2008 SUPER GT Round5

Weather:Cloudy | Course:Dry | Air Temp. 24°C | track surface Temp. 26°C

The race started at 14:12. On the second turn of the opening lap, the 8th position starter, the No. 22 MOTUL AUTECH GT-R (Michael Krumm) hit the No. 6 ENEOS SC430 (Akira Iida) and ran off the track. Krumm quickly got his machine back on the course but not before he became engulfed in the GT300 class pack. No. 6 was later given a drive-through penalty for causing this collision. The other leading machines all came through the opening lap in their starting order, with the three NSX machines leading through the early stages of the race in the order of the No. 18 TAKATA DOME NSX (Takashi Kogure) first, followed by the No. 17 REAL NSX (Toshihiro Kaneishi) and the No. 1 ARTA NSX (Ralph Firman).


No.18 & No.1 However, on lap eight No. 17 collided with a back-lapper, the No. 5 Proμ MACH-GO 320R (Tetsuji Tamanaka). This not only caused No.17 to lose ground but also cost it a drive-through penalty later. This brought No. 1 into 2nd position and the No. 25 ECLIPSE ADVAN SC430 (Takeshi Tsuchiya) into 3rd. After that the race developed into a duel between two NSX machines, with Kogure in No. 18 and Firman in the No. 1. At one point on the first corner of lap 30 there was a dangerous moment when Firman (No.1) held off on his braking until the last moment and nearly went into a spin while trying to nudge the nose of his machine into Kogure‘s (No.18) in-side on the turn. But there was no change in the order of the two lead machines before No. 1 made its routine pit stop at the end of lap 34. Changing only the rear tires and giving the wheel over to Takuya Izawa, No. 1 returned to the track. No. 18 made its pit stop. They too only changed the rear tires and Ryo Michigami was given the wheel. Although the pit work of No. 18 had been faster, Izawa in No.1 drove hard and was on Michigami‘s (No. 18) tail within a few laps. But on the Rainbow Corner of lap 38 Izawa went wide onto the curb stones and lost time when he almost went off the track. Still Izawa fought back and kept the pressure on No. 18. The two machines came up behind two GT300 machines on the last corner of lap 62. In the battle for position, Izawa took the outside of the turn and lost control of his machine, ran off the track and hit the tire barrier. Suffering considerable damage to the machine‘s front end, Izawa returned to the pit and was unable to return to the race. This took the immediate pressure off Michigami in No.18 and allowed him to switch to controlled cruising with reports about the distance of the following competitors. From there he drove on unthreatened to the checkered and the win. For the No. 18 TAKATA DOME NSX (Ryo Michigami/Takashi Kogure) this was their first win of the season. It has also moved them into the lead in the series ranking. This has also given the NSX teams their first victory of the 2008 season.

No.38 ZENT CERUMO SC430 Meanwhile the battle for 2nd and 3rd was still undecided as the race entered its final stages. After running through the first half of the race in 3rd position the No. 25 (Tsuchiya > Hiroaki Ishiura) returned to the track after its pit stop behind the No. 35 houzan KRAFT SC430 (Tatsuya Kataoka > Peter Dumbreck) and behind them was the No. 38 ZENT CERUMO SC430 (Yuji Tachikawa > Richard Lyons) that had worked its way up steadily after starting from the last position on the grid. After all the machines had finished their pit stops No. 38 was in 5th position just behind No. 25. Lyons in No. 38 continued to close the gap gradually on Ishiura in No.25, and with ten laps remaining the two SC430 machines were locked in a nose-to-tail battle. On lap 77, Ishiura lost acceleration while exiting the out corner of the SP, allowing Lyons to pass him on the last corner. Because No. 1 (Izawa) had already retired from the race at this point, No. 35 was now in 2nd place followed by No. 38 in 3rd and No. 25 in 4th.

No.35 houzan KRAFT SC430 Behind them in 5th position was No. 6 (Iida > Bjorn Wirdheim), which had recovered from the penalty sustained early in the race. But here again No. 6 would be penalized. This time it was given a 10 second penalty stop that dropped it back to 7th position and allowed the for No. 100 RAYBRIG NSX (Yuji Ide > Shinya Hosokawa) to move into 5th place. There would be no further changes in the lead order before the end of the race, meaning that the No. 35 houzan KRAFT SC430 (Peter Dumbreck/Tatsuya Kataoka) finished 2nd and the No. 38 ZENT CERUMO SC430 (Yuji Tachikawa/Richard Lyons) 3rd. The top finisher among the GT-R teams was the No. 24 WOODONE ADVAN Clarion GT-R (Joao Paulo Lima De Oliveira/Seiji Ara) in 8th.

In the GT300 class, the No. 43 ARTA Garaiya (Morio Nitta) moved up from 2nd position on the starting rid to pass the pole-sitting class No. 19 WedsSport IS350 (Manabu Orido) on the opening lap. After that, No. 43 was unable to increase the pace and was eventually passed again by No. 19 on the second corner of lap eight. Later, on lap 19, No. 43 was also passed by the No.11 JIMCENTER ADVAN F430 (Tetsuya Tanaka), On lap 20 it dropped back further in the order as it was passed first by the No.2 Privée KENZO Asset Shiden (Hiroki Katoh) and then by the No. 26 YUNKER POWER TAISAN PORSCHE (Nobuteru Taniguchi). It appears that the tires on the No.43 machine wore down very quickly, but the team had expected that, and at the end of lap 31 it was the first machine in the GT300 class to make its pit stop. The tires were changed and the wheel was turned over to Shinichi Takagi. Meanwhile, the No. 81 DAISHIN ADVAN Z (Takayuki Aoki), which had started from the very back of the grid after having its qualifying time disqualified, had continued to work its way up through the pack at a pace of about one machine per lap to stand in 10th position with one-third of the race over.

No.31 DOUBLEHEAD avex apr MR-S
At the front of the race, Kato in No. 2 made his move past Tanaka in No. 11 and began to give chase to the leader, Orido in No. 19. After catching Orido on lap 45, Tanaka made skillful use of an overtaking GT500 class machine to pass Orido and grab the lead. At this point it was apparent that the tires on the No. 19 had reached their limit, so Orido brought his machine into the pit on the next lap. After changing tires and turning over the wheel to Tsubasa Abe, No. 19 was ready to return to the track but the engine failed to start due to starter trouble, resulting in a big time loss. At this point a win was no longer possible for the No. 19 team.
Later, on lap 50, No. 11 made its pit stop and changed drivers from Tanaka to Masayuki Ueda, and on lap 54 No.2 made its pit stop, changing drivers from Katoh to Kazuko Takahashi. In the meantime, however, No. 43 was able to move past them, having made its pit stop earlier. By the time all the machines had finished their pit stops, No. 43 was in the lead followed by No. 2 in 2nd place. No. 11 was in 4th position at this point and had moved up on the tail of No. 81 (Aoki > Tomonobu Fujii), which had made its pit stop on lap 48.

No.81 DAISHIN ADVAN Z
Now at the wheel of No. 81, Fujii kept up a fast pace and gradually closed in on No.2 (Takahashi). On lap 59, Fujii was able to pass Takahashi into 2nd place. After that Takahashi in No. 2 was also passed by Ueda in No.11, and when he tried to pass Ueda back, the two machines collided. This sent No. 11 off the track and by the time it rejoined the race it had lost ground. This allowed the No. 7 ORC Amemiya SGC-7 (Hiroyuki Iiri > Ryo Orime) to move into 4th position and the No. 31 DOUBLEHEAD avex apr MR-S (Yuya Sakamoto > Kyosuke Mineo) into 5th. Later, on lap 73, Mineo in No.31 succeeded in passing Orime in No.7 to claim 4th position.
The race went on to the finish with no further changes in order. The victory went to the No. 43 ARTA Garaiya (Morio Nitta/Shinichi Takagi). It was the team‘s second win of the season following a victory in round two at Okayama. Finishing 2nd was the No.81 DAISHIN ADVAN Z (Takayuki Aoki/Tomonobu Fujii). Aoki had driven magnificently to improve the team‘s position over the first half of the race, but Fujii drove even faster in the second half, recording the fastest lap of the race (GT300 class) in the process to contribute to this impressive podium finish.
Third across the finish line was No. 2, but due to its collision with No. 11, the judges gave No. 2 a 35-sec. penalty. This gave the last podium rung to the No. 31 DOUBLEHEAD avex apr MR-S (Kyosuke Mineo/Yuya Sakamoto).