On the afternoon of April 6, the Okayama GT 300km Race, Round 1 of the 2014 AUTOBACS SUPER GT series, took place at the Okayama International Circuit in (Okayama Pref.). The winner in the GT500 class was the No. 37 KeePer TOM'S RC F driven by Daisuke Ito and Andrea Caldarelli. The winner of the GT300 class was the No. 4 GOODSMILE HATSUNEMIKU Z4 driven by Nobuteru Taniguchi and Tatsuya Kataoka.
Weather: Cloudy/rain/clear | Track: Dry/wet/dryAir/track temperatures at start: 9 ° C./ 20° > Mid-race: 10 ° C./15 ° C.
Lead changes hands again and again in fiercely fought first half!
The start of the GT300 class race turned into a contest of acceleration between the pole-sitting No. 31 OGT Panasonic PRIUS (Morio Nitta) and 2nd position grid-sitting No. 4 GOODSMILE HATSUNEMIKU Z4 (Tatsuya Kataoka). The result saw the GOODSMILE HATSUNEMIKU Z4 take the lead through the first turn. By the end of the first lap, Kataoka had opened up a lead of more than 1 sec. over the OGT Panasonic PRIUS, but Nitta was determined to hold on and managed to keep the margin at about 1 sec. for the next 20 laps. Unfortunately, it was machine trouble in the OGT Panasonic PRIUS that brought an end to this exciting battle. The OGT Panasonic PRIUS began to slow down coming out of the double hairpin on lap 23. It was trouble in the drive train that finally brought car No. 31 to a stop.
Just when it looked as if Kataoka was in the clear in car No. 4, rain began to fall and hamper his pace. Now it was the No. 11 GAINER DIXCEL SLS (Bjorn Wirdheim) that was able to maintain a faster pace on the wet track, and perhaps have a chance of winning the team’s third consecutive victory at Okayama. What had been a nearly 3-secod margin of lead for car No. 4 gradually disappeared, and on the 20th lap, Wirdheim caught and passed the leader. But, here again the chaser wouldn’t let go, with Kataoka in car No. 4 fighting hard to keep the gap with the leader at less than a second for the next 15 laps. Just before the routine pit stop, Wirdheim picked up the pace and opened up a more then 2-sec. margin of lead over car No. 4. But, then on lap 33 he suffered from a slow puncture and had to give up the lead to the GOODSMILE HATSUNEMIKU Z4 without a fight on the main straight. The leaking tire on the GAINER DIXCEL SLS finally burst just before the first turn and Wirdheim was forced to run on at a slow pace for roughly a full lap, dropping him to 13th position at one point.
The closing stages are a battle between Japanese and German Z4 drivers, with Taniguchi holding on for the win
These developments narrowed down to battle for the win to a contest between two BMW Z4 machines, the No. 4 GOODSMILE HATSUNEMIKU Z4 and the No. 7 Studie BMW Z4 (Seiji Ara). But, at this point in the race there was nearly a 5-sec. gap between cars No. 4 and No. 7. After their routine pit stops the gap was widened further to nearly 10 seconds. This put Nobuteru Taniguchi in the leading GOODSMILE HATSUNEMIKU Z4 in a position where he was racing with one eye on his margin of lead over the chasing Studie BMW Z4 (Jorg Muller) in 2nd position. Taniguchi, with his excellent stability on slippery surfaces, appeared to be safely on his way to victory. But, he was pitted against Muller with his long career as a BMW works driver. Muller was gradually shaving down Taniguchi’s margin of lead. With ten laps left in the race, he had it down to less than 5 seconds and with five laps left it was down to just over 3 seconds. At this point rain began to wet the track again. On the slippery surface, Taniguchi was expected to have the advantage, but in order to save time in the pit stop both of these BMW teams had chosen to change only their left-side tires. With car No. 4 having made its pit stop two laps earlier than No. 7, Taniguchi was in a tough spot now. Instead of increasing his lead on the now wet track, the margin was down to less than a second on the final lap! The two BMW Z4 cars were now battling virtually nose to tail, with the two drivers sliding their machines through the turns. In the end, No. 4 GOODSMILE HATSUNEMIKU Z4 managed to take the checkered first and win the opening round of the new season. The No. 7 Studie BMW Z4 finished 2nd, just 0.329 sec. behind, in the first BMW 1-2 finish in SUPER GT history. Finishing 3rd was the No. 11 GAINER DIXCEL SLS. It was a lucky podium finish for No. 11, due to the fact that the burst tire came just at the time when a single pit stop and driver change could be made, and to the great driving of Hiranaka to recover the lost ground.
