2008 SUPER GT Round4

Weather:Cloudy | Course:Dry | Air Temp. 30°C | Track Temp. 37°C

First Qualifying: Close battle between the GT-R and NSX machines

The first qualifying session started at 11:00. Despite the good amount of clouds overhead it was still hot and muggy. At the start of the session the air temperature was 30° C. and track surface temp. 37°, the same type of heat you expect here at Sepang.
The first 20 minutes was for the GT300 class. In the early stages the teams were running in the 2 min. 8 sec. range, with the No. 81 DAISHIN ADVAN Z (Takayuki Aoki) taking the initial lead with a 2 min. 8.324 sec. lap. This was followed by runs by the No. 11 JIMCENTER ADVAN F430 (Tetsuya Tanaka) and the No. 19 WedsSport IS350 (Manabu Orido). Then, at about 15 minutes into the session the No. 77 CUSCO DUNLOP SUBARU IMPREZA (Kouta Sasaki) ran a fast 2 min. 6.930 sec. lap that put it 1.3 seconds ahead of the nearest competitor.
With less than 3 min. remaining in the GT300 class session, the teams battling around 10th place to qualify for the Super Lap began making runs with increasing intensity. First the No. 110 KUMHO BOXSTER-GT (Hidetoshi Mitsusada) moved up to 7th position, shortly after which the No. 2 I.M JIHAN CO.LTD APPLE Shiden (Hiroki Katoh) ran a time in the 2 min. 8 sec. range as well and took 7th place away just as the session ended.

The next 20 minutes was for the GT500 class. First the No. 25 ECLIPSE ADVAN SC430 (Takeshi Tsuchiya) ran a 1 min. 56.405 sec. lap to take the initial lead. The No.23 XANAVI NISMO GT-R (Benoit Treluyer) with its heavy load of handicap weights also made an early run but could only lap in the 1 min. 59 sec. range.
With 7 or 8 minutes left in the session the other teams took to the track one after another. The first to take the lead was the No. 24 WOODONE ADVAN Clarion GT-R (Joao Paulo Lima De Oliveira) with a 1 min. 56.229 sec. lap, but that was quickly bettered by the 1 min. 56.105 sec. lap of the No.1 ARTA NSX (Ralph Firman). Then the No.18 TAKATADOME NSX (Takashi Kogure) ran even faster with a 1 min. 56.087 sec. lap.
The first machine to break the 1 min. 6 sec. barrier was No. 22 MOTUL AUTECH GT-R (Michael Krumm) with a 1 min. 55.310 sec. time. Next, Firman drove the No.1 to a time of 1 min. 55.558 sec. that put him in 2nd position. Then the No. 17 REAL NSX (Toshihiro Kaneishi) and the No. 24 (de Oliviera) also ran times in the 1 min. 5 sec. range but failed to match the time of No. 22 (Krumm). Just before the end of the GT500 session the No. 100 RAYBRIG NSX (Shinya Hosokawa) ran a time in the 1 min. 5 sec. range to move into 5th position. Meanwhile, No. 23 spun out on the second curve after changing drivers to Satoshi Motoyama. Entering the mixed class session, none of the GT500 class teams were able to better their times, so the order remained the same.

There were changes in the GT300 class order during the mixed session, however. First, the No. 7 ORC Amemiya SGC-7 (Hiroyuki Iiri) improved on its 11th position in the GT300 session to move into 8th position. Then the No. 62 WILLCOM ADVAN VEMAC408R (Haruki Kurosawa) also moved up to take the 8th position. Next, the No. 110 KUMHO BOXSTER-GT (Hidetoshi Mitsusada) moved up to 6th position. These changes had moved No. 7 (Iiri) down to 10th position, but another attempt by Iiri brought the team back to 8th position. Finally, No. 31 DOUBLEHEAD avex apr MR-S (Kyosuke Mineo) moved up to claim the 10th position.

No.77 CUSCO DUNLOP SUBARU IMPREZA

Weather:Cloudy | Course:Dry | Air Temp. 32° | Track Temp. 43°

Second Qualifying: Impreza shows amazing speed

The second qualifying session began at 16:00. The first 15 minutes were for the GT300 class and the next 15 minutes for the GT500 class. This session gave the Super Lap qualifiers a last chance to warm up the tires they would use for the Super Lap and run final checks on their settings. And the teams not in the Super Lap used this session to work on their settings for the final race.
The GT300 class teams that had used two sets of new tires in the first qualifying were unable improve on their times in this session and ended up dropping down in position. After the first five cars had run their Super Laps, the morning's 9th place qualifier, the No. 2 I.M JIHAN CO.LTD. APPLE Shiden (Hiroki Katoh) was in first position. Then the sixth runner, the No. 43 ARTA Garaiya (Shinichi Takagi), covered the first sector of the course 0.2 sec. faster than No.2 (Katoh) and wet on to take the lead with a 2 min. 8.251 sec. time. Next, up, Manabu Orido drove his No. 19 WedsSport IS350 aggressively, sliding through the curves but keeping control and finishing the lap faster than No. 43 (Takagi) with a 2 min. 8.227 sec. time to take the lead. Neither of the next two machines, the No. 11 JIMCENTER ADVAN F430 (Tetsuya Tanaka) and the No. 81 DAISHIN ADVAN Z (Takayuki Aoki), were able to better the times of No. 19 and No. 43, thus leaving them in 3rd and 4th positions.
Now all attention focused on the last runner in the GT300 Super Lap and the morning's fastest qualifier, the No. 77 CUSCO DUNLOP SUBARU IMPREZA (Kouta Sasaki). During the 15-minute warm-up session before the Super Lap, Sasaki had already run a time in 2 min. 7 sec. range faster than the Super Lap times of his rivals, but now he was running again in a class of his own. He was truly running “on the rail” with virtually no wasted motion. When his lap was over he had run more than a second faster than the rest with a 2 min. 7.154 sec. time to take the class pole position. For the Impreza it is the first pole position since September 1998 (round five, Motegi).

Next up was the GT500 Super Lap. The first machine to break the 1 min. 6 sec. barrier was the fifth runner, the No. 18 TAKATA DOME NSX (Takashi Kogure), with a time of 1 min. 55.613sec. Among the four machines that had run before this, the No. 12 CALSONIC IMPUL GT-R (Tsugio Matsuda) had moved up one position and the No. 25 ECLIPSE ADVAN SC430 (Takeshi Tsuchiya) had dropped down one. Running sixth, the No. 100 RAYBRIG NSX (Shinya Hosokawa) could only manage a time 0.7 sec. slower than its morning qualifying time, dropping it to the bottom of the Super Lap order.
In contrast, the seventh runner, the No. 24 WOODONE ADVAN Clarion GT-R (Joao Paulo Lima De Oliveira), ran a tight lap and came home in 1 min. 55.513 sec., which moved it ahead of No. 18 (Kogure) to the top position. Next up, the No. 17 REAL NSX (Toshihiro Kaneishi) started out slower than No. 24 (De Oliveira) over the first sector but came back strong over the second half to take the lead with a time of 1 min. 55.443 sec. Next the No. 1 ARTA NSX (Ralph Firman) started its Super Lap with a first sector time of under one minute and came home with a 1 min. 55.356 sec. time that gave it the lead.
But the No. 22 MOTUL AUTECH GT-R (Michael Krumm) would prove even faster. On both the first and second sectors Krumm would run faster than any of his Super Lap rivals, finishing with a time of 1 min. 55. 155 sec. This was more than 0.2 sec. faster than No. 1 (Firman) and it gave the MOTUL AUTECH GT-R team its second pole position of the season, following the series opener at Suzuka. Claiming the 2nd position on the grid was the No. 1 ARTA NSX. Meanwhile, the fastest of the SC430 machines was No. 25 ECLIPSE ADVAN SC430 in 8th position.