Suzuka Circuit

The final race of the 2005 AUTOBACS SUPER GT calendar is almost upon us. After seven sensational rounds that featured no fewer than six different winning crews in both the GT500 and GT300 classes, the stage is set for a tense battle as the season comes to a close at Suzuka Circuit.

The result in Round 7 at Autopolis three weeks ago means the main contenders for honors in the Driver's championship are now Ralph Firman and Daisuke Ito in the #8 ARTA NSX from Team Honda Racing. The pair snatched the lead from James Courtney and Takeshi Tsuchiya in the #36 TOM'S SUPRA after the Toyota pair had led the chase since the early part of the year. Michael Krumm and Masataka Yanagida are now equal second in the #22 NISMO Motul PItwork Z. Also in with a mathematical chance is the #38 Zent Cerumo SUPRA, winner both times at Fuji Speedway and currently fourth in the points. The reigning champions Richard Lyons and Satoshi Motoyama are fifth, and in an upset could lurch ahead of all others at the last moment.

Team Honda Racing lead the Teams' Title with 77 points (#8, #18 Honda NSX), six ahead of NISMO (#1, #22 NISSAN 350Z), and 10 in front of TEAM TOM'S (#36, #37 Toyota SUPRA).

In GT300, it's TEAM RECKLESS (#30 Toyota MR-S) with 81 points, 10 ahead of nearest rivals AUTOBACS TEAM AGURI RACING (#43 Garaiya), and 15 in front of the M-TEC squad with their title-defending #0 EBBRO M-TEC NSX.

Teams and race fans will be aware of the dominance the Hondas showed this August in the (non-SUPER GT) Pokka 1,000kms event at Suzuka. It was the ARTA machine that looked on for the win until getting involved with a backmarker at two-thirds distance. No sooner was the car out than its sister machine, the Takata Dome car, took up the mantle at the head of the field. It too, however, fell into trouble - needing a splash and dash in the dying moments of the race, handing victory to the #39 DENSO SARD SUPRA GT.

Driver's Points Battle
For the majority of the season, it was the driver pairing of James Courtney and Takeshi Tsuchiya in the #36 TOM'S SUPRA that led the way.
However, the Team Honda Racing win in Round 7 at Autopolis turned the driver's points battle on its head. Former leaders Courtney and Tsuchiya were knocked into joint second place (alongside the #22 NISMO entry of Michael Krumm and Masataka Yanagida), while the #8 ARTA NSX driver pair of Ralph Firman and Daisuke Ito, previously fifth in the standings, shot into the top spot. Their win at this point in the season, and the fact they're headed to a track where they're expected to be very strong, doesn't bode well for the other frontrunners in the title chase.

Weight Handicap
Always a mitigating factor in the outcome of SUPER GT races, the amount of success ballast, or 'weight handi' as it's known, plays a critical part in how machines fare in the heat of race battle.

Although the high-speed nature of Suzuka Circuit favors the NSXs, it is not a foregone conclusion that the lead protagonist in the driver's battle will automatically win. With 90 kilos of success ballast weighing them down, the #8 ARTA NSX pairing of Ralph and Daisuke Ito are some 70 kilos heavier than their nearest rivals in the title chase, the #36 TOM'S Supra of James Courtney and Takeshi Tsuchiya. Meanwhile, the third-placed #22 Krumm/Yanagida NISMO car has 60 kilos onboard, while the fourth-placed #38 Supra is carrying 40 kilos.

GT300 sees some pretty mammoth chunks of lead in the floor of a few of that category's cars too. The leaders (#30 TEAM RECKLESS MR-S), while weighed down with a meaty 75 kilos, are nowhere near as heavy as the 2nd and 3rd-placed cars in the championship (#43 ARTA Garaiya and #0 M-TEC EBBRO NSX) - both with 100kgs onboard. This difference means it looks as if the MR-S could have the necessary advantage weight-wise to keep its margin, and possibly take the title.

For the final event of the 2005 season, there are also a few new developments...
First, the JLOC (Japan Lamborghini Owners' Club) squad will field a second car in GT300 (replacing the GT500-class #88 car), with the competition number 86. It will be the first time two identical Lamborghini Murcielagos race each other for position in SUPER GT.
Also, the return of the Team Taisan car, the #26 Direction Taisan Total S GT3R Porsche, making for a total of 45 cars entered to compete at the season-closer.

In typical SUPER GT style, it's still all to play for as we go in to the last event of the season. GT500 boasts five cars who could end up with the silverware; while in GT300, there are three teams with championship glory in their sights.
When the lights go out at 14:00 on Sunday, November 6th, it will be another intense and unrelenting fight to the flag two hours later. As usual, it is impossible to predict who will ultimately be victorious - but that's just another of the many aspects of SUPER GT that make it so exciting to watch.