2008 SUPER GT Round3
Preview
2008-04-28
Stop GT-R's 3 in-a-row win!!
Will it be SC430 crossing the line first at high-speed, long-distance race!? Can never underestimate NSX either!
Don't take your eyes off from GT300 until the end!!
On May 3rd and 4th, the Fuji Speedway (Oyama-cho, Shizuoka Pref.) will host the 2008 AUTOBACS SUEPR GT Round 3 "FUJI GT 500km RACE." No. 23 XANAVI NISMO GT-R has accomplished what is considered to be a difficult task in SUPER GT, winning races consecutively, by winning back to back the season opener and the second round. So, will the third round fall to GT-R again? "Golden Week" at Fuji and the longer distanced 500km race, there are always some unpredictables at the FUJI GT 500km Race every year and this year is no different. The new IS350 is finally making its debut in the GT300 class. Full of excitements is underway at the Fuji Speedway!
Expectations are high for SC430 to charge back at its favorite track.
No.36 PETRONAS TOM'S SC430
They all say that SC430 hasn't been able to carry out its race in 2008. But it's only been two races since the season has started. SC430 finished 3rd and 4th at the season opener in Suzuka, trailing right behind GT-R's. The second round was at a circuit SC430 unfavors, Okayama. For such, their real target must be the third round, which will be held at their favorable high-speed track, Fuji. Home track of Toyota, the Fuji Speedway is the track that SC430 has more distance than any non-Toyota rivals. The second round was sure enough disappointing to SC430 teams, but, looking at the brighter side, No.36 PETRONAS TOM'S SC430 (Juichi Wakisaka/Andre Lotterer) and No.38 ZENT CERUMO SC430 (Yuji Tachikawa/Richard Lyons) were able to drop off some handicap weights, giving a premonition that the two Toyotas as well as No.6 ENEOS SC430 (Disuke Ito/Bjorn Wirdheim) will merge to give a break to GT-R's momentum.
But will it be GT-R after all? Or...
No.12 CALSONIC IMPUL GT-R
Nonetheless, GT-R still looks strong. By taking into account the results of two races up to this point, all GT-R's will see their regulated minimum weight increased by 80 kg to 1180 kg by the Special Adjustment of Performance. Now, the question arises if this alteration makes GT-R a mediocre car. It is safe to believe that this is all within the scope of assumption of all Nissan teams including NISMO. Of course, they probably won't be able to dominate the race as they did at the season opener, but teams like No.12 CALSONIC IMPUL GT-R (Tsugio Matsuda/Sebastien Philippe), who carries on good rhythm, No.3 YellowHat YMS TOMICA GT-R (Ronnie Quintarelli/Naoki Yokomizo), with no handicap weight, and No.24 WOODONE ADVAN Clarion GT-R (J. P. De Oliveira/Seiji Ara), who shows great performance in difficult situation like the longer-than-usual 500km, may stand up to show off what they can do. On the other hand, with the extra heavy 115kg of weight being put on the car (* If the total weight of the car shall exceed 1200kg by loading the adjustment weights, whatever the amount of weight exceeding 1200kg will not be loaded on the car, instead, the car will have its air restrictor adjusted) as the consequence of two straight wins, No.23 XANAVI NISMO GT-R (Satoshi Motoyama/Benoit Treluyer) is likely to choose to take the race a safer way to secure points.
No.18 TAKATA DOME NSX
NSX is thought to be unfavorable at Fuji for the track's nature of high-speed course, but No.18 TAKATA DOME NSX (Ryo Michigami/Takashi Kogure) sat on the pole and lead the race from the start towards the end last year. At the ninth round of 2007 season held also in Fuji, No.32 EPSON NSX (driven by Loic Duval/Katsuyuki Hiranaka this season) finished on top of the podium. If you compare the top speeds of three models, there isn't much difference in between. So, the aforementioned two NSX's and No.100 RAYBRIG NSX (Yuji Ide/Shinya Hosokawa) and No.17 REAL NSX (Katsutomo Kaneishi/Toshihiro Kaneishi) may need to be tracked for their performance during the race.
Difference in pit strategies may be the key in GT300
No.43 ARTA Garaiya
The key factor to finish the race at front in the GT300 class will be the race management to complete the 500km distance as some GT300 class cars can excel others by taking full advantage of its fuel efficiency. Typically, two pit-stops would be the standard theory for 500km. But the fuel efficient cars can take a strategy with just one pit-stop. It usually takes about 40 seconds for pit-work and another 20 seconds for coming in and going out of the pit. So, with one pit-stop strategy, the team can gain about 60 seconds over rivals with two pit-stops strategy. Needless to say that the car with one pit-stop strategy needs to start with a full tank enough for a half of 500km, or 250km, which will require good performance from the tires and the physical strength and technique of drivers. It's not a strategy any team can take.
No.43 ARTA Garaiya (Morio Nitta/Shinichi Takagi) went with one pit-stop strategy and successfully snatched a win at the stormy race of last year's third round. They are most likely to take one pit-stop strategy again this year, especially when they are mandated to put handicap weight as a result of their win at last round. No.46 MOLA LEOPALACE Z (Kazuki Hoshino/Hironobu Yasuda) is another team that may take one pit-stop strategy.
Contrastingly, No.26 YUNKER POWER TAISAN PORSCHE (Nobuteru Taniguchi/Shinichi Yamaji) as well as No.2 Prive´e KENZO Asset Shiden (Kazuho Takahashi/Hiroki Katoh) will probably settle with two pit-stop strategy and flat-out all the way to the finish line. Nonetheless, the race order in the early stage of the race merely means anything in the GT300 class. The real battle will begin after 20 laps to go, after the second pit-stop is completed by the teams with two pit-stops strategy.
No.46 MOLA LEOPALACE Z
No.26 YUNKER POWER TAISAN PORSCHE