2017.05.04

JMS P.MU LMcorsa RC F GT3 takes its first GT300 win!

Round 2 Fuji Speedway : Race GT300 class

The FUJI GT 500km RACE, Round 2 of the 2017 AUTOBACS SUPER GT series, took place at Fuji Speedway (Shizuoka Pref.) on May 4th. The GT500 class race winner running from pole position was the No. 38 ZENT CERUMO LC500 driven by Yuji Tachikawa and Hiroaki Ishiura. It was the first win for a Lexus team on their home track of Fuji Speedway since 2013. The GT300 class race win went to the No. 51 JMS P.MU LMcorsa RC F GT3 driven by Yuichi Nakayama and Sho Tsuboi. It is the first victory for the Lexus RC F GT3 and gave Lexus teams victory in both classes.

 

 

 

 

When the start signal turned green, the pole-sitting No. 4 GOODSMILE HATSUNE MIKU AMG (Tatsuya Kataoka) made a good dash to take the lead. Behind No. 4, the No. 11 GAINER TANAX AMG GT3 (Bjorn Wirdheim) starting from 3rd position jumped up one place into 2nd. The two leaders were followed by the No. 9 GULF NAC PORSCHE 911 (Kyosuke Mineo) and the No. 51 JMS P.MU LMcorsa RC F GT3 (Yuichi Nakayama). Kataoka in car No. 4 pushed hard to try to open up a margin of lead, but Wirdheim in car No. 11 clung tight within a second of the leader, making it a one-two duel for the lead between the two Mercedes AMG GT3 machines. About three seconds back, car No. 51 managed to pass No. 9 and chase the two leaders at the same pace as theirs. The early stages of the race continued with these three machines leading the pack.
The first among the leaders of the GT300 class to make its first routine pit stop was car No. 4. Around the 27th lap, car No. 11 had pulled up on No. 4&rsquos tail, but No. 4 managed to hold out until it could quickly make its pit stop at the end of the 29th lap. The driver change was made from Kataoka to Nobuteru Taniguchi. Next, it was car No. 11 that made its pit stop. Meanwhile, car No. 51 pursued a different strategy of holding off longer before its pit stop. Once in the lead after the two leaders had made their pit stop, Nakayama in car No. 51 made a hard spurt. Nakayama didn&rsquot bring No. 51 into the pit until the 41st lap, ten laps after car No. 11&rsquos stop.

 

 

When all of the cars had finished their first routine pit stop, the No. 4 GOODSMILE HATSUNE MIKU AMG (Taniguchi) was in the lead with a 10-second lead over the No. 11 GAINER TANAX AMG GT3 (Katsuyuki Hiranaka). Another 9 seconds back came the No. 51 JMS P.MU LMcorsa RC F GT3 (Sho Tsuboi) in 3rd position. In this middle stint of the race, it was the rookie Tsuboi in car No. 51 who showed outstanding driving and fast laps to slowly close the gap to car No. 11.
As the leading car No. 4 ran on at a steady pace and looked to be heading for a second consecutive win, things changed suddenly on the 60th lap, when it suffered a left-front tire burst on the 300R curve. Although he was forced to slow the car down, Taniguchi managed to get the Mercedes AMG GT3 into the pit still in the lead. There, the team was able to change the tire and change drivers to Kataoka, thus making it an earlier than planned, but still a routine second pit stop.
This put car No. 11 in the lead. About five seconds back followed car No. 51 in 2nd place. Car No. 11 made its second routine pit stop on the 70th lap. With no one in front of him now, car 51&rsquos Tsuboi ran fast consecutive laps in the 1&rsquo39 range tat further closed the gap on the now invisible car No. 11 until Tsuboi brought the car in for its second routine pit stop on the 80th lap. The team pulled off some fast pit work and adding just enough fuel to finish the short remaining laps, enabling the team to get out of the pit and back into the race in just 39 seconds. As a result, No. 51 was able to keep the lead. But, on the first lap out of the pit before the tires were warmed up, Wirdheim in car No. 11 had pulled up to within one second of No. 51&rsquos tail. At this critical point, Nakayama hung strong to hold of No. 11 and keep the lead. From there onward, Nakayama in the No. 51 JMS P.MU LMcorsa RC F GT3 pushed ahead to pull away while keeping his eye on No. 11 behind him, which was now having trouble in picking up the pace. Driving on that way to the checkered, Nakayama gave the new-model Lexus RC F GT3 and the rookie Tsuboi a momentous first win. Since the Lexus LC500 had already won the GT500 race, this day turned out to be a double victory for the Lexus/Toyota camp on their home track of Fuji.

 

 

Safely finishing the day&rsquos race in 2nd place was the No. 11 GAINER TANAX AMG GT3. Meanwhile, the battle for 3rd place turned into a brawl in the closing stages. After losing ground with the earlier tire trouble, the No. 4 GOODSMILE HATSUNE MIKU AMG with Kataoka now at the wheel managed to recover and lay chase to the No. 33 D'station Porsche (Tomonobu Fujii) now in 3rd position, only to fall off the pace on the 96th lap. Amazingly, it was another puncture in the new left-front tire, thus dropping No. 4 out of contention again. This gave 3rd position to car No. 33, which had started the race in 14th grid position. Thanks to a combination of a 1&rsquo38.083 fastest lap (recorded by Fujii) and the hard driving of Muller during the second stint plus the misfortunes of car No. 4, car No. 33 managed to secure the third spot on the podium.

 

 

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