2017.11.12

LEON CVSTOS AMG Wins Final GT300 Race of the Season! GOODSMILE HATSUNE MIKU AMG Wins Season Title!

Round 8 Twin Ring Motegi : Race GT300

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.

 

 

 

From the results of the warm-up session before the race that saw 11 machines running times within 0.5 sec. of the top time of the No. 18 UPGARAGE BANDOH 86 (Yuhki Nakayama/Shintaro Kawabata), anticipation grew for seeing some close battles in the race. In the early stages of the race, the pole-starting No. 4 GOODSMILE HATSUNE MIKU AMG (Tatsuya Kataoka) was able to run clear in the lead, followed by the No. 55 ARTA BMW M6 GT3 (Shinichi Takagi), the No. 25 VivaC 86 MC (Kenta Yamashita), No. 11 GAINER TANAX AMG GT3 (Bjorn Wirdheim), and the No. 33 D'station Porsche (Sven Muller). Standing 3rd in the season ranking and retaining a shot at the title, the No. 65 LEON CVSTOS AMG (Haruki Kurosawa) was in a difficult position, running in 6th position, as was the 2nd-ranked No. 51 JMS P.MU LMcorsa RC F GT3 (Yuichi Nakayama) back in 8th position.
The leading car No. 4 continued to expand its lead over the pack, cars No. 55 and No. 25 battled for 2nd place and three cars, No. 11, No. 33 and No. 65, were locked in a close battle for 4th position. This gave car No. 4 an advantage in its title quest. On the fifth lap of the race the No. 30 TOYOTA PRIUS apr GT (Kota Sasaki) collided with a GT500 car and came to a stop at the edge of the track in the S Curves, but somehow it was able to restart and return to the race. Then in ninth lap, the No. 88 MANEPA LAMBORGHINI GT3 (Manabu Orido) also collided with a GT500 car, but the accident wasn’t serious enough to bring out the Safety Car.
Amidst this action, Kataoka in the leading car No. 4 returned to the pit early at the end of lap 16, the short limit for a routine pit stop and driver change. There, the No. 4 team changed all four tires in a somewhat long pit stop that took 41.4 seconds, and on the first lap after the stop, it was passed by the No. 33 D'station Porsche (driver change of Sven Muller to Tomonobu Fujii) that had also made an early pit stop at the same time. This marked a subtle change in the race scenario to follow. The No. 33 team’s strategy had been to shorten their pit time by foregoing a tire change, and no change also appeared to give them the advantage of having the tires still warmed up when it returned to the race, enabling No. 33 to make a concerted push to the front. Also, when car No. 25 made its routine pit stop on the next lap (driver change of Yamashita to Takamitsu Matsui), they changed only the two rear tires to shorten their pit time, as did car No. 65 (driver change of Kurosawa to Naoya Gamou) changing only the two front tires, which enabled it to get back on the track in front of car No. 33. Among these cars, No. 33 had the faster pace, allowing it to pass both cars No. 25 and 65 in succession. It appeared at first as if these moves had brought No. 33 closer to victory, but just after taking the lead, it began to loose speed. It was a punctured front tire and it forced No. 33 to rush back to the pit, dropping it out of the race for the lead.

 

 

While the competition was making their routine pit stops early, car No. 55 stayed out on the track and running in the lead before finally making its pit stop at the end of lap 31. Since their only possibility of getting the championship title depended on winning this race, the No. 55 team also went with a no-tire-change strategy. Their pit stop only took 20 seconds and they will able to get second-stint driver Sean Walkinshaw back in the race still in the lead.
Battling for 2nd place behind No. 55 were cars No. 25, No. 65 and No. 4, and as the pace of No. 25 began to drop, No. 65 was able to pick up the pace. When Gamou in car No. 65 finally managed to pass No. 25, he began to push hard to catch Walkinshaw in car No. 55 about 10 seconds in front of him. Although the effects of the no-tire-change strategy made the going tough, the 10-sec. gap at the 35th lap was down to 7 sec. by lap 40, and by the 45th lap, the two leaders were running nose to tail. Then on the last turn of the 46th lap, Gamou in car No. 65 seized the opportunity when No. 55 swung a little wide and quickly took its in-side. The two cars ran side-by-side down the straight, and as they approached the first turn, No. 65 was clearly in the lead.
After that, the No. 65 LEON CVSTOS AMG held its pace and ran on to its second victory of the season, following the win in Round 6 at Suzuka. Finishing 2nd was the No. 55 ARTA BMW M6 GT3 (Shinichi Takagi/Sean Walkinshaw), and the No. 4 GOODSMILE HATSUNE MIKU AMG took a solid 3rd place. With this 3rd-place finish, the two drivers Taniguchi and Kataoka won their third Drivers championship, and their second as teammates, following their title in 2014. GOODSMILE RACING & Team UKYO also got the Team title for the second time.

 

 

 

 

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