2016.05.03

CALSONIC IMPUL GT-R wins pole position with a course record!

Round2 Fuji Speedway : Qualifying GT500 Review

On May 3rd, the official qualifying for the FUJI GT 500km RACE, Round 2 of the 2016 AUTOBACS SUPER GT was held at Fuji Speedway (Shizuoka Pref.). In the GT500 class, Joao Paulo Lima De Oliveira in the No. 12 CALSONIC IMPUL GT-R won pole position with a new course record time. In the GT300 class, Takashi Kobayashi in the No. 55 ARTA BMW M6 GT3 won the class pole.

 

The official qualifying for the FUJI GT 500km RACE, Round 2 of the 2016 SUPER GT season, began in conditions that saw growing cloudiness and wind from the morning hours. When the GT300 class Q1 session started at 14:30, the air temperature was 19 degrees C. and the track surface temperature was slightly warmer than in the morning practice at 27 degrees C.
After the GT300 class Q1, the GT500 class Q1 started at 14:50. Though it was a 15-minute session, the teams waited out the early minutes in the pit with the intent of concentrating all of their efforts on a single time attack. For that reason, the track remained quiet for a while.

The action began all at once when just under eight minutes remained in the session. The No. 1 MOTUL AUTECH GT-R (Tsugio Matsuda) was the first out onto the track, followed in rapid succession by the other cars. A little later, by the time seven minutes remained in the session, the No. 12 CALSONICIMPUL GT-R (Hironobu Yasuda) that had recorded the fastest time in the morning practice took to the track, followed by the No. 100 RAYBRIG NSX CONCEPT-GT (Naoki Yamamoto), No. 38 ZENT CERUMO RC F (Hiroaki Ishiura) and the No. 46 S Road CRAFTSPORTS GT-R (Katsumasa Chiyo).
After warming up their tires for two laps, all of the cars began making their time attacks with about two minutes left in the session. First, Matsuda in the No. 1 MOTUL AUTECH GT-R recorded a time of 1’28.468, and this became the target time for the other cars.
Among them, Chiyo in the No. 46 S Road CRAFTSPORTS GT-R rounded the track with sparks flying at every turn in a valiant attack that won him a new course record of 1’27.366 (former record: 1’27.552) and propelled him to the top of the timing board. Chiyo (No. 46) was followed in order by Yasuda in the No. 12 CALSONIC IMPUL GT-R and Daiki Sasaki in the No. 24 Forum Engineering ADVAN GT-R, giving the GT500 class Nissan GT-R nismo cars the top three places.

The other cars made their time attacks trying their best to qualify for Q2, but none could break the top-three domination of the Nissan GT-R teams, and the Q1 session ended with the No. 46 S Road CRAFTSPORTS GT-R in the top spot. Fourth fastest was No. 38 ZENT CERUMO RC F driven by Ishiura, and finishing the session in 5th place was the No. 1 MOTUL AUTECH GT-R.
The top eight that qualified for Q2 also included the No. 39 DENSO KOBELCO SARD RC F (Heikki Kovalainen), the No. 15 Drago Modulo NSX CONCEPT-GT (Hideki Mutoh) and the No. 100 RAYBRIG NSX CONCEPT-GT (Yamamoto). On the other hand, bother the pole position winner and the 2nd place qualifier of round one at Okayama, the No. 37 KeePer TOM'S RC F (James Rossiter) and the No. 6 WAKO'S 4CR RC F (Andrea Caldarelli), failed to make the Q1 cut.

 

 

Following the GT300 class Q2, the GT500 class Q2 session started on schedule at 3:35 in the afternoon. Shorter than Q1 at just 12 minutes in length, the cars still waited until just under eight minutes remained in the Q2 session before taking to the track. All of the GT500 machines finished their warm-ups and began their time attacks with about two minutes remaining to the checkered flag.
The first to post a top time of 1’28.118 was the No. 12 CALSONIC IMPUL GT-R (Joao Paulo Lima De Oliveira) that had been fastest in the morning practice. This was followed by No. 15 Drago Modulo NSX CONCEPT-GT (Oliver Turvey) with a time of 1’28.701.

With 1 min. 30 sec. remaining in the session, the times continued to get faster, and it was De Oliveira in the No. 12 CALSONIC IMPUL GT-R that recorded a fast time of 1’27.453. The No. 46 S Road CRAFTSPORTS GT-R (Satoshi Motoyama) then came close to that time but failed to beat it. With this, the No 12 CALSONIC IMPUL GT-R won pole position and the No. 46 S Road CRAFTSPORTS GT-R took 2nd position. This will put two Nissan GT-R cars on the front row of tomorrow’s GT500 grid. These are the same two cars that started from the front row in Round 2 of the 2014 season.
Third position went to Yuji Tachikawa in the No. 38 ZENT CERUMO RC F, who recorded a time of 1’28.210 on his first timed lap and then brought it down to 1’27.960 on his next lap. Fourth and fifth positions went to the No. 1 MOTUL AUTECH GT-R (Ronnie Quintarelli) and the No. 39 DENSO KOBELCO SARD RC F (Kohei Hirate). Among the Honda NSX CONCEPT-GT teams, the No. 15 Drago Modulo NSX CONCEPT-GT (Hideki Mutoh) took 6th position and the No. 100 RAYBRIG NSX CONCEPT-GT (Takuya Izawa) took 8th.

 

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