2015.06.12

It's once again a "Hot" overseas race!? Midsummer triple in the extreme heat, first up is the battle in summery Thailand!!

Round3 Chang International Circuit : Preview

Opening stage of the 2015 season is coming to the end mark by the AUTOBACS SUPER GT Round 3 when it will be hosted at Chang International Circuit in Thailand as "BURIRAM SUPER GT RACE" on June 21. Last year's inaugural event was won by PETRONAS TOM'S RC F, which outperformed the rivals in strategy than speed. However, the situation has changed drastically in many extent this year. First of all, the change of the season when the event is held may bring the "heat" and "weather" into attention. From Thailand to Fuji and Suzuka, the season will get deeper into the "summer." Who will grab the first win of the extreme "Midsummer triple race"!?

 

Last year, SUPER GT's Thai event was held right after the completion of Chang International Circuit. Not only the drivers, but also the teams as well as the tire manufacturers had no choice but to try and see in many part during the event. From the impression you get by looking at the track diagram, the track, though technical, seemed simple with only a few ups and downs. However, "It's a fun track and worth challenging" is what came out of all SUPER GT drivers after they had actually experienced driving on Chang International Circuit. It is indeed flat as almost the entire track can be viewed from the upper part of the main stand, but it boasts the characteristics of Hermann Tilke design in many part, the curve on the turns are not easy requiring expert technique in handling and acceleration.

So the drivers were caught by surprise by the new circuit, and the teams and tire makers had to take on the new circuit with conservative setting due to lack in data. In such situation, PETRONAS TOM'S RC F took an aggressive strategy and did not change the tires, which paid off as it brought them the victory. The team was able to step ahead of the GT-R squad, which was considered to be advantageous in terms of speed.

This year, however, all teams will be able to prepare in advance and bring in a setting based on the data from last year. Also, the event was held in October last year after the heat had settled down, but this year it will be held when the summer gears up in June. The heat will probably become another enemy to fight against just like in Sepang (Malaysia) in the past or the Suzuka 1000km, which means it will be very severe on the tires. In addition, June is a rainy season in Thailand. Thus, squall, or sudden rain, will become everybody's concern. It may be ungenerous to the drivers, but battle with rain tires, which didn't have a chance to appear last year, can be interesting to see.

 

 

GT-R showed off its speed at Round 2 held on the high speed Fuji track as No.1 MOTUL AUTECH GT-R (Tsugio Matsuda / Ronnie Quintarelli) winning the race and No.12 CALSONIC IMPUL GT-R (Hironobu Yasuda / Joao Paulo de Oliveira) finishing second. Contrastingly, the performance of cars other than GT-R was prominent at the season opener held on the technical track of Okayama. The race was won by No.37 KeePer TOM'S RC F (Andrea Caldarelli / Ryo Hirakawa) with No.100 RAYBRIG NSX CONCEPT-GT (Naoki Yamamoto / Takuya Izawa) finishing at the second place.

Considering the above, RC F and NSX CONCEPT-GT may have advantage at the Thai technical circuit. However, the improvement seen in the GT-R at Fuji was so enormous that a rival engineer expressed it as "It was like a completely different car." GT-R may well be the top candidate of Thai race.

If it will be a "hot" race in Thai, then the stake will be on No.46 S Road MOLA GT-R (Satoshi Motoyama / Masataka Yanagida), which got pole position and ran impressively until the mid-stage of the race when it was forced to stop due to a problem in the car last year. Last year's second-place finisher No.24 D'station ADVAN GT-R (Daiki Sasaki / Lucas Ordonez) is also a team to watch as they have been strong at overseas races.

Team standing against them would be, without a doubt, defending winner No.36 PETRONAS TOM'S RC F (Daisuke Ito / James Rossiter). If the weather changes drastically or the race develops into a turmoil, then it would be interesting to see how the teams like No.39 DENSO KOBELCO SARD RC F (Kohei Hirate / Heikki Kovalainen) or No.19 WedsSport ADVAN RC F (Juichi Wakisaka / Yuhi Sekiguchi) will work it out through the race.

Out of the NSX CONCEPT-GT fleet, the duo driving No.100 RAYBRIG NSX CONCEPT-GT favor a technical circuit like Chang. Despite disappointment by a tire problem last year, fans can expect on No.8 ARTA NSX CONCEPT-GT (Kosuke Matsuura / Tomoki Nojiri) considering it left a good result of a fourth in qualifying. If it rains, it is very possible to see No.64 Epson NSX CONCEPT-GT (Daisuke Nakajima / Bertrand Baguette) fighting for the top position.

 

 

 

 

B-MAX NDDP GT-R claimed the winner last year in GT300 class, but the race was actually lead by a Porsche of local team until the middle part and, in the last part of the race, the GT-R had to battle tightly against Studie BMW Z4. So, you can't say right away that GT-R has advantage this year.

Nonetheless, it seems like it will be a battle between No.3 B-MAX NDDP GT-R (Kazuki Hoshino / Mitsunori Takaboshi) and No.7 Studie BMW Z4 (Jorg Muller / Seiji Ara) for the top place once again this year with hybrid cars, No.55 ARTA CR-Z GT (Shinichi Takagi / Takashi Kobayashi), qualifying fourth last year, and No.31 TOYOTA PRIUS qpr GT (Koki Saga / Yuichi Nakayama), possibly contending against the two. Porsche as well as Lamborghini are also fast on this track. No.33 Excellence Porsche (Alexandre Imperatori / Kenta Yamashita) driven by Alexandre Imperatori, who took the wheel of local Porsche last year that fell short of victory due to a problem in the last phase of the race, may become a victorious candidate. Among Lamborghinis, the eyes should be kept on local team No.28 REITER GALLARDO (Chonsawat Asavahame / Tomas Enge) along with No.88 MANEPA LAMBORGHINI GT3 (Manabu Orido / Kimiya Sato).

 

 

Another point to watch at the technical track of Chang would be the new cars built based on the GT300 mother chassis that debuted this season. The cars are said to be exceptional around the turns, thus, they may show superb suitability to the track. Among the mother-chassis cars, No.25 VivaC 86 MC (Takeshi Tsuchiya / Takamitsu Matsui), driven by Takeshi Tsuchiya who debuted 86MC last year on this track, may have a chance to be in the battle for the win.

Looking at other teams, No.0 GOODSMILE HATSUNE MIKU SLS (Nobuteru Taniguchi / Tatsuya Kataoka) as well as No.11 GAINER TANAX SLS (Katsuyuki Hiranka / Bjorn Wirdheim), teams which have been a regular member of title contention every year but have not gained a result they would want yet this season, should be keen to score a win, and the Audi R8 squad should not be underestimated either considering the performance they are showing this year.

 

  

 

 

It is difficult to foresee the GT300 class and it is not possible to clearly state the victorious candidates of GT500 class. But one thing for sure is that the competitive landscape which Round 3 Thailand will reveal should indicate the situation of this season. Upcoming race at Chang International Circuit in Thailand is a climax of the opening stage of the 2015 season that is contended in eight races overall and is the first gateway to the midsummer triple race. It will certainly be a race which shouldn't be missed if you are a SUPER GT fan.

 

 

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