Autopolis

As the season rolls into its final quarter, teams and drivers once again head to the southern circuit of Autopolis for the SUPER GT in Kyushu 300km event.

The ever-popular Autopolis circuit, located about an hour's drive from the city of Kumamoto, is a favorite for race enthusiasts. Fans gather from all over the Kyushu region and beyond. It is recognized by drivers and visitors alike as one of the most intriguing circuits in the country. The facility itself is located rather remotely, meaning fans have to drive a fair distance to reach the circuit.

Points Battles

Going in to this race, it is the points' battle, in both the Driver's Championship and the Team's Titles, that's on everybody's mind.

Top among the drivers is the Takeshi Tsuchiya/James Courtney pairing in the #36 Open Interface TOM'S SUPRA on 51 points, followed by Fuji Speedway specialists and winners last time out, the #38 ZENT Cerumo SUPRA pairing of Tora Takagi and Yuji Tachikawa with 43 points. Third is the #1 Xanavi NISMO Z, Satoshi Motoyama and Richard Lyons on 40 points. The sister TOM'S car is fourth, followed by the second NISMO entry and the first of the Team Honda Racing cars, the #8 ARTA machine.

Among the Team's Title contenders, its TOM'S (#36, #37 SUPRA) on top with 64 points, followed by reigning champions NISMO (#1, #22 350 Z) with 55; third going to Team Honda Racing (#8, #18 NSX) who've amassed 54 points. Team Cerumo (#38 SUPRA) is fourth on 44, Team Le Mans (#6 SUPRA) fifth with 38, and Nakajima Racing (#32 NSX) with 36 for sixth overall.

GT300 is an even closer battle. The top two places in the drivers' points battle are even at 61 points for both the Team Reckless MR-S and the M-TEC EBBRO NSX. Following in third overall is the super consistent #13 Endless ADVAN Z on 56, with the #43 Garaiya in fourth place two points back on 54. Fifth place goes to the #31 A'PEX with apr-entered MR-S with 48 points, just ahead of the MOLA pair of Nissan 350Z machines, at 45.

As most of the teams in GT300 run only one car, the Team's Title looks virtually identical to the driver's championship.

The Track's History

Autopolis is famous for a few things. First, the circuit was built during Japan's economic 'bubble' period at the end of the eighties, and as such, is a fantastic testament to the technology of the day. No expense was spared in the making of the track, and the original intention of its owners was to place it as a candidate facility for an F1 event. That didn't happen, but shortly after its completion, the World Sports Car Championship visited the track. In the 1991 race, a very young German driver by the name of Michael Schumacher drove the ultra-quick Sauber Mercedes C9, just four months before his Formula One debut.

One other interesting fact about the track is that when the JGTC came here in 1999 for an All-Star event, it snowed! The circuit is nestled in the upland area of the island, and is subject to some very changeable weather.

The Lap Around Autopolis

The circuit itself features pit garages on the left side of the track, rather than the more commonly-seen right, as is the case in all other events for SUPER GT.

After the start/finish line, there's a 500m run down to a 90-degree right-hander. This is followed by a kink before the second corner, sweeping around to a very tight third corner, with fourth a massive sweeper before blasting up the hill to the one of the highest points of the entire track - the hairpin!
After coming up the hill at full bore, the cars have to almost tiptoe to get around the temptingly tight corner to prevent from going off. The cars get so light as they kink left, it's no surprise so many slide or spin off here over the course of the weekend.
As soon as they've negotiated the tightest corner of the track, the cars then rocket directly back downhill for turns six and seven. Before the lap is over, the cars climb back up - this time through a series of four ascending turns before coming back on to the main straight to complete the lap.


The circuit has hosted the JGTC/SUPER GT juggernaught on two occasions after that fateful 1999 All-Star event. In 2003, the #39 DENSO SARD SUPRA GT took the honors, with the #64 Mobil 1 NSX (winners in 1999) second ahead of the #38 au CERUMO SUPRA. Last year, it was the #1 Xanavi NISMO Z that dominated - on it's way to taking the title. Second was the previous year's winner, the #39 SUPRA, though with two different drivers piloting the car. Those two had moved to the #25 ECLIPSE ADVAN SUPRA, and took third.

In the test here just two weeks ago, the #3 G'ZOX Hasemi Z topped the timesheets more times than any other car in GT500. It seems the on-form pace of the car and the Hasemi Motorsports squad could make the difference they need to finally break through with a win. And what a circuit to do it on - one of the most challenging and enjoyable in the SUPER GT calendar.