2015.08.30

In GT300, GAINER TANAX GT-R score second win of the season

Round5 Suzuka Circuit : Race GT300

The "44th International Suzuka 1000km" race, Round 5 of the 2015 AUTOBACS SUPER GT series was held at the Suzuka Circuit in Mie Pref. on August 30. The winner of the GT500 race competed in difficult conditions that saw rain in the early stages and two Safety Car stoppages that caused it to reach its maximum time extension limit and be cut short before reaching the 1,000 km distance was the No. 36 PETRONAS TOM'S RC F driven by Daisuke Ito and James Rossiter. In the GT300 class, the No. 10 GAINER TANAX GT-R (Andre Couto/Katsumasa Chiyo/Ryutaro Tomita), carrying the class' largest load of handicap weights at 88 kg, won its second race of the season.

 

  

 

 

With rain drizzling down on and off, the race started on schedule at 12:30. Led by the pole-sitting No. 2 SYNTIUM Apple LOTUS GT300 (Hiroki Kato), the GT300 class race got off to a smooth start with the No. 10 GAINER TANAX GT-R (Andre Couto) and No. 7 Studie BMW Z4 (Jorg Muller) following in grid order. In the early stages, car No. 2 steadily increased its lead over No. 10 and the rest of the pack. Behind the leader, car No. 10 began to fall off the pace as the race proceeded and would be passed by the No. 88 MANEPA LAMBORGHINI GT3 (Manabu Orido) that had moved up from a 5th-place grid start. Following No. 88 came car No. 7 and the No. 31 TOYOTA PRIUS apr GT (Sasaki). By the 18th lap, car No. 2 had nearly a 10-second lead over the No. 88 MANEPA LAMBORGHINI GT3 (Manabu Orido) in 2nd place. After that, the No. 2 SYNTIUM Apple LOTUS would build a big lead of nearly 20 seconds by the time of its first routine pit stop. Meanwhile, cars No. 7, No. 31 and also the No. 61 SUBARU BRZ R&D SPORT (Takuto Iguchi) were battling with little space between them and car No. 88 in 2nd place.
After that, the race developed primarily into a contest between the No. 2 SYNTIUM Apple LOTUS (Hiroshi Hamaguchi), the No. 61 SUBARU BRZ R&D SPORT (Hideki Yamauchi) and the No. 31 TOYOTA PRIUS apr GT (Yuichi Nakayama). Meanwhile, as the race entered the 56th lap, the No. 50 SKT EXE SLS (Nanin Indra-Payoong) crashed on the 200R curve and came to a stop on the track with broken car parts scattered about, which brought out the Safety Car to control the race. During the SC run that lasted for 22 minutes, the rain had mostly stopped and the track was beginning to dry out. Meanwhile, with its first pit stop, the No. 10 GAINER TANAX GT-R (Katsumasa Chiyo) had dropped back near the very end of the GT300 pack. Also, the No. 7 Studie BMW Z4 (Seiji Ara) had dropped back to 13th position due to a penalty caused by Muller crossing the white line. Furthermore, the No. 2 SYNTIUM Apple LOTUS received a 90-second pit stop penalty for making a pit stop when the pits were closed during the SC run, which dropped it far back as well.
With these upsets, the No. 55 ARTA CR-Z GT (Takashi Kobayashi) found itself in the lead during the middle stages of the race. However, on the 68th lap, car No. 55 spun out on the first corner. Thanks to a fast recovery, it managed to stay in the lead, but machine after machine began running off the track at the same first corner, both before and after No. 55. This was due to coolant that had leaked from the damaged radiator of the No. 51 JMS LMcorsa Z4 (Shigekazu Wakisaka) along the course from the last turn to the second turn. To clean up this spill, the Safety Car was brought out for the second time to slow the race until it could be restarted from the 73rd lap. After this, car No. 55's pace slowed and it was the No. 88 MANEPA LAMBORGHINI GT3 (Kazuki Hiramine>Manabu Orido) that took the lead followed by the No. 31 TOYOTA PRIUS apr GT (Koki Saga) and the No. 61 SUBARU BRZ R&D SPORT (Iguchi). Meanwhile, due to a spin by Saga in car No. 31during the SC run, it was given a drive-through penalty that dropped it out of the competition at the front.

 

 

When the No. 88 MANEPA LAMBORGHINI GT3 made its third pit stop on the 93rd lap, car No. 61 moved into the lead position. When No. 61 made its pit stop, it was none other than the No. 10 GAINER TANAX GT-R (Couto) that assumed the lead. Until this point the team's drivers Chiyo, Ryuichiro Tomita and Couto had moved up through the pack at an astonishing pace. Also, the No. 61 SUBARU BRZ R&D SPORT (Hideki Yamauchi) and the No. 7 Studie BMW Z4 (Ara), which had itself been recovering position steadily from it penalty, began to pick up the pace as the race entered its final stages. These two began to close on the leading car No. 10.
When the last cars had finished their final pit stops on the 128th lap, the No. 10 GAINER TANAX GT-R (Chiyo) lead the race with the No. 7 Studie BMW Z4 (Muller) nipping at its heels. Meanwhile, the No. 61 SUBARU BRZ R&D SPORT (Iguchi) in 3rd place was gradually losing contact with the two leaders in front, but there was still a 40-second gap between it and the No. 88 MANEPA LAMBORGHINIGT3 (Orido) in 4th place.
As the ranking leader, the No. 10 GAINER TANAX GT-R (Chiyo) was carrying a load of 88 kg of handicap weight, but its speed was still impressive. In the corners, the No. 7 Studie BMW Z4 was able to pressure No. 10, but it lacked the speed to overtake it. At one point, Muller in car No. 7 had fallen three seconds behind No. 10, but during last ten laps he closed again to within less than a second from Chiyo in car No. 10. But Chiyo withstood the pressure, skillfully maneuvering his weighted machine to prevent giving Muller room to attack. With the two leaders still in this condition, the race's time limit ran out at 18:25. This gave the No. 10 GAINER TANAX GT-R its second victory of the season. The No. 7 Studie BMW Z4 finished 2nd, while in 3rd came the No. 61 SUBARU BRZ R&D SPORT.
These results added 25 points to the leading total of car No. 10's Couto in the drivers' ranking, bringing that total to 69 points and ensuring his place at the top of the standings. And it boosted his lead over the 2nd ranked No. 3 B-MAX NDDP GT-R pair of Kazuki Hoshino and Mitsunori Takaboshi to 31 points.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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