2019 AUTOBACS SUPER GT consisted of eight races overall is already reaching the second half of the season. Round 5 "FUJI GT 500mile RACE", which marks a halfway point, will be held on August 3rd (Saturday, Qualifying) and 4th (Sunday, Race). The race is taking place on the same track where Round 2 was held in May, Fuji Speedway, a high-speed track with a long straightaway. The race distance of Round 5 is the longest out of all races this season at 500 miles (or approximately 807km). Endurance race in midsummer can be sever and punishing to all drivers and teams.
*Photo above is from last year's Round 5 Fuji.
LEXUS LC500 fleet on winning-streak but handicap weight could be a concern.
The LEXUS LC500 fleet had uneasy season opening at Okayama due to an issue, but the fleet bounced back strong at the following Round 2 Fuji with No.38 ZENT CERUMO LC500 (Yuji Tachikawa / Hiroaki Ishiura) bringing in victory. The fleet continued on with superb performance and dominated the podium two races in a row at Suzuka and Thailand. Now the series is making its second stop at Fuji. Fans must be looking for even better result with Fuji being the home track of LEXUS. However, things don't usually go that easy and that is a norm in SUPER GT. With the handicap weight increasing proportionally to the points scored, previous Thai race winner and current point leader No.6 WAKO'S 4CR LC500 (Kazuya Oshima / Kenta Yamashita) will have 70kg of handicap weight. No.37 KeePer TOM'S LC500 (Ryo Hirakawa / Nick Cassidy), finished second two races in a row, and No.38 car, second and third in point ranking, respectively, could be concentrating on scoring points rather than victory since their handicap weight accumulates more than 60kg. Despite the situation, the three teams can be finding their way to the podium since a race in long distance usually opens up broader chance to take advantage of, especially for a team with extensive racing experience like the three. Contrastingly, No.19 WedsSport ADVAN LC500 (Yuji Kunimoto / Sho Tsuboi) and No.39 DENSO KOBELCO SARD LC500 (Heikki Kovalainen / Yuichi Nakayama), which have lesser handicap weight among the LC500 squad, would want to score a win here at Fuji and emerge to the top group of the point ranking.
Crucial point for Honda NSX-GT and NISSAN GT-R fleets in terms of title contention.
Despite winning the season opener at Okayama with their defending champion car fielded by No.8 ARTA NSX-GT (Tomoki Nojiri / Takuya Izawa), the season has not been bright for the Honda NSX-GT fleet from there with only one podium finish for the whole squad in following three races. Result is dependent on how the race turns out on the field, but the squad even had two NSX-GTs bumping into each other as they battle for a position. No.1 RAYBRIG NSX-GT (Naoki Yamamoto / Jenson Button), finished third at Round 2, as well as No.8 car, currently with the highest point among the NSX-GT teams, would want to score a win at Fuji considering the title contention. Other three teams of the squad also have a pretty good chance with lighter handicap weight.
NISSAN GT-R NISMO GT500 squad has not been able to score a prominent result either except No.23 MOTUL AUTECH GT-R's (Tsugio Matsuda / Ronnie Quintarelli) second place finish on podium from pole position at Round 2 Fuji. The squad must be targeting the upcoming race to be their first win of the season with No.23 car with a good track record at Fuji and No.12 CALSONIC IMPUL GT-R (Daiki Sasaki / James Rossiter) being their leading force. Many teams will start deploying their second engine as the season enters the second half (Regulations limits to two engines in a season). Some teams have already deployed their second engine due to engine brokerage, etc., but we may see a car or team suddenly getting stronger with a refreshed and improved engine. If you are a die-hard fan of SUPER GT, try gathering these behind-the-scene information, and then make prediction and watch the race. It will make your racing day even more enjoyable.
It could be a game of race strategy in GT300 class with the long-distance race.
When it comes to Fuji, No.55 ARTA NSX GT3 (Shinichi Takagi / Nirei Fukuzumi), which is alway fast regardless of the track, as well as car models like NISSAN GT-R NISMO GT3, LEXUS RC F GT3, and Mercedes AMG GT3 would be the top picks for the race. Among them, No.55 car and No.96 K-tunes RC F GT3 (Morio Nitta / Sena Sakaguchi), top two teams competing for the highest position of the point ranking at the moment, would be the teams to watch, but both have to carry a handicap weight of more than 60kg and that can make it difficult for them to stay in the fight for victory. However, we shouldn't take our eyes away from these two cars if you consider title contention. Round 2 Fuji winner No.11 GAINER TANAX GT-R (Katsuyuki Hiranaka / Hironobu Yasuda) and No.56 Realize Nissan Automobile Technical College GT-R (Kazuki Hiramine / Sacha Fenestraz), second place finisher of previous race in Thailand, would want to add points though a 50kg handicap weight is not so easy to handle.
Then, who will be in the battle for the leading position at Round 5 Fuji? Against the odds, previous Round 4 winner No.10 GAINER TANAX triple a GT-R (Kazuki Hoshino / Keishi Ishikawa) and No.65 LEON PYRAMID AMG (Haruki Kurosawa / Naoya Gamou), third place finisher of Thai round, can continue to be competitive at upcoming race also. No.4 GOODSMILE HATSUNE MIKU AMG (Nobuteru Taniguchi / Tatsuya Kataoka) sure knows how to play the game of auto racing and we might see it battling with above two teams. High-speed track of Fuji is favorable to No.88 MANEPA LAMBORGHINI GT3 (Takashi Kogure / Yuya Motojima) boasting a high top speed on straightaway, thus, we could be seeing the car in a higher position, and the same applies to No.7 D'station Vantage GT3 (Tomonobu Fujii / Joao Paulo de Oliveira) and No.720 McLaren 720S (Seiji Ara / Alex Palou) after their new model cars are reaching a high level of maturity by now.
Four pit-stops are mandated to each team due to the long race distance of approximately 807km. Teams can cut down the time spent in the pit significantly by taking a strategy of skipping tire change in two pit-stops. The mother-chassis cars including No.25 HOPPY 86 MC (Takamitsu Matsui / Kimiya Sato), No.5 ADVICS MACHSYAKEN MC86 MACH GO (Natsu Sakaguchi / Yuya Hiraki / Ryohei Sakaguchi), and No.52 SAITAMA TOYOPET GB MARK X MC (Shigekazu Wakisaka / Hiroki Yoshida) can adopt such strategy and they can be a game changer if they do. Teams are allowed to have a third driver in the upcoming event, and, thus, we should also keep our eyes on the drivers who are invited from Europe as an expert driver of the respective car and also on Bjorn Wirdheim (No.22 R'Qs AMG GT3) who competed in GT500 and GT300 classes in past seasons.
We are entering into the second half of this season from Round 5 Fuji. Competition can get even more intense not only at the top but also at any positions on the field. It will sure be a punishing race in a long distance with severe heat for both drivers and teams. Fans who are coming to Fuji should also be cautious on the heat as well as sudden rain and take necessary action as required. Enjoy Round 5 Fuji at full extent at the circuit or via live broadcast of J SPORTS as well as regular TV program GT Plus.
