2008 SUPER GT Round6

Weather:Fine | Course:Dry | Air Temp. 28°C | track surface Temp. 32°C

The race started just after 13:00 under a thin cloud cover. True to the tradition of surprises and upsets here at the Pokka 1000km, this time the unexpected began to happen even before the start in the pre-race warm-up session. The front row starter No. 22 MOTUL AUTECH GT-R (Michael Krumm) ran off the track and suffered damage to its cowling. But some fast repair work back in the pit enabled it to return to its grid position in time for the start.
Meanwhile, the No. 18 TAKATA DOME NSX (Ryo Michigami) developed suspension trouble. Seeing this, the No. 100 RAYBRIG NSX (Yuji Ide) crew checked their suspension and found an irregularity too. Due to the necessary repair work, both NSXs had to start from the pit lane. With the No. 38 ZENT CERUMO SC430 (Yuji Tachikawa) also delegated to a pit start due to a regulation infringement, the start saw an unprecedented three empty spaces on the starting grid.
Among the machines on the grid, Michael Krumm in No. 22 sat in the front position. On the opening lap No.1 ARTA NSX (Ralph Firman) and the No.12 CALSONIC IMPUL GT-R (Tsugio Matsuda) reversed their start positions, while the rest of the machines came through lap one with no visible upsets or significant changes in position.

Being a long and grueling 1000 km race, none of the teams pushed excessively in the early running. However, it wasn't long before a close battle developed between Firman in machine No. 1 and Matsuda in No. 12. Although the conditions weren't confirmed, there was apparently contact between the two machines at some point, which caused Matsuda in No. 12 to drop back to 5th position on lap 10. Now in 3rd position as a result of this exchange, Firman pulled his No. 1 machine into the pit suddenly at the end of lap 16. The only work done, however, was a quick check of the right rear wheel and Firman was soon back in the race. In the meantime, Matsuda in No. 12 had engaged the No. 36 PETRONAS TOM'S SC430 (Andre Lotterer) in a battle that once again resulted in machine contact. The result saw No. 36 fall back to 6th position.
During this time, a light rain had begun to fall on some sections of the course, causing a lot of buzz in the pits. Eventually, however, the drizzles were not enough to significantly wet the track.
The teams began to make their first routine pit stops from around lap 25. It was at the end of lap 25 that No. 12 returned to the pit. The team suffered some time loss with the change of tires and sent Matsuda back onto the track without a driver change.
Krumm brought his leading No. 22 into the pit at the end of lap 29 and turned the wheel over to teammate Masataka Yanagida. By the time all of the machines in the GT500 class had completed their routine pit stops, No. 22 was in the lead with Yanagida at the wheel, followed by the No. 6 ENEOS SC430 (Bjorn Wirdheim > Akira Iida) that had moved up to 2nd.
Soon the gap between No. 22 (Yanagida) and No. 6 (Iida) was shortening, and on lap 49 Iida in No. 6 took advantage of a spin-out by a GT300 car just in front of them to slip past No.22 into the lead.

No.100 RAYBRIG NSX
Behind them, car No. 100 (Ide > Shinya Hosokawa) had been making steady progress through the field after starting the race from the pit lane. In just the first three laps Ide had passed all the GT300 class machines, and by lap 20 he was running in 11th position. He continued to pass machine after machine until he was in 6th position by the time he pulled into the pit on lap 28. After that, No. 100 continued its climb, passing No. 36 (Juichi Wakisaka) on lap 52 to move into 4th position. On lap 55 they also passed No.17 REAL NSX (Toshihiro Kaneishi > Katsutomo Kaneishi) , which moved them into 2nd position due to the timing of the other cars' pit stops.
After that, the top-running No. 6 and No. 22 made their second pit stops on the 54th and 57th laps respectively. No. 6 changed drivers to Roberto Streit and, in No. 22, Krumm took over the wheel. The other leading cars all completed their second routine pit stops by around lap 70, at which point No. 22 (Krumm) had moved into the lead, followed by No. 100 (Ide) in 2nd and No. 12 (Sebastien Philippe).
No. 22 made its third pit stop on lap 86 while No. 100 and No.12 made theirs on lap 100. This put No. 36 (Lotterer) in the lead and the No. 23 XANAVI NISMO GT-R (Benoit Treluyer > Satoshi Motoyama > Treluyer) in 2nd temporarily. These two made their pit stops on lap 105. They returned to the track with No. 36 (Wakisaka) in front and No. 23 (Motoyama) behind. However, Lotterer in No. 36 passed another machine in a yellow flag zone and was given a 10-second penalty stop and lost ground as a result..

No.36 PETRONAS TOM'S SC430
After that, Yanagida in No. 22 held the lead and Hosokawa in No. 100 returned to 2nd position. But, after No. 22 made its fourth pit stop on lap 115 and changed drivers to Dominik Schwager, trouble struck in the form of a loosening cowl. It developed into a dangerous state where the air pressure on right-hand turns was causing the cowl to nearly blow off. Three laps later Schwager was forced to bring the car into the pit again for repair, which dropped the team out of competition for the lead. With this, No.100 (Hosokawa) was finally in the lead, followed by No. 12 (Matsuda) in 2nd and No. 23 (Motoyama) in 3rd.
The leading No. 100 made its next pit stop on lap 137, and No. 12 in 2nd made its on lap 138. Team No. 12 was able to complete its pit work four seconds faster and return to the race Philippe at the wheel in front of No. 100 (Ide). Next, No. 23 made its pit stop on lap 141 and changed drivers from Motoyama to Treluyer. At this point, No. 12 (Philippe) held the lead with No. 100 (Ide) in 2nd place.
At first the gap between these two machines was a mere two second, but soon machine No. 100 developed a strange noise that made a concerned Ide slow his pace and let the gap widen. At the same time, No. 23 (Treluyer) in 3rd position behind him also slowed drastically with what turned out to be trouble in its fuel supply system. This trouble dropped No. 23 back to 8th position and moved No.36 Lotterer into 3rd position. Meanwhile, with no more pressure from behind, Phillipe in No. 12 was able to relax and enter cruising mode.

At 18:10, the “Lights ON” signal came on and the machines turned on their headlights for the final stretch of the race. The checkered began to wave at the end of lap 173. The victory went to the No. 12 CALSONIC IMPUL GT-R (Tsugio Matsuda/Sebastien Philippe). This was the first win for the TEAM IMPUL team since round 6 at the Pokka 1000Km I 2006.
Finishing 2nd was the No. 100 RAYBRIG NSX (Yuji Ide/Shinya Hosokawa) [Kosuke Matsuura never drove]. After having to make a pit start because of machine trouble just before the race, the team and its two drivers had made an awesome comeback to take a place on the podium. Third place went to the No. 36 PETRONAS TOM'S SC430 (Juichi Wakisaka/Andre Lotterer) [Carlo Van Dam never drove]. Despite a costly penalty the team had recovered steadily to take the third spot on the podium.

In the early stages of the GT300 class competition, the pole starter, the No. 77 CUSCO DUNLOP SUBARU IMPREZA (Kota Sasaki) suffered from a tire choice that didn't fit the track conditions and gradually lost ground as a result. The second position starter, the No. 43 ARTA Garaiya (Shinichi Takagi) was also unable to pick up the pace due to the load of handicap weights it was carrying. Meanwhile, after starting from 12th position on the class grid, the No. 26 YUNKER POWER TAISAN PORSCHE (Nobuteru Taniguchi) was using its speed on the straights race through the pack and into the lead by lap nine. But, as No. 26's tires began to wear down around lap 15, it was passed by the No. 2 Privee KENZO Asset Shiden (Hiroki Katoh). At this point the race order was No. 2 in the lead followed by No. 26 in 2nd and the No. 95 Lightning McQueen apr MR-S (Kazuya Oshima) in 3rd.

No.95 Lightning McQueen apr MR-S
However, on lap 21 No. 95 over-ran of the 130R curve. This let the No. 19 WedsSport IS350 (Manabu Orido) and the No. 46 MOLA LEOPALACE Z (Kazuki Hoshino) move ahead of No. 19. After that, No. 19 also passed No. 26 to move into 2nd, but trouble with radio communications around the time of its first scheduled pit stop caused hesitation at the pit road that cost the team a significant time loss. The teams began making their first routine pit stops around lap 30, but the leading car No. 2 held off until lap 42 in order to build as big a margin as possible over 2nd. However, after changing drivers to Hiroki Yoshimoto, it took time to get the engine started again. This delay dropped No. 2 to 6th position by the time all the teams had finished their first pit stop. At this point, No.26 (Shinichi Yamaji) was leading the GT300 class and, thanks to some skillful racing, the No. 7 ORC AMEMIYA SGC-7 (Hiroyuki Iiri > Ryo Orime) had risen to 2nd place. In 3rd came No.46 (Hironobu Yasuda). Due to the difference in fuel consumption, the No. 26 Porsche and the No. 7 RX7 had to make their stints shorter, with both machines making their next pit spot on lap 64. This put No. 46 (Yasuda) in the lead and No. 95 (Yuya Sakamoto) in 2nd position. With Yoshimoto in car No. 2 running in 3rd position. Of these three leaders, it was No. 2 that waited longest to make its second pit stop and change drivers to Kazuho Takahashi. But, after that Takahashi collided with a back-lapper on the hairpin curve of lap 91, and ran off the track and crashed. Although he was able to return to the pit, the damage to the machine was such that the team was forced to retire from the race. Meanwhile, No. 7 had moved into the lead, with No. 26 in 2nd place. But after these two machines had finished their third pit stop on lap 97, No. 46 had taken over the lead. In 2nd position came No. 95 and in 3rd was No. 7.

No.7 ORC AMEMIYA SGC-7
After these three leading machines finished their last pit stop, the order remained unchanged and they went on that way to the checkered. The victory went to the No. 46 MOLA LEOPALACE Z (Kazuki Hoshino/Hironobu Yasuda). It was the team's first win since round 5 at Sugo in 2006. For Kazuki Hoshino, it was his first victory since winning the GT500 race here at the Pokka 1000Km in 2006. It was also a two-class win for the Hoshino family, with his father Kazuyoshi Hoshino being the manager of the victorious No. 12 CALSONIC IMPUL GT-R team in the GT500 race. Finishing 2nd was the No. 95 Lightning McQueen apr MR-S (Kazuya Oshima/Keisuke Kunimoto/Yuya Sakamoto), with Oshima filling the driver's seat well for the absent Kohei Hirate. The third spot on the podium went to the No. 7 ORC AMEMIYA SGC-7 (Hiroyuki Iiri/Ryo Orime) [Hiroyuki Matsumura never drove] thanks to constant driving performance despite having to make one more pit stop tan the other top teams.