2008 SUPER GT Round8

TheWho will conquer this challenging course?

No.23 XANAVI NISMO GT-R
At a considerable altitude in the Aso highlands, Autopolis is a track where differences in engine power are effectively minimized in the GT500 class. It is a track with a predominance of high-speed turns and a relatively slippery track surface and with a fair amount of up and down. That's why many of the GT500 drivers call it a challenging and interesting course and a course that they like. It's especially true of the foreign drivers and the Japanese drivers who have spent part of their career overseas.
The layout of the track also makes one where the Honda NSX traditionally does well with its good cornering performance. Considering the cornering improvements that have been made in the new GT-R compared to the Fairlady Z, it is a course where Nissan can also win. On the other hand, the Lexus SC430 has had difficult performing well here. And, whereas the grip of the track surface tends to improve during the course of the race at most circuits, they say that the Autopolis track has a tendency to lose grip for some reason as the race goes on. These factors make it difficult to get good machine settings and teams often seem to get caught up in the setting process with little results.

No.1 ARTA NSX
So, which will be the teams to watch in this hard-to-negotiate Autopolis course? One of the first to watch will be the No. 23 XANAVI NISMO GT-R (driven by Satoshi Motoyama/Benoit Treluyer). Then there are the No. 1 ARTA NSX (Ralph Firman/Takuya Izawa) and the No. 100 RAYBRIG NSX (Yuji Ide/Shinya Hosokawa). All three of these teams have done well at Autopolis in the past and shown that their machines, the team and the drivers perform well here. Now free of handicap weights, the No. 17 REAL NSX (Katsutomo Kaneishi/Toshihiro Kaneishi) and the No. 25 ECLIPSE ADVAN SC430 (Takeshi Tsuchiya/Hiroaki Ishiura) will likely be in contention here as well. Among the SC430 teams, the No. 38 ZENT CERUMO SC430 (Yuji Tachikawa/Richard Lyons) team has performed well at Autopolis in the past and will certainly be aiming for a win here.

Which are the machines to watch in the season title race?

No.38 ZENT CERUMO SC430
With just two rounds left to contest this season, the battle for the drivers' title will be the focus of a lot of fan attention, along with the race itself. Finishing well here at Autopolis will be important for the teams that hope to win the drivers' title in the final round. With a strong finish here, one of the teams may be able to put their rivals in check for the final championship duel.
Considering the point standings at present, No. 23 (Motoyama/Treluyer) and No. 38 (Tachikawa/Lyons), presently 4th and 5th in the standing respectively, will be try to get a win here at Autopolis. Meanwhile, the tied ranking leaders, team No. 18's Ryo Michigami and Takashi Kogure (TAKATA DOME NSX) and team No. 36's Juichi Wakisaka and Andre Lotterer (PETRONAS TOM'S SC430) will be driving with very heavy loads of handicap weights at 75 kg and 70 kg respectively. Although it will be difficult for them to win here at Autopolis under these conditions, they will still be looking to win as many season points as possible. With this aim in mind, a podium finish for either of these two teams could give them a strong advantage in the final round.
Other than these teams, the other three driver pairs with an actual shot at the drivers' title are team No. 12's Sebastien Philippe (CALSONIC IMPUL GT-R) and team No. 100's Ide and Hosokawa and team No. 35's Peter Dumbreck and Tatsuya Kataoka (houzan KRAFT SC430). For these three pairs, only a win here at Autopolis can keep their title hopes alive.

The GT300 class is also hotly contested

No.46 MOLA LEOPALACE Z
The battle for the season title is equally intense in the GT300 class. At the top of the drivers' title ranking at this point is the No. 46 MOLA LEOPALACE Z (Kazuki Hoshino/Hironobu Yasuda), but they will be carrying a heavy load of 100 kg in handicap weights in this race. And, even though Autopolis is a circuit where weights are less of a disadvantage than at other circuits, it is still not realistic to expect a win here with that much weight. A more realistic approach would be to try to earn points with a 5th or 6th place finish here and then shoot for the title in the final round. This is probably their best race scenario. Meanwhile, the No. 2 Privée KENZO Asset Shiden (Kazuho Takahashi/Hiroki Katoh) will surely be going for the win here at Autopolis. They are carrying little weight and their machine is one that is well suited for the course layout here. In contrast, the Fuji Speedway course where the final round will be contested is not one of their better courses, so their strategy should be to go for the win here at Autopolis and secure a spot at the top of the ranking going into the final round.
The other competitors you will want to watch are the No. 43 ARTA Garaiya (Morio Nitta/Shinichi Takagi) and the No. 7 ORC AMEMIYA SGC-7 (Hiroyuki Iiri/Ryo Orime), presently standing 2nd and 4th in the season ranking respectively. Both are carrying considerable handicap weights at 50kg and 45kg respectively, which should affect their race strategy. And, their calculations as to how many points they can expect to win in the final round should affect the places they will be shooting for here at Autopolis.
As for the other teams that may be involved in the battle for the win here at Autopolis are the No. 62 WILLCOM ADVAN VEMAC408R (Shinsuke Shibahara/Haruki Kurosawa), the No. 77 CUSCO DUNLOP SUBARU IMPREZA (Tetsuya Yamano/Kouta Sasaki) and the No. 19 WedsSport IS350 (Manabu Orido/Tsubasa Abe) that showed amazing speed in winning round seven.

No.2 Privée KENZO Asset Shiden

No.43 ARTA Garaiya