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Race Report
2015.05.02
Consecutive course records for Matsuda and Ronnie! MOTUL AUTECH GT-R takes pole

Consecutive course records for Matsuda and Ronnie! MOTUL AUTECH GT-R takes poleの画像

Round2 Fuji Speedway : Qualifying GT500

On May 2nd, the official qualifying for the FUJI GT 500km Race, Round 2 of the 2015 AUTOBACS SUPER GT was held at Fuji Speedway (Shizuoka Pref.). In the GT500 class, Ronnie Quintarelli in the No. 1 MOTUL AUTECH GT-R won pole position with a new course record time. In the GT300 class, Kota Sasaki in the No. 31 TOYOTA PRIUS apr GT won the class pole. In doing so, Sasaki extended his record for most pole positions by a driver in the GT300 class.

 

Close contest in Q1 with top nine cars within a span of one second

From the morning of qualifying day, Fuji Speedway was blessed with clear skies and although clouds began to appear in the afternoon, the sunlight grew stronger as the start time approached for the official qualifying. The wind also grew stronger, creating somewhat of a headwind coming down the main straight as the first qualifying sessions (Q1) began.
Due to a Red Flag during the GT300 Q1 session, the start of the GT500 class Q1 was delayed by six minutes to start 14:41 p.m. This 15-minute session would decide the top eight qualifiers to move on to Q2. The first car to take to the track after the start of the session was the No. 100 RAYBRIG NSX CONCEPT-GT (Naoki Yamamoto), which had been able to get in almost no running time during the morning practice session. The No. 12 CALSONIC IMPUL GT-R (Hironobu Yasuda) also took to the course early, but apparently both were merely checking their tires, because they both returned to the pit after one lap.
With ten minutes remaining in the session, there were still no cars coming out on the track, and it wasn’t until nine minutes remained that the No. 19 WedsSport ADVAN RC F (Yuhi Sekiguchi) came out first and was then followed by one car after another. It was the No. 38 ZENT CERUMO RC F (Hiroaki Ishiura) and the No. 6 ENEOS SUSTINA RC F (Yuji Kunimoto) that recorded the initial top two lap times, after which the No. 36 PETRONAS TOM’S RC F (Daisuke Ito) and the No. 1 MOTUL AUTECH GT-R (Tsugio Matsuda) broke the existing course record (1’28.799) with a time of 1’28.087. Then the No. 12 CALSONIC IMPUL GT-R also beat the old record with a time of 1’28.341.
Then, after Sekiguchi in car No. 19 finally broke the 1’30 barrier with a time of 1’29.728, it was the No. 100 RAYBRIG NSX CONCEPT-GT’s (Takashi Kogure) turn to dip well into the 1’29 range with a time of 1’29.086.
Tsugio Matsuda in the MOTUL AUTECH GT-R continued his time attacks and succeeded in bringing his time down to 1’28.022 to break the course record again. The next fastest time was recorded by the No. 12 CALSONIC IMPUL GT-R, which gave the GT-R camp a 1-2 sweep of the top times. Qualifying third in this session was the No. 36 PETRONAS TOM'S RC F (Daisuke Ito) and 4th place went to the No. 17 KEIHIN NSX CONCEPT-GT (Koudai Tsukakoshi), as the fastest among the Honda NSX CONCEPT-GT machines. All four of these top qualifiers beat the existing course record from last year, in a close contest that saw the top nine cars recording times within one second of each other. What’s more, despite being just 0.951 slower than the top time, the No. 46 S Road MOLA GT-R (Masataka Yanagida) placed ninth and thus failed to move on to Q2.

 

 

GT-Rs monopolize the grid’s front row and two RC Fs take the second row

The GT500 class Q2 session began at 15:26 under strong sunlight with the air temperature at 25 degrees C. Eight cars were set to fight for pole position in this 12-minute session.
Once again, none of the cars came out on the track during the early minutes of the session. The first to enter the track with less than eight minutes remaining in the session was the No. 24 D'station ADVAN GT-R (Lucas Ordonez). Then came the No. 1 MOTUL AUTECH GT-R (Ronnie Quintarelli), with the other cars following one by one. Finally, it was with less than four minutes remaining in the session that each of the drivers began to record their fastest times.
First, the No. 15 Drago Modulo NSX CONCEPT-GT (Oliver Turvey) recorded a 1’34.998 time, and then the No. 38 ZENT CERUMO RC F (Yuji Tachikawa) ran a time of 1’28.312 to top the time board. Next, the No. 36 PETRONAS TOM'S RC F (James Rossiter) recorded a 1’28.335 lap to move up into 2nd position.
Finally, it was Ronnie Quintarelli in the No. 1 MOTUL AUTECH GT-R that put on a decisive show of speed. With a lap of 1’27.675, he was quick to better the new course record that his partner Tsugio Matsuda had set in the Q1 session. The next to run a determined time attack was the holder of the former record, the No. 12 CALSONIC IMPUL GT-R (Joao Paulo Lima De Oliveira). He amazed all by running exactly the same splits as Quintarelli had in car No. 1 through not only the first sector but also the second sector of the course. However, De Oliveira fell just short of No. 1’s time with a lap of 1’27.877 that put him in 2nd place on the time board. Perhaps knowing of car No. 12’s hot pursuit, Quintarelli continued with another time attack in car No. 1. And succeeded in running an amazing time of 1’27.552.
This gave the No. 1 MOTUL AUTECH GT-R team its first pole position of the season. Qualifying 2nd was the No. 12 CALSONIC IMPUL GT-R, which ensured that two GT-R machines would sit on the front row of the starting grid for Sunday’s race. Taking the two second-row positions were two RC F cars, the No. 38 ZENT CERUMO RC F (Yuji Tachikawa) and the No. 36 PETRONAS TOM'S RC F. The third row spots went to the No. 24 D'station ADVAN GT-R and the fastest among the Honda machines, the No. 17 KEIHIN NSX CONCEPT-GT.

 

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