2017.07.22

NSX-GT Sweeps the Top Three Places! Nojiri Gets His First Pole driving the ARTA NSX-GT!

Round 4 Sportsland Sugo : Qualifying GT500

The official qualifying for the “SUGO GT 300km RACE,” Round 4 of the 2017 AUTOBACS SUPER GT, was held at Sportsland SUGO circuit (Miyagi Prefecture) on July 22. In the GT500 class qualifying, Tomoki Nojiri drove the No. 8 ARTA NSX-GT to his first career GT500 pole position. In the GT300 class, the 2016 champion team, the No. 25 VivaC 86 MC, won a second consecutive class pole.

 

 

Race week for Round 4 of the SUPER GT series at Sportsland SUGO started out with extremely hot summer weather. Qualifying day brought sizzling sunny weather from morning, but entering afternoon following the Pit Walk event, a cloud cover began to form over the SUGO track, and about 20 minutes before the qualifying Q1 sessions began, thunder could be heard. Before the official qualifying began, raindrops started to fall and the Wet Condition signal was even posted in the tower next the main grandstand. However, by the time the GT500 class Q1 began at 2:36 in the afternoon, the overcast was growing a bit lighter and the rain had stopped, leaving the track dry. The feared wet conditions would never materialize.

As usual the cars stayed in their respective pits after the start of the 15-minute Q1 session. It wasn’t until just over six minutes into the session that the No. 64 Epson Modulo NSX-GT (Bertrand Baguette) became the first to venture out onto the track. This was followed by the No. 24 Forum Engineering ADVAN GT-R (Daiki Sasaki), and by nine minutes into the session, all 15 of the GT500 cars were on the track.
After car No. 64 closed in on the fastest time from the morning practice with a lap of 1’12.400 to top the time board, the other cars began to improve on their times as well.
Eventually it was the No. 8 ARTA NSX-GT (Takashi Kobayashi) that topped the time board with a time of 1’11.579. Following in 2nd position was the No. 19 WedsSport ADVAN LC500 (Yuhi Sekiguchi/1’11.597), while in 3rd stood the No. 16 MOTUL MUGEN NSX-GT (Daisuke Nakajima/1’11.699). The fastest among the GT-R cars was No. 24 (1’12.136) in 7th position, qualifying it for Q2.
When the Q1 session had ended, five cars had broken the 1’12 barrier and the second fastest among the GT-R cars, the No. 12 CALSONIC IMPUL GT-R (Jann Mardenborough) with its time of 1’12.201 unfortunately failed to qualify for Q2. Also, the three race winners thus far this season, the No. 37 KeePer TOM'S LC500 (Nick Cassidy), No. 38 ZENT CERUMO LC500 (Hiroaki Ishiura) and the No. 36 au TOM'S LC500 (James Rossiter) also failed to advance to Q2, perhaps owing to their weight handicaps.

 

 

The GT500 class’ 12-minute Q2 session began 15 minutes behind schedule at 3:30 due to a Red Flag in the GT300 class Q”. Of the eight cars qualified for Q2, four were NSX-GT cars, three LC500s and one GT-R.
The first to post a target time was the No. 19 WedsSport ADVAN LC500 (Yuji Kunimoto) with a lap of 1’11.669. Then the No. 24 Forum Engineering ADVAN GT-R (Joao Paulo Lima de Oliveira) moved into 2nd position with a time of 1’11.745. Then the No. 17 KEIHIN NSX-GT (Koudai Tsukakoshi), always strong at SUGO moved to the top of the time board with a great lap of 1’11.491.

 

Just as it looked as though this time would take pole position, the No. 8 ARTA NSX-GT (Tomoki Nojiri) came in just before the checkered flag with a time of 1’10.915 that blew away No. 17’s time with a new course record. The last car to run a time attack was the No. 100 RAYBRIG NSX-GT (Naoki Yamamoto), recording a time 1’11.469 and thus failed to take pole position from the hands of car No. 8.
This gave the No. 8 ARTA NSX-GT its second pole position of the season. The first had been won by Takashi Kobayashi in the opening round at Okayama, but this time the Q2 driver was his teammate Nojiri, for whom this was his memorable first SUPER GT pole. Finishing the qualifying in 2nd position was the No. 100 RAYBRIG NSX-GT, while the No. 17 KEIHIN NSX-GT finished in 3rd position to give the NSX-GT a sweep of the top three. The fastest among the LC500 cars was the No. 19 WedsSport ADVAN LC500 in 4th position, while the only GT-R in Q2, the No. 24 Forum Engineering ADVAN GT-R, finished in 6th position to give it a 6th grid starting position for the Sunday race here at SUGO.

 

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