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Race Report
2018.08.05
ARTA BMW M6 GT3 makes it 3 wins in a row at Fuji in GT300 class

ARTA BMW M6 GT3 makes it 3 wins in a row at Fuji in GT300 classの画像

Round 5 Fuji Speedway : Race GT300

The FUJI 500 mile RACE, Round 5 of the 2018 AUTOBACS SUPER GT series, was run on August 5th at Fuji Speedway in Shizuoka Prefecture. In this longest race at 500 miles in the series, the No. 36 au TOM’S LC500 (Kazuki Nakajima/Yuhi Sekiguchi) won the GT500 class race. In the GT300 class race, the No. 55 ARTA BMW M6 GT3 (Shinichi Takagi/Sean Walkinshaw) team that is always strong at Fuji won their third straight race at the Fuji Speedway with a pole-to-win finish. This win extended Takagi’s record for most GT300 wins, and it also set a new SUPER GT record for most consecutive wins by the same driver pair at the same circuit.

 

 

 

From 2nd spot on the grid ARTA BMW M6 GT3 runs away in the early stages

At the start of the GT300 class race, the pole-sitting No. 25 HOPPY 86 MC (Sho Tsuboi) was first into the TGR Corner (first turn), followed by the No. 55 ARTA BMW M6 GT3 (Shinichi Takagi), No. 10 GAINER TANAX triple a GT-R (Hiroki Yoshida), No. 21 Hitotsuyama Audi R8 LMS Richard Lyons) and the No. 0 GOODSMILE HATSUNEMIKU AMG (Tatsuya Kataoka). Among the leaders, the No. 55 ARTA BMW M6 GT3 passed the No. 25 HOPPY 86 MC at the TGR Corner of the eighth lap to take the lead and quickly begin to run away from the pack. In 3rd position came the No. 10 GAINER TANAX triple a GT-R, with the No. 0 GOODSMILE HATSUNEMIKU AMG in 4th position. Behind them, the No. 21 Hitotsuyama Audi R8 LMS, No. 61 SUBARU BRZ R&D SPORT (Takuto Iguchi), No. 31 TOYOTA PRIUS apr GT (Kohei Hirate) and the No. 2 SYNTIUM Apple LOTUS (Hiroki Katoh) were adding to the excitement of the early stages with their intense battles.
While the regulation for this race requires four pit stops, the 500-mile race distance is one that could readily be covered with only three pit stops by the GT300 class cars. To avoid time loss due to the heavy traffic of the early stages of the race, the No 88 Manepa Lamborghini GT3, No. 96 K-tunes RC F GT3 and the No.60 SYNTIUM LMcorsa RC F GT3 took their first pit stop at the end of the first lap of the race. Then, the No. 7 D'station Porsche and the No. 18 UPGARAGE 86 MC made their pit stops at the end of the 6th lap just as the lead GT500 cars were coming up from behind to lap them, and the No. 65 LEON CVSTOS AMG made its first pit stop at the end of lap eight.

 

 

Different strategies shape the long-distance race

With this, the field was divided between teams that chose to do their pit stops early and those that chose to divide the five required stints evenly. Among the teams that chose to divide the stints evenly were the No. 55 ARTA BMW M6 GT3took the lead followed by the No. 25 HOPPY 86 MC. Next came the No. 0 GOODSMILE HATSUNEMIKU AMG (Nobuteru Taniguchi) in 3rd place after passing the No. 31 TOYOTA PRIUS apr GT (Koki Saga).
Meanwhile, among the teams that had chosen an early pit stop, the No. 88 Manepa Lamborghini GT3 led. It was followed by the No. 65 LEON CVSTOS AMG with the No. 7 D'station Porsche behind it.
In the final stages of the race, when the No. 25 HOPPY 86 MC made its pit stop on the 122nd lap, the teams that had opted for an early pit stop and those that didn’t all began to calculate the best timing for their fourth and final pit stop and completed them one after another up until the 133rd lap.

 

 

By the time the leading group had all finished their last pit stop, the No. 55 ARTA BMW M6 GT3 that had taken the lead in the early stages of the race still held the lead by a large margin, showing once again its incomparable strength at the Fuji circuit. And maintaining that insurmountable lead, No. 55 was the first to take the checkered flag at the end of the 164-lap race. For Takagi and Walkinshaw it was their second win of the season, following a win in Round 2 here at Fuji Speedway. This win also brought the pair to the top of the season’s standings. Takagi increased his lead in the record for most GT300 wins as well by bringing his total to 20. The duo’ third consecutive win by the same drivers at the same circuit is also a new SUPER GT record.
By finishing in 2nd place after moving up one position at a time throughout the race, the 2017 champion team No. 0 GOODSMILE HATSUNEMIKU AMG (Nobuteru Taniguchi/Tatsuya Kataoka) got its first podium finish of the season. In 3rd place came the No. 31 TOYOTA PRIUS apr GT (Koki Saga/Kohei Hirate) to mount the podium for the third time this season and move up to 2nd place in the series ranking.

 

 

 

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