the start was extended to 20 minutes. In this session the fastest time was recorded by the No. 61 SUBARU BRZ R&D SPORT. Also, the No. 31 TOYOTA PRIUS apr GT performed well, turning in the third-fastest time. In contrast, the pole-sitting No. 18 UPGARAGE BANDOH 86 spent the entire time verifying settings and only managed a 15th-place time, while the No. 2 SYNTIUM Apple LOTUS team spent most of the session giving additional running time to driver Kazuho Takahashi who had less track time in the previous sessions, so it also was only able to post a slower time that ended it in 18th position.
What’s more, the No. 7 Studie BMW M6 that had been experiencing machine trouble from the Saturday practice session continued to suffer from unsolved engine trouble until just before the start of the race. This unfortunately forced the team to withdraw from the race.

By the time of the start, the track had dried to half-wet condition and was expected continuing to approach dry condition, which led most of the teams to start the race with dry-condition tires, with the exception of two machines, the 2nd-place qualifying No. 31 TOYOTA PRIUS apr GT (Koki Saga) and the No. 111 EVA RT TEST-01 Rn-s AMG GT (Masayuki Ueda) farther back on the grid. All eyes were waiting to see which choice would be the right one.
After the Traffic Safety Parade and the Formation Lap, the race got officially underway at 12:29 p.m.
At the start, the pole-sitting No. 18 UPGARAGE BANDOH 86 (Yuhki Nakayama) moved into the lead without mishap. It was followed by the No. 61 SUBARU BRZ R&D SPORT (Hideki Yamauchi), which had jumped up to 2nd position by passing the No. 2 SYNTIUM Apple LOTUS (Hiroki Katoh) between the first and second corners and the No. 31 TOYOTA PRIUS apr GT (Koki Saga) in the Spoon Curve. Meanwhile, the No. 31 TOYOTA PRIUS apr GT that had chosen rain tires was indeed having trouble keeping pace, and it decided to return to the pit for a tire change at the end of the third lap. After changing to dry-condition tires and changing drivers from Saga to Yuichi Nakayama, the team returned to the race having lost considerable ground.
The No. 18 UPGARAGE BANDOH 86 was running consistently in the lead, while the No. 61 SUBARU BRZ R&D SPORT that had moved up to 2nd position was chasing from a distance of about one second behind, but without the strength to make any decisive move, the contest between the two leaders remained a quiet one. Behind them, the No. 0 GAINER TANAX GT-R (Andre Couto) led a second group consisting of the No. 33 Excellence Porsche (Naoya Yamano), No. 2 SYNTIUM Apple LOTUS and the No. 25 VivaC 86 MC (Takamitsu Matsui), but eventually the No. 0 GAINER TANAX GT-R emerged with a strong hold on 3rd position. Among this lead groups, and accident occurred on the “S” curve of the 24th lap when the challenging No. 0 GAINER TANAX GT-R edged the No. 61 SUBARU BRZ R&D SPORT off the track. The No. 61 SUBARU BRZ R&D SPORT spun out, and although it was quickly able to return to the race, it had suffered a costly time loss. Meanwhile, the No. 0 GAINER TANAX GT-R was given a Driving Penalty that dropped it back in the field.

 

 

In the middle stages of the race, it was the No. 2 SYNTIUM Apple LOTUS that became the focus of much attention. After the team’s top driver, Katoh, pushed to take the lead in the 30th lap, his teammate driving the second stint, Tadasuke Makino, pushed hard after rejoining the race in 9th position. As a result of the timing of his rivals’ pit stops, Makino found himself in the lead once again on the 58th lap. Checking his lap times, he was running consistently in the 2’2 range and occasionally coming close to Katoh’s best times with 2’1 laps.
When the team’s third driver, Kazuho Takahashi, took the wheel of the No. 2 SYNTIUM Apple LOTUS, he did a solo spin-out while running in 5th position on the “S” curve of the 83rd lap. The machine crashed from its rear and brought out the Safety Car until the track damage could be cleared.
This interval eliminated the gaps that had been built up between the leading machines. This proved to be an unlucky development for the leading No. 18 UPGARAGE BANDOH 86 and the 2nd-place running No. 4 GOODSMILE HATSUNE MIKU AMG (Tatsuya Kataoka>Nobuteru Taniguchi) that had to make its pit stop as soon as the SC run ended. In contrast, the SC interval turned out to be a lucky turn of events for the No. 61 SUBARU BRZ R&D SPORT and the No. 0 GAINER TANAX GT-R that had suffered time losses in the early stages of the race.
Due to the difference in their pit-stop timing in the latter stages of the race, the No. 18 UPGARAGE BANDOH 86 and No. 61 SUBARU BRZ R&D SPORT had been trading the lead every time they made their pit stops. Now, the No. 61 SUBARU BRZ R&D SPORT that moved into the lead again when the No. 18 UPGARAGE BANDOH 86 made its final pit stop was able to run on in the lead to the finish and take the win. S for the battle for 2nd place that had been raging between the No. 0 GAINER TANAX GT-R (Ryuichiro Tomita) and the No. 31 TOYOTA PRIUS apr GT (Yuichi Nakayama). This nose-to-tail contest final brought the last highlight of the race when, with two laps remaining, Nakayama passed Tomita in the second turn and went on to finish 2nd.

 

 

 

 

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