2016.03.19

[Official test at Okayama: Day 1] RC F dominates top 4! TOYOTA PRIUS apr GT fastest in GT300.

With the long-awaited 2016 AUTOBACS SUPER GT season opening in three weeks at Okayama, SUPER GT'S first official test of the year started at Okayama International Circuit on March 19. Day 1 of testing consisted of two 2-hour sessions, one each in morning and afternoon, with the morning session held under a wet condition end to end. Afternoon session changed to a dry session, encouraging the teams to add up miles in preparation for the season opener.

 

 

 

Track changing from wet to dry. Focus was on the tire than time.

With thick heavy clouds covering up the sky, together with effect from the rain from the night before, the morning session was declared wet at 30 minutes before the start, making all cars to start with rain tires. Rain had stopped almost completely, but the track took time to dry up possibly due to the temperature. Meanwhile, at about one hour into the session, No.3 B-MAX NDDP GT-R (Kazuki Hoshino / Jann Mardenborough) of GT300 class was first to switch to slick tires. From there on many other teams followed and changed tires.

Fastest lap time of the morning session in GT500 class was marked by No.12 CALSONIC IMPUL GT-R (Hironobu Yasuda / Joao Paulo de Oliveira) with 1 min 19.776 sec, only car to break the 1 min 20 sec barrier. However, fastest time was not the main focus of cars running on the track as teams were concentrating their effort in the machine setting and in finding the tires they will use at the opening round.

Most noteworthy of the morning session was that No.64 Epson NSX CONCEPT-GT (Daisuke Nakajima / Bertrand Baguette) was testing a new pattern of rain tire. "Although our tire had been reputed to be strong in rain, it was only fast in a certain condition. Therefore, we have been exploring quickness in all round and tested various new patterns. Unfortunately, we did not have that much of opportunities to test in a wet condition up to this point, and the session this morning was our first full-fledged testing. However, there was not sufficient amount of rain and only thing we could do was to confirm the quickness in the dry-up (a condition where track gradually dries up)..." said Saiwaki, an engineer of Dunlop, with a bitter smile.

 

 

Oshima in WAKO'S 4CR RC F surpasses the record as the track dries up in the afternoon.

Track surface gradually dried up during the interval, allowing the afternoon session to start under a dry condition. The session was suspended for the first time of the day with a red flag to recover a car that span out at Turn 9 right after the start of the session. Session resumed in about five minutes. As the teams work on finding the tires and checking the setup in preparation for the season opener, improvements started to show in the lap time as well. LEXUS RC F fleet looked to be in a good shape with multiple RC F appearing at the top position of the timing monitor. At about 20 minutes from the start of session, Ryo Hirakawa in No.37 KeePer TOM'S RC F emerged to the top of the timing monitor by marking 1 min 19.534 sec. Daisuke Ito driving No.36 LEXUS TEAM TOM'S (Name of the car is not finalized) took over the top position with 1 min 19.349 sec. And then No.6 WAKO'S 4CR RC F (Andrea Caldarelli) flipped it over again with 1 min 19.484 sec. No.6 car went even further with Kazuya Oshima entering into the 1 min 18 sec-mark after taking over the wheel from Caldarelli. In addition, Oshima marked a lap time that broke the track record (1'19.008. 2015 Season opener: KeePer TOM'S RC F Ryo Hirakawa) up to that point. This lap time became the top time of the day.

After all, the top lap times of all cars in GT500 class were marked in the afternoon. Day 1 ended with LEXUS RC F dominating the top four of the timing result. "With the vehicle development frozen this season, the work we can do is limited, but we are planning to add different spices (new technology) to the engine. We have only done about a half up to this point, but we are able to see that whatever we are doing is leading to appropriate outcome. Of course, we cannot relax yet as we don't know what kind of menu the rivals were running their cars under..." said with a bitter smile Takahiro Sasaki, an engineer and Manager of Engine Group of TRD Motor Sports Development Department, who is involved with the development of RC F of GT500 class.

Out of the NSX CONCEPT-GT fleet, No.100 RAYBRIG NSX CONCEPT-GT (Naoki Yamamoto / Takuya Izawa) finished the day at fifth position with 1 min 19.736 sec it marked in afternoon. But Project Leader Masahiko Matsumoto, who leads the GT Project at Honda, is not panicking as he gives his analysis on the RC F camp, "Lexus has always been fast here from before. I think their cars fit (to the track). We still have some room to improve in various areas including the weight distribution option we have from the weight reduction we gained by dropping the hybrid system."

It should be the same for Nissan which is aiming for a three consecutive title. In terms of lap time, No.12 CALSONIC IMPUL GT-R was the fastest in the morning. No.12 car was also the fastest GT-R in the afternoon with sixth fastest time overall, 1 min 19.782 sec. NISMO Team Manager Yutaka Suzuki, who is also in charge of GT-R development, concluded, "I should say that today's condition was a little bit difficult. Track was no way near at its best either. I think we can improve the lap time a little bit more tomorrow."

 

 

 

New machines in GT300 class are fast, but need a lot of work...

In GT300, No.2 SYNTIUM Apple LOTUS (Kazuho Takahashi / Hiroki Katoh) marked the top time of the morning. In the afternoon, No.31 TOYOTA PRIUS apr GT (Koki Saga / Yuichi Nakayama) showed quickness from the early stage despite finishing the morning session with no time due to a problem in the car, and it eventually recorded the top time of the day with 1 min 27.521 sec.

Introductions of many new models are drawing attention to the GT300 class, and, indeed, new machines of FIA GT3 vehicle are fast. On the other hand, they also demonstrated insufficiency in terms of setup as well as maturity. Just like new Prius of No.31, transmission problem struck No.7 Studie BMW M6 (Jorg Muller / Seiji Ara) out of BMW M6 GT3 camp, forcing the team to cancel its testing in the afternoon session. No.21 Hitotsuyama Audi R8 LMS (Richard Lyons / Tomonobu Fujii) was also held back by a problem in the transmission area. Misfortune also hit the PORSCHE 911 GT3 R fleet with No.9 GULF NAC PORSCHE 911 (Ryohei Sakaguchi / Hiroki Yoshida) having a problem in the engine.

Nevertheless, the natural quickness of these cars are obvious, and BMW MS GT3 of No.55 ARTA BMW M6 GT3 (Shinichi Takagi / Takashi Kobayashi) ran smoothly all day, finishing at sixth place in the class with a mere gap against the leader. Situation could change drastically from this test if the development proceeds smoothly in each model.

 

   

 

 

Track was still wet in the morning, so we thought it wouldn't do any good if we pushed too much, so we just had Andrea (Caldarelli) to check on the car. Track began to dry up in the afternoon, so Andrea tested tires and I went for the lap time with the selected tires. I did an attack lap just once at the end and that became the best time of the day. But, to me, I don't think it was a perfect lap and the time can improve a lot more.
Our car got so much faster during the offseason. Especially, the engine clearly has more power. If the drivability improves a bit more from here, then I think we can get superb lap time. We have been doing well at the season opener in past years, and, with Andrea who has won (at Okayama) coming in, the team is very motivated to definitely win this year. Since we have new sponsor and new coloring, I want to win here (at the season opener) so we can raise the sense of unity among our team to challenge the new season.

 

What? I got the top time? I really didn't care. But it's good that I was able to mark a top time at the first official test before the season opener. Above all, there are many new models of FIA GT3 cars this year, and I'm happy that it turned out to be like giving the first punch. Since we are taking on the season with two cars (with teammate No.30 car) this year, I think that will multiply the progress of development. Of course, there can be some limit (in sharing data) since we are using different tires (Bridgestone for No.31 car and Yokohama for No.30 car). Today, we repeated the sequence of choose tire then go for lap time. I already knew that we could get pretty fast one-shot lap time, so that's not an extra surprise. Tomorrow, we are planning to test in a long run (long distance assuming the race) to check tires and fine-tune the setting.

 

 

 

 

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