2010 SUPER GT Round6

The race started at 15:00. There were few changes in the order of the leading cars in the early going. Pressing forward steadily, the pole-starting No.8 ARTA HSV-010 (Yuji Ide) had built up a 5-sec. lead over the 2nd-place No.23 MOTUL AUTECH GT-R (Satoshi Motoyama) by lap five. As the result of an apparent brush-up with a GT300 class back marker, the lead car No. 8 suffered damage to its lower aerodynamic parts on the left rear of the car but it didn't seem to effect Ide's lap times.
However, when Ide brought the ARTA back to the pit for its first routine pit stop at the end of lap 26, it took time to peel off the damaged parts that had remained on the car. This resulted in twice normal 1 min. 20 sec. pit stop. By the time No. 8 returned to the race it had been passed by its rival, and by the time all the cars had finished their first pit stop about a quarter of the way into the 700km race, No. 8 stood in 4th position. At this point in the race, the No.32 EPSON HSV-010 (Ryo Michigami > Yuhki Nakayama) held the lead. By shortening the first stint and making an early routine pit stop after the 17th lap, No. 32 had and avoided the later rush of pit stops and succeeded in taking the lead. Standing in 2nd place was the No.100 RAYBRIG HSV-010 (Takuya Izawa > Naoki Yamamoto), having passed car No. 23 (Motoyama > Benoit Treluyer) in the early stages of the race, and in 3rd place sat car No. 23. As car No. 32 made its second routine pit stop at the end of lap (Nakayama > Michigami), car No. 100 (Yamamoto > Izawa) moved into the lead and No. 23 (Motoyama > Benoit Treluyer) took over 2nd place, while No. 8 (Ide > Ralph Firman) moved up to 3rd position.

No.100 RAYBRIG HSV-010 On the S curve of lap 52, however, Treluyer in car No. 23 hit a back marker and spun out. He recovered quickly but not before Firman in car No. 8 managed to get past him.
After all cars had finished their second pit stop by lap 60, the order of the top three was No. 32 (Michigami) in the lead followed by No. 8 (Ide) and No. 100 (Izawa).
At the end of lap 71, Car no. 32 pulled into the pit for its third routine pit stop. They changed drivers from Michigami to Nakayama and thus satisfied the requirement of three driver changes, but due to the fuel consumption rate of the car, they would need to make one more pit stop for refueling before the end of the race. In an attempt to open up the necessary margin for that final stop, Nakayama pushed hard. With the sun low in the sky now and the track surface temperature dropping, Nakayama managed to run lap times in the 1 min. 57 sec. range.
As for the other leaders, car No. 23 made its third pit stop at the end of lap 88, car No. 100 at the end of lap 93 and Car No. 8 lap 95. Although team No. 23 finished their pit work fastest of the three, the order when they had all returned to the race was No. 8 (Firman) in 2nd place, No. 100 (Yamamoto) in 3rd and No. 23 (Treluyer) in 4th.
At the end of lap 97, car No. 32 returned for its fourth pit stop of the race. The team hustled to change tires, add the necessary fuel, change drivers to Michigami and return to the track as quickly as possible, but the haste had resulted in an incomplete mounting of the right rear wheel that caused it to come off. The time it took to push the car back and remount the tire cost the team any chance of a finish among the leaders.

No.23 MOTUL AUTECH GT-R This gave car No. 8 (Firman) a margin of ease at the front of the race. After the "Lights ON" board came out in the growing dark over Suzuka circuit, Firman continued to race on unchallenged to victory with a 22-sec. margin over 2nd.
For the No. 8 ARTA HSV-010 (Ralph Firman/Yuji Ide/Takashi Kobayashi), this was their first win of the season. For the ARTA team it is their first win since the final race of the 2009 season at Motegi. For the Honda HSV-010 GT, this was the third win of the season after round 2 at Okayama and round 5 at Sugo. Although the third driver, Takashi Kobayashi, who had won the team its pole position the day before, did not actually drive in today's race, in the record book it will go down as a debut win for him in SUPER GT racing.
In the battle for 2nd, Treluyer in car No. 23 passed Yamamoto in car No. 100 in the chicane, and although Yamamoto managed to stay on Treluyer's tail, he never had a chance to regain 2nd. With this, the No.23 MOTUL AUTECH GT-R (Satoshi Motoyama/Benoit Treluyer) took 2nd and the No.100 RAYBRIG HSV-010 (Takuya Izawa/Naoki Yamamoto) finished 3rd.
Behind them, a fierce battle for 4th place unfolded in the later stages of the race. The outcome saw the No.17 KEIHIN HSV-010 (Toshihiro Kaneishi/Koudai Tsukakoshi) came from behind to claim 4th place. Finishing a disappointed 5th was the No.35 MJ KRAFT SC430 (Hiroaki Ishiura/Kazuya Oshima), but they were nonetheless top finishers among the SC430 machines.

In the GT300 race, the No. 62 R&D SPORT LEGACY B4 (Tetsuya Yamano/Kota Sasaki) rose from 11th position on the class grid to advance steadily through the pack from the early stages of the race and finally take a well-earned victory.
Tetsuya Yamano was the starting driver in car No. 62. With collisions between the pole-starting No. 26 CINE CITTA' TAISAN PORSCHE (Shogo Mitsuyama) and the No. 25 ZENT Porsche RSR (Takeshi Tsuchiya) and also between the No. 2 Apple·K-one·Shiden (Hiroki Katoh) and the No. 43 ARTA Garaiya (Shinichi Takagi), the top qualifying teams lost ground as car No. 62 moved up steadily. By lap four Yamano (No. 62) had moved into 9th position and by lap nine he was in 7th. Continuing to pass rival one after the other, he was in 6th by lap 12 and found himself in 2nd place by lap 18.
Yamano brought No. 62 in for its first routine pit stop at the end of lap 29. At the wheel for the second stint, teammate Kota Sasaki raced on efficiently with no loss and gradually closed in on the rear of the leader at that point in the race, the No. 74 COROLLA AXIO apr GT (Takuto Iguchi > Yuji Kunimoto).

No. 74 COROLLA AXIO apr GT
These top two both made their second routine pit stop at the end of lap 60. No. 62 changed drivers from Sasaki to Yamano while No. 74 changed from Kunimoto to Iguchi and the two cars returned to the track to begin the battle anew. However, the gap between them was never close enough to bring on a real nose-to-tail dogfight.
For the third pit stop, once again the two lead cars entered the pit at the same time on lap 84, but this time No. 62 had the faster pit work and was able to return to the track in the lead. With 30 laps remaining in the race, Sasaki (No. 62) raced hard in front of Kunimoto (No. 74) to try to break away for the win.
Unable to match the pace of No. 62, Kunimoto in car No. 74 began to fall back gradually and faced a challenge from behind by car No. 43 (Morio Nitta) which had recovered position after its collision early in the race.
After the sun set and the cars turned on their lights, the battle for 2nd heated up. On the 130R curve of the 108th lap the decisive move was made. Perhaps distracted by the lights of veteran Nitta approaching from behind in car No. 43, Kunimoto overran the turn. This allows Nitta to slip by into 2nd place.

No. 43 ARTA Garaiya Meanwhile, No. 62 was charging ahead in the lead with an unwavering pace. By the time Sasaki (No. 62) took the checkered at the finish, he had a 10-sec. margin over 2nd.
This was the first GT victory for the No. 62 R&D SPORT LEGACY B4 (Tetsuya Yamano/Kota Sasaki). It was also the first win for the R&D Sports team since round 8 of the 2007 season at Autopolis. For a Subaru car it was the first victory since the fourth round of the 2008 season at Sepang. At that race the drivers were also the same pair of Yamano and Sasaki.
Finishing 2nd was the No. 43 ARTA Garaiya (Morio Nitta/Shinichi Takagi/Kyosuke Mineo = not driving), which puts the Nitta/Takagi pair atop the season ranking. The third rung on the winners' podium went to the No. 74 COROLLA AXIO apr GT (Takuto Iguchi/Yuji Kunimoto).