2009 SUPER GT Round6

Qualifying Weather:Fine | Course:Dry | Air Temp. 33°C | Track Temp. 42°C

The official qualifying for this round was held into three sessions with only the top qualifiers from each session earning the right to move on to the next in a knock-out format. The teams knocked out in the first two sessions were given starting grid positions based on those qualifying times, while the machines remaining in the third session competed once again to determine the top positions on the starting grid, with the pole position going to the team with the fastest time in the third session.
In the first session both GT500 and GT300 teams ran together for 30 minutes, after which each class had a separate 10-minute session. All drivers were expected to clear the qualifying lap time standard during this first session. In the second and third sessions, the two classes ran separately for 10 minutes each and the same driver was not allowed to run both sessions.
The winner of the GT500 pole position was the No. 35 KRAFT SC430 driven by Hiroaki Ishiura and Kazuya Oshima. After both drivers cleared the qualifying standard in the first 30-minute session, Oshima ran a time attack in the 1 min. 56 sec. range during the ensuing 10-minute GT500-only period to qualify 8th and move the team on to the second session.
Ishiura drove in the second session. His time of 1 min. 55.691 sec. was the second fastest, just behind the No. 38 ZENT CERUMO SC430 (Yuji Tachikawa) with its 1 min 55.394 sec. time.
In the third session Oshima took the wheel again and ran a time of 1 min. 55.724 sec. Although he failed to improve on Ishiura's time from the second session, no other team running in the third session was able to better Oshima's time and it gave his team the pole position.
According to the regulation, the tires used in this third session also have to be used at the start of the Sunday race. For this reason, it is believed that most of the team chose fairly hard tires. Also, in order to minimize tire wear, the teams ran as few time attacks as possible. This probably explains the slower times overall in the third session.
For Oshima, this was the first time he has been responsible for running the final qualifying time attacks in GT500 competition. Of course, this also made it his first pole position in the GT500 class. In the GT300 class, Oshima won his first pole position at Fuji Speedway in the last round of his rookie year, 2006. In 2007 he won PPs at round 4 (Sepang) and the last round at Fuji.
The second fastest qualifier in the GT500 class was the No. 3 HASEMI TOMICA EBBRO GT-R. The team's time attack in the third session was run by Ronnie Quintarelli, who recorded a time of 1 min 55.781 sec. and fell just short of Oshima's time in car No. 35.
Qualifying 3rd was the No. 6 ENEOS SC430 (driven by Daisuke Ito in session 3), followed in 4th by another SC430 team, the No. 38 ZENT CERUMO SC430 (session 3 driver: Richard Lyons). The fastest qualifier among the NSX teams was the No. 8 ARTA NSX (session 3 driver: Ralph Firman) in 5th position.
None of the other GT-R teams besides No. 3 were able to make it to the third session, and the currently 1st ranked No. 1 MOTUL AUTECH GT-R could only manage to qualify in 12th position.

No. 81 DAISHIN ADVAN Ferrari

The winner of the GT300 class pole position was the No. 66 triple a MURCIE RG-1. Driven by Koji Yamanishi, No. 66 had recorded the fastest time in the morning practice. Although Yamanishi qualified 2nd in the afternoon's first official qualifying session, the team came back to qualify 1st in both the second session, driven by Atsushi Yogo, and the third session, driven again by Yamanishi to take the pole position.
Qualifying 2nd was the No. 81 DAISHIN ADVAN Ferrari (session 3 driver: Takayuki Aoki). In Sunday's race, this team will be going for the victory and reconciliation for the bad luck in the last round at SUGO, where they won the PP but could only finish 4th in the race due to fickle weather conditions.
Qualifying 3rd was the No. 11 JIMGAINER ADVAN F430. The responsibility of running the third session time attack was given to Katsuyuki Hiranaka this time instead of Tetsuya Tanaka and he succeeded in getting the team this position. The 4th place qualifier was the No. 26 UP START TAISAN PORCHE (session 3 driver: Tsubasa Abe), making it the same lineup of European super cars—Lamborghini, Ferrari, Ferrari, Porsche—that had dominated the morning practice.
Meanwhile, the ranking leader No. 19 WedsSport IS350 (session 3 driver: Tatsuya Kataoka) managed to qualify 6th despite carrying a hefty load of 100kg in handicap weights. The 2nd ranked No. 7 M7 MUTIARA MOTORS SGC 7 qualified 10th and the 3rd ranked No. 2 APPLE•K-one•Shiden failed to reach the third session and ended up qualiying 12th.
In its GT debut race, the No. 62 R&D SPORT LEGACY B4 suffered front differential trouble during the first qualifying session. A fire broke out in the engine compartment and the machine had to be pulled over to trackside and stopped. This brought out the red flag in this session and stopped the action. The team is now working full clip to fix the machine.
Also, drivers Yoshihiro Ito and Subaru Yamamoto of the No. 4 BOMEX LIAN BOXSTER and Yutaka Yamagishi of the No. 55 J-TRUST F-PRO OUTOKITTO PORSCHE were unable to clear the qualifying time standard.

In the machine inspections after the qualifying, a regulation violation was found in the air box of the No. 66 triple a MURCIE RG-1 that caused its time to be disqualified as a penalty. This gave the GT300 class ole position to the No. 81 DAISHIN ADVAN Ferrari.

GT500 Class | Pole Position

No. 35 KRAFT SC430

Hiroaki Ishiura

Before this round we were able to do some tests and both Oshima and I got some experience on the new tires. At that time Oshima was fast, so I told him he could do the important runs this time. He lived up to those expectations today. I was able to watch his driving with a sense of assurance and he did the job well. I had talked with the team and we decided to have Oshima do the final time attack for the grid position, and even if this hadn't been a knock-out format, he would have been our Super Lap driver. We have decided to go all out in this race, so we will be racing all-out from the start tomorrow and I am hoping that we can run away to victory

Kazuya Oshima

I am just really relieved. In the first session I just barely managed to qualify us for the second session by qualifying in 8th position. In the second session all the teams were running quite fast times, so I knew that I would have to drive faster than ever before in the third session if we were going to get the pole position. At the start of my lap I was pretty nervous. But I was able to get through it with no mistakes, so I am quite relieved. I'm happy to win my first pole position, but if I make any mistakes in the race tomorrow it is going to be that much more noticed (laughs). I'm already starting to get nervous about tomorrow's race (winces). We have the pole position, so now the only thing is to go out there and win the race.

Koji Aoyama / Takayuki Aoki / Tomonobu Fujii

GT300 Class | Pole Position

No. 81 DAISHIN ADVAN Ferrari

Takayuki Aoki

For the third qualifying session we used tires that are for the race, so I didn't think we had a chance of getting the pole position, so I was think it would be OK as long as we got a second row spot on the grid. But during the second half of the session the conditions got better, and since my time attack also went well we were able to win the pole position. But there is no real margin over the teams behind us in terms of the lap time, so I think it is going to be a closely contested race. We haven't decided on our race strategy for tomorrow, including who will be the first driver. The rule this time is that all the teams have to make three pit stops during the race, which gives the Ferrari an advantage, considering its higher fuel consumption. But we also take longer in the pit stops [for refueling], so I hope to try to keep us from getting passed because of that. It looks like our rivals will be cars No. 43 and No. 26. Perhaps No. 74 will also be a dark horse to watch.