2010 SUPER GT Round1

Qualifying #1 Weather:Fine | Course:Dry | Air Temp. 17°C | Track Temp. 28°C
Qualifying #2 Weather:Fine | Course:Dry | Air Temp. 18°C | Track Temp. 28°C

HSV-010 GT, SC430 and GT-R qualify in top three

The qualifying for this opening round was held in a knock-out format. The first 45-minute session began at 13:15 with the two classes running together. In order to proceed to the second session, both drivers of each team had to clear the qualifying time standard during this first session. The knock-out competition began with a 10-minute session for the GT300 class, followed by a 10-minute session for the GT500 class. The classes continued to alternate this way through sessions 1, 2 and 3 of the knock-out competition, with the slowest qualifier in each of the first two sessions being knocked out of competition for the final session.
In the first session the No.1 PETRONAS TOM'S SC430 developed trouble in its propeller shaft. At that point, Andre Lotterer had not yet run his qualifying time lap. This meant that there was a possibility of the team failing to qualify for the race. But desperate efforts by the team mechanics solved the problem and Lotterer made it out on the course with three minutes remaining in the session. This gave Lotterer just one lap to clear the qualifying time standard, which he did successfully to move the team on to the session 2.
In that first session, Lotterer in car No. 1 recorded a time of 1 min. 52.821 sec. This would be the fastest time of the session. The next fastest time was a 1 min. 53.008 sec. lap by Takashi Kogure in the No. 18 Weider HSV-010 GT. The remaining six cars in the top eight also recorded times in the 1 min. 53 sec. range. The machine knocked out in this session was the No. 24 HIS ADVAN KONDO GT-R driven by Hironobu Yasuda who qualified 10th with a time that fell a excruciating 0.1 sec. short of 9th-place qualifying No. 32 EPSON HSV-010 driven by Ryo Michigami. The other cars unable to make the top-nine cut-off were the No.8 ARTA HSV-010 Ralph Firman) and the No. 39 DENSO DUNLOP SARD SC430 (Andre Couto).
In session 2, the No.35 MJ KRAFT SC430 (Hiroaki Ishiura) recorded the fastest lap at 1 min. 53.350 sec. Following with the second and third fastest times were the No.6 ENEOS SC430 (Bjorn Wirdheim) and the No.38 ZENT CERUMO SC430 (Richard Lyons). Meanwhile, Joao Paulo Lima de Oliveira in car No.24 suffered a serious crash on the second corner that knocked his team out of the qualifying for the final session. The top eight were thus decided at this point, with Juichi Wakisaka in car No. 1 qualifying 8th by a slim margin. This moved No. 1 into session 3 along with the No.17 KEIHIN HSV-010 (Toshihiro Kaneishi).
The third session to determine the grid positions was run in the final 10 minutes of the qualifying. Here, Kogure in car No.18 ran a time of 1 min. 53.182 sec. on his first lap. This became the time to beat but, despite several laps in the low 1 min. 53 sec. range, no one was able to beat Kogure’s (No. 18) time. Even Kogure himself couldn’t beat his own time in a second attempt after a one-lap cool-down. The session ended with no one beating Kogure’s initial time, which gave the pole position to his No. 18 team. Winning this pole position is an auspicious start for the new Honda HSV-010 GT, for which this opening round marks it debut race. Qualifying 2nd came the No.38 ZENT CERUMO SC430 (Yuji Tachikawa), while the No.23 MOTUL AUTECH GT-R (Benoit Treluyer) qualified 3rd to give Honda, Lexus and Nissan each a spot in the top three.

No.7 M7 MUTIARA MOTORS AMEMIYA SGC 7

GT300 qualifying also marked by close competition

The GT300 class pole was won by the No. 7 M7 MUTIARA MOTORS AMEMIYA SGC 7. In the first session, Nobuteru Taniguchi drove the No. 7 car to the 3rd-fastest time. In session 2, his teammate Ryo Orime ran the 2nd-fastest time to move the team into the session 3. There, Taniguchi again took the wheel and ran a fastest lap of 2 min. 05.391 sec.
Qualifying second in class was the No.11 JIMGAINER DIXCEL DUNLOP F430. Katsuyuki Hiranaka drove the first and third knock-out sessions, recording times under 2 min. 6 sec. each time. His teammate, Tetsuya Tanaka, drove the second session and managed to get a time in the low 2 min. 6 sec. range. This was a satisfying result for the No.11 JIMGAINER team that starts this season with a new car and new tire maker. Qualifying in 3rd position came the No.46 UP START MOLA Z. Despite a spin-out on the spoon by Tsubasa Abe driving car No. 46 in session 3, his earlier lap time was enough to put the team in 3rd position.
Car No.360, the SHIMATSU Kosei RUNNUP PORSCHE driven by Keita Sawa and Takamori.com, was unable to clear the qualifying standard. Also, after recording the fastest time in the morning practice, the No.5 MACHGOGOGO SHAKEN408R (Tetsuji Tamanaka, Haruki Kurosawa) suffered a loss of oil pressure that kept it from recording a qualifying time, while the No.88 RIRE Lamborghini RG-3 (Atsushi Yogo, Shinya Hosokawa) suffered electronic system problems that kept it from running in the qualifying sessions. What’s more, the No.62 R&D SPORT LEGACY B4 (Tetsuya Yamano, Kota Sasaki) had its times disqualified when a violation of the regulation was found in the car. Meanwhile, the car preparation of the 365 Thunder Asia Racing team’s No.365 car 365 Thunder Asia MT900M (Melvin Choo/Tim Sugden) were not completed in time for the Suzuka round, and therefore the team decided to miss this meeting.