2018.05.19

K-tunes RC takes first GT300 class pole ever for the F GT3

Round 3 Suzuka Circuit : Qualifying GT300

The qualifying for the SUZUKA 300km - FAN FESTIVAL - race, Round 3 of the 2018 AUTOBACS SUPER GT series, was held at the Suzuka Circuit (Mie Prefecture) on May 19. In the GT500 class qualifying, Tomoki Nojiri in the No. 8 ARTA NSX-GT beat the course record by a big margin to take the team’s first pole position since last season’s Round 5 at Fuji. In the GT300 class, Yuichi Nakayama won pole position in the No. 96 K-tunes RC F GT3, bringing the RC F GT3 its first pole ever, and in course-record time.

 

 

The 15-minute Q1 session of the GT300 class official qualifying began at 2:35 in the afternoon. The No. 0 GOODSMILE HATSUNE MIKU AMG (Nobuteru Taniguchi) was the first to run a time in the 1’57 range. Other cars followed suit with times in the 1’57 range until, about nine minutes into the session the No. 25 HOPPY 86 MC (Sho Tsuboi) amazed everyone with a time of 1’56.159.
Subsequent runs by the No. 7 D'station Porsche (Tomonobu Fujii) with a 1’57.089 lap and a time of 1’56.965 by the fastest car from the morning’s official practice, the No. 96 K-tunes RC F GT3 (Morio Nitta), failed to match No. 25’s time.
Then, just 1 min. 20 sec. before the checkered flag was to be waved to signal the last lap of the session, the No. 2 SYNTIUM Apple LOTUS (Hiroki Katoh) ran off the track at the S Curve and crashed into the sponge barrier. This brought out the Red Flag to suspend the session until it could be started again for a 6-minute extended finish. After the restart, the No. 60 SYNTIUM LMcorsa RC F GT3 (Hiroki Yoshimoto) managed to end the session in 8th position, but the machines that were attempting their final flying lap during the lap when the red flag came out were unable to improve on their times.

 

 

Due to the interruption of Q1, the GT300 class Q2 session started 10 minutes behind schedule at 3:30 in the afternoon. In this 10-min. session, it was the car that had managed to move up to 8th place just before the end of Q1, the No. 60 SYNTIUM LMcorsa RC F GT 3 (Ritomo Miyata), that record a time of 1’56.461, followed by the No. 7 D'station Porsche (Sven Muller) with a 1’56.967 lap time.
These times were soon bettered by the No. 0 GOODSMILE HATSUNE MIKU AMG (Tatsuya Kataoka) and the No. 61 SUBARU BRZ R&D SPORT (Hideki Yamauchi), but it was nine minutes into the session that the No. 96 K-tunes RC F GT3 (Yuichi Nakayama) recorded a stunning time of 1’55.531 that beat the former course record (1’57.543) by more then 2 sec.
Attempting to beat car No. 96’s time, No. 25 HOPPY 86 MC (Takamitsu Matsui) got close with a time of 1’56.140 and tried to improve on that in the next lap but failed.
With this, No. 96 K-tunes RC F GT3 (Morio Nitta/Yuichi Nakayama) took pole position. This was the first class pole for Nakayama and for the LEXUS RC F GT3, and this being the K-tunes Racing LM corsa team’s debut season, it was also the team’s first pole position. It also turned out to be the first pole position for an FIA-GT3 specification car at Suzuka.
Finishing in 2nd position was the No. 25 HOPPY 86 MC (Takamitsu Matsui/Sho Tsuboi) and in 3rd came the No. 0 GOODSMILE HATSUNE MIKU AMG (Nobuteru Taniguchi/Tatsuya Kataoka). Qualifying 4th was the No. 61 SUBARU BRZ R&D SPORT (Takuto Iguchi/Hideki Yamauchi), reminding us that twice SUBARU BRZ cars have won the Suzuka 1000km. The 5th place qualifier was the No. 60 SYNTIUM LMcorsa RC F GT3 (Hiroki Yoshimoto/Ritomo Miyata), with the rookie Ritomo Miyata driving in the decisive Q2 session.

 

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