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Race Report
2018.05.04
No. 23 MOTUL AUTECH GT-R wins from behind with a strong team effort!

No. 23 MOTUL AUTECH GT-R wins from behind with a strong team effort!の画像

Round 2 Fuji Speedway : Race GT500

The FUJI GT 500km RACE, Round 2 of the 2018 AUTOBACS SUPER GT series, took place at Fuji Speedway (Shizuoka Pref.) on May 4. The GT500 class race winner running from a 3rd-position start was the No. 23 MOTUL AUTECH GT-R (Tsugio Matsuda/Ronnie Quintarelli). In the GT300 class, the No. 55 ARTA BMW M6 GT3 (Shinichi Takagi/Sean Walkinshaw) won in a strong race from pole position. With these victories, both Tsugio Matsuda and Shinichi Takagi extended their own records for most wins in the GT500 and GT300 classes respectively.

 

 

 

MOTUL AUTECH GT-R and DENSO KOBELCO SARD LC500 battle at the front in the early stages

Unlike the previous day when fog had forced a change in the qualifying schedule, race day (May 4) brought fine weather with clear blue skies over Fuji Speedway. The air temperature was a bit cool and the wind strong, but in all it was a comfortable day for race viewing.
Because yesterday’s official practice session had to be shortened to just 30 minutes, the usual 20-min. warm-up session before the race was extended to 25 min. The fastest time in this session (1’30.988) was run by Takuya Izawa in the No. 8 ARTA NSX-GT, after which the team changed drivers and Tomoki Nojiri took the wheel. Most of the teams split the driving time in this way between their two drivers, but Kenta Yamashita who ran the session’s second fastest time in the No. 19 WedsSport ADVAN LC500, drove for most of the session because he had been unable to drive the day before.

After the Parade Lap led by motorcycle police and patrol cars of the Shizuoka Prefectural Police to promote traffic safety, the 110-lap race got underway at 2:47 in the afternoon. At first it looked as if the pole-starting No. 38 ZENT CERUMO LC500 (Yuji Tachikawa) would be running in the lead after the start, but on the Dunlop Corner of the opening lap, the No. 23 MOTUL AUTECH GT-R (Ronnie Quintarelli) caught and passed No. 38 to take the lead. After that, the early stages of the race saw the leading No. 23 being chased by three LC500s, the No. 36 au TOM'S LC500 (James Rossiter), No. 39 DENSO KOBELCO SARD LC500 (Heikki Kovalainen) and the No. 6 WAKO'S 4CR LC500 (Kazuya Oshima).

 

 

The No. 16 MOTUL MUGEN NSX-GT (Hideki Mutoh), that had finished the qualifying yesterday in 6th position as the fastest of the NSX-GT cars, led the middle group in the early stages of the race in that same position, chased by the No. 64 Epson Modulo NSX-GT (Bertrand Baguette) that had moved from an 11th-place grid start, and the No. 8 ARTA NSX-GT (Takuya Izawa) and No. 100 RAYBRIG NSX-GT (Naoki Yamamoto) that had started from 9th and 19th respectively.
Running in the lead, No. 23 made an effort to put more distance between itself and the rest of the pack. But car No. 39 had pulled away from the other LC500s and was now chasing No. 23. Then, on the 23rd lap, No. 39 managed to pass No. 23 on the straight and grab the lead.
When car No. 64, which had moved up to 7th at one point before losing ground again from around the 15th lap, decide to make its routine pit stop on lap 31, the other cars also began to make their first pit stop.

 

 

Tsuboi holds the lead in No. 39 in his GT500 debut, but No. 23 turns the tables with faster pit work!

After maintaining its lead until the 37th lap before returning to the pit and making its driver change the No. 39 DENSO KOBELCO SARD LC500 returned to the race still in the lead, and with Sho Tsuboi now driving it continued its fast pace in the second stint. Despite being a GT500 class rookie, Tsuboi ran with consummate skill, passing one back marker after another as he met them. In terms of lap times as well, he held his own. For 38 laps Tsuboi maintained a 5- to 7-sec. lead over the No. 23 MOTUL AUTECH GT-R (Tsugio Matsuda) following in 2nd place before making the second pit stop on lap 75 and turning over the DENSO KOBELCO SARD LC500 to his teammate Heikki Kovalainen for the final stint.
On the lap after No. 39 returned to the pit, No. 23 MOTUL AUTECH GT-R also made its second pit stop. In the pit, the NISMO mechanics did their work fast, and when they sent Ronnie Quintarelli back out into the race again for the final stint, they had succeeded in getting it on the track in front of car No. 39.
When Quintarelli reentered the race in car No. 23, he pushed hard, recording the ace’s fastest lap of 1’30.460 on the 79th lap and continued with another fast lap of 1’30.864 on lap 80. Unable to match this pace, car No. 39 trailed at a slightly widening distance. The gap between the two cars reached 14 sec. at one point. In the closing stages of the race, No. 23 adjusted its pace to easily reach the checkered flag first and take the win.
Its victory in this long 500 km race gave the No. 23 MOTUL AUTECH GT-R team its first win since the final round of last season. It was also the team’s first win at Fuji in two years. This stretched Tsugio Matsuda’s record for most GT500 wins to 20, and it also gave Ronnie Quintarelli his 14th SUPER GT career wins.
The No. 39 DENSO KOBELCO SARD LC500 (Heikki Kovalainen/Sho Tsuboi) finished 2nd, which put rookie Sho Tsuboi on the podium in his very first GT500 race. Third place went to the pole-starting No. 38 ZENT CERUMO LC500 (Yuji Tachikawa/Hiroaki Ishiura).

 

 

 

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