2010 SUPER GT Special

Qualifying #1 Weather:Fine | Course:Dry | Air Temp. 18°C | Track Temp. 25°C
Super Lap Weather:Fine | Course:Dry | Air Temp. 16°C | Track Temp. 24°C

No.38 ZENT CERUMO SC430

Unlike the regular races of the SUPER GT series, this competition will have one race (Race 1) on the 13th and a second race (Race 2) on the 14th. In each of these races only one driver will drive, and in order to determine the grids for these two races, the qualifying was set up for both drivers on each team to run a 20-minute session of time attacks.
In the GT500 class qualifying session for Race 1, the No. 35 MJ KRAFT SC430 (Hiroaki Ishiura) and the other SC430 teams competed for the top position in the middle stages of the session. In the closing minutes of the session No. 38 ZENT CERUMO SC430 (Richard Lyons) came from behind to run a lap time of 1 min. 33. 475 sec. and win the pole position. The second fastest time was run by the No. 35 MJ KRAFT SC430 (Hiroaki Ishiura), giving the SC430 camp a 1-2 sweep. Qualifying 3rd in a last-minute charge was the No. 12 CALSONIC IMPUL GT-R (Ronnie Quintarelli). The 4th position went to the No. 18 Weider HSV-010 (Loic Duval) as the fastest of the HSV-010 GT camp.

No.12 CALSONIC IMPUL GT-R

The GT500 class Race 2 qualifying was held under cooler track surface conditions than the Race 1 qualifying, making it harder to warm up the tires. In the early stages of the session the No. 35 MJ KRAFT SC430 (Kazuya Oshima) turned in a 1 min. 33.787 sec. time to take the lead.
With two minutes remaining the session, the drivers began their final time attacks, and one car after another recorded times in the 1 min. 33 sec. range. Among them, it was the 1 min. 33. 569 sec. lap of the No. 12 CALSONIC IMPUL GT-R (Tsugio Matsuda) that took the lead. After that, the No. 6 ENEOS SC430 (Daisuke Ito) made an all-out attack but fell short with a time of 1 min. 33.705 sec. to finish 2nd. This gave pole position to Matsuda (No. 12).
Two SC430 machines, No. 6 ENEOS SC430 (Daisuke Ito) and the No. 35 MJ KRAFT SC430 (Kazuya Oshima) took 2nd and 3rd spots while the No. 100 RAYBRIG HSV-010 (Takuya Izawa) took 4th as the top qualifier of the HSV-010 GT camp.

The two ARTA Garaiya drivers
Morio Nitta (Race 1) and Shinichi Takagi (Race 2) take pole positions!

No.43 ARTA Garaiya

On the afternoon of November 12, the qualifying for the JAF Grand Prix SUPER GT & Formula NIPPON FUJI SPRINT CUP was run. In the GT300 class qualifying the Race 1 and Race 2 pole positions both went to the No. 43 ARTA Garaiya. The Race 1 pole starter will be Shinichi Takagi, while teammate Morio Nitta will start Race 2 from pole position.

The GT300 class Race 1 qualifying session ran for 20 minutes beginning at 14:05. In the second half of the session cars began running times in the1 min. 43 sec. range. The first was the No. 11 JIMGAINER DIXCEL DUNLOP F430 (Katsuyuki Hiranaka), followed by the No. 43 ARTA Garaiya (Shinichi Takagi), quickly taking the lead away. With five minutes remaining in the session Takagi's pace got even faster. In an all-out attack he recorded a time of 1 min. 42.559 sec., which was 0.7 sec. faster than the 2nd-place time. That was more than enough to win the pole. Qualifying 2nd with a time of 1 min. 43.282 sec. came the No. 74 COROLLA Axio apr GT (Yuji Kunimoto). This gave the two front positions to cars on Michelin tires. Qualifying 3rd was the No. 11 JIMGAINER DIXCEL DUNLOP F430 (Katsuyuki Hiranaka), followed in 4th by the No.9 911GT3R Porsche Japan (Hideto Yasuoka). This is the debut SUPER GT race for Yasuda and he showed his aggressiveness with a lap time of 1 min. 43.571 sec.

In the Race 2 qualifying, with less than five minutes remaining the competitive times were in the low 1 min. 43 sec. range. The first to take the lead was the No. 26 CINE CITTA' TAISAN PORSCHE (Shogo Mitsuyama) with a time of 1 min. 43.427 sec. But, that was quickly bettered by the No. 43 ARTA Garaiya (Morio Nitta) with a lap of 1 min. 43.313 sec. After that, the No. 5 MACH GOGOGO SHAKEN408R (Haruki Kurosawa) beat that time with a 1 min. 43.175 sec., only to have Nitta run another fast lap of 1 min. 43.110 sec. and grab pole position. Although that time wasn't as fast as the 1 min. 42 sec. range time of his teammate Shinichi Takagi in the Race 1 qualifying, it was enough to give the pole positions for both races to the No. 43 ARTA Garaiya team. Qualifying 2nd for Race 2 was the No. 5 MACH GOGOGO SHAKEN408R (Haruki Kurosawa), while 3rd position went to the No. 26 CINE CITTA' TAISAN PORSCHE (Shogo Mitsuyama).

Richard Lyons, 松田次生 / 高木真一, 新田守男