2009 SUPER GT Round8
Preview
2009-10-13
Crucial point of the title contention!!
Do or die in many means!
Autopolis will turn out to be a must-see.
On October 17th and 18th, 2009 AUTOBACS SUPER GT Round 8 “SUPER GT in KYUSHU 300km” will be held at Autopolis (Oita Prefecture). There are only two races remaining in the 2009 season including this Kyushu round. The contention for the series title will get hotter than ever. Besides winning or losing, the tactics that top teams decide to outrun rivals in the last two races will be another key point to keep your eyes on.
Which machine fits Autoplis the most?
No.1 MOTUL AUTECH GT-R
Coming-up race in Autopolis is the eighth round of the SUPER GT Series. With the series competed in 9 rounds this season, the race in Kyushu will be important to many teams given that it is the last race before the final round. Failing to grab ranking points here would mean to fall out from the series title contention. It truly is a survival.
No.8 ARTA NSX
Currently, the drivers’ ranking is lead by Satoshi Motoyama of No.1 MOTUL AUTECH GT-R. Since Benoit Treluyer, Motoyama’s partner, stayed out for one race, his chance to clinch the title is de facto zero. But he is very committed and said, “I will put out all I have for Motoyama and the team.”
The drivers and the team favor the track at Autopolis, so they should be looking at a podium finish.
Trailing behind Motoyama by 10 points are the winner of the last round, No.8 ARTA NSX (Ralph Firman / Takuya Izawa), and No.36 PETRONAS TOM’S SC430 (Juichi Wakisaka / Andre Lotterer), a winless but have earned points consistently up to this point. It would be important for those two teams to finish the race in front of No.1 GT-R and shorten the point-gap in between as much as possible. Especially, since ARTA NSX favors the circuit as well, they should be determined to score another win here.
No.36 PETRONAS TOM'S SC430
Being able to win here with the gap against Motoyama at 20 points, a team can carry over their hope for the title to the final round. From that perspective, teams like No.3 HASEMI EBBRO TOMICA GT-R (Ronnie Quintarelli / Hironobu Yasuda), No.18 ROCKSTAR DOME NSX (Ryo Michigami / Takashi Kogure), and No.38 ZENT CERUMO SC430 (Yuji Tachikawa / Richard Lyons) should spur themselves to grab a win.
Dead-heat in GT300 with 3 teams at same points.
The situation is more scrambling in GT300 than GT500. The drivers’ ranking is lead by No.43 ARTA Garaiya (Morio Nitta / Shinichi Takagi), but there are two other teams with the same points and same number of wins, No.2 APPLE・K-one・Shiden (Hiroki Katoh / Hiroki Yoshimoto*) and No.19 WedsSports IS350 (Manabu Orido / Tatsuya Kataoka). All three leading cars are mid-engined and suit Autopolis fairly well. Same ranking points would mean the same amount of handicap weight. The battle between the three sure will be one of the hottest topics in the race.
No.43 ARTA Garaiya
No.2 APPLE•K-one•Shiden
No.46 S Road MOLA Z (Kazuki Hoshino / Masataka Yanagida), No.7 M7 MUTIARA MOTORS AMEMIYA SGC 7 (Nobuteru Taniguchi / Ryo Orime), No.81 DAISHIN ADVAN Ferrari (Takayuki Aoki / Tomonobu Fujii), and No.11 JIMGAINER ADVAN F430 (Tetsuya Tanaka / Katsuyuki Hiranaka) must do or die and score a win to survive in the series title contention. In addition, the circuit is unfavorable to none of the teams, so the stage is set for some stringent battle.
No.19 WedsSport IS350
No.46 S Road MOLA Z
With every aspect of the Round 8 Autoplis offering greatest excitements, it sure will be a must-see for all SUPER GT fans.
* Since No.2 Yoshimoto was absent for one race, only Katoh has a chance for the title.