2010 SUPER GT Round2

Qualifying #1 Weather:Fine | Course:Dry | Air Temp. 11°C | Track Temp. 17°C
Qualifying #2 Weather:Fine | Course:Dry | Air Temp. 14°C | Track Temp. 23°C

Three makers share the top three qualifying spots

The qualifying for this round was held in the same Knock-out format as the season's opening round. As the second stage of the qualifying, the Knock-out competition is run in three sessions, with the GT500 and GT300 class cars running separately in each session and the cars with the slowest times in each of the first two sessions being eliminated. The car recording the fastest lap time in the third and final session then wins the pole position.
The first stage of the qualifying began at 12:55 as a 45-minute session with the GT500 and GT300 classes running together. In order for a team to participate in the second stage of the qualifying (the Knock-out competition), both drivers have to clear the qualifying time standard. Of the contestants in the GT300 class, Melvin Choo of the 365 ThunderAsia MT900M (No. 365) team was unable to clear the qualifying standard. For this car and the No.17 KEIHIN HSV-010 (Toshihiro Kaneishi/Koudai Tsukakoshi) that crashed in the morning free practice and was unable to compete in the qualifying, the results of their performance in race day's morning practice will determine if they are able to compete in the race.
The Knock-out competition began from the GT300 class at 15:10. Session 1 of the Knock-out competition for the GT500 class began at 15:20.
Six minutes into the GT500 session the No. 24 HIS ADVAN KONDO GT-R (Hironobe Yasuda) ran off the track at the first corner. Because the car came to a stop in the gravel, the Red Flag came out to stop the session. Car No. 24 was pulled out of the gravel by the Rescue Car and was able to return to the pit under its own power, but in accordance with the regulations, their session was over. .
After the course was cleared, the session was restarted for its remaining three minutes. This gave the teams one last lap run to try to qualify for Session 2. In the teams' final desperate last time attack, the No. 8 ARTA HSV-010 (Ralph Firman) just missed getting a time in the 1 min. 24 sec. range and was knocked out as the 11th qualifier.
The 7-minute Session 2 began at 15:55 and in it the No. 12 CALSONIC IMPUL GT-R (Tsugio Matsuda) recorded the fastest time. Also qualifying for Session 2 were three Lexus SC430 cars (No. 35 MJ KRAFT SC430, No. 6 ENEOS SC430、No. 38 ZENT CERUMO SC430) and two Honda HSV-010 GT cars (No. 18 Weider HSV-010, No. 32 EPSON HSV-010) and the No. 23 MOTUL AUTECH GT-R.
The 7-minute Session 3 to determine the pole position and the remaining top eight grid positions began at 16:24. Yuji Tachikawa in car No. 38 was the first to post a leading time, but it was quickly bettered by Takashi Kogure in car No.18. Kogure made another time attach on the next lap and succeeded in posting a time of 1 min. 23.815 sec. to win the pole position.
This is the second consecutive pole position for the No. 18 Weider HSV-010 (Takashi Kogure/Loic Duval) following their pole in round one. In that race, the team lost ground in the opening lap, and a collision later on as they sought to regain position took them out of the race. Will they be able to get revenge for that loss tomorrow?
Starting from second position on the grid tomorrow will be the second qualifying No. 38 ZENT CERUMO SC430 (Yuji Tachikawa/Richard Lyons). All eyes will be on the start these two machines make tomorrow.
Qualifying third was the No. 12 CALSONIC IMPUL GT-R (Tsugio Matsuda/Ronnie Quintarelli). In a final time attack on the checker lap, Quintarelli was able to improve on his time and win the third spot on the starting grid.
With this result, Honda, Lexus and Nissan have each won a spot in the top three positions on tomorrow's starting grid.

No.86 JLOC Lamborghini RG-3

Up Start Z takes 2nd position

The winner of the GT300 pole was the No. 86 JLOC Lamborghini RG-3 driven by Koji Yamanishi. In the fierce contest of time attacks in Session 3, it was the only car to dip under 1 min. 32 sec. (1 min. 31.341). This time was a full 0.5 sec. ahead of the second fastest car. This was Yamanishi's first GT pole position, despite having run the fastest qualifying time once before in round six of last season, only to have his time disqualified later due to a regulation violation found in the car.
Qualifying 2nd came the No. 46 Up Start MOLA Z. In Session 1 of the Knock-out, Naoki Yokomizo had run the second fastest time. In Session 2, teammate Tsubasa Abe just managed to qualify the team for Session 3 by running 9th. Then, in Session 3, Yokomizo again ran the second fastest time with (1 min. 31.896 sec.). In the season opener, this team finished 2nd after starting from 3rd position on the grid. In tomorrow's race it will again be shooting to move up one position, for the win this time.
Qualifying 3rd was the No. 31 apr COROLLA Axio (Koki Saga/Kosuke Matsuura). In the last round at Suzuka, this car had crashed in the opening lap. The damage was severe enough to take them out of that race, but in the short two weeks since, the machine has been repaired and the team has shown its determination to come back fighting.