News

Race Report
2018.07.01
Rd. 4 GT300 Race: GAINER TANAX GT-R gets a come-from-behind win!

Rd. 4 GT300 Race: GAINER TANAX GT-R gets a come-from-behind win!の画像

Round 4 Chang International Circuit (Thailand) : Race GT300

On the afternoon of July 1, the Chang SUPER GT RACE, Round 4 of the 2018 AUTOBACS SUPER GT series, was run at the Chang International Circuit in Thailand. In the GT500 class, the No. 39 DENSO KOBELCO SARD LC500 driven by Heikki Kovalainen and Kamui Kobayashi claimed their first win of the season and also gave Kobayashi his first GT500 win ever. In the GT300 class, the No. 11 GAINER TANAX GT-R driven by Katsuyuki Hiranaka and Hironobu Yasuda was the winner.

 

 

 

First half is closely fought between the Audi, BMW and GT-R cars

In the GT300 class race, Richard Lyons in the No. 21 Hitotsuyama Audi R8 LMS got a good start from 2nd position on the grid and succeeded in passing the pole-starting No. 65 LEON CVSTOS AMG (Haruki Kurosawa) from the outside on the first turn just after the start. After that, car No. 65 was also passed by the No. 55 ARTA BMW M6 GT3 (Shinichi Takagi). By the end of the first lap, the order of the top three was the No. 21 Hitotsuyama Audi R8 LMS in the lead followed by the No. 55 ARTA BMW M6 GT3 and the No. 65 LEON CVSTOS AMG, but closing in behind them was the No. 11 GAINER TANAX GT-R (Hironobu Yasuda), and by the fifth lap it has passed the No. 65 LEON CVSTOS AMG.
In the early stages of the race, the No. 21 Hitotsuyama Audi R8 LMS, No. 55 ARTA BMW M6 GT3 and No. 11 GAINER TANAX GT-R staged a 3-way battle for the lead, but this battle would turn into confusion when the GT500 class cars began to lap them. Meanwhile, the No. 60 SYNTIUM LMcorsa RC F GT (Hiroki Yoshimoto) that had started from 16th position on the grid closed in aggressively and finally caught up with the top three.

 

 

As the rivals fell away, GAINER TANAX GT-R hangs on to win

As the race entered it middle stages, the contest between the leaders became deadlocked, until an upset occurred at the end of the 21st lap, when the No. 21 Hitotsuyama Audi R8 LMS running in the lead returned to the pit. After changing drivers from Lyons to Ryuichiro Tomita and attempting to leave the pit, the rear tires began to spin. The car was then wheeled back to the pit garage. It turned out that the car had suffered damage when it collided with a GT500 car, so its race ended in disappointment, just as it had the year before here in Thailand.
Meanwhile, the No. 11 GAINER TANAX GT-R had made its pit stop in the 23rd lap and changed drivers from Yasuda to Katsuyuki Hiranaka. Back in the race, No. 11 managed to move ahead of the No. 55 ARTA BMW M6 GT3, which had made its pit stop at the end of the 29th lap. Some cars held off their pit stops till later, but when all the GT300 cars had completed their routine pit stops the order at the top was the No. 11 GAINER TANAX GT-R (Hiranaka) in the lead, the No. 55 ARTA BMW M6 GT3 (Sean Walkinshaw) in 2nd position, followed by the No. 60 SYNTIUM LMcorsa RC F GT3 (Ritomo Miyata) that had managed some fast pit work.

 

 

After that, there was not much movement in the race action, but in the final stages there was a closing charge by the No. 31 TOYOTA PRIUS apr GT (Kohei Hirate) that had worked it way up from 14th position on the starting grid. After passing the No. 60 SYNTIUM LMcorsa RC F GT3, No. 31 pulled up on the tail of the No. 55 ARTA BMW M6 GT3 on the 58th lap. But the two machines hit each other there, causing damage to the left rear tire of the No. 55 ARTA BMW M6 GT3 and forcing it to return to the pit and lose its position in the race.
The No. 11 GAINER TANAX GT-R had run unchallenged in the lead and went on to take a felicitous first win for the 2018 model Nissan GT-R NISMO GT-R. This win moved the No. 11 pair of Hiranaka and Yasuda to the top of the Driver point standings.
Finishing 2nd was the No. 31 TOYOTA PRIUS apr GT (Koki Saga/Kohei Hirate), while 3rd went to the No. 60 SYNTIUM LMcorsa RC F GT3 (Daiki Yoshimoto/Tomoaki Miyata) that managed to hold off the No. 65 LEON CVSTOS AMG (Naoya Gamou). This was the first SUPER GT podium finish for Miyata. Finishing 4th was the No. 65 LEON CVSTOS AMG (Kurosawa/Gamou) and 5th went to the No. 87 LEGAL FRONTIER LAMBORGHINI GT3 (Kimiya Sato/Yuya Motojima) after a battle with their Lamborghini teammates.

 

 

クルマのことならオートバックス

Page Top