2018.10.12

[Round 7 Preview] With 2 races to go, season reaches climax! Fierce battle is unavoidable at Autopolis.

Round 7 Autopolis : Preview

Autopolis round (Oita Prefecture) was held as Round 3 in May last year, but this year the race will be held as Round 7 "AUTOPOLIS GT 300km RACE" on October 20th (Saturday, Qualifying) and 21st (Sunday, Race). Affect from the earthquake forced the event to be canceled two years ago, but last year's resumption drew a huge crowd as the event is the only stop the SUPER GT makes in Kyushu. Considering the race is seventh round held in the final phase of the season as well as the handicap weight will be reduced from the previous race, we can expect to see more intense competition and battles on the track. Don't miss it as we may see one team leaping out to put one hand on the championship or even claiming it at upcoming Autopolis race.

 

 

In SUPER GT's handicap weight rule, the amount of handicap weight is calculated by multiplying the points gained by the driver who is driving the car by 2 kg for Round 2 until Round 6 (if the points are different between teammates, than the higher point is used for calculation). However, for Round 7, the handicap weight will be less, calculated by multiplying the points by 1 kg. By the rule, the handicap weight loaded on No.100 RAYBRIG NSX-GT (Naoki Yamamoto / Jenson Button) at previous SUGO race was 80kg, but, for the Round 7 Autopolis, where the team will be coming in as point leader, the handicap weight will be reduced to 61kg. Still, it would be a tough battle for the leader as their handicap weight is the heaviest among the GT500. Their aim would be a podium finish and move on to the final round while keeping the top position. Off course, it would not be surprising if they won back to back either considering they still grabbed a win at SUGO with 80kg of handicap weight. If No.100 car wins, then there is a great chance that the champion will be decided here, depending on the result of the rivals.

However, the rivals reside within the NSX-GT squad itself. Moreover, Autopolis with many mid- and high-speed corners is a favorable track layout to NSX-GT. Then, both No.8 ARTA NSX-GT (Tomoki Nojiri / Takuya Izawa) and No.17 KEIHIN NSX-GT (Koudai Tsukakoshi / Takashi Kogure) could very well be targeting their second win of the season or at least a podium finish ahead of No.100 car. Despite mentioning earlier that Autopolis is a favorite circuit of NSX-GT, the number of wins scored by the fleet is rather low at 2 wins in 13 races. There is also a concern that mid-engine NSX-GT tends to have more pick-ups (debris on the track sticking to the tire surface which would affect the pace of the car) than other rival cars.

 

 

Trailing behind the two NSX-GT teams in the driver point ranking is last year's champion No.1 KeePer TOM'S LC500 (Ryo Hirakawa / Nick Cassidy). The team consistently scored points at every race up to here this season, but they are still winless. Win here and take on the final round as the top ranker like last year would be the best scenario they want to follow. Autopolis was not the best track to LEXUS cars, but No.36 au TOM'S LC500 (Kazuki Nakajima / Yuhi Sekiguchi) turned it around and won with LC500, which debut last year. They would want to utilize the data and experience from this to bring in the victory again this season.

 

 

With a record of 5 wins in 13 races at Autopolis, NISSAN GT-R has been demonstrating outstanding suitability to the track. No.23 MOTUL AUTECH GT-R (Tsugio Matsuda / Ronnie Quintarelli) must fully exert the suitability and win here because otherwise they would be in huge deficit in terms of title contention. The squad should be fired up to win the Kyushu round. Hungry for a win is the same story for No.12 CALSONIC IMPUL GT-R (Daiki Sasaki / Jann Mardenborough) as they let victory slip away in last two races which they could had won. As the light 29kg handicap weight indicates, the team is not in a position which requires them to consider about title contention. We should expect to see hard-pushing runs with sole focus on the top place from the team.

 

 

 

One thing we should remember here is that the handicap weight is not halved on all cars at Round 7 by the handicap weight rule. Handicap weight is halved on only the teams that have participated in seven races as of Round 7, and any teams with six or less races participation would be excluded. Out of GT300 teams who have scored a point, No.26 TAISAN R8 FUKUSHIMA would fall into the exclusion. Top 10 teams in the point ranking competing for the title would all be in the same condition with halved handicap weight.

 

Now, let's look into the race at Autopolis. Autopolis with many mid- and high-speed corners tends to be favorable to the cars with good performance around the corners. Indeed, the mother-chassis cars and JAF-GT300 cars have been fast at the track, and all pole positions from recent three races at the circuit have been from the group. With the pole-to-win last year, No.25 HOPPY 86 MC (Takamitsu Matsui / Sho Tsuboi) can be said to be the closest to the victory among all. Second in the points No.31 TOYOTA PRIUS apr GT (Koki Saga / Kohei Hirate) would also want to score a win here. No.61 SUBARU BRZ R&D SPORT (Takuto Iguchi / Hideki Yamauchi), after winning the previous race at SUGO, should also be looking only at the win since they can keep their hope alive for the title until the final round if they can win back to back.

 

   

 

Contrastingly, point leader No.55 ARTA BMW M6 GT3 (Shinichi Takagi / Sean Walkinshaw) and other FIA GT3 cars tend to struggle at Autopolis. Nevertheless, cars with good cornering performance should be able to match up with the JAF-GT300 cars. In fact, No.55 car has produced a result with a third-place finish on podium last year. The team would want to finish in an upper position again this year so that they can tackle the final round from the highest position of the ranking. We might also see cars like Mercedes AMG GT3, NISSAN GT-R NISMO GT3, or Audi R8 LMS fighting strong on the track. Especially, defending champion No.0 GOODSMILE HATSUNE MIKU AMG (Nobuteru Taniguchi / Tatsuya Kataoka), No.65 LEON CVSTOS AMG (Haruki Kurosawa / Naoya Gamou), and No.11 GAINER TANAX GT-R (Katsuyuki Hiranaka / Hironobu Yasuda) would want to capture a win or podium finish since the upcoming race is critical in terms of title contention.

 

   

 

 

Making its first appearance at Autopolis, Honda NSX-GT can be a top performer at the track considering its mid-engine layout. Eyes should also be put on No.5 MACH SYAKEN MC86 Y's distraction (Natsu Sakaguchi / Yuya Hiraki), a Fukuoka-based team, as the young duo has started to show speed in recent races.

Page Top