2017.11.02

[Round 8 Preview] Everything from 2017 comes down to the final round! Who will grab the glory?

At last, the champion of 2017 season will be decided at the final round, AUTOBACS SUPER GT Round 8 “MOTEGI GT GRAND FINAL”, taking place at Twin Ring Motegi on November 11th and 12th. Five cars lead by No.37 KeePer TOM'S LC500 in GT500 class and four cars including No.4 GOODSMILE HATSUNE MIKU AMG in GT300 class will be contending for the drivers' title at the final round. It sure would be breathtaking to see the title contenders battle to get even one point more than their rivals, but, being the last race of the year, there are also many other drivers and teams that would be aiming to score "1 win" or move up one position higher in the point ranking before the season ends to create momentum for next year. There are a lot of elements to make the final round at Motegi more fierce and intense than usual. This is it. This is what decides everything from this season and you must keep your eyes on it.

 

 

After getting their second win of the season at previous race at Round 7 Thailand, No.37 KeePer TOM'S LC500 (Ryo Hirakawa / Nick Cassidy) moved up to the top of the drivers ranking in GT500 class with 69 points. They can clinch the title by winning or finishing at second at upcoming race.
Trailing behind the No.37 car are No.6 WAKO'S 4CR LC500 (Kazuya Oshima / Andrea Caldarelli) at 6 points deficit and No.23 MOTUL AUTECH GT-R (Tsugio Matsuda / Ronnie Quintarelli) at 8 points from the leader. The two cars are at good enough position to jump over the current leader to win the title considering the difference in points, but both have not won a race this season yet. If they finish at a same amount of points, then the one with more number of wins would be higher in the point ranking, therefore, No.37 car with two wins has more advantage than what it seems from the point difference.

 

 

No.36 au TOM'S LC500 (Kazuki Nakajima / James Rossiter) at 16 points behind from the top (however, only Rossiter is in the title contention since Nakajima absented one race.) and No.38 ZENT CERUMO LC500 (Yuji Tachikawa / Hiroaki Ishiura) at 18 points from the leader need to win the race and even pick up one extra point by getting the pole position at upcoming Motegi to put enough pressure on No.37 car as well as other rivals and then just wait and see.
By looking at the situation, Hirakawa-Cassidy duo in No.37 KeePer TOM'S LC500 is certainly at a better position than how it looks by the point difference. Only concern would be that the two drivers are very young at age 23. Nonetheless, both drivers have won the title in the Japanese Formula 3 Championship and the team is led by Team manager Masanori Sekiya with rich experience in racing. The title will fall into their hands if they can qualify in a higher position and keep the position in the race without any unnecessary touching and banging. The key would be whether the situation would allow No.37 car to actually race in such way.

 

   

 

All 15 cars of three models in GT500 class were changed to a new model in 2017 season. At the early stage of the season, Nissan GT-R could not be strong enough to fight and Honda NSX-GT struggled with minor problems which allowed four straight wins from the season opener by Lexus LC500. However, when the season transitioned to the mid stage, NSX-GT won at Round 5 Fuji and Round 6 Suzuka in a row, and, also, the GT-R squad started to wind back with No.23 car finishing at second position consecutively. Although LC500s completed one-two finish again at Round 7 Thailand, where the handicap weight was reduced, Nissan GT-R and NSX-GT stayed close right behind them.
All cars in GT500 will be battling with no handicap weight at upcoming last round at Motegi. Another word, the cars will be running with their pure potential that has matured in last one year. Especially, No.23 car as well as all other teams of Nissan GT-R squad must be keen to win since the squad is yet to score a win this season. Being on the pole once this season and the winner of last year's Round 3 at Motegi, No.24 Forum Engineering ADVAN GT-R (Daiki Sasaki / Joao Paulo Lima De Oliveira) is definitely one to watch.
Of course, any of the NSX-GT teams would not want to give up the victory that would be the first in 8 years at Honda's home track Twin Ring Motegi for the squad. No.8 ARTA NSX-GT (Tomoki Nojiri / Takashi Kobayashi) with one win this season and No.100 RAYBRIG NSX-GT (Naoki Yamamoto / Takuya Izawa) are very much anticipated to be just focusing to win considering the frustration they must have from failing to stay in the title contention at the final round.
Lexus LC500 would also want to conclude the season in glory as the "Strongest machine" of the season by clinching the title. Among the fleet, defending champion No.1 DENSO KOBELCO SARD LC500 (Heikki Kovalainen / Kohei Hirate), another team that could not make it to the title contention, would be a team to keep an eye on as they may come out just fighting for their ego.
With the prestige of automakers at stake, the GT500 class can get very intense and thrilling at the final round where the prides of experienced teams and drivers clash.

 

   

 

 

In the drivers ranking of GT300 class, No.4 GOODSMILE HATSUNE MIKU AMG (Nobuteru Taniguchi / Tatsuya Kataoka) climbed to the top with 65 points after finishing the Round 7 at second position. In addition to them, three other teams are in a position to fight for the title at the final round, No.51 JMS P.MU LMcorsa RC F GT3 (Yuichi Nakayama / Sho Tsuboi) at 9 points behind the leader, No.65 LEON CVSTOS AMG (Haruki Kurosawa / Naoya Gamou) at 13 points back, and No.55 ARTA BMW M6 GT3 (Shinichi Takagi / Sean Walkinshaw) with 19 point deficit.
Taniguchi and Kataoka in No.4 car can put their hands on the championship on their own by a win or a second-place finish. No.4 car can also clinch the title by finishing at eighth position if No.51 car finishes at fourth or below and No.65 car finishing at second position or below. No.55 car has to win and have all four cars in higher position sink to a lower position, or else, the team has no chance. Another words, No.4 car has a clear advantage in terms of title contention. All the rival three teams can do is to take lead no matter what and put pressure on No.4 car. Of course, it would not be easy as the No.4 car is driven by a veteran duo. However, No.4 car has experienced some disappointment this season where the car was forced to end the race in midway due to unexpected accident, which means no one can relax until the goal in this title contention.

 

   

 

Outside of the title contention, No.21 Hitotsuyama Audi R8 LMS (Richard Lyons / Masataka Yanagida) and No.25 VivaC 86 MC (Takamitsu Matsui / Kenta Yamashita), which are the winners of Motegi rounds last year that were held back to back, are considered to be the top candidates for this year’s Motegi race. In fact, No.25 car has dropped out from the title contention even before reaching the final round despite being the defending champion. It won't be surprising to see the team coming out aiming just for the win for their pride as a champion. Considering the characteristics of Motegi track, the mother-chassis cars including No.25 and JAF-GT300 cars are more likely to perform well. In that perspective, No.31 TOYOTA PRIUS apr GT (Koki Saga / Rintaro Kubo) and No.61 SUBARU BRZ R&D SPORT (Takuto Iguchi / Hideki Yamauchi) should not be underestimated,

 

   

 

 

It has been announced that a demonstration run by three cars from Deutsche Tourenwagen Meisterschaft (DTM), Audi RS5 DTM, BMW M4 DTM, and Mercedes-AMG C 63 DTM, will take place for 15 minutes after the practice session in the morning of Saturday, November 11 and for 30 minutes from 11:05AM on the race day, Sunday, November 12. The DTM cars will be joined by three GT500 cars, Lexus LC500, Honda NSX-GT, and Nissan GT-R, in a later part of the run.

 

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