2017.11.12

MOTUL AUTECH GT-R Scores Perfect Win! KeePer TOM'S LC500 Drivers Youngest Season Title Winners Ever!

Round 8 Twin Ring Motegi : Race GT500

The MOTEGI GT GRAND FINAL, Round 8 (final round) of the 2017 AUTOBACS SUPER GT series, was held on November 12 at the Motegi Twin Ring circuit (Tochigi Pref.). The winner of the GT500 class race was the No. 23 MOTUL AUTECH GT-R driven by Tsugio Matsuda and Ronnie Quintarelli in a decisive pole-to-victory display of strength. However, the winner of the GT500 class championship title was the No. 37 KeePer TOM'S LC500 team with its two 23 year-old drivers Ryo Hirakawa and Nick Cassidy, who finished the race in 2nd place.
In the GT300 class race, the No. 65 LEON CVSTOS AMG driven by Haruki Kurosawa and Naoya Gamou won their second victory of the season. The GT300 class season championship title went to the No. 4 GOODSMILE HATSUNE MIKU AMG team drivers Nobuteru Taniguchi and Tatsuya Kataoka.

 

 

 

 

Race day for the eighth and final round of the season dawned to fine weather. This race, competed over 53 laps for a total of 250 km as the shortest of the SUPER GT series, began with a parade lap that started at 1:30 in the afternoon. Following the five motorcycle police and two patrol cars of the Tochigi Prefectural Police on the parade lap this time were the three cars from Germany’s Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters (DTM) series visiting Motegi to give a number of demonstration runs over race weekend. Behind them, the 45 GT machines left the dummy grid without mishap.
After the formation lap, the race would start at 1:37 in the afternoon when the green signal came on. But, just before the start, as the lead cars rounded the Victory (last) Corner, there was a collision between the pole-starting No. 23 MOTUL AUTECH GT-R (Ronnie Quintarelli) and the 2nd-position Grid holder, the No. 6 WAKO'S 4CR LC500 (Andrea Caldarelli). Fortunately, it did not result in a spin-out for either car, but there was some damage sustained to the left rear of car No. 23 and the front of car No. 6, and on the opening lap some sparks could be seen flying along with some white smoke apparently from tires being scraped.
Despite this unexpected disturbance, car No. 23 was able to pull ahead at a fast pace and begin to open up a lead over the rest of the field. Meanwhile, the slower pace of car No. 6 allowed the No. 37 KeePer TOM'S LC500 (Nick Cassidy) and the No. 46 S Road CRAFTSPORTS GT-R (Katsumasa Chiyo) to close in on its tail. What’s more, the No. 36 au TOM'S LC500 (James Rossiter) that had started the race from 7th position had now moved up to 5th. Car No. 6 was passed by these three cars one after another, thus dimming its chances of winning the championship. Having dropped to 5th position by the sixth lap of the race, car No. 6 now had the No. 24 Forum Engineering ADVAN GT-R (Joao Paulo Lima de Oliveira) chasing and colliding with it on the fifth corner. This caused car No. 6 to spin out and No. 24 to run far off the track. This dropped both cars all the way back to the rear of the pack. This effectively took car No. 6 out of the title race completely. At this point, car No. 24 was allotted a drive-through penalty (for passing another car during the red-flag warm-up period). On top of this, No. 24 was given another drive-through penalty for the collision at the fifth corner.

As for car No. 36, which had just moved up in position as a result of these events, trouble suddenly struck. It quickly returned to the pit at the end of the sixth lap. After a quick check of the car’s rear end while stopped in front of the pit, it was moved inside the pit area for repairs. With this, car No. 36 was also out of the title race. Unaffected by the upsets occurring behind it, car No. 23 continued to increase its margin of lead. Though the 2nd-place running car No. 37 was trying desperately to keep the gap from growing, the other cars from 3rd position down had already dropped far behind the leaders.

 

 

The No. 38 ZENT CERUMO LC500 (Yuji Tachikawa) that had risen from a 9th-position grid start to 4th position in the early stages of the race, made an early routine pit stop on just the 18th lap, as did the No. 17 KEIHIN NSX-GT (Takashi Kogure). With this, the other machines also began to make their pit stops as well. Car No. 37 running in 2nd position made its stop on the 20th lap, and the leading car No. 23 did the same on the 23rd lap. When car No. 64, which had put off its routine pit and stayed out on the track as long as possible, finally returned to the pit on the 34th lap, it meant that all of the cars had completed their pit work and driver change.

At this point, the race leader was still the No. 23 MOTUL AUTECH GT-R (Tsugio Matsuda). Running in 2nd place some six seconds behind No. 23 came the No. 37 KeePer TOM'S LC500 (Ryo Hirakawa), and another 10 seconds back in 3rd position ran the No. 38 ZENT CERUMO LC500 (Hiroaki Ishiura). These three machines were now running alone, well ahead of the rest of the field.
However, more close battles and accidents were soon to come. Running in 11th position, the No. 19 WedsSport ADVAN LC500 (Yuji Kunimoto) collided with GT300 back marker while trying to pass it on the 41st lap, causing considerable damage to its front end. This forced No. 19 to slow its pace. Then, unable to withstand the damage it had suffered in the collision just before the start of the race, the No. 6 WAKO'S 4CR LC500 (Kazuya Oshima) had its right front headlight and hood come loose and fly off. This brought out the Orange Disc Flag (signal to return to the pit for repairs), which eventually cause car No. 6 to finish the race in 13th place.
Also, a fierce battle for 4th place continued until the end between two NSX-GT machines, the No. 17 KEIHIN NSX-GT (Koudai Tsukakoshi) and the No. 100 RAYBRIG NSX-GT (Naoki Yamamoto), all the while having to work their way through the GT300 back markers. This battle of pride taking place at Motegi, Honda’s home course, finally ended with car No. 17 taking the checkered flag first of the two.

In the end, the race victory went to the No. 23 MOTUL AUTECH GT-R that had successfully held off all of its rivals throughout the race in an impressive win from pole position. For car No. 23 and for the Nissan GT-R, this was their first win of the season. It also marked the 50th win for the Nissan GT-R (including the Skyline GT-R) in SUPER GT/JGTC competition.
The No. 37 KeePer TOM'S LC500, which had come into this race as the ranking leader, managed a solid 2nd-place finish to secure the season’s Drivers championship title. Both drivers Hirakawa and Cassidy are 23 year old, making them the youngest GT500 champions ever. The previous record for youngest GT500 champion was held by Andre Lotterer (2006) at the age of 24 years and 11 months, and now it goes to Cassidy at 23 years and 2 month. Furthermore, this title win broke the 8-year GT500 jinx (since 2009) that the winner of the opening round of the season could not win the season title.

 

 

 

 

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