2010 SUPER GT Round4

The race started at 16:00. Although the start was scheduled to avoid the midday sun, it was still a hot 34 degrees C. just before the start. So, eventually the race began in nearly the same stifling heat as past races here at Sepang.
In the early stages of the GT500 class race, the pole starting No.12 CALSONIC IMPUL GT-R gradually opened up a lead with Tsugio Matsuda at the wheel. For this 54-lap race, the team chose a slightly early pit stop at lap 25.This turned the lead over to the competition for the time being, and when all the teams had finished their pit stops the No.100 RAYBRIG HSV-010 (Takuya Izawa) had taken the lead. But, after taking over the driver's seat of No. 12 from Matsuda, Quintarelli gave chase to Yamamoto in No.100 and caught and passed him to reclaim the lead on lap 30.

No.23 MOTUL AUTECH GT-R But later, on the second turn of lap 37, Yamamoto (No. 100) ran up on the curb on the inside and his car bounced up and hit No. 12 (Quintarelli). This caused No. 12 to spin out and be passed by the No. 23 MOTUL AUTECH GT-R (Satoshi Motoyama > Benoit Treluyer) as well, dropping it back two places. What's more, as Yamamoto in No. 100 and Treluyer in No. 23 went on to battle for the lead, Treluyer hit the tail of car No. 100 (Yamamoto).
For this accident, both No. 100 and No. 23 received drive-through penalties, which gave the lead back to No. 12 (Quintarelli) once again. After that, No. 12 raced on unchallenged to take the checkered in 1st place.
For the No. 12 CALSONIC IMPUL GT-R (Tsugio Matsuda/Ronnie Quintarelli), this was the first win of the season. It is the team's first win since the final round of the 2008 season at Fuji.

No.18 Weider HSV-010 Finishing 2nd was No. 23. After the drive-through penalty, Treluyer (No. 23) was back in 4th position, but soon became involved in a 3-way battle with the No. 17 KEIHIN HSV-010 (Toshihiro Kaneishi > Koudai Tsukakoshi) and the No. 18 Weider HSV-010 (Loic Duval > Takashi Kogure). It wasn't long, however, before No. 17 (Tsukakoshi) got caught up in the spin-out of a GT300 machine and was knocked out of the competition. Then Kogure in No. 18 developed trouble in his cool suit that sapped his strength as the race wore on and rendered him unable to hold his position. Treluyer (No. 23) caught and passed him with two laps remaining in the race to reclaim 2nd place. He ran on that way to the end and gave the GT-R camp a 1-2 finish.
Finishing 3rd was the No. 18 Weider HSV-010 (Takashi Kogure/Loic Duval). In 4th came the No. 6 ENEOS SC430 (Daisuke Ito/ Bjorn Wirdheim). This was the top finisher among the SC430.

The winner in the GT300 class race was the No.7 M7 MUTIARA MOTORS AMEMIYA SGC 7. Its starting driver was Nobuteru Taniguchi. Starting from 2nd position on the grid, Taniguchi was passed by the No.33 HANKOOK PORSCHE (Masami Kageyama) on the opening lap to drop to 3rd position. On lap nine he was able to regain 2nd place by passing the No.11 JIMGAINER DIXCEL DUNLOP F430 (Tetsuya Tanaka) whose tires were losing grip. Then on lap 15 he caught and passed Kageyama in No.33 to take the lead.

No.43 ARTA Garaiya
Returning to the pit on lap 27, the No.7 team abandoned its usual no-tire-change strategy and opted to change all four tires instead. With Ryo Orime now at the wheel, No. 7 returned to the race in a tentative 6th position. By the time all the cars had finished their pit stops, No. 7 was back in the lead. In the final stages of the race the car developed suspension trouble that forced Orime to slow his pace somewhat, but by this point in the race he had a large enough margin of lead to hold out to the checkered.
For the No.7 M7 MUTIARA MOTORS AMEMIYA SGC 7 (Nobuteru Taniguchi/Ryo Orime) team this was their second win of the season following the series opener at Suzuka. At Sepang this is their fifth win, going back to the special races before the Malaysia round became an official part of the GT series.
Finishing in 2nd place was the No.43 ARTA Garaiya (Morio Nitta/Shinichi Takagi). Starting from 5th position on the class grid, starting driver Nitta pursued the top qualifiers stubbornly. Just before the pit stop, he had a brush-up with the No.2 I.M JIHAN CO.LTD･APPLE･Shiden (Hiroki Kato) that had been moving up from the very last position on the starting grid. The damage from the collision was minimum, however, and Nitta was able to bring the car in for the pit stop and turn the driver's seat over to Shinichi Takagi.

No.66 triple a Vantage GT2
At this point Katsuyuki Hiranaka in No.11, Mitsuhiro Kinoshita in No.33 and the No.74 COROLLA Axio apr GT (Takuto Iguchi > Yuji Kunimoto) were ahead of Takagi, but eventually Hiranaka in No.11 began to slow down, just as his teammate Tanaka had in the first half of the race. What's more, No.74 collided with No.33, forcing No.33 out of the race and giving No.74 a drive-through penalty that dropped it back in the field. This brought Takagi (No.43) up into 2nd position again. This gave the No.43 ARTA Garaiya its second consecutive 2nd-place finish following round three at Fuji.
Third place went to the No.74 COROLLA Axio apr GT (Takuto Iguchi/Yuji Kunimoto). Despite suffering from lack of tire grip, the pole starting No.11 JIMGAINER DIXCEL DUNLOP F430 Tetsuya Tanaka/Katsuyuki Hiranaka) managed to finish 4th.