The Official Tests at Okayama continued on their second day (final day) at Okayama International Circuit. This day saw rain all day, and as with the day before, the track surface was wet as well as having low track surface temperatures and being very slippery, thus making for difficult conditions. However, this provided a good opportunity to verify valuable wet-condition settings and to evaluate wet-use tire choices, considering the fact that the series opening round at Okayama (scheduled for April 12/13) may naturally be held in the rain as well. This made the tests in these conditions valuable for the 38 competing cars, and all of them conducted repeated test runs.
◎Third Session (Session 3: Morning of Day 2) 9:30 – 11:35 Weather: Rain / Track surface: Wet Air temperature: 6℃ – 8℃ / Track surface temp.: 8℃ – 11℃ ◎Fourth Session (Session 4: Afternoon of Day 2) 14:00 – 15:50 Weather: Rain/cloudy / Track surface: Wet/dry Air temperature: 8℃ – 8℃ / Track surface temp.: 11℃ – 12℃
■With rain continuing all morning, the au TOM’S GR Supra and ARTA MUGEN CIVIC TYPE R-GT #16 take 1st and 2nd positions
As forecast, the weather on the second day of the Okayama tests saw rain continuing from morning, and nonetheless, fans crowed into the stands and paddock before the start of the tests. As with the first day of tests, the time schedule was lengthened for Session 3. What was originally scheduled to be a 2-hour session from 9:00 to 11:00 was changed to start at 9:30 in the morning. The running time was shortened by 20 minutes to end at 11:10, immediately after which a 15-minute practice of the Safety Car (SC) procedure was scheduled. However, because there were four Red Flag stoppages during the session, the (SC) procedure practice was cancelled in order to provide the teams sufficient running time, and with that added time the session was extended until 11:35. There were six cars in the GT500 class that started their runs from the time the course opened, but due to the fact that settings of the No. 19 WedsSport ADVAN GR Supra (Yuji Kunimoto/Sena Kakaguchi/Kazuto Kotaka) and the No. 64 Modulo CIVIC TYPE R-GT (Takuya Izawa/Riki Okusa) were believed to be unsuitable for the course conditions, they chose to remain waiting in their pits throughout the session out of concern for safety. It was the No. 38 KeePer CERUMO GR Supra (Hiroaki Ishiura/Toshiki Oyu) that recorded the top time of 1’36.056 in the early going after running 11 laps from the time the track opened. Some 30 min. after the start of the session, the No. 14 ENEOS X PRIME GR Supra (Kazuya Oshima/Nirei Fukuzumi) ran off the track at the HOBBS Corner, causing the first Red Flag stoppage. Then, after the session had run for 1 hr. and 8 min., the No. 8 ARTA MUGEN CIVIC TYPE R-GT #8 (Tomoki Nojiri/Nobuharu Matsushita) ran wide at the REDMAN Corner to cause the third Red Flag stoppage. However, both of these cars were able to return to the track and run on until the end of the session. Meanwhile, Yamashita in the No. 1 au TOM’S GR Supra (Sho Tsuboi/Kenta Yamashita) ran a time of 1’32.306 on the 20th lap. This would be the top time of the session. Recording the second fastest time of 1’33.692 was the No. 16 ARTA MUGEN CIVIC TYPE R-GT #16 (Horoki Ohtsu/Ren Sato), followed by the third fastest time by the No. 39 DENSO KOBELCO SARD GR Supra (Yuhi Sekiguchi/Sacha Fenestraz) of 1’33.893. The fastest among the Nissan Z NISMO GT500 cars was the No. 23 MOTUL AUTECH Z (Katsumasa Chiyo/Mitsunori Takaboshi） in sixth place with a time of 1’34.796.
■As the rain lightened in the afternoon session, the STANLEY CIVIC TYPE R-GT ran fast times
The final session of these tests, Session 4, began after practice of the start procedure at 1:45 in the afternoon, and ran from 2:00 until 3:50, for a total session length of 1 hr. and 50 min. The starting grid for this session was decided by the overall times from the previous day. As with the morning session, the weather for this session continued to be rainy, and with the track surface wet. As the cars continued to run the rain gradually lightened, but the track never became dry throughout the session. Around the time that the cars left the pit to head out on the track for the starting practice held before the start of Session 4, the rain got stronger. By the time the cars lined up on the straight in the dummy grid formation, the rain let up somewhat, but during the formation lap the cars threw up a considerable spray of water that caused visibility to worsen badly enough that a Red Flag was shown to stop the start practice, after which all the cars returned once to their pits.
Since the rain began to lighten after 2:00 in the afternoon, the session was re-started. Some 40 minutes after the re-start, and once again, with about 30 minutes remaining in the session, there were accidents with GT300 cars either running off the track or spinning out that brought two Red Flag stoppages. But those two cars were able to return to the track and continue their runs, thus resulting in only minor disruption. Meanwhile, Tsuboi in the No. 1 au TOM’S GR Supra (Sho Tsuboi/Kenta Yamashita), who had been running fast times from the early stages, recorded a top time of 1’30.849 on the 20th lap. But after that, the other teams were also improving on their times and bettering No. 1’s time one after another. In the end, with some 10 minutes remaining in the session, Makino in the No. 100 STANLEY CIVIC TYPE R-GT (Naoki Yamamoto/Tadasuke Makino) ran first a time of 1’29.111 and then bettered that to 1’28.768 to record the overall top time of Session 4 and Day 2. Running the 2nd fastest time was the No. 38 KeePer CERUMO GR Supra (Hiroaki Ishiura/Toshiki Oyu) with a lap of 1’29.305, while 3rd position went to the No. 37 Deloitte TOM’S GR Supra (Ukyo Sasahara/Giuliano Alesi) with a time of 1’29.388. These times also gave them 2nd and 3rd position overall in Session 4. Following in 4th position came the No. 24 REALIZE CORPORATION ADVAN Z (Tsugio Matsuda/Teppei Natori) with a time of 1’29.456. Last year’s reigning GT500 class champions, the No. 1 au TOM’S GR Supra (Sho Tsuboi/Kenta Yamashita）, also recorded the fastest time in this day’s Session 3. But looking back over the two days of tests, the driver in Session 3, Yamashita, later commented that, because of the low track surface temperatures he felt that they couldn’t run tire tests as well as usual. He went on to say that despite the difficult course conditions, since they were able to show strong potential in both wet and dry track conditions, he felt that the team was well prepared for the opening round of the series. Meanwhile, Syun Koide (No. 17 Astemo CIVIC TYPE R-GT), who had run off the track in the previous day’s class-specific session and was unable to do time attacks, commented that although he had been able to run tests several times at Okayama since moving up to the GT500 class, he felt that the previous day’s conditions had been especially difficult. He then went on to say that although the team had given him an environment where he was able take on various challenges, he regretted the mistake he made the day before, and he add that he wanted to work to reduce the number of such mistakes so that he could become a competitor the team could count on.
■GT300 class sees Ferrari run with determination! PONOS is fastest in the morning and UNI-ROBO BLUEGRASS fastest in the afternoon
Some 48 minutes after the start of the GT300 class Session 3 (morning), the No. 11 GAINER TANAX Z (Ryuichiro Tomita/Kazuki Oki) ran off the track at the ATTWOOD Corner, and after 1 hr. 19 min. into the session, the No. 31 apr LC500h GT (Miki Koyama/Yuki Nemoto) ran off the track at the last corner to cause two Red Flag stoppages. But neither machine was damaged enough to keep them from running on. As for the session’s top times, the 45 PONOS FERRARI 296 (Kei Cozzolino) ran a time of 1’39.416, followed in 2nd and 3rd positions by the No. 6 UNI-ROBO BLUEGRASS FERRAR (Yoshiaki Katayama/Roberto Merhi Muntan) and the No. 65 LEON PYRAMID AMG (Naoya Gamou/Tougo Suganami/Haruki Kurosawa) respectively. In the afternoon Session 4, on the 17th lap car No. 65 ran the top time of 1’36.604 in the early going. But on the 28th lap, Katayama in car No. 6 ran a lap of 1’36.342 to beat that time, and then driving in the second half of the session, Roberto Merhi Muntan brought the team’s time down to 1’35.809 to take the overall top time in Session 4 on the second day. Following in 2nd position came the other FERRARI 296 GT3, car No. 45, to show off the high potential of the FERRARI 296 GT3, now in its second year of competition. Then car No. 65 recorded the 3rd fastest time, while the 4th fastest time went to the newly introduced Mercedes AMG GT3, namely the No. 18 UPGARAGE AMG GT3 (Takashi Kobayashi/Yuto Nomura).
GT500 Class – Day 2 top overall time
Tadasuke Makino（No.100 STANLEY CIVIC TYPE R-GT）
Since the track conditions had not been good at all during these two days, the results weren’t worth much, and since the conditions were the same for everyone (the rivals), I feel that things will be hard to predict. As for Session 4 (the part I drove in), I felt that the times simply got better by themselves (with the passage of time) as the rain got lighter and the amount of water on the track decreased. But since we don’t know what tires the other teams were using and what (test contents) they were running, we can’t feel very confident simply about (the fact that we got the fastest times). So, I believe that as we look toward the opening round, the important things will be what we have been doing until now and what we know from last year’s race results.
GT300 class – Day 2 overall top time
Yoshiaki Katayama（No.6 UNI-ROBO BLUEGRASS FERRARI）
The team has prepared such a good car for us, and since the settings and tires have both been good as well, I was able to drive with confidence. Because the track got drier (in the second half of Session 4), we thought that (the time run by) Roberto (Merhi Muntan) might have been a bit faster. But as I watched I thought it would be very hard to get the top time in that situation, so I was very happy and thought all went well. On the average, I believe the balance of the FERRARI 296 GT3 has been good in both in the rain and when its dry. In the opening round in April, I am going to work hard to make sure that we win, (Since the SGT was no wins until now) I want to make sure we win this year.
