The SUPER GT IN KYUSHU 300 km, Round 3 of the 2014 AUTOBACS SUPER GT, was held at the AUTOPOLIS (Oita Prefecture) on the afternoon of June 1. In the GT500 class, the No. 23 MOTUL AUTECH GT-R driven by Tsugio Matsuda and Ronnie Quintarelli ran a perfect race from pole position to win. In the GT300 class, the winner was the No. 55 ARTA CR-Z GT with drivers Shinichi Takagi and Takashi Kobayashi.
Three of the top-qualifying GT-Rs battle strongly at the front from the early stages of the race
The time for the start of the race arrive at 2:00 with the air temperature at 28°C and the track surface temperature at 43°C. However, during the 8-minute warm-up session the No. 6 ENEOS SUSTINA RC F that many were expecting to battle up through the pack from 15th position on the grid, developed trouble with its fuel pump that forced it to start the race from the pit lane. That left 14 cars lined up on the GT500 grid waiting for the start. After the formation lap, the 65-lap race roared into action. With the start, the pole-sitting No. 23 MOTUL AUTECH GT-R (Ronnie Quintarelli) dashed into the lead, and following in close pursuit came the No. 46 S Road MOLA GT-R (Satoshi Motoyama). In third position ran the No. 1 ZENT CERUMO RC F (Kohei Hirate). The leaders went through the early laps this way in their grid order until the sixth lap, where they began to come up behind GT300 class back markers and the leading No. 23 MOTUL AUTECH GT-R and the No. 46 S Road MOLA GT-R in second position became involved in a seesaw battle for the lead. Meanwhile, the No. 1 ZENT CERUMO RC F in 3rd position was having trouble keeping pace and could do no more than try to hold off the chasing No. 12 CALSONIC IMPUL GT-R (Joao Paulo Lima De Oliveira) and No. 37 KeePer TOM'S RC F (Andrea Caldarelli) on its tail, with the No. 36 PETRONAS TOM'S RC F (James Rossiter) eventually joining the group as well. As these four machines battled on like this in a tight pack until the eighth lap, when No. 37 KeePer TOM'S RC F managed to pass the No. 12 CALSONIC IMPUL GT-R GT300 as it got caught behind a GT300 car in the last turn. This put car No. 37 in 4th position until the second hairpin of lap 16, where No. 12 succeeded in re-passing it. After recovering 4th position, the No. 12 CALSONIC IMPUL GT-R kept the momentum going and moved in to battle the still struggling No. 1 ZENT CERUMO RC F and eventually pass it on the first hairpin of lap 17. Now dropped to 4th position, the No. 1 ZENT CERUMO RC F could do nothing to prevent being passed then on the second hairpin by the No. 37 KeePer TOM'S RC F and No. 36 PETRONAS TOM'S RC F and effectively falling out of contention for the lead. While this battle for 3rd place was unfolding, however, the two GT-Rs running at the front had managed to open up a lead of more than 15 seconds over 3rd place, turning the race into a one-on-one duel, with No. 23 and No. 46 remaining separated by a few seconds until the routine pit stops began from around lap 25. Of the two, No. 46 was first to make its pit stop at the of lap 30, changing drivers from Motoyama to Masataka Yanagida. The No. 12 CALSONIC IMPUL GT-R and the No. 36 PETRONAS TOM'S RC F made their pit stops on lap 31, and when all the GT500 competitors had finished their pit stops, only the No. 23 MOTUL AUTECH GT-R was still out on the track. Quintarelli continued racing on until the end of lap 37 before bringing No. 23 into the pit for its routine stop.
Hanging on for 3rd place puts CALSONIC IMPUL GT-R atop the season standings
Now holding a big margin of lead after their pit stop, second-stint driver Tsugio Matsuda brought the No. 23 MOTUL AUTECH GT-R back into the race approximately 15 seconds ahead of the No. 46 S Road MOLA GT-R in 2nd position and continued to defend that margin lap after lap. But, soon that gap would all but vanish when a GT300 car suffered machine trouble and ran off the track at the first turn of lap 48 in a major accident that sent it crashing into the tire barrier and guardrail. Then the No. 24 D'station ADVAN GT-R (Daiki Sasaki) caught fire and was brought to a stop on the green just before the first turn. These accidents brought out the Safety Car to control the race at a point where the order of the top six in the GT500 class was the No. 23 MOTUL AUTECH GT-R in 1st place followed by the No. 46 S Road MOLA GT-R, No. 12 CALSONIC IMPUL GT-R, No. 37 KeePer TOM'S RC F, No. 36 PETRONAS TOM'S RC F and the No. 100 RAYBRIG NSX CONCEPT-GT, in that order. With the time required to fix the guardrail, the Safety Car would stay at the front controlling the race until the 56th lap.
By the time the race was restarted on the 57th lap, the No. 23 MOTUL AUTECH GT-R had all but lost any margin of lead it once had, but Matsuda immediately pushed hard to open up a gap of 2.1 sec. over the No. 46 S Road MOLA GT-R by the end of the first lap after the restart. Never once letting up on his fast charge, Matsuda drove on the checkered and the win at the end of lap 65. With this, the No. 23 MOTUL AUTECH GT-R team took its first win of the season in an impressive pole-to-checkered victory. Finishing 2nd was the 2 No. 46 S Road MOLA GT-R and 3rd place went to the No. 12 CALSONIC IMPUL GT-R after holding off fierce challenges by the No. 37 KeePer TOM'S RC F and the No. 36 PETRONAS TOM'S RC F. As a result, three GT-R teams mounted the podium. With this third consecutive podium finish this season, the No. 12 CALSONIC IMPUL GT-R defended its lead in the season ranking. Finishing 6th was the No. 100 RAYBRIG NSX CONCEPT-GT (Takashi Kogure/Hideki Mutoh). AUTOPOLIS is a course that has always been good for cars with mid-ship engine mounts, and this time three NSX CONCEPT-GT cars just managed to finish in the top ten. With some time now to prepare before round four at SUGO, the Honda camp will be looking to make a comeback in the middle stages of the series.
