2015.08.09

ARTA CR-Z GT Runs from Pole to Win in the GT300 Class

Round4 Fuji Speedway : GT300 Race

In fair weather on August 9th, the FUJI GT 300km RACE, Round 4 of the 2015 AUTOBACS SUPER GT series, took place at Fuji Speedway (Shizuoka Pref.). Despite an increasing number of clouds compared to the morning, a hot sun still shone down on Fuji Speedway during the race, as the No. 24 D'station ADVAN GT-R (Daiki Sasaki/Michael Krumm) came on strong and relentless in the second half to take the win in the GT500 class. In the GT300 class, the No. 55 ARTA CR-Z GT driven by Shinichi Takagi and Takashi Kobayashi raced virtually unchallenged for a pole-to-checkers win.

 

  

 

With true summertime heat tempered somewhat by the cooling highland wind coming down the slopes of Mt. Fuji, the GT300 class race got underway at 13:00. The pole-sitting No. 55 ARTA CR-Z GT (Shinichi Takagi) got a good start and quickly began to pull away from the chasing No. 65 LEON SLS (Haruki Kurosawa). Within the space of just four laps the No. 55 car had opened up a lead of more than five seconds. Lacking confidence in their top speed on the straights, the ARTA team had taken the drastic step of removing the drivers' cool suit equipment from the No. 55 car to lighten it. Takagi took full advantage of the lightened car's speed to pull away from the pack in the early stages of the race. The effort proved successful and by the 10th lap the ARTA CR-Z GT had built up a 12-second lead over the machine in 2nd place, and its pace didn't slow after that.
Meanwhile, the battle for 2nd place heated up. In the contest between the No. 65 LEON SLS, No. 7 Studie BMW Z4 (Seiji Ara), No. 0 GOODSMILE HATSUNE MIKU SLS (Tatsuya Kataoka), No. 11 GAINER TANAX SLS (Bjorn Wirdheim) and the No. 10 GAINER TANAX GT-R (Andre Couto), the order was changing with every lap. By the 20th lap, the No. 11 GAINER TANAX SLS led the group in 2nd position followed by the No. 7 Studie BMW Z4 and the No. 0 GOODSMILE HATSUNE MIKU SLS. Having fallen off the pace slightly, the No. 65 LEON SLS continued to drop away from the group. While the group continued to battle for 2nd place, the leading No. 55 ARTA CR-Z GT continued to charge ahead and build a lead of more than 20 seconds.
By this time, the second group was making their routine pit stops. In its pit stop, the No. 0 GOODSMILE HATSUNE MIKU SLS team lost valuable time in changing the right front tire, and perhaps because of some mistake in the operation, the GOODSMILE HATSUNE MIKU SLS (Nobuteru Taniguchi) began to slow down after getting back in the race. This ended the team's chances of winning any points from this round.

 

 

The leading No. 55 ARTA CR-Z GT made its routine pit stop at the end of the 28th lap. The pit work was completed with no problems and the ARTA CR-Z GT, now in the hands of Takashi Kobayashi, returned to the race with its lead in tact. Chasing it were the No. 7 Studie BMW Z4 (Jorg Muller), the No. 65 LEON SLS (Naoya Gamou), the No. 11 GAINER TANAX SLS (Katsuyuki Hiranaka) and the No. 10 GAINER TANAX GT-R (Katsumasa Chiyo).
While the No. 55 ARTA CR-Z GT appeared to be running strongly in the lead, the absence of cool suit equipment make the racing tough despite the comfortable lead it had given them. But soon, tragedy struck the No. 7 Studie BMW Z4 that had been running in 2nd position with a good pace. Contact with another car had caused damage to its left front tire that eventually forced it to drop out of the race. This left the No. 65 LEON SLS in 2nd position to chase the ARTA CR-Z GT in its place. But, by the time all of the teams had finished their routine pit stops at the 42nd lap (19 laps remaining in the race), the ARTA CR-Z GT had a 20-second margin of lead. During the closing stages of the race the leader would run at a controlled pace with an eye of the cars behind, but perhaps because of the heat, Kobayashi's pace in the ARTA CR-Z GT began to slow somewhat and Gamou in the LEON SLS began pushing hard to try and narrow the gap.
In the end, however, the lead that the No. 55 ARTA CR-Z GT had built up during the early stages of the race was simply too big, and Kobayashi was able to sail on to the team's first victory of the season in impressive pole-to-win style. Without the cool suit, however, Kobayashi showed that he had paid the price of victory as he got out of the car drenched in sweat and weak with fatigue. Finishing 2nd was the No. 65 LEON SLS. Third place went to the No. 11 GAINER TANAX SLS that had managed to hold off a late-race charge from the No. 51 JMS LMcorsa Z4 (Morio Nitta/Shigekazu Wakisaka).

 

 

 

 

 

 

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