2015.03.15

[Official test at Okayama: Day2] MOTUL AUTECH GT-R tops the last day! Perfection by GAINER SLS in GT300

On March 15th, Day 2 (last day) of the official SUPER GT test was held at Okayama International Circuit, and No.1 MOTUL AUTECH GT-R and No.11 GAINER TANAX SLS marked the top time in the GT500 and GT300, respectively. Blessed with a dry condition from the morning, the teams were putting effort in selecting tire as well as setting up the car for the season opener in three weeks.

 

 

 

Last year’s champion gets top time but the gaps are very small in the top group

Cloudy sky extended over the circuit, but the morning session of Day 2 started out under a dry condition. Ordinary session started from 9:10AM after a safety car drill. With only about 30 minutes into the session, however, No. 19 WedsSport ADVAN RC F (Juichi Wakisaka / Yuhi Sekiguchi) came to a stop on the side of track, and then about 10 minutes later No.12 CALSONIC IMPUT GT-R (Hironobu Yasuda / Joao Paulo de Oliveira) crashed at the first corner. The GT-R went through the track and the gravel and ran into the sponge barrier. Fortunately, Yasuda in the driver’s seat was able to get out of the car himself and confirmed unhurt. Damage on the car was not severe either, however, due to lacking parts for fixing the damage at the venue, the team had decided to end their activity in the official test.

No significant accidents occurred after the session resumed, and the cars added laps as they executed their testing menu. At one point, the RC Fs lined up in the top group, but then at another point the GT-R squad rallied and dominated the top places. Then again the RC Fs got back on the top, and that was how the session progressed in the most part. In spite of not getting a top time, the NSX CONCEPT-GT fleet was also very close to the top car and held on the fourth and fifth places. So the session progressed in a way that raised the expectation for the real stage at the season opener. After all, the morning session came to an end with No.1 MOTUL AUTECH GT-R (Tsugio Matsuda / Ronnie Quintarelli) marking the top time.

 

 

Lexus fleet looking good in the afternoon with WedsSport ADVAN RC F leading the pack

Second session started five minutes late from the schedule at 1:35PM. Prior to the testing session, a practice for the start was conducted and the cars lined up on the grid in the order of last year’s point ranking which then moved on to a rolling-start simulation. The pack was led by the police motorcycles and car of Okayama Prefectural Police Department during the simulation, and enthusiastic fans gathered at the track side were sending a huge shout-out to the pack.

Similarly to the morning session, the afternoon session saw frequent exchange of top time between the RC F and GT-R fleets, but No.19 WedsSport ADVAN RC F (Juichi Wakisaka / Yuhi Sekiguchi) was first to go into the 1 min 20 sec-mark to place itself at the highest position on the timing monitor. Domination over the top portion by the RC F squad continued with No.6 ENEOS SUSTINA RC F (Kazuya Oshima / Yuji Kunimoto) and No.38 ZENT CERUMO RC F (Yuji Tachikawa / Hiroaki Ishiura) following behind the leader and No.37 KeePer TOM'S RC F (Andrea Caldarelli / Ryo Hirakawa) and No.36 PETRONAS TOM'S RC F (Daisuke Ito / James Rossiter) also continuing with No.46 S Road MOLA GT-R (Satoshi Motoyama / Masataka Yanagida) in between.

About an hour since the session start at 2:30PM and 2:42PM, the session was suspended almost back to back, but both times it resumed in a short time after the stalled cars were collected. The session progressed without any significant incidents from there, and the checker flag was waved as scheduled at 3:50PM to mark the end of session. Afternoon session wrapped up with No.19 WedsSport ADVAN RC F maintaining the top position in terms of the lap time, but in the overall result of the day with the morning combined No.1 MOTUL AUTECH GT-R and No.36 PETRONAS TOM'S RC F, first and second fastest in the morning, remained as the first and second positions. The fastest in the afternoon No.19 WedsSport ADVAN RC F became third overall.

 

  

 

 

GAINER TANAX SLS staying at top from the previous day in GT300.

 

 

 

In the GT300 class, No.11 GAINER TANAX SLS (Katsuyuki Hiranaka / Bjorn Wirdheim), which also got the top time the day before, marked the top time again in both sessions of the day. However, the car that deserved attention was No.21 Audi R8 LMS ultra (Richard Lyons / Tomonobu Fujii / Stephane Ortelli) which placed second in the morning as well as in the overall result. Although Hidekazu Oniki, the engineer who supervises the team, said “No big difference from last year’s race car (though it’s a different car),” it seemed that the support they are receiving from “WRT,” a top team which is competing in the endurance race series of Blancpain, has already lead to a result.

No.77 KSF Direction Ferrari 458 (Naoki Yokomizo / Kyosuke Mineo / Taiyo Iida) that is bringing back a Ferrari to SUPER GT after a while placed third overall by the lap time marked in the afternoon. As for the much-talked-about GT300 mother-chassis car, No.25 VivaC 86 MC (Takeshi Tsuchiya / Takamitsu Matsui) was drawing attention with its performance on the track of a fourth place in the afternoon and a tenth place overall of the 2-day testing.

 

 

 

We did short runs to check the tires in the morning session and in the afternoon Tsugio san tested the long-run. That’s why the best time from the morning is not like I got it from doing an attacking lap like in qualifying. I was not satisfied with the quickness of the car when I gave that one push, but the average time in the long run in the afternoon was good enough and we got pretty good feeling of the car. I think the things are going in a good direction for this season’s GT-R as a whole. There hasn’t been any big problems up to this point and the balance of the car is not bad either. So the feeling is good. If we can improve the quickness when you give a push a little bit more, then we can be more confident for the performance in the race. I will do my best at the season opener.

 

In terms of impression, it’s the same as yesterday. I cannot judge how the actual potential (of the rivals) is because I don’t know the menu they are doing. Nonetheless, it was a gain for us that we were able to confirm that we are going in the right direction in terms of the tire development and the setup of the car. We were able to find a good set of tires and that’s a plus too. Of course, we cannot rest easy yet. GT-R is fast as usual and Audi (R8 LMS ultra) got fast too all of a sudden. And the mother-chassis cars, I think today was almost like a shakedown to them, but they were running with pretty good lap times. No way we can sit back and relax. But the battle will start from here. It all comes down to how much of an improvement we can make on the car based on the result we got today. We just need to do our best and hope we can be at a good position again at the season opener.

 

 

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