No.16 #16 ARTA MUGEN HRC PRELUDE-GT
Tomoki Nojiri
“We won! We had the best possible performance from the car and the tires. It ran as we drivers hoped it would, and we were able to pass the other cars aggressively as we wished. In the qualifying things had not gone well for Ren (Sato) which was disappointing, but (for me) I was able to recover from that and turn the car over to Ren with just one car in front of us. After that, After that, Ren also pushed hard, so I truly feel it was a magnificent victory.”

Ren Sato
“It is our first win! I was confused about where I should park the winning car, because I am not used to winning (wry smile). For the qualifying they had prepared us a car that was capable of winning pole position, but because of a mistake of mine we couldn’t get it, so in the final race I ran with determination to make up for that, and Nojiri-san also passed two cars, so all I had to do was pass one more. This was really terrific”.

No.9 PACIFIC UMA MUSUME NAC BMW
Yusuke Tomibayashi
“We did it, we won! Thanks to everyone’s efforts we were able to run well in the qualifying (getting pole position). In the race some people thought we would have difficulty, but Yuta Fujiwara (who drove in the first half of the race) ran wonderfully like a veteran despite the fact that he is only 20 years old. Since we were starting from pole position we were determined to win, and since we had the help of student mechanics from the Nakanihon Automotive College working on our car, and there’s one student for whom this race will be his last, and he did a perfect job, so all we had to think about was managing the tires and driving fast. I want to express my thanks to chairman Jinno and everyone else.”

Yuta Fujiwara
“Thanks to everyone we were able to get first place, so I am very happy. This first win makes me so overjoyed that I’m about to cry (tearful voice). I want to express my gratitude to the team, to BMW, and the people at Michelin Tires for maintaining the great performance to the very end of the race. Thank you so much.”