2010 SUPER GT Round3
Preview
2010-04-28
Must see, race fans!
Fuji stages exciting battles & dramatic ending!!
Enjoy Golden Week with SUPER GT!
On May 1st and 2nd, 2010 AUTOBACS SUPER GT Round 3 "FUJI GT 400km RACE" will be held at Fuji Speedway (Shizuoka prefecture). The annual spring event held amid Golden Week is known for staging exciting battles and dramatic ending, owing to its 400km race distance, longer than usual 300km, and the nature of Fuji Speedway that allows many over-taking. It is a sure provider of excitements to not only SUPER GT fans but also motor sports beginners.
Can winless SC430 fleet strike back at its home track?
No.6 ENEOS SC430
Round 3 venue Fuji Speedway is Toyota's affiliated circuit. It means a home-coming event for the LEXUS SC430 squad. Finishing second at both the season opener and the Round 2 put No.6 ENEOS SC430 (Daisuke Ito/Bjorn Wirdheim) at top of the series ranking, but they are yet to climb to the top of podium. That gives all SC430 teams enough reason to be fiercely eager to bring in the first win of the season to the manufacturer. Especially, for No.38 ZENT CERUMO SC430 (Yuji Tachikawa/Richard Lyons) driven by "Fuji Meister" Yuji Tachikawa who boasts 5 career wins at Fuji, defending champion No.1 PETRONAS TOM'S SC430 (Juichi Wakisaka/Andre Lotterer), and ENEOS SC430, the result at Fuji may become a significant factor in their voyage to conquer the series. So the question is not simply a SC430, but which SC430 team will claim triumph at Fuji.
Will it be 2 straight wins for HSV-010 GT? What about GT-R?
No.8 ARTA HSV-010
Weider HSV-010 (Takashi Kogure/Loic Duval) brought in the first win for Honda's HSV-010 GT in a fantastic way at previous round in Okayama. It had been said from the beginning that HSV-010 GT should suit well to a technical circuit like Okayama. But Fuji's track layout is totally opposite in nature. Nevertheless, Honda would never be satisfied with "mediocre": they should come into Fuji with their machines well prepared for the high-speed track. Scoring 1 win (Round 7) out of 2 races at Fuji last season, No.8 ARTA HSV-010 (Ralph Firman/Yuji Ide) is considered to be the driving force for the manufacturer along with No.100 RAYBRIG HSV-010 (Takuya Izawa/Naoki Yamamoto), who favors the track.
No.12 CALSONIC IMPUL GT-R
Although No.24 HIS ADVAN KONDO GT-R (Joao Paulo de Oliveira/Hironobu Yasuda) pulled off a win at the season opener, NISSAN GT-R doesn't seem to have the advantage it enjoyed in last two years -but it's not left in the dust of other two rival models either though-. A clever racer No.23 MOTUL AUTECH GT-R (Satoshi Motoyama/Benoit Treluyer) should be planning various tactics to claim the winner two years straight at this long stretch that mandates 2 pit stops. One of the most popular teams in the series, No.12 CALSONIC IMPUL GT-R (Tsugio Matsuda/Ronnie Quintarelli), may be able to push their limit to be in the contention with the enthusiastic support from the huge crowd anticipated for the annual Golden Week.
A clear road ahead for European GT300 cars at the high-speed track!
No.7 M7 MUTIARA MOTORS AMEMIYA SCC 7
Looking into the GT300 class, Fuji is not exactly the most favorite track for both of the winners of last two rounds, No.7 M7 MUTIARA MOTORS AMEMIYA SCC 7 (Nobuteru Taniguchi/Ryo Orime) and No.46 UP START MOLA Z (Naoki Yokomizo/Tsubasa Abe). In addition, the handicap weights they have to carry could be too heavy compared to their rivals. Therefore, it is most likely that the two teams will go with a strategy to pick as many points as possible from the race. Of course, given how clever the both are, they can throw a surprise if the long distance race turns out to be a rough one.
No.33 HANKOOK PORSHE
Considering all the elements required for the race held at the foot of Mt. Fuji, European GT cars should be highlighted in the watch-out list of the event. It would be a huge chance for the teams fielding cars that boast outstanding top speed: namely, Porsche GT3 RSR, Ferrari F430, and Lamborghini Gallardo RG-3. Out of those, No.33 HANKOOK PORSCHE (Mitsuhiro Kinoshita/Masami Kageyama/Tomonobu Fujii), No.11 JIMGAINER DIXCEL DUNLOP F430 (Tetsuya Tanaka/Katsuyuki Hiranaka), and No.86 JLOC LAMBORGHINI RG-3 (Koji Yamanishi/Yuhi Sekiguchi) would be the favor this weekend.
No.43 ARTA Garaiya
In addition, winner of last year's third round No.43 ARTA Garaiya (Morio Nitta/Shinichi Takagi) as well as No.19 WedsSport IS350 (Manabu Orido/Tatsuya Kataoka) and No.74 COROLLA Axio apr GT (Takuto Iguchi/Yuji Kunimoto), both psyched up for the race at Toyota's home track, should be paid attention. In others, making their first appearance to the series this season, No.25 ZENT Porsche RSR (Akihiro Tsuzuki/Takeshi Tsuchiya) and No.51 Sabel CINE CITTA' TAISAN PORSCHE (Yuya Sakamoto/Shogo Mitusyama) deserve attention too especially when some proven drivers are taking the wheels.
Speaking of attention, No.9 HATSUNEMIKU X GSR PORSCHE (Taku Bamba/Masahiro Sasaki), known as "Ita-sha," will enjoy true rivalry from Round 3. No.31 Corolla Axio received new coloring on its body with a design originated from a robot featured in the super popular anime "Neon Genesis Evangelion," and they will compete in the series as EVANGELION RT TEST TYPE-01 apr COROLLA (Koki Saga/Kosuke Matsuura). Besides their look, MIKU X PORSCHE has a good potential to finish the race in points and it wouldn't be surprising if EVA CAROLLA pulled off a win. You may see it "awaken" and bring sensation to Fuji.