Points will be added for the next 3 races

No.8 ARTA NSX
The 2007 Super GT series is comprised of 9 races in total. Including the 7th round at Twin Ring Motegi, there are 3 events remaining. In the driver's title point ranking system, points gained in the last 3 races will all be accounted for. This means that results from here onwards will affect the ranking directly. To win the title, the common strategy is to observe the conditions of rivals as well as to accurately collect points.

Is the top-ranked No. 8 ARTA NSX (Daisuke Ito/Ralph Firman) going to follow a common strategy? Or will they aim for the podium like they did in Round 6 to get ahead of their rivals? On the other hand, the ARTA NSX team must desperately be grasping for another win here or at AP (Auto Polis). Second in the points' battle, the No.23 XANAVI NISMO Z (Satoshi Motoyama/Richard Lyons), the No.38 ZENT CERUMO SC430 (Yuji Tachikawa/Toranosuke Takagi) and the No.1 houzan TOM'S SC430 (Juichi Wakisaka/Andre Lotterer) must all get on the podium to prevent the gap to the ARTA car from widening. Ranked 3rd, the No. 100 RAYBRIG NSX (Dominik Schwager/Shinya Hosokawa) hasn't won at all this season, unlike the other top-ranked cars. It would be nice to see them take victory at Motegi for the 3rd consecutive time, making a huge step forward towards the title they so nearly got last year.


No.38 ZENT CERUMO SC430
Numerically ranked 6th and 7th, the No. 22 MOTUL AUTECH Z (Michael Krumm/Tsugio Matsuda) and the No. 32 EPSON NSX (Loic Duval/Fabio Carbone) are standing on a very thin line from having a shot at the title. Their only hope is to go into the race with no weight handicap, aiming solely to win.

Who will stop the NSXs?

No.12 CALSONIC IMPUL Z
Twin Ring Motegi is an associated company of Honda and the NSX runners in SUPER GT have a great deal of experience there. Whether it will happen this reason or not, the NSXs have had 6 consecutive wins at Motegi, and have taken 7 wins out of 9 in official races. For the NSXs, who are doing extremely well this season, they must win here if anywhere. This year, the ARTA NSX halted the SUPRA, SC430 brigade from taking their 8th consecutive win at Sportsland SUGO, the 5th round of the season. Other than the NSXs, the Fairlady Z, with its sophisticated braking technology, is also good at this stop-and-go track configuration. The No. 12 CALSONIC IMPUL Z (Benoit Treluyer/Kazuki Hoshino) is expected to be an interesting participant in this race. In addition, the winner last year may have been the RAYBRIG NSX, but occupying 2nd to 4th places were all SC430s. In this respect, the NSX runners cannot relax.

First-ever knock down qualifying format for SUPER GT

The first ever "knock down" qualifying is one of the highlights of Round 7 at Motegi. With the knock down qualifying format, the 2nd official qualifying session is divided into 3 parts. In each part, there is a minimum rank, and the top grid will consist only of the fastest machines. In terms of other race categories, F1 has adopted this strategy. In each of the 3 segments, qualifying attacks can be seen; and there is the ongoing excitement of seeing who is going to drop out at the end of each segment. This will be very thrilling for the audience as well. For the drivers and teams, not only do they have to focus on their own attacks, but also on how their rivals are doing, to avoid getting knocked-out. Motegi is known for its lack of passing opportunities and the importance of qualifying cannot be underestimated here. It'll be a dead-heat right from the beginning of the session!

GT300 passes crucial battle point

No.101 TOY STORY apr MR-S
The No.101 TOY STORY apr MR-S (Kazuya Oshima/Hiroaki Ishiura), leaders in GT300 at the beginning of the season, ended Round 6 at Suzuka with no points while the No. 2 Privee KENZO ASSET Shiden (Kazuho Takahashi/Hiroki Katoh), ranked 2nd, won. They are only 1 point apart now. An all-out, one-on-one battle is the likely scenario from now till the end of the season between this pair of rivals.

Also, the No. 43 Garaiya (Morio Nitta/Shinichi Takagi), and No.13 ENDLESS ADVAN SENZAI KAKUMEI Z (Masami Kageyama/Tomonobu Fujii), although unlikely, both still have a chance. They really need to win at Motegi to make it happen. The Vemacs and other Zs are also good at Motegi, so we need to keep an eye on them as well.


No.77 CUSCO DUNLOP SUBARU IMPREZA
Speaking of keeping an eye on things, here is another team that we should be watching. It is the No.77 CUSCO SUBARU DUNLOP IMPREZA (Tetsuya Yamano/Takayuki Aoki). The team brought in a new AWD (4WD) machine this season, and they had many minor problems at the beginning of the year. However, in Round 5 they overtook the top machines at a rainy SUGO in what was a very impressive performance. The Impreza is also good at Motegi, and Yamano, the man who has won the GT300 title for 3 consecutive years. Considering his team's situation, we cannot simply say he is a candidate for the win. But I have the feeling that they'll stir up something...