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Race Report
2018.05.04
Round 2 Fuji : Race Press Conference

Round 2 Fuji : Race Press Conferenceの画像

Round 2 Fuji Speedway : Race Press Conference

GT500 Class

No. 23 MOTUL AUTECH GT-R

 

Tsugio Matsuda

I am very happy that I have been able to extend my record for most wins in the GT500 class. Before the start, I was afraid that Tachikawa-san would come up to tie me in this record. Nearly half of the 20 wins have been with Ronnie [Quintarelli]-san as my teammate, and that is one of the biggest reasons for this record, and I think that luck has been with me too. I don’t want to let up now, though, but press on to 25 wins and beyond.

 

Ronnie Quintarelli

The car’s condition was very good, and it had the performance to win pole position in yesterday’s qualifying. But I pushed too hard and failed to win it, so I came into today’s race motivated by that regret. At Okayama I had that [jumped start penalty] mistake, so this time I was careful not to jump the start (grimace). But I was able to react well to the start signal and gain in position. A number of things happened along the way, but in the end with that margin (over 2nd place) I was able to stay calm as I drove. I am glad we got this win.

 

 

 

GT300 Class

No. 55 ARTA BMW M6 GT3

 

Shinichi Takagi

I’m just happy to have won. The fact is we hadn’t done a long-distance test with the tires we used today. So, when the race started with the track surface temperature at 40℃ I was worried about the performance dropping in the long run. But in the early going I was able to pull away from the field and in the second half of the stint the performance didn’t drop much. The next round is at Suzuka where our team and car don’t have a good performance record, so I don’t know if a win here [and the resulting weight handicap at Suzuka] will be good in terms of the title race. But the Bridgestone tires have been so good that we got this unexpected win (wry laugh).

 

Sean Walkinshaw

Today was a good day for us. Takagi-san ran so well in the first stint that all I had to concentrate on in my stint was to maintain the margin of lead he gave me. I had a bit of trouble in warming up the tires, but once they were warmed up they gave me the performance I hoped for, so in the end I was able to maintain the lead margin and pass it on to Takagi-san. I am very happy that we won.

 

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