2018.05.20

In the GT300 class K-tunes RC F GT3 dominates to win

Round 3 Suzuka Circuit : Race GT300

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 20. In the GT500 class race, the No. 8 ARTA NSX-GT driven by Tomoki Nojiri and Takuya Izawa went from pole position to take its first win of the season with out effectively giving up the lead once throughout the race. In the GT300 class race, the No. 96 K-tunes RC F GT3 driven by Morio Nitta and Yuichi Nakayama also won the race from pole position. With this victory, Nitta ties for most GT300 wins at 19.

 

 

 

At the start of the GT300 class race, the pole-sitting No. 96 K-tunes RC F GT3 (Morio Nitta) kept its lead, with the No. 0 GOODSMILE HATSUNE MIKU AMG (Tatsuya Kataoka) in 2nd place, followed by the No. 61 SUBARU BRZ R&D SPORT (Hideki Yamauchi) and the No. 60 SYNTIUM LMcorsa RC F GT3 (Hiroki Yoshimoto). Meanwhile the No. 25 HOPPY 86 MC (Takamitsu Matsui) that had started from the 2nd grid spot lost six positions in the first lap of the race. In contrast, a car that moved up in No. 7 D'station Porsche (Tomonobu Fujii), which moved up two positions into 5th place during the first lap.
In the early stages of the race, as the GT500 class cars began moving up through the field, the lead order of the GT300 class race didn’t change, as the No. 96 K-tunes RC F GT3 continued to widen its lead over the pack. By the 10th lap, its margin of lead was about 5 sec. But as the GT500 race entered its 13th lap an accident brought out the Safety Car and the K-tunes RC F GT3’s lead soon evaporated.
The race was restarted as the GT500 class was entering its 19th lap, and immediately after that the GT300 teams that had planned an early pit stop began to return to the pit one after another. It was at this point that the No. 7 D'station Porsche, No. 25 HOPPY 86 MC, No. 65 LEON CVSTOS AMG, No. 18 UPGARAGE 86 MC and others made their pit stop. Among them, the No. 18 UPGARAGE 86 MC and No. 25 HOPPY 86 MC opted for a no-tire-change strategy that initially moved them far ahead.
On the other hand, the No. 61 SUBARU BRZ R&D SPORT made its pit stop on the 23rd lap while running in 3rd place and also opted for no tire change. When the leading No. 96 K-tunes RC F GT3 made its pit stop on the 25 lap, however, it changed all four tires. Meanwhile, the No. 0 GOODSMILE HATSUNE MIKU AMG running in 2nd position stretched out its first stint to the 31st lap before making its pit stop. Despite being an FIA GT3 spec car, it also embraced the no-tire-change strategy.

 

 

By the time all the GT300 cars had finished their routine pit stop, the No. 0 GOODSMILE HATSUNE MIKU AMG (Nobuteru Taniguchi) was in the lead. Right behind it was the No. 18 UPGARAGE 86 MC (Takashi Kobayashi) that had also chosen a no-tire-change strategy, but Taniguchi wouldn’t let Kobayashi past him as they continued to race on nose-to-tail. But in the mean time, the No. 96 K-tunes RC F GT3 (Yuichi Nakayama), having made a tire change, was closing in on the two of them fast on fresh tires. Also closing in were the No. 61 SUBARU BRZ R&D SPORT (Takuto Iguchi) in 4th position and the No. 25 HOPPY 86 MC (Sho Tsuboi), making it now a 5-car battle for the lead.

 

 

However, in the Chicane on the 36th lap, Nakayama passed Taniguchi in one swoop to reclaim the lead. After that, Taniguchi would do battle with the other cars that had foregone a tire change, but the No. 88 MANEPA LAMBORGHINI GT3 (Marco Mapelli), No .60 SYNTIUM LMcorsa RC F GT3 (Ritomo Miyata) and No. 65 LEON CVSTOS AMG (Naoya Gamou) that had changed their tires were catching up. The race for 2nd place was now a seven-car battle.
Taniguchi had held on hard to his lead in this fight but on the Chicane of the 44th lap ha was finally overtaken by Iguchi. On the following straight, Tsuboi also passed Taniguchi. This put the No .61 SUBARU BRZ R&D SPORT in 2nd place and the No. 25 HOPPY 86 MC in 3rd place. Then, on the Dunlop Corner of the 46th lap the No. 25 HOPPY 86 MC passed the No. 61 SUBARU BRZ R&D SPORT. This had been a rapid change in the order during the final stages of the race.

While these cars had been battling furiously for 2nd place, the No. 96 K-tunes RC F GT3 (Morio Nitta/Yuichi Nakayama) pulled away to take the win with a 15.885 margin of lead at the finish. This win brought Nitta back into a tie with Shinichi Takagi for the most career wins in GT300 that Takagi had ken from him with his win at Fuji in Round 2 of the series. Finishing 2nd was the No. 25 HOPPY 86 MC (Takamitsu Matsui/Sho Tsuboi), while 3rd place went to the No. 61 SUBARU BRZ R&D SPOR (Takuto Iguchi/Hideki Yamauchi).
With these results, the No. 55 ARTA BMW M6 GT3 driver pair of Shinichi Takagi/Sean Walkinshaw remained at the top of the season’s Drivers standings, despite having scored no point in this race. However, by finishing 2nd in this race, the Matsui/Tsuboi pair drew even with them in points to stand 2nd in the season ranking. Standing 3rd in the ranking is the No. 18 UPGARAGE 86 MC pair of Yuhki Nakayama/Takashi Kobayashi. And with this Round 3 win, the Nitta/Nakayama pair move up to 4th in the standings.

 

 

 

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