2008 SUPER GT Round9

Weather:cloudy/rain | Course:dry/wet | Air Temp. 9°C | track surface Temp. 10°C

The race started at 14:00. A light rain began to fall just before the cars took to the starting grid, causing many teams to switch to light-rain type shallow-groove tires on the grid. In contrast, two teams in the GT500 class, the No. 12 CALSONIC IMPUL GT-R (Tsugio Matsuda) and the No. 39 DENSO DUNLOP SARD SC430 (Andre Couto) chose to bet on slick tires.
The formation lap, which is normal only a one-lap run, was extended to two in order to allow for better tire warm-up due to the extremely low track surface temperature.

At the start there was a reverse in positions between the No. 1 ARTA NSX (Ralph Firman) and the No. 24 WOODONE ADVAN Clarion GT-R (J.P.L. De Oliveira), but that was about the only change of note during the opening lap.
On lap two, however, the No. 22 MOTUL AUTECH GT-R (Michael Krumm) suddenly returned to the pit. The track had apparently dried enough to warrant a quick change to slick tires.

No.38 ZENT CERUMO SC430
After that, one team after another returned to the pit to change to slick tires, bringing big changes in the order of the leaders. No. 12 (Matsuda) and No. 39 (Couto) emerged as the new leaders.
Far behind them came the No. 23 XANAVI NISMO GT-R (Benoit Treluyer) after a very fast tire change, but it was unable to pick up the pace due to the heavy load of handicap weights it was carrying. Soon it would be passed by No. 24 (De Oliveira). But、No. 24 suddenly lost speed on lap 16. It returned to the pit with driveshaft trouble that needed extensive repair work.
No. 23 (Treluyer) continued to lose ground gradually after that. Seeing this, the team called Treluyer back to the pit on lap 23, just after the 1/3 point in the race required for a driver change. With a tire change and change of drivers to Satoshi Motoyama, No. 23 returned to the race. Also, No. 39 (Couto), which was running in 2nd place at this point, pulled in for its pit stop on lap 27 and changed drivers to Toranosuke Takagi.
Just around this time, rain began to fall again, making it hard to maintain fast lap times with slick tires. Until his tires could warm up, Takagi was forced to run so slow that he was being passed even by GT300 machines.
Seeing this, the No. 38 ZENT CERUMO SC430 (Richard Lyons > Yuji Tachikawa) and the No. 36 PETRONAS TOM'S SC430 (Andre Lotterer > Juichi Wakisaka) switched to shallow groove rain tires while also performing their routine pit work. Despite having just finished its pit stop, No. 23 (Motoyama) returned to the pit again to change to rain tires as a safety measure.
The leader, No. 12 (Matsuda) made its pit stop just at the race’s halfway point on lap 33, changing drivers to Sebastien Philippe and switching to rain tires.

At this point all the machines had finished their pit stops. In the lead was No. 12 (Philippe) with more than a 40-second margin over the No. 35 houzan KRAFT SC430 (Tatsuya Kataoka > Peter Dumbreck) in 2nd place.
Takuya Izawa was running in third position in car No. 1 but unable to maintain a fast enough pace. Likewise, the No. 18 TAKATA DOME NSX (Takashi Kogure > Ryo Michigami) and the No. 17 REAL NSX (Toshihiro Kaneishi > Katsutomo Kaneishi) were running at very slow paces. Apparently the tires chosen by the NSX teams did not fit the wet, cool track conditions at all. This allowed No. 38 (Tachikawa) to move up to 3rd position and the No. 6 ENEOS SC430 (Bjorn Wirdheim > Daisuke Ito) to move into 4th position.

No.6 ENEOS SC430
Later on, Dumbreck in No. 35 made a mistake in the hairpin of lap 48 that let No. 38 (Tachikawa) and No. 6 (Ito) get past him. By moving into 2nd place, and with No. 23 (Motoyama) running out of the point range, Tachikawa in car No. 38 had a chance at winning the race and enough points to take the season’s driver title in a big come-from-behind upset. Although it would be very difficult for Tachikawa (No. 38) to catch the leader, No. 12 (Philippe), about 40 seconds ahead with just over 10 laps to go, he pushed hard, determined not to give up his title hopes. Gradually the gap between the two machines narrowed to within 20 sec. as the race entered the final five laps. At this rate there was still a chance to grab the title.
But time would run out, and the race finished with still a 16-sec. gap remaining between the two leaders. No. 38 (Tachikawa) had come close but failed to win.

The victory went to the No. 12 CALSONIC IMPUL GT-R (Tsugio Matsuda/Sebastien Philippe). It was the team’s second win of the season, following the Pokka 1000km (round 6), and for the Nissan GT-R it was the seventh victory of the season, a new record for most season wins by a single make.
Second place went to the No. 38 ZENT CERUMO SC430 (Yuji Tachikawa/Richard Lyons) and 3rd to the No. 6 ENEOS SC430 (Daisuke Ito/Bjorn Wirdheim). For Ito, this podium finish came in his first race back from injury.

Further back in the field, Satoshi Motoyama in car No. 23 moved into 9th place by passing car No. 1 (Izawa), which had fallen off the pace. This finish was enough to win the pair of Motoyama and Benoit Treluyer the season’s driver title.
The team title went to the No. 36 PETRONAS TOYOTA TEAM TOM'S team, which finished the race 7th.

The GT300 started with an upset, as the title contending No. 46 IMOLA LEOPALACE Z (Kazuki Hoshino) spun out on the opening lap. It appears that there had been contact with another machine, and the resulting spin-out seemingly took No. 46 out of contention for a finish well in the points.
Meanwhile, the 3rd-place starting No. 19 WedsSport IS350 (Manabu Orido) and the 6th place starter, the No. 26 YUNKER POWER TAISAN PORSCHE (Nobuteru Taniguchi), both moved up in position. While most of their rivals had chosen to start the race with rain tires, these two teams had chosen slick tires. So, when the other teams were forced to return to the pit for a tire change as the track dried off, these two cars were able to move into the lead.
After his first-lap spin-out, Hoshino in car No. 46 was gradually working back up through the pack. By lap 10 he had moved up to 12th position, directly behind his title rival, the No. 43 ARTA Garaiya (Morio Nitta). On lap 13 Hoshino (No. 46) made a move to the inside on the Dunlop Corner and managed to pass No. 43 (Nitta) into 11th position.


No.62 WILLCOM ADVAN VEMAC 408R On the Dunlop Corner of lap 18 No. 46 (Hoshino) and the No. 33 HANKOOK PORSCHE (Masami Kageyama) get entangled and both machines come to a stop. Coming up from behind, No. 43 (Nitta) collides with No. 33. After this, No. 46 and No. 43 are able to start up again immediately but No. 33 has suffered considerable damage. It starts moving again but eventually has to come to a stop on the trackside.
After lap 25, the teams being to make their routine pit stops one after another. At this point rain has begun to fall again and most of the team switch to rain tires. By lap 34, when most of the leading machines had finished their pit stops, No. 26 (Dominik Farnbacher) maintained the lead and in second was another team that had chosen to start on slick tires, the No. 62 WILLCOM ADVAN VEMAC 408R (Haruki Kurosawa > Shinsuke Shibahara). In third position came No. 19 (Tsubasa Abe).
Rising quickly through the ranks, however, came the No. 77 CUSCO DUNLOP SUBARU IMPREZA (Carlo Van Dam > Tetsuya Yamano). With rain falling again, the AWD Impreza was able to maintain a faster pace than its rivals. It soon passed No. 19 (Abe) and the No. 31 DOUBLEHEAD avex apr MR-S (Yuya Sakamoto > Kyosuke Mineo) to move into 3rd position.

There would be no further changes in the top three from this point, thus giving the No. 26 YUNKER POWER TAISAN PORSCHE (Nobuteru Taniguchi/Dominik Farnbacher) its first victory of the season.
Second place went to the No. 62 WILLCOM ADVAN VEMAC 408R (Shinsuke Shibahara/Haruki Kurosawa). It had been a rough season for this team after Shibahara sustained injuries in the opening round, but they were finally able to recover to a podium finish in this final round. In third place came the No.77 CUSCO DUNLOP SUBARU IMPREZA (Tetsuya Yamano/Carlo Van Dam). The whims of the changing weather had brought this team a podium finish.

No.77 CUSCO DUNLOP SUBARU IMPREZA
Meanwhile, the title race was coming down to an exciting finish. After dropping far back in the pack due to the first-lap spin-out, the No. 46 IMOLA LEOPALACE Z (Hoshino > Hironobu Yasuda) had gradually recovered and on the penultimate lap had moved into 7th place. If No. 46 had finished the race that way, it would end the season in a tie for 1st in the driver championship point ranking with the No. 43 ARTA Garaiya (Nitta > Shinichi Takagi), then running in 9th position. Had that been the case, however, the title would have gone to the No. 43 pair (Nitta/Takagi) based on number of season wins. But fortune smiled on No. 46 when the 6th-place runner, the No. 81 DAISHIN ADVAN Z (Takayuki Aoki > Tomonobu Fujii), suddenly lost speed on the final lap, enabling Yasuda in car No. 46 to pass it into 6th position coming out of the final turn o the race. About the reason for car No. 81’s sudden slow-down, manager Nobuyuki Ohyagi said, “We won’t know for sure until we inspect the machine, but it was probably a fuel system problem.” In any event, this failure handed the GT300 driver title to the No. 46 pair of Hoshino and Yasuda.