2009 SUPER GT Round7
Preview
2009-09-08
This is it! Season's final stage is about to kick off!
Battle gets even fiercer for the title.
Handicap weight mitigation creates more excitements on the track.
On September 12th and 13th, 2009 AUTOBACS SUPER GT Round 7 "FUJI GT 300km RACE" will be held at Fuji Speedway (Shizuoka Prefecture). With the 2009 season shifting into the final stage, only three races are left in the series including Round 7. For the champion or for a win, the competition among teams should get more intense than ever before.
Adverse change!? May see counterattack from SC430 and NSX
No.1 MOTUL AUTECH GT-R
There will be a drastic change happening at the seventh round. In this year's handicap weight system, the weight to be mounted on a car is calculated by the points obtained x (times) 2kg for the second to sixth race but for seventh race the handicap weight is calculated by the points obtained x 1kg, consequently decreasing the amount to a half. As a result, many teams that struggle in recent races in spite of placing in the upper group of point standing may with a great chance get their momentum back. Fuji Speedway is known as a super high-speed track with a 1.5 km long straight. In a different view, considering that the final round will be raced with no handicap weight, Round 7 should be the point to charge for the teams with lesser ballast, so some teams may come in to Fuji with a complete strategy for the whole season.
Expectations built up for winless teams
No.36 PETRONAS TOM'S SC430
Who will take Fuji as a chance? First name on the list must be the second place in the point standing, No.36 PETRONAS TOM'S SC430 (Juichi Wakisaka / Andre Lotterer). They should, at least, have gotten a podium finish at last race in Suzuka, but just one mistake forced them to settle with 3 points. They need a win in Fuji in order to clinch the title. Similarly, the last race was a tolerating race for the leading scorer, No.1 MOUTL AUTECH GT-R (Satoshi Motoyama / Benoit Treluyer), too. Though winning the third round in Fuji, the second visit is not fully advantageous to GT-R. They may choose to be conservative and settle for points, or they may simply go for a win. Either way, it will be a point of interest for the fans.
Contrastingly, No.6 ENEOS SC430 (Daisuke Ito / Bjorn Wirdheim) should be hell-bent for winning the race. They have been showing good performance in recent three races, battling for the top position, but they are just out of luck. This must be it for the team.
It would not be surprising if the fresh duo who accomplished their first GT500 win at previous round, No.35 KRAFT SC430 (Hiroaki Ishiura / Kazuya Oshima), benefit from the change in handicap weight coefficient and win back-to-back.
No.18 ROCKSTAR DOME NSX
Out of NSX fleet, likes of No.18 ROCKSTAR DOME NSX (Ryo Michigami / Takashi Kogure) and No.17 KEIHIN NSX (Toshihiro Kaneishi / Koudai Tsukakoshi), both still have a chance in winning the title, may play an interesting part in the 300km race. In that sense, only winless GT-R team, No.12 IMPUL CALSONIC GT-R (Tsugio Matsuda / Sebastien Philippe), may flare up to prove their true potential.
Lastly, No.21 ASTON MARTIN AKASAKA DBR9 (Akihiro Tsuzuki / Takeshi Tsuchiya) will make their comeback to GT500 class after staying out for few events. They sure are another machine to watch at Fuji.
Dead heat in GT300 class gets even fiercer
No.7 M7 MUTIAR MOTORS AMEMIYA SGC 7
With halved handicap weight, the turmoil in GT300 seems to get more complicated. At last race in Suzuka, the top 3 GT300 cars went head to head until the final lap. We may see more cars getting involved in a close battle at Fuji.
Expectations rise for No.7 M7 MUTIAR MOTORS AMEMIYA SGC 7 (Nobuteru Taniguchi / Ryo Orime), No.11 JMGAINER ADVAN F430 (Tetsuya Tanaka / Katsuyuki Hiranaka), and No.81 DAISHIN ADVAN Ferrari (Takayuki Aoki / Tomonobu Fujii). None of them have scored a win up to this point, and they may fall out of the title contention if they don't charge here. All of them have been showing good performances and now it's about time to record a win in their result book.
No.43 ARTA Garaiya
Will the leaders of point ranking, No.43 ARTA Garaiya (Morio Nitta / Shinichi Takagi), No.2 APPLE•K-one•Shiden (Hiroki Katoh / Hiroki Yoshimoto), No.19 WedsSport IS350 (Manabu Orido / Tatsuya Kataoka), and No.46 S Road MOLA Z (Kazuki Hoshino / Masataka Yanagida), be patient and try to secure points, or .... Need to keep the eyes on their strategies. The race may be a little more difficult for No.33 HANKOOK PORSCHE (Mitsuhiro Kinoshita / Masami Kageyama), who has won two races in the season, as they need to carry 80kg (Point obtained x 2kg) of handicap weight according to the regulation.
Unable to proceed to the race on their debut at the last round, No.62 R&D SPORT LEGACY B4 (Tetsuya Yamano / Shogo Mitsuyama) is hoped to show good performance as they try to redo their debut race.
No.62 R&D SPORT LEGACY B4
For both GT500 and GT300, teams must survive the Fuji round in order to stay in the title contention. Battles on the racing track should get hotter than ever. Don't miss it!