2009 SUPER GT Round8

The race began at 14:00. At the start there was a heavy cloud cover The air temperature just before the start was 18 degrees C. and the track surface was 23 degrees.

No.1 MOTUL AUTECH GT-R The victorious No. 36 PETRONAS TOM'S SC430 began the race from 4th position on the grid. But the team's starting driver, Andre Lotterer, got an incredible start, passing two cars in the first corner and coming through the opening lap in 2nd position behind the pole starting No. 38 ZENT CERUMO SC430 (Richard Lyons).
From there, these two SC430 cars staged a close battle. On the first corner of the 15th lap Lotterer in No. 36 pulled ahead of Lyons in No. 38 for a moment, but quickly used a crossing line to hold his lead. Returning to the original order with Lyons in the lead, the tense battle continued.

No.24 HIS ADVAN KONDO GT-R The balance finally shifted when the two drivers pulled into the pit at the same time at the end of lap 29. Lyons turned the wheel of No. 38 over to Yuji Tachikawa and Lotterer gave the wheel of No. 36 to his teammate Juichi Wakisaka, and both teams changed their tires and refueled. In this pit work the No. 36 team was faster and Wakisaka was in the lead in No. 36 when they returned to the race with Tachikawa in No. 38 giving chase.
Meanwhile, the No. 1 MOTUL AUTECH GT-R car (Benoit Treluyer > Satoshi Motoyama), which had already finished its pit stop on an earlier lap, managed to get in between the two SC430s. But that order didn't last long, as Tachikawa (No. 38) passed Motoyama (No. 1) on the first corner of lap 32. After that, when all the teams had finished their pit stops, No. 36 (Wakisaka) was in the lead with No. 38 (Tachikawa) in 2nd place and No. 1 (Motoyama) in 3rd.

No. 36 (Wakisaka) and No. 38 (Tachikawa) continued their battle in the reverse order from the first half of the race. A few seconds behind them was Motoyama in car No. 1 in an order that remained unchanged then for some 20 laps.
However, with 10 laps remaining in the race, the monitor screens showed a notice of a violation in the pit work of the No. 38 team that would cost them a 30-second penalty. While preparing to leave the pit, the engine of No. 38 had been started before the machine was fully down from the air jack.
This penalty erased any chance of a win for No. 38, but on lap 60 No. 36 (Wakisaka) got trapped behind a GT300 machine, allowing No. 38 (Tachikawa) to pull along side it. In the maneuvering, Tachikawa No. 38 got his wheels on one side in the dirt and spun out as a result. The rear end of his machine hit the guard rail and his wing was bent, forcing him to make a pit stop for repairs.
Wakisaka (No. 36) ran the last five laps to the checkered alone with ease. For the No. 36 PETRONAS TOM'S SC430 (Juichi Wakisaka/Andre Lotterer) this is their first victory since the Suzuka 1000km round six of the 2006 season. This win gives Wakisaka his ninth career victory in SUPER GT/JGTC. For Lotterer, this is his third GT win.
Finishing 2nd came the No. 1 MOTUL AUTECH GT-R (Satoshi Motoyama/Benoit Treluyer). In 3rd came the No. 24 HIS ADVAN KONDO GT-R (Joao Paulo Lima de Oliveira/Seiji Ara), after winning its duel with the No. 8 ARTA NSX (Ralph Firman/Takuya Izawa) in the latter stages of the race.
This result keeps Satoshi Motoyama in the lead in the drivers' the ranking with 78 points, but No. 36 drivers Wakisaka and Lotterer have quickly closed the gap with 73 points, and today's 4th-place finishers, the No. 8 pair of Ralph Firman and Takuya Ito, a also have a chance to win the season title with 61 points.

In the early stages of the GT300 class race the pole starting No. 43 ARTA Garaiya (Morio Nitta) ran in the lead, chased by the No. 74 COROLLA Axio apr GT (Takuto Iguchi) and the No. 11 JIMGAINER ADVAN F430 (Tetsuya Tanaka). For a while, Nitta in car No. 43 was able to open up a lead, but his pace began to slow somewhat nearing the 20th lap and Iguchi in car No. 74 and Tanaka in No. 11 closed in behind him. On lap 22, when Iguchi (No. 74) moved over to let a GT500 machine past, he was also passed by Tanaka (No. 11) and Tsubasa Abe in the No. 26 UP START TAISAN PORCHE that had moved up in shooting range as well. On the next lap, Tanaka (No. 11) also passed Nitta in car No. 43 to take the lead.

No.7 M7 MUTIARA MOTORSAMEMIYASGC 7
Just after taking the lead, however, Tanaka (No. 11) bumped with a GT500 machine and spun out. Although he managed to stay on the track, he lost position again. At the end of lap 24, No. 11 (Tanaka) made its pit stop. After that the order among the leaders changed numerous times, as some teams delayed making their pit stops. But past mid-point in the race when all the top teams had finished their pit stops, the No. 19 WedsSport IS350 (Tatsuya Kataoka > Manabu Orido) had taken the lead and No. 11 was in 2nd place, driven now by Katsuyuki Hiranaka.
These two machines continued to battle in a close contest up to the final stages of the race when No. 19 (Orido) moved aside to let a GT500 machine past on lap 53 and Hiranaka (No. 11) seized that chance to get past No. 19 as well. After that, Orido (No. 19) tried hard to win the lead back from No. 11 (Hiranaka) but ended up spinning out by his own mistake on lap 58. This spin allowed the No. 7 M7 MUTIARA MOTORS AMEMIYA SGC 7 (Nobuteru Taniguchi > Ryo Orime) in 3rd position to get past into 2nd place and basically ended No. 19's bid for the win.
After that, No. 11 (Hiranaka) ran on unchallenged to the finished and took the checkered first.
This was the first win of the season for the No. 11 JIMGAINER ADVAN F430 (Tetsuya Tanaka/Katsuyuki Hiranaka). It was also the first win for a JIMGAINER Ferrari team since round 7 of the 2006 season. It was the first win for Tanaka since then as well. For Hiranaka, this was his memorable first SUPER GT victory.

No.19 Weds Sport IS350 Finishing 2nd came the No. 7 M7 MUTIARA MOTORS AMEMIYA SGC 7 (Nobuteru Taniguchi/Ryo Orime) and 3rd went to the No. 19 WedsSport IS350 (Manabu Orido/Tatsuya Kataoka).
As a result, the No. 19 team (Manabu Orido/Tatsuya Kataoka) lead the drivers' ranking with 74 points, followed by a tie for 2nd between the No. 43 pair (Morio Niita/Shinichi Takagi) and the No. 11 pair (Tetsuya Tanaka/Katsuyuki Hiranaka) with 71 points each. Fourth place is held by No. 7 team (Nobuteru Taniguchi/Ryo Orime) with 67 points and, behind them, the No. 2 APPLE•K-one•Shiden pair (Hiroki Katoh/ Hiroki Yoshimoto) and the No. 46 S Road MOLA Z pair (Kazuki Hoshino/ Masataka Yanagida) also have a shot at the title in the final round.