2008 SUPER GT Round5

Weather:Cloudy | Course:Dry | Air Temp. 23°C | Track Temp. 27°C

Kogure Runs Well in Tough Conditions

The first qualifying session began at 11:00 a.m. Although the Wet sign was still out, the track was mostly dry and the teams took to the track on slick tires. The air temperature at the start of the session was 23 degrees C., with a track temperature of 27 degrees C.
The first 20 minutes were for the GT300 class. About 10 minutes into the session the No. 110 KUMHO BOXSTER-GT spun out after a brush with the No. 81 DAISHIN ADVAN Z. No. 81 was later given a penalty for this collision and its morning qualifying time was disqualified, which meant it would start the race from the last position on the grid. Then, a few minutes later the No. 77 CUSCO DUNLOP SUBARU IMPREZA and the No. 666 RAKUTEN BOMEX 320R came to a stop at trackside. This dangerous situation brought out the Red Flag. After the damaged cars were removed, the session resumed with four minutes remaining. All the teams began their timed laps but, perhaps because of the insufficient time for warming up their tires, none of the machines were able to improve on their times and move up in the order.

At 11:30 the 20-minute session for the GT500 class began. However, just before the start of the session a car slipped out on the gravel, bringing out the Red Flag again. After the car was removed the session began with 19 minutes remaining. At one point, the two NISMO machines, the No. 22 MOTUL AUTECH GT-R and the No.23 XANAVI NISMO GT-R were in 1st and 2nd positions, but with five minutes remaining in the session the No. 18 TAKATA DOME NSX scored a faster lap time to take the lead. This was soon bettered again by the No. 17 REAL NSX. It looked like the session would end with a 1-2 finish until No. 22 made another run and became the first car to dip under the 1 min. 17 sec. barrier with a 1 min. 16.997 sec. lap. Not to be outdone, No. 18 quickly came back with a 1 min. 16.935 sec. lap to re-take the lead. What's more, the No. 25 ECLIPSE ADVAN SC430 ran a 1 min. 16.973 sec. to grab 2nd position just before the session ended.
During the ensuing mixed-class session there were no changes in the GT500 class order, but a complaint filed against the No. 38 ZENT CERUMO SC430 caused its qualifying time to be disqualified. As a result, the ten qualifiers for the afternoon Super Lap were the No. 18 TAKATA DOME NSX, No. 25 ECLIPSE ADVAN SC430, No. 22 MOTUL AUTECH GT-R, No. 17 REAL NSX, No. 1 ARTA NSX, No. 36 PETRONAS TOM'S SC430, No. 100 RAYBRIG NSX, No. 35 houzan KRAFT SC430, No. 39 DENSO DUNLOP SARD SC430 and the No. 23 XANAVI NISMO GT-R.

Meanwhile, in the GT300 class the No. 26 YUNKER POWER TAISAN PORSCHE moved up to 6th position and the No. 4 EBBRO UEMATSU 320R grabbed 10th position. With seven minutes remaining in the mixed session the engine hood of the No. 52 GREENTEC KUMHO IS350 flew off and the No. 2 Privee KENZO Asset Shiden came to a stop at trackside coming out of the last corner. This brought out the red flag to stop the session again and there would be no further changes in qualifying order after the action resumed. As a result, the qualifiers for the afternoon Super Lap were the No. 19 WedsSport IS350, No. 43 ARTA Garaiya, No. 2 Privée KENZO Asset Shiden, No. 95 Lightning McQueen apr MR-S, No. 31 DOUBLEHEAD avex apr MR-S, No. 26 YUNKER POWER TAISAN PORSCHE, No. 62 WILLCOM ADVAN VEMAC 408R, No. 46 MOLA LEOPALACE Z, No. 4 EBBRO UEMATSU 320R and the No. 11 JIMCENTER ADVAN F430.

No.19 WedsSport IS350

Weather:Cloudy | Course:Dry | Air Temp. 24° | Track Temp. 30°

Orido takes his first GT pole position by a hair's breadth

The second qualifying session began at 4:30 with the track dry. At the start of the session the air temperature was 24 degrees C. with a track temperature of 30 degrees C. The first 15 minutes were for the GT300 class and the next 15 minutes for the GT500 class. Here, the No. 81 DAISHIN ADVAN Z whose morning time had been disqualified was able to clear the qualifying time standard to compete in Sunday's race, starting from the last spot on the grid. One the other hand, the damage to the No. 110 KUMHO BOXSTER-GT machine No. 81 had hit was too serious for it to be able to qualify.
The GT300 class Super Lap started at 15:05. As first runner, Tetsuya Tanaka in the No.11 JIMCENTER ADVAN F430 was able to improve on his morning time by about 0.8 sec., running especially fast over the second sector of the course. None of the next seven machines to run were able to beat Tanaka's time. The first team to finally dip under the 1 min. 24 sec. barrier with a 1 min. 23.985 sec. lap and beat No. 11's time was the No. 43 ARTA Garaiya (Shinichi Takagi), the second fastest qualifier from the morning session. The last runner in the GT300 Super Lapp was the morning's fastest qualifier, the No. 19 WedsSport IS350 (Manabu Orido). Driving faster than anyone yet over the second sector of the course, Orido ran a 1 min. 23.938 sec. lap to beat No. 43's (Takagi) time and claim the pole position. This was the first pole ever for the new IS350 machine, which joined the GT competition from this season's third round. It was also the first pole for Orido personally in SUPER GT/JGTC competition.

The first runner in the GT500 class Super Lap was the No. 23 XANAVI NISMO GT-R (Satoshi Motoyama) but its time, as well as those of the following No. 39 DENSO DUNLOP SARD SC430 (Andre Cuoto), No. 35 houzan KRAFT SC430 (Peter Dumbreck), No. 100 RAYBRIG NSX (Yuji Ide) and the No. 36 PETRONAS TOM'S SC430 (Andre Lotterer) were far slower than their morning times. It appeared that the unexpectedly low track temperature during the Super Lap had made it difficult for the drivers to warm up their tires sufficiently.
The first machine to finally break the 1 min. 18 sec. barrier and take the lead with a time of 1 min. 17.534 sec. was the No. 1 ARTA NSX (Ralph Firman). But that time was immediately bettered by the next runner, Toshihiro Kaneishi in the No. 17 REAL NSX, who ran faster than No. 1 (Firman) over both the first and second sectors of the course to record a 1 min. 17.013 sec. lap time. After that No. 22 MOTUL AUTECH GT-R (Michael Krumm) and the No.25 ECLIPSE ADVAN SC430 (Takeshi Tsuchiya) dropped in position by being unable to to better Kaneishi's time.
The last runner in the Super Lap was the No.1 8 TAKATA DOME NSX (Takashi Kogure). Running faster than Kaneishi (No. 17) over both the first and second sectors, Kogure turned in a 1 min. 16.697 sec. lap to hand his team its second GT500 class pole position of the season. With the No. 17 REAL NSX and the No. 1 ARTA NSX following as the 2nd and 3rd fastest qualifiers, this Super Lap ended in a 1-2-3 sweep by NSX machines. The fastest finisher among the SC430 teams was the No. 25 ECLIPSE ADVAN SC430 in 4th and the fastest among the GT-R machines was the No. 22 MOTUL AUTECH GT-R in 8th.