2018.11.11

ARTA NSX-GT Takes Its Second Win of the Season! Button Battles to Win A First Season Title for the RAYBRIG NSX-GT Team!

Round 8 Twin Ring Motegi : Race GT500

The MOTEGI GT 250km RACE GRAND FINAL, Round 8 (final round) of the 2018 AUTOBACS SUPER GT series, was held on November 11 at the Twin Ring Motegi (Tochigi Pref.). In the GT500 class, the No. 8 ARTA NSX-GT driven by Tomoki Nojiri and Takuya Izawa won its second pole-to-finish victory of the season, while the season championship title went to the No. 100 RAYBRIG NSX-GT (Naoki Yamamoto/Jenson Button) that finished this day’s race in 3rd place.
In the GT300 class race, the No. 65 LEON CVSTOS AMG driven by Haruki Kurosawa and Naoya Gamou won their first victory of the season that also gave them a dramatic come-from-behind GT300 class season title.

 

 

 

The final round of the 2018 SUPER GT series, the MOTEGI GT 250km RACE GRAND FINAL, took place at the Twin Ring Motegi circuit among brightly colored autumns scenery. Blessed by fine weather under clear autumn skies, some 37,000 GT fans turned out to watch the 53-lap race. Five motorcycle police two patrol cars, including a GT-R and an NSX, of the Tochigi Prefectural Police led the a parade lap, followed by the Formation Lap before the hot competition of the race got underway.

There were no big changes in the grid order at the start, as the GT500 class pole-position No. 8 ARTA NSX-GT (Takuya Izawa) took the lead and the No. 100 RAYBRIG NSX-GT (Naoki Yamamoto), No. 64 Epson Modulo NSX-GT (Bertrand Baguette) and the No. 38 ZENT CERUMO LC500 (Yuji Tachikawa) held their grid position behind it. Trouble struck the No. 17 KEIHIN NSX-GT (Takashi Kogure) running in 5th position when its hood opened a crack and it was forced to return to the pit to fix it after completing two laps. That left four LC500 cars running in a row behind the three leading Honda cars. But the pace of those NSX-GTs was so good that they began to open up a growing gap over 3rd place and below.

 

When the GT500 class leaders began coming up on GT300 class back markers in lap four, it cause the usual fluctuations in the margins between the cars, but there were still no significant changes in the order. After the race passed the one-third distance on the 19th lap, the teams began to make their routine pit stops and driver changes. The first to return to the pit for its routine stop was the leading car No. 8. However, after temporarily taking the lead in No. 8’s absence, car No. 100 and its rival in the title race with the same season points, the No. 1 KeePer TOM'S LC500 (Nick Cassidy), showed no sign of returning to the pit even after passing the race’s midway point of lap 26.

 

 

Car No. 100 made its routine pit stop after the 29th lap. As if waiting for that cue, car No. 1 immediately followed suit. After some mutual fast pit work, the No. 100 RAYBRIG NSX-GT (Jenson Button) returned to the track in 3rd position just behind the No. 38 ZENT CERUMO LC500 (Hiroaki Ishiura), while the No. 1 KeePer TOM'S LC500 (Ryo Hirakawa) returned to the race in 8th position. With four cars running in between No. 100 and No. 1, it looked as if No. 1 would have a hard time catching up, but Hirakawa pushed his car No. 1 hard to move up through the four. On the 36th lap, Hirakawa passed the No. 6 WAKO'S 4CR LC500 (Kazuya Oshima) into 5th position. Then on the next lap, he overtook the No. 64 Epson Modulo NSX-GT (Kosuke Matsuura) to take 4th position. To have a chance of taking consecutive titles, Hirakawa had to get ahead of car No. 100, but there still lay a 6-sec. gap between the two. Still, Hirakawa continued to close the gap at a pace of about one second per lap, and by the 44th lap of the race, he had closed to within one sec. of No. 100.

 

This put the pressure on Button in car No. 100. The former F1 world champion and the reigning GT500 champ were now fired up for an intense battle over the remaining nine laps of the race.
The battle between to two machines in the lead ahead of Button and Hirakawa was also reaching a turning point. Having run the entire race alone in the lead, car No. 8 would lose pace every time it came up on GT300 back markers. At some points, that margin with car No. 38 in 2nd place was as much as four seconds, but in the last four laps of the race it had shrunk to just under one second. In short, the battles for the race win and the title win had come down to two exciting fights between two different pairs of NSX-GT and LC500 machines.

 

 

But in the end, there would be no changes in the order of the top four cars. The No. 8 ARTA NSX-GT (Tomoki Nojiri/Takuya Izawa) held on to win the final race and claim its second win from pole position of the season. For Tomoki Nojiri it was his third GT500 win, while for Takuya Izawa it was his sixth. Of the eight rounds this season, NSX-GT cars won four of them, and what’s more, all four were won from pole position.
Finishing 2nd was the No. 38 ZENT CERUMO LC500 (Yuji Tachikawa/Hiroaki Ishiura). The highest finish for a GT-R was the 7th place by the No. 23 MOTUL AUTECH GT-R (Tsugio Matsuda/Ronnie Quintarelli).

 

The 2018 Drivers title went to Naoki Yamamoto and Jenson Button of the No. 100 RAYBRIG NSX-GT team that held on to finish 3rd this day. The Team title went to the No. 100 TEAM KUNIMITSU. For the team’s General Manager, Kunimitsu Takahashi, who has been competing in JGTC/SUPER GT since it inaugural year 1994, this was a long-awaited double win of the Driver and Team titles. For the 2009 F1 champion Button, this title came in his first season of full entry in the GT500. For Naoki Yamamoto, it was also his first GT title, and follows his title just days before in Super Formula, meaning that he won Japan’s top two titles in one sweep.

 

 

 

 

 

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