2009 SUPER GT Round5
Preview
2009-07-21
Halfway point of 2009 series!
Don't take eyes off from episodic SUGO!
Enjoy summer break, enjoy SUPER GT at greeny circuit
On July 25th and 26th, 2009 AUTOBACS SUPER GT Round 5 "SUGO GT 300km RACE" will be held at Sportsland SUGO (Miyagi Prefecture). In 9-round SUPER GT, the fifth round means the halfway mark of the series. Finish the race in upper positions here and add few more series points would be the nearest way to the title. SUGO has always been a stage for episodic race and this year is no different, the battle should get to its hottest for sure.
Will it be win No.4 for GT-R? Or will jinx come true?
No.12 IMPUL CALSONIC GT-R
There is a jinx in the series that is widely known among the SUPER GT fans and needs no explanation, "Nissan's GT500 cannot win in SUGO." The teeth-gritting jinx of Nissan fans is still alive. Last year, the highest finish of a Nissan at SUGO was eighth position. With three wins up to this point this season, GT-R fleet must be on their mettle to break the jinx.
The driving force for Nissan would be No.12 IMPUL CALSONIC GT-R (Tsugio Matsuda / Sebastien Philippe). As the only winless GT-R team so far in the season, they want to bring their potential upfront and go with the flow. One concern for them is that their ace driver Matsuda fractured his right index finger at the previous Formula NIPPON race. Nonetheless, he is recovering smoothly and eager for the race, so the team has a lot of potential.
ENEOS SC430 and No.17 KEIHIN NSX top the list.
No.6 ENEOS SC430
The top favorite for SUGO would be No.6 ENEOS SC430 (Daisuke Ito / Bijon Wirdheim). Both team and drivers have always shown good performance at the circuit, and, with lesser handicap weight, they sure are one of the top on the watch list. No.36 PETRONAS TOM'S SC430 (Juichi Wakisaka / Andre Lotterer) at second in series ranking also favors the track, but the situation is not easy for them with the handicap weight they have to carry. What they need to focus on is to secure some series points here for the title. The same can be said for the series point leader No.24 HIS KONDO GT-R (J. P. de Oliveira / Seiji Ara). It would be worthwhile to see how these top teams will take on the race.
No.17 KEIHIN NSX
NSX camp must be looking straight ahead to the SUGO round as the place to strike back. Showing good performance at the last round in Sepang, No. 17 KEIHIN NSX (Toshihiro Kaneishi / Koudai Tsukakoshi) may continue their momentum to be in the top group along with their companion, No.18 ROCKSTAR DOME NSX (Ryo Michigami / Takashi Kogure). If anything happens in the race, No.32 EPSON NSX (Loic Duval / Yuki Nakayama) could well be a dark horse.
HANKOOK PORSCHE could be the eye of typhoon on their return race.
No.33 HANKOOK PORSCHE
When it comes to SUGO, teams like No.19 Weds Sport IS350 (Manabu Orido / Tatsuya Kataoka), No.7 M7 MUTIARA MOTORSAMEMIYASGC 7 (Nobuteru Taniguchi / Ryo Orime), and No.43 ARTA Garaiya (Morio Nitta / Shinichi Takagi) would be shortlisted for top candidates in GT300, but the teams are located in the upper portion of series ranking at the moment, which means heavy handicap weight. Their task would be to finish at as high position as possible in the difficult race to come.
No.2 APPLE•K-one•Shiden
Contrastingly, No.2 APPLE K-one•shiden (Hiroki Katoh / Hiroki Yoshimoto), who started from the last place on the grid and worked its way up to outstandingly win the race in Malaysia, should be keen to carry on the momentum to win again in SUGO. A back-to-back win will allow them to fill up the deficit that had built up in the first half of the season and put them right in the middle of series title contention. Similarly, two Ferraris that have proven their speed but have not bear fruit in their result, No.11 JIMGAINER ADVAN F430 (Tetsuya Tanaka / Katsuyuki Hiranaka) and No.81 DAISHIN ADVAN Ferrari (Takayuki Aoki / Tomonobu Fujii), should be eager to win the race.
Another candidate, and may be one of the worthiest to watch, is No.33 HANKOOK PORSCHE (Mitsuhiro Kinoshita / Masami Kageyama). Despite bringing the first ever SUPER GT victory to Hankook at the second round, the team plans to compete in only four races this season due to various factors. The Porsche team is returning to the series at SUGO since the second round. Two veterans taking the wheel should be coming to the circuit with full of enthusiasm to win all the races they are given to drive.
Another eye-catcher, not in terms of winning the race but of interest, of the SUGO race would be No.808 HATSUNE MIKU Studie GLAD BMW Z4 (Yasushi Kikuchi / Shozo Tagahara). The team did not attend the Malaysian round, and, instead, worked on the engine, transmission, and aerodynamics on the car. The lack of competitiveness of the car helped the attention to be put more on the exterior of the car, an "Itasha" design, but the team will aim for their first series points with their modified machine that was restored to nearly brand new condition. Setting up their car for the race may be a difficult task especially after a major modification and, of course, there is always some chance of problems. But the kind of challenge the BMW team is taking is indeed one of the excitements that GT300 class provides.
No.11 JIMGAINER ADVAN F430
No.808 HATSUNE MIKU Studie GLAD BMW Z4
Located at Miyagi's mountain side, it is great season to enjoy the greenery at Sportsland SUGO. To enjoy the SUPER GT or for a good memory of summer vacation, we hope to see everyone at the circuit.