On May 23rd and 24th, while the excitement and heat from the Round 3 "SUZUKA GT 300km -FUN FESTIVAL-" were yet to cool down, Suzuka Circuit hosted an official test of "The 47th Summer Endurance Suzuka 10 Hour Race (a.k.a. SUZUKA 10H)" scheduled to be held through August 24th - 26th.
SUZUKA 10H is a 10-hour endurance race participated by domestic and international teams mainly with GT3 cars. With the SUPER GT-operator GTA Co., Ltd also supporting the event, JAF-GT300 cars (including mother-chassis cars) are also made eligible to participate in the event besides the FIA GT3 cars competing in GT300 class. Hence, as of April 22nd, 11 teams from GT300 class (some teams are not fielding a GT300 car) are seen in the entry list.
While the rain wet the track surface of Suzuka Circuit on the first day of testing held on May 23rd, Audi R8LMS (Richard Lyons/ Ryuichiro Tomita/ Markus Winkelhock) of No.21 Audi Team Hitotsuyama closed the day with the top time of 2 min 11.636 sec which it marked in the afternoon. Winkelhock, who marked the top time, is the driver champion of 2017 Intercontinental GT Challenge.
In contrast, April 24th was blessed with a clear sky and the track surface stayed dry almost throughout the day despite some wet sports in early morning. Fastest time of Day 2 was taken by Porsche fielded by No.7 D'station Racing with 2 min 01.146 sec marked in the afternoon by Tomonobu Fujii, who drove two days just by himself. GOODSMILE RACING (Taniguchi absented Day 2) was second fastest followed by Team Hitotsuyama at third.
SUZUKA 10H Official Test Results
5/23 |
5/24 |
All Session |
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Suzuka 10 Hours Endurance Race INFORMATION
4/13-14 | Round1 OKAYAMA | |
5/03-04 | Round2 FUJI | |
6/01-02 | Round3 SUZUKA | |
8/03-04 | Round4 FUJI | |
9/21-22 | Round6 SUGO | |
10/19-20 | Round7 AUTOPOLIS | |
11/02-03 | Round8 MOTEGI | |
12/07-08 | Round5 SUZUKA |