2014.05.04

In a survival race full of mishaps the CALSONIC IMPUL GT-R emerges victorious!

 

Round2 Fuji Speedway : GT500 Race

The FUJI GT 500km RACE, Round 2 of the 2014 AUTOBACS SUPER GT series, took place on the afternoon of May 4th at Fuji Speedway (Shizuoka Pref). The GT500 class winner was the No. 12 CALSONIC IMPUL GT-R driven by Hironobu Yasuda and Joao Paulo Lima de Oliveira. In the GT300 class, the win went to the No. 4 GOODSMILE HATSUNE MIKU Z4 driven by Nobuteru Taniguchi and Tatsuya Kataoka.

 

 

 

Trouble strikes top runners one after another

The long-awaited FUJI GT 500km RACE began at 2:00 in the afternoon with the start of one warm-up lap and one formation lap, after which the start of the 110-lap race was signaled and the machines roared into action at 2:04.
The pole-starting No. 12 CALSONIC IMPUL GT-R driven by Joao Paulo Lima De Oliveira dashed into the lead, followed by two more GT-R machines, the No. 46 S ROAD MOLA GT-R (Satoshi Motoyama) and No. 23 MOTUL AUTECH GT-R (Ronnie Quintarelli), and then the No. 36 PETRONAS TOM'S RC F (James Rossiter) and No. 1 ZENT CERUMO RC F (Kohei Hirate), all running in their starting order. But, trouble struck soon on the second lap, when the No. 17 KEIHIN NSX CONCEPT-GT (Koudai Tsukakoshi) suffered machine trouble and had to return to the pit and eventually drop out of the race.
Running at the front, De Oliveira was pushing hard and increasing his margin lead over the No. 46 S Road MOLA GT-R, until a GT300 machine crashed at the end of the straight on the fourth lap. This brought out the Safety Car, which erased De Oliveira's 3-sec. lead in an instant.
The race was finally restarted on the tenth lap. Again, De Oliveira began to push hard, recording the race's fastest lap of 1'30.498 on lap 14 as he pulled away from the No. 46 S Road MOLA GT-R for the second time. Even as the GT500 class leaders began to come up on GT300 class back markers De Oliveira in the No. 12 CALSONIC IMPUL GT-R continued to lap at a fast pace. When trouble struck again it was the 2nd-position No. 46 S Road MOLA GT-R that was the victim, as flames began to lick out from its left front end on the 19th lap. Motoyama brought his flaming machine to a stop at the exit of the second turn and escaped from the car unhurt. This accident took out one of the three GT-R machines that had been running at the head of the pack.
The accident also brought out the Safety Car again, with the order at this point in the race being No. 12 CALSONIC IMPUL GT-R in the lead followed by the No. 23 MOTUL AUTECH GT-R, the No. 36 PETRONAS TOM'S RC F and the No. 1 ZENT CERUMO RC F. While the Safety Car was controlling the race on the 21st lap, three Honda machines, the No. 18 Weider Modulo NSX CONCEPT-GT (Naoki Yamamoto), No. 100 RAYBRIG NSX CONCEPT-GT (Takashi Kogure) and the No. 8 ARTA NSX CONCEPT-GT (Kosuke Matsuura) all decided to make their first pit stops.

 

 

The race was restarted again from the 23rd lap and, although there were scenes like the No. 36 PETRONAS TOM'S RC F taking the in side on the No. 23 MOTUL AUTECH GT-R as it was caught behind a back marker on the hairpin of the 33rd lap only to lose the advantage again while exiting the turn, there were few changes in the order of the lead group before the teams began making their routine pit stops from the 35th lap. At the end of that lap the No. 23 MOTUL AUTECH GT-R and the No. 24 D'station ADVAN GT-R (Michael Krumm) running in 5th position returned to their pit. On the 37th lap they were followed by the No. 39 DENSO KOBELCO SARD RC F (Hiroaki Ishiura) and No. 19 WedsSport ADVAN RC F (Yuhi Sekiguchi), and on the 39th lap by the No. 6 ENEOS SUSTINA RC F (Kazuya Oshima) and others. Meanwhile, De Oliveira in the leading No. 12 CALSONIC IMPUL GT-R continued his run until the 42nd lap before returning to the pit.
With No. 12 in the pit, it was the No. 18 Weider Modulo NSX CONCEPT-GT (Jean Karl Vernay) that moved into the lead, having made its pit stop early on. On the 47th lap, however, No. 18 was passed by the No. 23 MOTUL AUTECH GT-R (Tsugio Matsuda) and surrendered the lead. Although it had taken a bit longer in the pit work that other teams, the No. 12 CALSONIC IMPUL GT-R, with Hironobu Yasuda now at the wheel, caught and passed the No. 1 ZENT CERUMO RC F (Yuji Tachikawa) on the first corner of the 50th lap and on the same lap, passed the No. 18 Weider Modulo NSX CONCEPT-GT as well. Now in 2nd position, the No. 12 CALSONIC IMPUL GT-R began to chase the leading No. 23 MOTUL AUTECH GT-R.

 

 

Regaining the lead, the CALSONIC IMPUL GT-R runs on to victory

In the middle stages of the race, the No. 23 MOTUL AUTECH GT-R, the No. 12 CALSONIC IMPUL GT-R and the No. 1 ZENT CERUMO RC F formed the lead group. They were followed in 4th to 6th places by the No. 24 D'station ADVAN GT-R (Daiki Sasaki), the No. 6 ENEOS SUSTINA RC F (Yuji Kunimoto) and the No. 39 DENSO KOBELCO SARD RC F (Oliver Jarvis), having all passed the No. 18 Weider Modulo NSX CONCEPT-GT on the 56th lap. But, on the 57th lap, the No. 12 CALSONIC IMPUL GT-R had a light collision with a back marker on the last corner that caused damage to its left front end and slowed its pursuit of the leading No. 23 MOTUL AUTECH GT-R.
The race went on with no changes in this order for some time, and protected by a large lead, it looked as if the No. 23 MOTUL AUTECH GT-R would go into the latter stages of the race secure in the lead. However, Matsuda (No. 23) suddenly brought his car to a stop on the 300R turn of 69th lap. This allowed the No. 12 CALSONIC IMPUL GT-R, the No.1 ZENT CERUMO RC F and the No.24 D'station ADVAN GT-R to get past the No. 23 MOTUL AUTECH GT-R before it was able to get moving again and return to the pit, where the tires were changed and it returned to the race, now out of contention for the win.
This put the No. 12 CALSONIC IMPUL GT-R unexpectedly back in the lead again, and although it would be plagued by pick-up of rubber shreds on the tires that produced excessive vibration that slowed its pace as times, Yasuda and then De Oliveira in the third stint were able to hold off the pursuing No. 1 ZENT CERUMO RC F and race on to what turned out to be a win from pole position. The win by the No. 12 CALSONIC IMPUL GT-R following its 3rd place in the opening round of the season put it on top in the point ranking.
The No. 1 ZENT CERUMO RC F finished 2nd and 3rd place went to the No. 6 ENEOS SUSTINA RC F that had managed to pass the No. 24 D'station ADVAN GT-R after its second pit stop. In 4th place was the No. 24 D'station ADVAN GT-R and in 5th place came Daisuke Ito in the No. 37 KeePer TOM'S RC F, having passed the No. 39 DENSO KOBELCO SARD RC F on the 107th lap. With these results, the No. 37 KeePer TOM'S RC F and No. 6 ENEOS SUSTINA RC F stand tied for 2nd in the series ranking with 26 points each.

 

 

 

 

 

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