2017.07.23

In the GT300Class, the GAINER TANAX AMG GT3 Gets Its First Win in Three Years

Round 4 Sportsland Sugo : Race GT300

The SUGO GT 300km RACE, Round 4 of the 2017 AUTOBACS SUPER GT series, was held at Sportsland SUGO (Miyagi Prefecture) on July 23. In difficult race with rain falling intermittently the GT500 class victory went to last season’s champions, the No. 1 DENSO KOBELCO SARD LC500 driven by Heikki Kovalainen and Kohei Hirate, who came from 7th position on the starting grid to take their first victory of the season.
The GT300 race also saw a big come-from-behind victory, as the No. 11 GAINER TANAX AMG GT3 driven by Katsuyuki Hiranaka and Bjorn Wirdheim came from 17th position at the start to take the win.

 

 

 

The No. 5 MACH SYAKEN MC86 GTNET that had crashed the day before and was unable to run in the qualifying, had finished repairs and would start the race from the very back of the GT300 grid.
At the start, the pole-sitting No. 25 VivaC 86 MC (Kenta Yamashita) got away cleanly to lead the pack, followed by the other top-qualifying cars No. 18 UPGARAGE BANDOH 86 (Yuhki Nakayama) and No. 60 SYNTIUM LMcorsa RC F GT3 (Akira Iida). When the GT300 cars were on their fourth lap, the GT500 class No. 17 KEIHIN NSX-GT suffered damage to its rear on the straight that sent parts scattering across the track, which brought out the Safety Car. The race was eventually started on the tenth lap but then it was the No. 19 WedsSport ADVAN LC500 that got caught up in a battle between car No. 18 and the No. 3 B-M AX NDDP GT-R (Kazuki Hoshino), which caused car No. 18 to run off the track and out of the contention at the front of the GT300 race.
With this, the pressure seemed to be off No. 25 temporarily, but next there came a strong charge to the front by the No. 51JMS P.MU LMcorsa RC F GT3 (Yuichi Nakayama) and the No. 65 LEON CVSTOS AMG (Haruki Kurosawa), whose Bridgestone tire had turned out to be a perfect match for the track’s wet surface at the moment. While car No. 51, which had started the race in 7th position, was trying to pass No. 25, it was car No. 65 that, coming off consecutive fastest laps of the GT300 race, was able to jump into the lead. Car No. 65 continued its fast pace, and by the 36th lap it had built up a lead of nearly 20 seconds over car No. 51. It was just then, however that GT500 car No. 24 Forum Engineering ADVAN GT-R crashed. This brought out the Safety Car for the second time, taking away No. 65’s hard-earned lead in the process.
When this Safety Car run ended on the 44th lap, some of the top-contending teams immediately returned to pit, leaving the four lead cars, No. 65, No. 1, the No. 61 SUBARU BRZ R&D SPORT (Hideki Yamauchi) and the No. 55 ARTA BMW M6 GT3 (Shinichi Takagi), still running out on the track.

 

 

The four leading cars that had opted to avoid the confusion just after the Safety Car left the track and keep running a bit longer would have been preparing to make their pit stops. Their plans were spoiled, however, when just two laps after the Safety Car left the track, the No. 48 shokumou.jp GT-R (Hiroshi Takamori) and the No. 55 ARTA BMW M6 GT3 (Shinichi Takagi) ran off the track one after another, bringing out the Safety Car again for the third time in the race. With this unlucky turn of events, the four leaders immediately lost their advantage, because if they made their required pit stops now, they would certainly be passed by the cars that had opted for the earlier pit stop.
When the Safety Car left the track for the third time to restart the race on the 50th lap, the four leaders that had not yet made their pit stops now had the No. 50 Ferrari 488 GT3 and No. 11 GAINER TANAX AMG GT3 (pit stops complete) on their tails. When the four leaders finally made their pit stops on the 51st lap, car No. 11, which had just managed to pass No. 50, was clear to take over the lead. Having failed to qualify for Q” the day before, the No. 11 GAINER TANAX AMG GT3 had been forced to start the race from 17th position on the grid, but running on Dunlop tires that proved to be a good match for the wet track in the early going, first-stint driver Bjorn Wirdheim had been able to move up through the field into 6th position at one point. Although this position had dropped to 8th by the time of the team’s pit stop, the stop was made at the right time, just after the Safety Car left the track after its second run. Some fast pit work would then add to the team’s success. Car No. 50 had also started far back on the grid, in 16th position, but making good use of the Ferrari 488 GT3 excellent control characteristics, Morio Nitta had been able to move up through the field and bring the car in for its pit stop just before the third Safety Car run to effectively bring the team up to a leading position.

 

 

After this, the No. 11 car ran comfortably in the lead for a while, but then No. 50 (Tsuzuki) began to close the gap gradually as the race entered the final stages. Meanwhile, the No. 4 GOODSMILE HATSUNE MIKU AMG (Tatsuya Kataoka to Nobuteru Taniguchi) and No. 25 VivaC 86 MC (Takamitsu Matsui) that were battling for 3rd place were more than 40 seconds behind the two leaders. When the rain began to fall heavily again, both car No. 11 in the lead and No. 50 following in 2nd place were able to maintain their pace and race on to the checkered flag in that order. For the two drivers of the No. 11 GAINER TANAX AMG GT3 it was their first win since the final round of the 2014 season, and for the Mercedes AMG GT3, this was its first-ever SUPER GT win. The No. 50 Ferrari 488 GT3 that finished 2nd in this race had also suffered a bad crash in the opening round of the season at Okayama, after which it was unable to compete in Round 2. With a renewed car, the team came back to claim this 2nd-place podium finish.
A battle for 3rd place had waged between cars No. 4 and No. 25 after the third Safety Car run. On the first turn of lap 64, Matsui in car No. 25 passed Taniguchi in No. 4 to move into 3rd place. But Taniguchi managed to stay right on Matsui’s tail in hot pursuit. In the end however, No. 25 held on to take 3rd place. By finishing 3rd, the No. 25 VivaC 86 MC drivers Matsui and Yamashita managed to hold firmly onto their lead in the Drivers’ ranking. In 2nd position in the Drivers’ ranking is the winners of this race, No. 11’s Hiranaka and Wirdheim, and sharing the same point total as them are the No. 4 driver pair of Taniguchi and Kataoka.

 

 

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