2016.11.13

DENSO KOBELCO SARD RC F Wins Long-awaited Title with Perfect Race

Round8 Twin Ring Motegi : Race GT500 Review

The MOTEGI GT GRAND FINAL, Round 8 (final round) of the 2016 AUTOBACS SUPER GT series, was held at Twin Ring Motegi in Tochigi Pref. on November 13. In the GT500 class, running from pole position to win the race was the No. 39 DENSO KOBELCO SARD RC F (Heikki Kovalainen/ Kohei Hirate), and this victory also brought the team the 2016 season double championship (Drivers and Team titles). In the GT300 class, the No. 25 VivaC 86 MC (Takeshi Tsuchiya/Takamitsu Matsui) won the race and in doing so also won the GT300 class Drivers and Team Championship titles.

 

 

 

 

When the race started after the formation lap, the pole-position No. 39 DENSO KOBELCO SARD RC F (Kohei Hirate) got a good start like in the Round 3 race the day before and moved strongly into the lead. On the third turn of the first lap, the title contending No. 6 WAKO'S 4CR RC F (Andrea Caldarelli) passed the 2nd-place-starting No. 37 KeePer TOM'S RC F (Ryo Hirakawa) to move into 2nd place and begin chasing the No. 39 DENSO KOBELCO SARD RC F.
On the second lap, the No. 12 CALSONIC IMPUL GT-R (Hironobu Yasuda) passed the No. 19 WedsSport ADVAN RC F (Yuhi Sekiguchi) on the third corner and began to break the hold of the Lexus cars on the top places, but on the fifth corner of the 12th lap, Sekiguchi would pass Yasuda back. On the 13th lap, Sekiguchi would also be passed by Hirakawa, putting the GT500 title-contending Lexus cars together in the top three.
Among the GT500 class cars, the No. 12 CALSONIC IMPUL GT-R running in 5th position made its routine pit stop at the end of the 19th lap. At the same time, the No. 24 Forum Engineering ADVAN GT-R running in 13th position made its pit stop as well, and as with the day before, they returned to the race without making a tire change. But this day, the No. 12 CALSONIC IMPUL GT-R would move ahead in the order only to be passed again.

Among the leading Lexus cars, it was the No. 39 DENSO KOBELCO SARD RC F that made its routine stop after the 19th lap. The drivers changed from Hirate to Heikki Kovalaine. And on the next lap, the No. 6 WAKO'S 4CR RC F pitted in as well. As for the No. 19 WedsSport ADVAN RC F holding 3rd position, many it expected it to go through the stop with no tire change, but this time the team changed all four tires.
On the other hand, the No. 1 MOTUL AUTECH GT-R that had started from 9th position on the grid but wanted to get as close to the top as possible in order to keep the possibility of a come-from-behind title victory, made what was for this team the rare choice of going without a tire change after stretching out the first stint until the 30th lap. Although this did enable No. 12 to move up a few places, as expected it would be unable to pick up the pace later in the race when its tire wear cost performance.

 

 

As that challenge was playing out, the No. 39 DENSO KOBELCO SARD RC F (Kovalainen) returned to the race to reclaim its lead and with its convincing pace raced on toward the coveted championship title and the team’s first win of the season. However, with about ten laps remaining in the race, the 2nd-place running No. 6 WAKO'S 4CR RC F (Kazuya Oshima) rapidly began to close in on the leader.
No. 39 DENSO KOBELCO SARD RC F could still be able to win the championship if it finished 2nd in this race, but at the end, Kovalainen kicked his spurs into his Lexus RC F and make it into the third lap from the finish with almost one second of lead. In the trailing No. 6 WAKO'S 4CR RC F, Oshima showed moves that indicated he was trying to get the in-side of Kovalainen on a turn if he had the chance, but Kovalainen held him off every time all the way to the goal. With this, the No. 39 DENSO KOBELCO SARD RC F driver pair of Heikki Kovalainen and Kohei Hirate succeeded in winning the Drivers championship title of the 2016 SUPER GT500 class and also secure the Team title for their No. 39 LEXUS TEAM SARD Team as well.

 

 

For Hirate, this was his first championship title since 2013 and his second overall. For Kovalainen it was his first SUPER GT title in the second year of competition in the series. As for LEXUS TEAM SARD, a team that has been competing in SUPER GT since 1994, the inaugural year of its predecessor, the All-Japan GT Championship, this was its first championship title ever.

“For the team, this was an outstanding result, and above all I wanted to get this first win. It was an amazing weekend,” said Kovalainen. Hirate also commented, saying, “I wanted to see us end the season with a win, and I also wanted TEAM SARD to get its first championship title. So, I can’t express what a great feeling it is.”
The No. 6 WAKO'S 4CR RC F finished the race 2nd as well as moving up to end the season ranked second. Finishing in 3rd place was the No.19 WedsSport ADVAN RC F, while the No. 36 au TOM'S RC F finished 4th and the No. 37 KeePer TOM'S RC F came in 5th, thus giving the Lexus teams a sweep of the top five places. The top finisher among the Nissan GT-R Nismo GT500 was the No. 46 S Road CRAFTSPORTS GT-R in 6th place and the top finisher among the Honda NSX CONCEPT-GT teams was the No. 17 KEIHIN NSX CONCEPT-GT in 11th place. As for the No. 1 MOTUL AUTECH GT-R, it failed to win a third consecutive title.

 

 

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