2016.04.10

LEON CVSTOS AMG-GT runs away in second half to its first GT win

Round1 Okayama International Circuit : Race GT300

The OKAYAMA GT 300km RACE, Round 1 of the 2016 AUTOBACS SUPER GT series, took place at the Okayama International Circuit (Okayama Pref.) on April 10th. In the GT500 race, the No. 1 MOTUL AUTECH GT-R (Tsugio Matsuda / Ronnie Quintarelli) showed their champion prowess in coming from a 3rd position grid start to take a well-earned victory. In the GT300 class, the No. 65 LEON CVSTOS AMG-GT (Hiroki Kurosawa / Naoya Gamou) gave the team its first SUPER GT victory.

 

 

Race day dawned with a typical spring haze, but by start time soft sunlight was shining through the clouds. As scheduled, the race began at 2:40 with two motorcycles of the Okayama Prefectural Police leading the cars through one parade lap before it was replaced by the Safety Car to lead the rolling start lap. After these two laps, the official start took place at 2:45. With the pole-starting No. 25 VivaC 86 MC (Takeshi Tsuchiya) at the front, the other machines of the top four qualifiers, the No. 65 LEON CVSTOS AMG-GT (Haruki Kurosawa), No. 7 Studie BMW M6 (Jorg Muller) and the No. 61 SUBARU BRZ R&D SPORT (Takuto Iguchi), followed in that order, while the No. 55 ARTA BMW M6 GT3 (Shinichi Takagi) came into 5th position by the end of the first lap after moving up slightly from the start. As the GT300 cars began to be lapped by the GT500 cars from the fifth lap after the start, the gaps between them fluctuated some, but there were no major changes in the running order and the race proceeded without mishap. Once the No. 11 GAINER TANAX AMG GT3 (Bjorn Wirdheim) and No. 21 Hitotsuyama Audi R8 LMS (Tomonobu Fujii) that had been overtaken by car No. 55 at the start had re-passed it, the race settled once again into its original order. It wasn't until after the 15th lap of the race that positions began to change. Kurosawa in car No. 65 began to close in gradually behind Tsuchiya in car No. 25. This didn't result in an overtake, and eventually the gap opened up again, but it was an exchange that would be indicative of the developments coming in the second half of the race.

 

 

At the end of the 30th lap the race order stood unchanged in the top three, with the No. 25 VivaC 86 MC in the lead followed by the No. 65 LEON CVSTOS AMG-GT and No. 7 Studie BMW M6, while behind them the always strong No. 11 GAINER TANAX AMG GT3 (Katsuyuki Hiranaka) and No. 4 GOODSMILE HATSUNE MIKU AMG (Nobuteru Taniguchi) were moving up in the order.
A nip and tuck battle continued between the two leaders, but seeing that no overtake could be easily made, the No. 65 LEON CVSTOS AMG-GT made its routine pit stop earlier than planned at the end of the 31st lap and changed drivers to Naoya Gamou. In this stop, the team carried through on a strategy they had tested from the official practice of changing only the two left-side tires. As for the leading No. 25 VivaC 86 MC, it made its pit stop four laps later, changing drivers from Tsuchiya to Takamitsu Matsui, but on the first lap back in the race, with his tires still not warmed up thoroughly, Matsui was easily passed by Gamou in the No. 65 LEON CVSTOS AMG-GT on the third corner.
In the No. 25 VivaC 86 MC, Matsui continued to have trouble picking up the pace after that, and in the double hairpins of lap 42, he was passed by the veteran Nobuteru Taniguchi in the No. 11 GAINER TANAX AMG GT3, thus giving up 2nd place. After that, Matsui continued to drop in position but managed to hold on for an eventual 6th-place finish at the checkers.
Meanwhile, after moving into 2nd place, Taniguchi now had the No. 7 Studie BMW M6 (Seiji Ara) and No. 11 GAINER TANAX AMG GT3 (Katsuyuki Hiranaka) that had subsequently passed Matsui. With this, the leading group now consisted of the new FIA-GT3 regulation cars. Then the No. 51 JMS LMcorsa 488 GT3, having changed drivers from Akihiro Tsuzuki to the veteran Morio Nitta, also passed Matsui to give the top five places to FIA GT3 cars.
Among the JAF-GT300 MC cars, the No. 25 VivaC 86 MC's 6th place was the top finish. Besides that, the 12-place finish of the No. 31 TOYOTA PRIUS apr GT (Koki Saga/Yuichi Nakayama) was the next best result for a JAF-GT300 regulation car.

 

 

 

 

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