2016.03.27

[Official test at Fuji: Day 2] CALSONIC IMPUL GT-R strikes back! Studie BMW M6 tops GT300.

Blessed with enjoyable weather from early morning, a huge crowd of fans showed up at Fuji Speedway from the morning on Sunday, March 27. In such setup, the SUPER GT teams concentrated on testing for the season opener at Okayama approaching just around the corner and also for the Round 2 Fuji in May.

 

 

 

Fuji-savvy CALSONIC IMPUL GT-R marks impressive lap times

Fuji Speedway continued to set the stage as the official test entered the second day. LEXUS RC F fleet was showing good performances and placed their names on the upper rows of timing monitor from early on.

It is said that the key in the competition among the GT500 class cars this season is the engine since development is restricted by the regulation. But that does not mean that the last year’s specification will be used as is for the bodywork. Shintaro Shimizu, Group Manager of TRD Motor Sports Development Department, Technical Division which undertakes the development of RC F, said, “Of course it’s only on the part that is not prohibited by the regulation, but we put our effort extensively in reducing the weight, though it was a tiny bit by bit, and, since there were more than a few races that we lost due trouble, we also worked on the measures for that.” When told that GT-R fleet is seeing some troubles, Shimizu responded, “The condition is the same since we are using the same parts. It’s just that it’s not happening (to our team) at the official test. We had gone through many troubles many times during the offseason tests. We are working with Nissan to apply measures.”

Kovalainen in No.39 DENSO KOBELCO SARD RC F (Heikki Kovalainen / Kohei Hirate) sat at the top place most of the time during the session with a lap time of 1 min 28.369 sec, but de Oliveira in No.12 CALSONIC IMPUL GT-R (Hironobu Yasuda / Joao Paulo de Oliveira) flipped it over by a slightest gap with 1 min 28.228 sec to mark the top time.

 

 

RC F and NSX CONCEPT-GT share the fastest with the same time

Safety Car drill took place for 20 minutes from 1:30PM just before the start of afternoon session.

 

 

Track transitioned seamlessly to the afternoon session as the Safety car drill came to an end. RC F fleet’s speed continued to stand out in the afternoon, and No.39 DENSO KOBELCO SARD RC F drove solely by Hirate in the afternoon marked the top time with 1 min 28.854 sec. However, No.17 KEIHIN NSX CONCEPT-GT (Koudai Tsukakoshi / Takashi Kogure. Lap time was marked by Tsukakoshi) matched up by marking exactly the same lap time with No.39 car. In addition, the gap against No.37 KeePer TOM'S RC F (James Rossiter / Ryo Hirakawa) at third place was only six thousandths of a second! Indeed, the potential of the three cars, GT-R, RC F, and NSX CONCEPT-GT, may have been even more equalized than last year. Season opener has become really unpredictable.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Competition intensifies also in GT300. GT-R and BMW M6 are the fastest in the morning and afternoon, respectively

In GT300, No.7 Studie BMW M6 (Jorg Muller / Seiji Ara) was marking good lap times from the start of morning session. Although BMW M6 GT3 seemed to be struck with a chain of troubles, Ara jumped up the pace in the session and whipped out 1 min 36. 194 sec. Ara’s lap time, despite slightly slower than 1 min 36.151 sec marked by No.3 B-MAX NDDP GT-R (Kazuki Hoshino / Jann Mardenborough) on previous day, was fast enough to break the track record up to that point.

All the top times of each session were marked by the FIA-GT3 cars at this Fuji test. However, in the overall result of Day 2, No.61 SUBARU BRZ R&D SPORT (Takuto Iguchi / Hideki Yamauchi. Driven only by Iguchi) and No.31 TOYOTA PRIUS apr GT (Koki Saga / Yuichi Nakayama) of the JAF-GT300 cars placed at fourth and fifth positions, respectively, and No.25 VivaC 86 MC (Takeshi Tsuchiya / Takamitsu Matsui) was also marking good lap times after they finally got on the track that day as the team managed to repair the car. It seems Fuji is advantageous to the FIA GT3 cars, but the JAF-GT300 cars appeared to be in good shape to fight strong too.

 

 

From how the situation is turning out, it could be the tire that decides the winner. Shuichi Fujishiro, an engineer of Yokohama Motorsport International, a development arm of Yokohama that supplies tires to many teams in GT300, said with a bitter smile, “Our development floor is just chaotic.” What is behind his comment is the fact that many new models of FIA-GT3 cars have entered the series this season plus the performance has gotten higher due to the intensified competition in the GT300 class Consequently, the tire development has to be more sensitive and more at granular level than before. Fujishiro concluded, “After all, we can’t lose. Especially, since we lost the title last year, I want to get it back no matter what.”

 

   

 

 

The car felt good throughout the two days. I’m happy because we were able to finish the day with a good result yesterday and today. I’m feeling positive towards Fuji in May. Today the lap times were not good as yesterday, but that’s because tire test was our main menu, and it really was a great test. The official test at Okayama last week was also smooth, so my motivation for the upcoming season is pretty high now. Am I aiming for winning both Okayama and Fuji? I would be happy if I can do that, but it’s not easy in SUPER GT especially with handicap weight. But I want to win either one and be on the podium at the other one. That’s what I’m thinking. Make a good start of the season, and I really want to grab the title this year.

 

I barely drove at Okayama test because of the trouble we had, but I was able to do many menu including tire testing this time. I got the best time when I did an attack just once to simulate the qualifying. We have a new machine from this year, but the new M6 has a good balance. I guess some people think that, since the car got bigger, its maneuverability has gotten sluggish, but that’s not true. It’s got that BMW’s sharp handling, and the straight speed, which had been a weak point before, is now about the same as the rivals since the engine is turbo-charged. If feels now that the speed at the corners and on the straight are balanced out. My concern is that we don’t have data from Okayama because we couldn’t run there during the test. But, still, we are always at full-throttle. This is the third year since I teamed up with Jorg (Muller), so I definitely want to link this to a win, no matter what it takes.

 

 

 

Holiday brought many fans to the Fuji test.

 

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