2018.03.17

[Official test at Okayama: Day 1] LC500 and NSX-GT even out!! WAKO'S 4CR LC500 tops Day 1

With the season opening round of 2018 AUTOBACS SUPER GT series approaching in three weeks, the first SUPER GT official test of the year started on March 17th at Okayama International Circuit. 2-hour session was set each in the morning and the afternoon on Day 1. Under a clear sky extending from the morning through afternoon, the cars ran extensively on the track as the teams prepare for the first race of the year in warm air that felt like if the season jumped over spring right into summer.

 

 

 

It has been four months since the final round in November last year. Although there have been various tests done by the automakers and tire manufacturers during that time, it was the first time this year to see all cars competing in the series this season come together at an official test, providing an opportunity to the teams to see the power relation on the field since all cars would be running together. As explained by a team engineer, "Selecting good tire and using it effectively is critical in SUPER GT. We tried many different settings, etc. on the car during offseason tests, but since the official test gives an opportunity to run in a distance on a circuit where actual race is held, it's important to choose a tire that seems to be the best and confirm it", the most important objective of this test is to check tires.

Morning session started from 9:50AM. LC500 fleet and Honda NSX-GT squad occupied top places. When the session reached the final phase, No.17 KEIHIN NSX-GT (Koudai Tsukakoshi / Takashi Kogure. Lap time by Tsukakoshi) emerged and updated the best last time. The car lapped at 1 min 18.472 sec, a faster lap time than last year's Qualifying Q1 top time (1 min 18.521 sec of No.38 LC500. Suspension hindered lap times to improve in Q2), which became the top lap time of the morning session. LC500 and NSX-GT lined up one after the other from the second place and below with No.19 WedsSport ADVAN LC500 (Yuji Kunimoto / Kenta Yamashita), No.8 ARTA NSX-GT (Tomoki Nojiri / Takuya Izawa), and No.39 DENSO KOBELCO SARD LC500 (Heikki Kovalainen / Kamui Kobayashi), but for Nissan GT-R NISMO GT500 fleet the tenth place by No.23 MOTUL AUTECH GT-R (Tsugio Matsuda / Ronnie Quintarelli) was the best result the fleet got in the morning.

 

 

Session 2 started from 2:00PM. Considering the large number of laps made, the teams were probably spending the first half of the session working on finding the right setting for the race. As a possible consequence of that, the lap time marked by No.17 KEIHIN NSX-GT in the morning did not change for a while.

However, the time came during the GT500 class exclusive run (10 min) at the end of the session, and No.6 WAKO'S 4CR LC500 (Kazuya Oshima. Felix Rosenqvist was absent from the test) went faster than the best lap time of the morning session. Actually, the 1 min 18.017 sec marked by Oshima was a super lap time that even beat the GT500 class track record of Okayama International Circuit, 1 min 18.126 sec (2016 No.37 KeePer TOM'S RC F / Ryo Hirakawa). The time was the fastest lap time of Day 1, of course. Kogure took the wheel of No.17 KEIHIN NSX-GT for a last attack and marked 1 min 18.234 sec, updating the best lap time of the team from the morning session, which put the team to the overall second position. The performance shown by No.17 car can be an indication that this year's NSX-GT has the speed that should not be underestimated.

Contrastingly, the GT-R NISMO GT500 squad settled in the bottom positions. However, Team manager Yutaka Suzuki of NISMO, which also leads the development of the car, did not look to be concerned, "Everybody have the qualifying time from last year's final round in their mind and they compare everything with it, but that was nothing but a miracle driving by Ronnie (Quintarelli). Ronnie is even saying he can never do it again [Suzuki gave bitter smile]. Anyways, I am not pessimistic about it. Indeed, (GT-Rs are) packed at bottom if you just look at the position, but the difference in lap times is very small. If you compare with tests and season opener from last year... Positions were bad, but the time gap was also big." In today's afternoon session, the gap from the top lap time by No.6 car to the fastest GT-R, No.12 CALSONIC IMPUL GT-R, at seventh place was only 0.444 sec. The field was very close with 13 cars in one second span, but it's hard to believe that this will stay the same until the season opener.

 

 

 

 

 

With the 2018-models introduced including Honda NSX-GT3, NISSAN GT-R NISMO GT-3, etc., the attention is put on the new models again this year in the GT300 class, but Day 1 was stormed by the mother-chassis (MC) cars. Morning session, though, saw No.55 ARTA BMW M6 GT3 (Shinichi Takagi / Sean Walkinshaw) sitting on top. Takagi, who marked the time, commented "It was just that the tires happen to fit the condition when I started driving. I was slow from there all the way through [bitter smile]"

In the afternoon session, No.25 HOPPY 86 MC (Takamitsu Matsui / Sho Tsuboi. Best lap time was marked by Matsui) marked 1 min 25.328 sec, leaving the second position car at 0.204 sec behind, to become the fastest of Day 1.

Team manager Takeshi Tsuchiya, who also serves as the team engineer, of No.25 car commented with confidence, "The car might look brand new (because it has no livery), but, actually, we just peeled off decals, so the cost for update is 0 yen [bitter smile]. But the car, drivers as well as the team improved significantly in last one year. It (best lap time) is outcome of that." Tsuchiya also shared his analysis on the upcoming season, "I'm paying attention to No.55 (ARTA BMW M6 GT3), No.61 (SUBARU BRZ R&D SPORT), and No.31 car (TOYOTA PRIUS apr GT) (in terms of title contention of this season). Among them, No.55 car would be the toughest contender. It's great as a package, and the car was that fast last year even with Sean (Walkinshaw), who drove for the first time, so if you consider how much of a gain they got in one year..." Nonetheless, he concluded with a strong comment, "I think we can outrun the rivals in the JAF GT and mother-chassis cars with dominant performance and speed."

 

   

 

 

The first official SUPER GT test was held jointly with the Fan Thanks Day of Okayama International Circuit, and the open pit as well as entry to the paddock area were offered for free. In addition, ride-along (charged) and many other programs welcomed the fans who showed up to enjoy the whole day. Open pit and ride-along were also scheduled on Day 2 of the official test.

 

 

 

 

My partner (Felix Rosenqvist) is absent this time, so I'm supposed to drive full two days by myself. (Since the team doesn't need to spend time for familiarization run for Rosenqvist,) I was able to drive many laps and tried different settings which I wouldn't be able to do in normal test. We found many good stuff from that and that resulted in the lap time. The first (attack) lap time was pretty fast already, so we could have stopped there, but, since we had time, we went for one more lap and then another one lap, and we got faster and faster. But I made small mistakes even when I marked the best time and I could have pushed a little bit more at some part, so if I could have done best and best (sector times) continuously, I think it would have been 0.2 or 0.3 faster. The car has been fast since last year, but, with the update to this year's specification, it's easier to drive. But I wonder how the rivals are. I can't really see how GT-R is, and NSX-GT continues to be fast... Anyways, I'm sure we can take on the season in a good flow after marking the top time of Day 1 at the first official test.

 

Of course I feel happy for marking the top time (of Day 1), but I was not really going for the time. The time just came out while we were checking on the tires as per team's menu. Indeed I was pushing because I was doing an attack lap, but the menu was to check the tires when pursing the lap time. I drove once during the offseason at a manufacturer test, but we needed to find out what happens if we ran in a condition more similar to the real race. And we found a small concern in terms of tires. It could be an issue in the car setting or in the driving. Since this is only a test, I was pushing hard on the tires while I drove, so the question now is how should we make correction for the real race? We need to test a little bit more tomorrow.

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