2008 SUPER GT Round2

Weather:Fine | Course:Dry | Air Temp. 15°C | Track Temp. 23°C

The GT-R and NSX machines battle for fastest laps

The first qualifying session began at 10:00. The temperature was 15° C., with a track surface temperature of 23°.

The first 20 minutes were for the GT300 class. The session became a battle between the teams to better each others’ times to be among the top ten and qualify for the afternoon Super Lap. The first to post a fast time and take the lead the No. 46 MOLA LEOPALACE Z (Kazuki Hoshino) with a 1 min. 31. 767 sec. The No. 81 DAISHIN ADVAN Z (Takayuki Aoki) scored the next fastest time and gave the Fairlady Z machines a 1-2 lead at that point. The rival teams tried to match No. 46’s time but had a tough time breaking the 1 min. 32 sec. barrier. The one who finally broke it was Morio Nitta in the No.43 ARTA Garaiy, but his 1 min. 31.991 sec. time still fell short of No.46’s.

The next 20 minutes were for the GT500 class. The first to run timed laps were the No.39 DENSO DUNLOPSARD SC430 (Andre Couto) and the No.35 houzan KRAFT SC430 (Tatsuya Kataoka), with No.35 taking the early lead running a time in the 1 min. 25 sec. range. The other machines didn’t begin their serious attacks until about eight minutes remained in the session. But the drivers seemed to take more time than usual in warming up their tires, which caused a slower time-up pace than expected. Finally, it was the No. 3 YellowHat YMS TOMICA GT-R (Ronnie Quintarelli) that ran a time in the 1 min. 23 sec. range to take the lead.
With just under two minutes left in the session, first the No. 12 CALSONIC IMPUL GT-R (Tsugio Matsuda) and then the No. 22 MOTUL AUTECH GT-R (Michael Krumm) and finally the No. 23 XANAVI NISMO GT-R (Benoit Treluyer) set top times one after another.
With one minute remaining, No.3 once again took the lead with a 1 min. 23.718 sec. lap, only to be bettered immediately by No.12 with a 1 min. 23.645 sec. time. In its final run, No.1 ARTA NSX (Ralph Firman) recorded a 1 min. 23. 706 sec. lap to grab 2nd position.

The third 20-minute session was for both classes. The track became quite crowded, but two cars that had finished out of the top ten in the earlier session, the No. 19 WedsSport Celica (Manabu Orido) and the No.2 Privée KENZO Asset Shiden (Hiroki Katoh) made another run for a top-ten time and a place in the Super Lap. No. 19 just misses a top-ten time, but No. 2 managed to jump up to 6th position and a place in the afternoon Super Lap. Also, in the post-qualifying inspection, a restrictor violation was found in the No. 66 triple a MURCIELAGO RG-1 and its time was disqualified. This moved the No. 26 YUNKER POWER TAISAN PORSCHE into 10th position and a place in the Super Lap. The No.52 GREEN TEC KUMHO IS350 that had planned to make its debut in the qualifying today was unfortunately unable to run because of delays in the machine’s preparation.

No.43 ARTA Garaiya

Weather:Cloudy | Course:Dry | Air Temp. 21° | Track Temp. 32°

Rising temperatures caused a difficult second qualifying session

The second qualifying session began at 14:30. The first 15 minutes were for the GT300 class, followed by 15 minutes for the GT500 class. During much of these sessions there was a thin layer of clouds overhead, but at times the sun came out and heated up the track. The air temperature at the start of the session was 21° C., and the track surface temperature was 32°. This was considerably hotter than the morning session.

The GT300 class Super Lap started from 13:05 with the first runner, the No. 26 YUNKER POWER TAISAN PORSCHE (Nobuteru Taniguchi). The first notable performance came from the fifth runner, the No. 77 CUSCO DUNLOP SUBARU IMPREZA. Its driver, Kota Sasaki, improved his times over the second and third sectors of the course to be the first one to break the 1 min. 32 sec. barrier by recording a 1 min. 31.960sec. lap that made him the leader at that point. None of the three of the machines that followed, the No. 2 Privee KENZO Asset Shiden (Hiroki Katoh), the No. 62 WILLCOMADVAN VEMAC 408R (Haruki Kurosawa) or the No. 81 DAISHIN ADVAN Z (Takayuki Aoki), were able to beat Sasaki’s (No.77) time.
Sasaki’s time wasn’t bettered until Morio Nitta made a near-perfect run in the No. 43 ARTA Garaiya, shaving almost 0.2 seconds off his morning time with a 1 min. 31.796 sec. effort. The last runner, Kazuki Hoshino in the No. 46 MOLA LEOPALACE Z, had commented confidently after running the fastest lap in the morning that there was still a possibility of cutting more time off that performance. However, due perhaps to the rising temperature of the track, he was unable to equal his morning time.
As a result, the GT300 class pole position went to the No. 43 ARTA Garaiya (Morio Nitta). In the post-qualifying inspection, a minimum ground clearance violation was found in the No.77 machine and its Super Lap time was nullified.

The GT500 Super Lap began at 15:40. The first runner was the No.36 PETRONAS TOM'S SC430 (Andre Lotterer), the only SC430 to qualify for the Super Lap. In this class as well, many were heard commenting about how long it took for their tires to warm up, and the drivers proved unable to improve on their morning times. The exceptions were Takashi Kogure in No.18 TAKATA DOME NSX, who shaved a little off his morning time, and Shinya Hosokawa in the 100 RAYBRIG NSX, who was close enough to his morning time to move up in the order as well.
The best run of the Super Lap was that of Benoit Treluyer in the No. 23 XANAVI NISMO GT-R, who proved fastest of all the machines on all three sectors of the track. His 1 min. 23.517 sec. lap not only improved on his time from the first session in the morning but also bettered the time of the leading at that point, the No. 12 CALSONIC IMPUL GT-R (Tsugio Matsuda). Neither Matsuda in No. 12 nor Ralph Firman in the No. 1 ARTA NSX were able to equal this time. Thus, the surprising result was that No. 23 XANAVI NISMO GT-R (Benoit Treluyer) was able to win the GT500 pole position despite 100kg heavier than the opening round due to its Round 1 victory weight handicap and a performance adjustment. As for the SC430 machines, the best qualifying performance was the tenth place by the No. 36 PETRONASTOM'S SC430 (Andre Lotterer).