2016.05.04

B-MAX NDDP GT-R takes a skillfully-won GT300 victory!

Round2 Fuji Speedway : GT300 Race Review

The FUJI GT 500km RACE, Round 2 of the 2016 AUTOBACS SUPER GT series, took place on the afternoon of May 4th at Fuji Speedway (Shizuoka Pref). The GT500 class the No. 1 MOTUL AUTECH GT-R driven by Tsugio Matsuda and Ronnie Quintarelli followed up on their victory in the season opener to make it two wins in a row. In the GT300 class, the No. 3 B-MAX NDDP GT-R (Kazuki Hoshino/Jann Mardenborough) emerged victorious to make it Nissan GT-R wins in both classes.

 

 

Under the blue skies of a fine May day, the race got underway as scheduled at 2:00 with the Safety Car leading the rolling-lap start. After one lap, the race was officially started at 2:03. The pole-starting No. 55 ARTA BMW M6 GT3 (Takashi Kobayashi) led into the first turn, followed by the No. 25 VivaC 86 MC (Takamitsu Matsui), the No. 31 TOYOTA PRIUS apr GT (Yuichi Nakayama) and the No. 7 Studie BMW M6 (Seiji Ara). Then, coming out of the second turn, both Nakayama and Ara passed Matsui at the same time from the right and left. Seeing this thrilling three-wide overtake so early in the race sent a wave of excitement through the fans in the stands. When the leaders came by the grandstand at the end of the first lap, the order was car No. 55 in the lead followed by No. 31 and No. 7, but No. 25 was suffering from rubber pick-up from the track on its tires and would fall back in the pack.
After this, the No. 55 ARTA BMW M6 GT3 gradually began to pull away from the rest of the pack, while the No. 7 Studie BMW M6 and No. 31 TOYOTA PRIUS apr GT battled for 2nd place and were eventually joined by the No. 3 B-MAX NDDP GT-R (Jann Mardenborough) to make it a 3-way contest. Soon, however, the No. 7 Studie BMW M6 would suddenly begin to slow down until it had to make an emergency pit stop on lap number 14. The trouble with car No. 7 was eventually fixed and it was able to re-join the race, but it had fall back so far by then that it would never be a factor in the race for the lead again. From that point on, the No. 31 TOYOTA PRIUS apr GT and No. 3 B-MAX NDDP GT-R would continue to fight it out one-on-one for 2nd place. Behind them, a group led by the No. 88 MANEPA LAMBORGHINI GT3 (Kazuki Hiramine) that had jumped up from a 12th-place grid start and including the No. 61 SUBARU BRZ R&D SPORT (Hideki Yamauchi), No. 0 GAINER TANAX GT-R (Ryuichiro Tomita) and the No. 51 JMS LMcorsa 488 GT3 (Morio Nitta), would join in a close-fought battle.
With another fight going on between the No. 31 TOYOTA PRIUS apr GT and the No. 3 B-MAX NDDP GT-R, it was possible for the leading No. 55 ARTA BMW M6 GT3 to build up a big lead of nearly six seconds as the race entered its middle stages.
After completing 29 laps, the leading No. 55 ARTA BMW M6 GT3 made its first routine pit stop and changed drivers from Kobayashi to Shinichi Takagi. The weakness of the powerful M6 GT3 is its fuel consumption, which translated into longer refueling time. The next to return to the pit for its routine stop was the No. 31 TOYOTA PRIUS apr GT, but has Koki Saga, who had taken over as driver from Nakayama, rejoined the race, he overshot the first turn and ran off the track. It appeared that there was some kind of machine trouble and Saga had to return to the pit and lose contact with the leaders. This No. 3 B-MAX NDDP GT-R that had taken over the lead in the meantime made its pit stop at the end of the 33rd lap and changed drivers from Mardenborough to Kazuki Hoshino. Then on the 37th lap, the No. 88 MANEPA LAMBORGHINI GT3 made its pit stop, changing drivers from Hiramine to Manabu Orido. After that, the other teams made their first routine stop one after another, causing a flurry of order changes on the timing monitor.
From here, a showdown would begin between the No. 3 B-MAX NDDP GT-R that had moved into the lead due to some fast pit work and the fast-charging No. 55 ARTA BMW M6 GT3. In fact, when the race reached the half-way point on the 55th lap (51st lap in terms of the leading GT300 cars) the order was the No. 3 B-MAX NDDP GT-R in the lead and the No. 55 ARTA BMW M6 GT3 just 1.4 sec. back in 2nd place and the other cars from 3rd down already a lap behind.

 

 

Little did anyone know, however, that an accident that would re-set the competition was about to occur. One of the tire bursts that would plague the GT500 machines sent a car off the track left parts from its rear body section strewn across the track. The broken parts were spread out from the 100R turn into the approach to the hairpin, making it necessary to call in the Safety Car (SC) to control the race. As a result, not only the No. 3 B-MAX NDDP GT-R and the No. 55 ARTA BMW M6 GT3 but also the No. 88 MANEPA LAMBORGHINI GT3, No. 51 JMS LMcorsa 488 GT3 (Nitta>Akihiro Tsuzuki), No. 18 UPGARAGE BANDOH 86 (Yuhki Nakayama>Shinnosuke Yamada) and the No. 25 VivaC 86 MC (Matsui>Takeshi Tsuchiya) that had made back some ground after its emergency pit stop in the early stages of the race, all ended up on the same lap behind the SC.
Also, due to the new rule adopted from this season forbidding pit stops while the SC is running (a rule forcing time penalties on any car that make a pit stop at that time), as soon as the SC started back to the pit road, many cars rushed to make their pit stops. The No. 3 B-MAX NDDP GT-R, which had decided to stay out on the track, resumed racing at this point at a high pace. Meanwhile, the No. 25 VivaC 86 MC that had made an early pit stop was able to move into 2nd position because of the difference in pit-stop timing.
By the end of the 73rd lap, the No. 3 B-MAX NDDP GT-R made its final pit stop. After changing drivers from Hoshino to Mardenborough, No. 3 returned to the track in 2nd position, just one second behind the No. 25 VivaC 86 MC. The No. 25 VivaC 86 MC had elected to save time by not changing its tires in its final pit stop in an attempt to go for the win. This strategy proved effective in bringing it up into 2nd position. However, it was still more than five seconds behind the leading car No. 3. However, rather that the prospect of giving chase to the leader, Matsui, who had taken over from Tsuchiya, now had to worry about Kobayashi in car No. 55 who was closing in from behind. In the face of the FIA-GT3-regulation BMW M6 GT3 with its advantage of speed on the straights, the mother chassis-based 86 had to rely on tactics such as skillful use of the slipstream, etc. to hold position. However, that tactic didn't hold out through the last 12 laps of the race. Caught on the first turn of the 89th lap, No. 25 and the No. 55 ARTA BMW M6 ran side-by-side through the Coca Cola Corner before the latter finally moved ahead into 2nd place.
Claiming its first victory of the season after fighting skillfully up through the log race from a 5th-position grid start was the No. 3 B-MAX NDDP GT-R. Finishing 2nd despite the speed it had shown earlier was the No. 55 ARTA BMW M6. The final spot on the podium went to the 3rd-place No. 25 VivaC 86 MC, and for its achievement in holding its own against the top two, the team received responding applause from the fans.

 

 

 

 

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