2019.04.26

[Round 2 Preview] Battle of new era Reiwa starts from Fuji! Destiny of 2019-season decided here!?

Round 2 Fuji Speedway : Preview

With only a few days after the transition, new Imperial era Reiwa will already see its first big race of the era as SUPER GT's Round 2 "FUJI GT 500km RACE" takes place on May 3rd (Friday (national holiday), Qualifying) and 4th (Saturday (national holiday), Race) at Fuji Speedway (Oyama, Shizuoka). In fact, this first race of new era is also like a fresh start since the season opener was struck with unfortunate weather, and it should give us a better view on how the season will turn out this year. Teams and automakers that ended the start of the season in disappointment should be wanting to bounce back at upcoming race. We should also keep our eyes on new drivers who are competing in the series for the first time as well as drivers in the center of attention after switching teams. Long race distance of 500km makes everything just unpredictable!

 

 

Hard rain hit the race day of the season opener at Okayama and forced the race to end prematurely at a distance that is not even enough for a driver change. It must had been indeed frustrating to everybody. So we can expect to see a show full of exciting runs and breathtaking battles from the drivers and cars.

 

 

In spite of the dullness that covered the season opener, the NISSAN GT-R NISMO GT500 squad looked shiny in the pack lead by No.23 MOTUL AUTECH GT-R (Tsugio Matsuda / Ronnie Quintarelli) which captured pole position. In the qualifier that was held under dry condition, the squad had all of its four cars advancing to Q2, out of which No.12 CALSONIC IMPUL GT-R (Daiki Sasaki / James Rossiter) also taking a second fastest position, and that can tell us how well their machine development progressed. Together with the success the squad achieved at last year's Fuji race, GT-R should be considered as a top favorite with probably No.23 and No.12 cars acting as the leading force.

 

Standing against them could be the Honda NSX-GT fleet that was showing unmatchable speed in the rainy race. Fast in rain means the car has a good balance and the machine has to be almost perfect to achieve that. Although two GT-Rs went ahead of them, the Honda fleet demonstrated its speed during the qualifying with No.1 RAYBRIG NSX-GT (Naoki Yamamoto / Jenson Button), No.17 KEIHIN NSX-GT (Koudai Tsukakoshi / Bertrand Baguette), and the season opener winner No.8 ARTA NSX-GT (Tomoki Nojiri / Takuya Izawa) taking third to fifth places. Fuji has not been a favorite track to NSX-GT in recent years, but this year could be different and the car can well be holding up, or even more than that, against the rivals especially with the engine that appears to be added with more horsepower.

 

 

LEXUS LC500 fleet was unable to show prominent performance at the season opening round. Would the fleet be able to recover in a short interval until the second round?　One thing for sure, they cannot show disappointing race in front of the home crowd that will fill up the stands of Fuji Speedway, the home track of LEXUS/TOYOTA. But, yet, a race strategy or having perfect teamwork can still make the fleet competitive when the race is a longer-than-usual 500km requiring two pit-stops. It would be interesting to see how No.38 ZENT CERUMO LC500 (Yuji Tachikawa / Hiroaki Ishiura) boasting good race history at Fuji, clever racer No.37 KeePer TOM'S LC500 (Ryo Hirakawa / Nick Cassidy), and last year's runner-up No.39 DENSO KOBELCO SARD LC500 (Heikki Kovalainen / Yuichi Nakayama) take on the fight.

 

No.36 au TOM'S LC500 will miss Kazuki Nakajima at Round 2, but the team is giving a shot at Ritomo Miyata, who won FIA-F4 championship two years in a row and currently competes in GT300 class, to partner with Yuhi Sekiguchi. At last year's Round 2 Fuji, Sho Tsuboi, who was also given a chance to race in GT500 class as a substitute, impressed everybody with his performance at the leading position and that eventually brought him a regular seat in the GT500 class this season. We should also look closely on Miyata's first challenge in GT500.

 

 

 

In the GT300 class, the winner and pole-sitter of the season opening round, No.96 K-tunes RC F GT3 (Morio Nitta / Sena Sakaguchi) and No.55 ARTA NSX-GT (Shinichi Takagi / Nirei Fukuzumi), respectively, could be at the center of attention again at upcoming Round 2 Fuji. It was very exciting and fun to watch the battles between youngsters Sakaguchi and Fukuzumi in Q2 and between veterans Nitta and Takagi (also battling for most-wins record) in the race. Competition between these two teams could be an eye-catcher throughout this season. No.55 car is in a streak of three wins at Fuji and only has to mount a half of the handicap weight since the car came out of the season opener with only a half point. It will certainly be considered as a top favorite.

 

   

 

The famous 1.5km long straightaway makes Fuji more advantageous to the FIA GT3 cars equipped with powerful engine, which is currently in a streak of six wins at the circuit. If to accord with the theory, the teams fielding aforementioned LEXUS RC F or Honda NSX GT3 as well as NISSAN GT-R NISMO GT3, like No.10 GAINER TANAX triple a GT-R (Kazuki Hoshino / Keishi Ishikawa) that was impressively fast at the official test held at Fuji in March, or Mercedes-AMG GT3, champion car of last year and two years back, should be listed as candidates for winning the race at upcoming round. We can expect Lamborghini Huracan GT3 to show off its speed at Fuji as it is reputed to be "unbeatable on straight".

 

Nonetheless, it doesn't mean the JAF-GT300 cars or mother-chassis cars have no chance. These cars can get out those "one-shot" speed like seen in No.25 HOPPY 86 MC (Takamitsu Matsui / Kimiya Sato) capturing pole position last year (driven by Sho Tsuboi then). Also, teams can try to reduce the time spent in the pit by shortening refueling time by controlling fuel consumption or going for no-tire change strategy or just changing two tires during the 500km race that requires two pit-stops. No.25 car and No.61 SUBARU BRZ R&D SPORT (Takuto Iguchi / Hideki Yamauchi) would be the teams that are likely to take such strategy in order to capture a podium finish. In fact, there is a quite good chance to see No.61 car competing for the top position since the team has worked on improving the top speed on a straightaway. There are also other possible contenders that can be newsworthy if rain brings wet condition like No.9 PACIFIC MIRAI AKARI NAC PORSCHE (Naoki Yokomizo / Kyosuke Mineo / Akihiro Tsuzuki) driven by two veteran former GT300 champions and No.7 D'station Vantage GT3 (Tomonobu Fujii / Joao Paulo de Oliveira) that was fast on wet track at the season opener.

 

   

 

 

This season is the last year for the models competing in the GT500 class, and there are also many new drivers. It sure is an "era changing" season. In addition, upcoming Round 2 Fuji is the opening round of Reiwa, a new imperial era. You have to come out to Fuji Speedway on May 3rd and 4th to witness the race that no one should miss.

Page Top