2008 SUPER GT Round3

Weather:Rain | Course:Wet | Air Temp. 18°C | Track Temp. 21°C

The qualifying at 10:00 in the morning with the GT300 class session. Light rain had started to fall before the session began, growing stronger at times and then weakening, but gradually wetting the track. Finally the “Wet” condition was declared to signal the approval for the use of rain tires. The teams took to the track with shallow-groove rain tires.

As expected, the AWD (all-wheel drive) No. 77 CUSCO DUNLOP SUBARU IMPREZA proved strong in conditions like this. First, it was Kota Sasaki who went out to run a lap in the 1 min. 51 sec. range and take the lead. Later, after changing drivers to Tetsuya Yamano, the track condition had improved and the 1 min. 50.481 sec. he ran would eventually be the fastest of this session. No. 77's time was followed by the No. 33 HANKOOK PORSCHE, the No. 110 KUMHO BOXSTER-GT, the No. 43 ARTA Garaiya and the No. 46 MOLA LEOPALACE Z. In the Friday practice the teams running on Hankook and Michelin tires had been fastest, and now the teams on Kumho tire had joined them in the top positions.

The next 20-minute session was for the GT500 class. Due to the changing track conditions, all the teams went out on the track to record a fast time early. In fact, the amount of rain falling was constantly changing and the choice of tires and the amount of rain at the time of the respective runs made a big difference in the teams' times.
The top times were scored by teams that managed to make successful runs with slick tires before the track was completely dry. It seemed that the matching of tires and track surface conditions went especially well for the teams on Dunlop tires, as the No. 32 EPSON NSX (Loic Duval) ran a 1 min. 41.115 sec. lap to take the lead. Then, shortly after the start of the mixed (GT300 and GT500) session, the No. 39 DENSO DUNLOP SARD SC430 (Andre Couto) became the first machine to dip under the 1 min. 41 sec. barrier with a time of 1 min. 40.985 sec. for a tentative hold on the pole position.
Qualifying second at this point was car No. 32, with 3rd place going to the No. 6 ENEOS SC430 (Daisuke Ito), in what looked to be a first Super Lap qualification of the season. However, Bjorn Wirdheim's time was disqualified due to an FIA International Sporting Code Appendix H violation (a spin when the yellow flag was out). This brought the No.18 TAKATA DOME NSX (Takashi Kogure) up into 3rd position.

Throughout the mixed session, the amount of rainfall continued to fluctuate, and the cars from both the GT500 and GT300 classes continued to look for good opportunities to improve on their times with aggressive runs. In the GT500 class, none of the machines were able to improve enough to break into the top ten and qualify for the Super Lap, but in the GT300 class there were changes.
First of all, the No. 5 Proμ MACH-GO 320R (Naoya Yamano) jumped up to a 2nd-place time. This gave the Yamano brothers a 1-2 hold on the top places at one point, with Tetsuya Yamano in car No.77 in the lead. But, the No.19 WedsSport IS350 (Manabu Orido) managed to get in between them with the team's new car that had just undergone its initial shakedown during this race week and was performing with fast times and no trouble to speak of, despite the difficult conditions. Also, the No. 95 Lightning McQueen apr MR-S (Kohei Hirate) managed to climb up to 6th position.

No.95 Lightning McQueen apr MR-S

Weather:Fine | Course:Dry | Air Temp. 20° | Track Temp. 25°

The second qualifying session began at 15:10 for the GT300 and 15:25 for the GT500 class. The rain that had plagued the morning sessions had quit shortly after noon and the sun began to peek through the clouds. The track surface was nearly dry at the start of the session and all the teams took to the track with slick tires.
The machines preparing to run in the Super Lap checked their dry settings during this time. After having their morning time disqualified due to a violation, the No. 6 ENEOS SC430 drivers, Daisuke Ito and Bjorn Wirdheim, both went out and successfully got qualifying times to enable them to run in tomorrow's race. Also, the No. 666 Rakuten BOMEX 320R (Shogo Suho) and the No.16 CHUGAI UEMATSU 350R (Katsuhiko Tsutsui) both managed to get the qualifying times they had been unable to get in the morning session. Thus, they will also be able to run in the race on Sunday. However, the No. 9 NISSO SERVICE C6 was unable to run again and will not qualify for the race.

The Super Laps began at 15:45 with the GT300 class running first. The second GT300 runner, the No.43 ARTA Garaiya (Shinichi Takagi) recorded a time on the 1 min. 44 sec. range to take the initial lead, but that was soon bettered by the next runner, the No.110 KUMHO BOXSTER-GT (Hidetoshi Mitsusada) with a 1 min. 44.789 sec. lap. This became the target time for the cars that followed.
The first car to better that time by a big margin was the No. 95 Lightning McQueen apr MR-S (Kohei Hirate), running faster than its rivals in all three sectors of the course to score a time of 1 min. 44.189 sec. and take the lead. Of the remaining five cars to run, none were able to better No. 95's time, and they also fell short of the times of No. 110 and No. 43.
As the result, the No. 95 No. 95 Lightning McQueen apr MR-S (Kohei Hirate) took the GT300 class pole. This was a big achievement for GT rookie Hirate, who has succeeded in winning his first pole position in only his third GT competition.
The GT500 Super Lap began at 16:20. The first runner, the No. 17 REAL NSX (Toshihiro Kaneishi) immediately turned in a fast 1 min. 35.181 sec. time. Next up, the No.12 CALSONIC IMPUL GT-R (Tsugio Matsuda), and the next three machines after it were unable to match No. 17's time.
It was finally the sixth runner, the No.38 ZENT CERUMO SC430 (Yuji Tachikawa) that bettered No. 17's time. Running fast through the third section with its consecutive curves, Tachikawa dipped under 1 min. 35 sec, with a 1 min. 34.971 sec. lap to take the lead. Then the No. 18 TAKATA DOME NSX (Takashi Kogure) made up for its lack of speed on the straights by running fast through the second and third sections to take the lead with a 1 min. 34.941 sec. lap, 0.03 faster than No. 38's time.
As the result, the pole position went to the No. 18 TAKATA DOME NSX (Takashi Kogure).This was the team's second consecutive pole position here at Fuji, following last year's success. The team will be out to make up for last year's embarrassing no-finish in the race due to machine trouble.
Qualifying 2nd was the No. 38 ZENT CERUMO SC430 (Yuji Tachikawa), with the No. 35 houzan KRAFT SC430 (Peter Dumbreck) coming in 3rd. These two SC430 teams will be looking to come from behind and grab the win in tomorrow's race.
Meanwhile, the best qualifying position be the GT-R teams was a 10th by the No. 12 CALSONIC IMPUL GT-R (Sebastien Philippe). After dominating the qualifying in the season opener and round two, the GT-R teams certainly had a tough time here at Fuji. However, we should remember that the two NISMO machines won a 1-2 finish in last year's race after qualifying only 11th and 13th. They may be able to pull off that kind of come-from-behind victory again here in tomorrow's race.