2019.04.05

[Round 1 Preview] 2019 season opener Okayama got much to talk about! Who can rocket-start the season?

Round 1 Okayama International Circuit : Preview

The season-opening round of 2019 AUTOBACS SUPER GT, "OKAYAMA GT 300km RACE", is approaching in little over a week and bringing the fans a full of topics to talk about. The series will kick off a new season on April 13th (Saturday, Qualifying) and 14th (Sunday, Race) at Okayama International Circuit (Okayama Prefecture) again this year. Driver market was very active during the offseason, meanwhile the teams worked on getting the cars more matured in GT500, and, in GT300, preparation got underway to launch new models in the class. The field looks quite even at upcoming new SUPER GT season and the competition can be very tight, in fact, tighter than any of the recent years. There will be no surprise whoever the winner is as anybody can be a winner, and we can even expect merge of unexpected drivers. Let's put our focus right on the season opener at Okayama!

 

 

One car that was showing impressive lap times not only once but numerous times at the pre-season tests was No.12 CALSONIC IMPUL GT-R (Daiki Sasaki / James Rossiter). NISSAN GT-R NISMO GT500 squad went through a hard season last year and the year before with only one win in each year. However, things looked different at the official test at Okayama in March as No.12 car marking overall top time of the two days and No.23 MOTUL AUTECH GT-R (Tsugio Matsuda / Ronnie Quintarelli) and No.24 Realize Corporation ADVAN GT-R (Mitsunori Takaboshi / Jann Mardenborough) also clocking lap times that put them in the upper group, which sure brought good breeze into the teams. Sasaki looked well-prepared for the season opener as he commented after the test at Okayama, "The car is perfect."

 

   

 

In contrast, LEXUS LC500 teams appeared to be just focusing on the preparation work, doing what they have to do one after another. No.6 WAKO'S 4CR LC500 (Kazuya Oshima / Kenta Yamashita), which boasts a good track record at Okayama, spent most of its time on the track doing race simulation, and marked the top time of Day 2 in only one attempt of attack lap. No.36 au TOM'S LC500 (Kazuki Nakajima / Yuhi Sekiguchi) and No.38 ZENT CERUMO LC500 (Yuji Tachikawa / Hiroaki Ishiura) also appeared to be fit for the race. Of course, when it comes to Okayama, No.37 KeePer TOM'S LC500 (Ryo Hirakawa / Nick Cassidy) shouldn't be forgotten as the team has been successful at Okayama. After all, LC500 seems to have a good chance to be on the podium at Okayama.

 

Honda NSX-GT squad was rather quiet in terms of lap time at the official test at Okayama. You shouldn't judge good or bad based only on lap times, especially when the weather was not perfect during the test days, however, a little anxiety is there considering how the squad was performing well at the same test last year. Nonetheless, No.8 ARTA NSX-GT (Tomoki Nojiri / Takuya Izawa) stood at fourth fastest of Day 1 of the test and defending Okayama winner No.17 KEIHIN NSX-GT (Koudai Tsukakoshi / Bertrand Baguette) was also good enough to mark the top time of the NSX-GT squad. Defending champion No.1 RAYBRIG NSX-GT (Naoki Yamamoto / Jenson Button) looked to be concentrating on setting up the car instead of going for a fast lap time at the test, so they should be coming out strong and fighting in the top group.

 

Current GT500 machines are entering their third season this year. A lot of efforts have been put by the developers as well as the teams to get the car matured in every extent, thus, this year can be the year where everything will come together and reach apex. We can for sure expect great runs and exciting battles from the cars at the first race of the season at Okayama.

 

   

 

Another enjoyment the season opener offers is to see the transitioned/new-comer drivers. Among all, let's look closely on the new comers (including drivers who are participating full-time in the series for the first time). Both Sho Tsuboi (No.19 WedsSport ADVAN LC500) and Tadasuke Makino (No.64 Modulo Epson NSX-GT) showed surprising performance at the wheel when they made a single-race participation in GT500 in the past, which they finished second in the race. With seven wins in GT300, Yuichi Nakayama (No.39 DENSO KOBELCO SARD LC500) had always been a highly-expected driver to make his way up the ladder. Narain Karthikeyan (No.64 Modulo Epson NSX-GT), who boasts a long career in formula car racing including F1, is also expected to be successful in the series.

 

Out of the transitioned/come-back drivers, Kohei Hirate / Frederic Makowiecki (No.3 CRAFTSPORTS MOTUL GT-R) and Rossiter (No.12 CALSONIC IMPUL GT-R) would be interesting to see how they can adopt after shifting from a different brand. Especially, Makowiecki is considered as an expert of Michelin tire, and his addition can also have a positive effect to No.23 car.

 

As described above, many stimuli have been added to the 2019-season of GT500 class, in terms of drivers. What will come up at the season opener? How will the race turn out to be? Everybody is longing for the green light at Okayama.

 

   

 

 

Okayama-local team No.96 K-tunes RC F GT3 (Morio Nitta / Sena Sakaguchi) showed strong presence in the official test held at Okayama by marking the 2-day overall top time in the GT300 class. No.96 car scored two wins last year, but Yuichi Nakayama, who was at the core of team's success, moved up to the GT500 class. The team has added young gun Sena Sakaguchi, a 19-year-old who proved his potential in FIA-F4, as a replacement of Nakayama. It appeared the team was making sure to give Sakaguchi extensive time on the car while they were also having a fruitful testing as a whole at the official tests held consecutively at Okayama and Fuji.

 

   

 

Other potential candidates for top group contention at the season opening round would be the cars knowingly quick around the corners, which would be a clear advantage on the technical track of Okayama. No.4 GOODSMILE HATSUNE MIKU AMG (Nobuteru Taniguchi / Tatsuya Kataoka) and defending champion No.65 LEON PYRAMID AMG (Haruki Kurosawa / Naoya Gamou), both fielding a Mercedes AMG GT3, would meet the criteria out of the FIA GT3 cars. Eyes should also be kept on mother-chassised No.25 HOPPY 86 MC (Takamitsu Matsui / Kimiya Sato) and No.52 SAITAMA TOYOPET GB MARK X MC (Shigekazu Wakisaka / Hiroki Yoshida). No.61 SUBARU BRZ R&D SPORT (Takuto Iguchi / Hideki Yamauchi) stands out too when it comes to cornering.
Entering into its second-year post debut, Honda NSX-GT could well be competing in the top group with new evolutionary parts supplied to the vehicle. In addition to No.34 Modulo KENWOOD NSX GT3 (Ryo Michigami / Hiroki Otsu), defending Okayama winner No.18 UPGARAGE NSX GT3 (Takashi Kobayashi / Kosuke Matsuura) as well as No.55 ARTA NSX-GT (Shinichi Takagi / Nirei Fukuzumi) appear to be in good shape for an exciting battle right from the first round of the season. Fukuzumi, especially, is drawing special attention as a highly-talented rookie who is already competing extensively in the single-seater race domestically as well as internationally at the age of only 22 years old. Looking at the new teams, No.56 Realize Nissan Automobile Technical College GT-R (Kazuki Hiramine / Sacha Fenestraz), a new GT300 team KONDO RACING formed in addition to their GT500 endeavor, and newly joining Asian team No.33 EVA RT TEST-01 X Works GT-R (Shaun Thong / Marchy Lee) are also an eye-catcher.

 

   

 

In GT300, we should also look for new models of FIA GT3 race cars at the season opener. First among all is 720S GT3 built by McLaren, a race car builder that won a fame by establishing dominant presence in endurance and GT races in not only Japan but all around the world in the past, fielded by No.720 McLaren 720S (Seiji Ara / Alex Palou). Britain's prestigious Aston Martin fielded by No.7 D'station Vantage GT3 (Tomonobu Fujii / Joao Paulo de Oliveira) is also taking on a challenge in Japanese motorsports. They both seemed to be still in preparation phase at the pre-season test, but expectation is sure building for their strong performance in the series.

 

Rookies can be at the center of spotlight this season in terms of drivers. Sakaguchi in No.96 car, Fukuzumi in No.55 car, and Palou in No.720 car all have an experience of winning a race in All Japanese F3 series, and Fenestraz in No.56 car has already proven his skill with a third-finish at Macau GT (F3). Of course, fans will be watching closely on De Oliveira driving No.7 car and Takashi Kogure (No.88 MANEPA LAMBORGHINI GT3) to see if the two can continue to show their speed in the GT300 class after shifting from GT500.

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