2017.04.09

GOODSMILE HATSUNE MIKU AMG Gets a First GT300 Win in 4 years

Round 1 Okayama International Circuit : Race GT300 class

The OKAYAMA GT 300 Km RACE, opening round of the 2017 AUTOBACS SUPER GT series, took place at the Okayama International Circuit (Okayama Prefecture) on April 9th. In the GT500 race, the 3rd-place qualifying No. 37 KeePer TOM'S LC500 (Ryo Hirakawa/Nick Cassidy) gave a first victory to the new LC500. In the GT300 class, the No. 4 GOODSMILE HATSUNE MIKU AMG (Nobuteru Taniguchi/Tatsuya Kataoka) took their first win in four years.

 

 

 

At the start of the GT300 class race, the pole-sitting No. 65 LEON CVSTOS AMG (Haruki Kurosawa) took the lead followed by the fast-closing No. 4 GOODSMILE HATSUNE MIKU AMG (Tatsuya Kataoka). But soon, the pit-starting No. 52 SAITAMA TOYOPET GreenBrave MARK X MC (Taku Bamba) crashed coming out of the double hairpin. This brought out the Safety Car for the second time. When the race was restarted, the No. 65 LEON CVSTOS AMG (Haruki Kurosawa), the No. 4 GOODSMILE HATSUNE MIKU AMG (Tatsuya Kataoka) and the No. 25 VivaC 86 MC (Kenta Yamashita) ran as the top three, with the gaps between them widening at times and then narrowing again repeatedly as the lapped the track.
On the 18th lap, car No. 4, which had been pressuring the leading car No. 65 hard, finally managed to pass it and take the lead. After that, Kataoka in car No. 4 continued to open up his lead over the field, while car No. 65 and No. 25 battled for 2nd place, followed somewhat further back by the No. 61 SUBARU BRZ R&D SPORT (Hideki Yamauchi) and the No. 51 JMS P.MU LMcorsa RC F GT3 (Yuichi Yamanaka).
Once in the lead, car No. 4 continued to run strongly, gradually widening its lead.
The first among the top group to make its routine pit stop was the VivaC 86 MC running in 3rd position. At the end of the 27th lap it headed for the pit, where the driver change was made to Takamitsu Matsui. Only the two left-side tires were changed to get the car back in the race as quickly as possible. On the next lap, the No. 65 LEON CVSTOS AMG made its pit stop, changing all four tires and making the driver change to Naoya Gamou, and retuning him to the race in front of car No. 25. However, before Gamou had time to thoroughly warm up his tire, he was passed by No. 25. On the 29th lap the leading No. 4 GOODSMILE HATSUNE MIKU AMG also made its pit stop. Like car No. 25, they also decided to change only two tires. Although their pit work was not as fast as car No. 25, Kataoka had pushed hard in the first stint to build up a solid lead, so No. 4 was able to return to the race still effectively in the lead with Nobuteru Taniguchi now at the wheel.

 

 

In the leading No. 4 GOODSMILE HATSUNE MIKU AMG, Taniguchi continued to work through the congested track at a fast pace, and by the time all of the cars ahead had made their pit stop by the 49th lap, he was actually in the lead again. Taniguchi now owned a lead of more than ten seconds over the No. 65 LEON CVSTOS AMG and No. 25 VivaC 86 MC battling for 2nd. But the No. 51 Ferrari 488 GT3 (Morio Nitta) that was still in contention for series points collided with the No. 64 Epson Modulo NSX-GT at the second turn of lap 49. This sent the No. 50 car off the track and crashing into the wall. This accident brought the Safety Car out for the third time in the race.
After the Safety Car left the track to restart the race, the lead of the GOODSMILE HATSUNE MIKU AMG had been cut down to nothing and Taniguchi had to push desperately again to pull away from the pack. Behind him, all eyes in the stands were on the side-by-side battle between Gamou in the No. 65 LEON CVSTOS AMG and Matsui in the No. 25 VivaC 86 MC, a fight that became the highlight of the latter half of the race. The battle raged on for nearly ten laps. But, on the double hairpin of lap 67, in the confusion of being lapped by the GT500 class leaders, car No. 25 hit another car and spun out. Although it was able to recover quickly, the spin had dropped it back to 4th position.
The No. 4 GOODSMILE HATSUNE MIKU AMG was able to race on unchallenged to the checkered flag and win for the team’s first since the second round of the series at Fuji Speedway in May of 2014, and for the first time since changing cars to Mercedes. Finishing 2nd came the No. 65 LEON CVSTOS AMG. Third place went to the No. 9 GULF NAC PORSCHE 911 (Jono Lester/Kyosuke Mineo), with Mineo driving the second stint.

 

 

 

 

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