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2019.05.17
【Round 3 Preview】 Early-stage battle wrapping up at Round 3! Will Suzuka reveal the real power ranking?

【Round 3 Preview】 Early-stage battle wrapping up at Round 3! Will Suzuka reveal the real power ranking?の画像

Round 3 Suzuka Circuit : Preview

We are already halfway through May and it's great season for racing as well as for spectators. On May 25th (Sat) and 26th (Sun), 2019 AUTOBACS SUPER GT Round 3 "SUZUKA GT 300km RACE" will take place at Suzuka Circuit (Suzuka, Mie). The 2019 season has been frustrating to everybody so far as both season opener and Round 2 were struck by bad weather which created great confusion on the field. Moving on from bitter launch of the season, we can expect to see teams exerting every potential they have at upcoming Round 3 as the race is taking place on a track which all cars have equal chance of winning and as it will be a wrap-up of the early stage of the season. In another words, this battle will decide the way this season will roll out.

 

 

NSX-GT demonstrated its speed at Suzuka last year in shortened 300km race.

Suzuka round had been held as long distance "Suzuka 1000km" until 2017, taking place in the final week of August. The event was moved to May last year with a standard race distance of 300km, and the same racing format will be adopted this year. With Suzuka being the home of Honda, the Honda NSX-GT squad, who set Suzuka as one of their main targets of the year, fully showed off their speed to complete top-3 dominance plus fifth place in the qualifying and one-two finish in the race. Rivals are on alert this season as many expressed "NSX-GT must be fast again at Suzuka."

The leading force of the feared squad must be the defending winner No.8 ARTA NSX-GT (Tomoki Nojiri / Takuya Izawa) and runner-up No.1 RAYBRIG NSX-GT (Naoki Yamamoto / Jenson Button). No.17 KEIHIN NSX-GT (Koudai Tsukakoshi / Bertrand Baguette) should be eager to win the race too since their handicap weight is still light. Tadasuke Makino in No.64 Modulo Epson NSX-GT (Narain Karthikeyan / Makino) , who, in spite of a rookie, captured pole position at the season opening round of Super Formula held at Suzuki, can be a dark horse at upcoming Suzuka.

 

 

Suzuka could be a game changer to Round 2 winner LC500 and fast-but-winless GT-R.

Shaky engine held back the LEXUS LC500 squad from going at full throttle at the season opening round. However, the squad impressively recovered from the deficit and enabled No.38 ZENT CERUMO LC500 (Yuji Tachikawa / Hiroaki Ishiura) to win the race at Round 2 Fuji with No.37 KeePer TOM'S LC500 (Ryo Hirakawa / Nick Cassidy) also qualifying second. But there is still some tense atmosphere remaining within the LC500 squad as they need to score a good result not only at Fuji but also at upcoming Suzuka in order to clinch the title at the end of the road. Nonetheless, No.37 car with a light handicap weight this time and No.36 au TOM'S LC500 (Kazuki Nakajima / Yuhi Sekiguchi) with good record at Suzuka, both fielded by TOM'S, and also No.6 WAKO'S 4CR LC500 (Kazuya Oshima / Kenta Yamashita) will probably be very aggressive from qualifying.

 

 

As two consecutive pole positions and two consecutive second-place finishes by No.23 MOTUL AUTECH GT-R (Tsugio Matsuda / Ronnie Quintarelli) display, the NISSAN GT-R NISMO GT500 squad is gaining back the speed they had. However, they are still winless and have not gotten a best result yet up to this point, and all four teams of the squad must be very aware and motivated towards the Round 3 Suzuka. May be the point leader No.23 car can settle with a podium finish, but No.12 CALSONIC IMPUL GT-R (Daiki Sasaki / James Rossiter) is not in the same shoe and quite many are naming them as the top favorite especially since the team and Rossiter have been successful at Suzuka. In addition, No.24 Realize Corporation ADVAN GT-R (Mitsunori Takaboshi / Jann Mardenborough) with less handicap weight could be fighting at the top group depending on where it can qualify.

 

 

 

GT300 race at Suzuka is just unpredictable! Keep your eye on the tire war too!

The battle of GT300 class usually gets intense on any circuits, but upcoming Suzuka is super unpredictable. Both high-power FIA GT cars and JAF-GT300 cars (including mother-chassis cars) with good cornering have pretty good chance at Suzuka, and a race strategy can make a big difference for any teams on the field.

 

First on the top favorite list would be the defending winner and the winner of the season opener No.96 K-tunes RC F GT3 (Morio Nitta / Sena Sakaguchi). Since the cause of failure at Round 2 is clear to them, a mistake in pit stop that forced them to finish with no points, the team can also be clear on targeting a large point here.
For the Honda NSX-GT teams, the suitability of the car to Suzuka circuit is an advantage and there could be a chance for them. Being the point leader, No.55 ARTA NSX-GT (Shinichi Takagi / Nirei Fukuzumi) may face difficulty with the handicap weight, and that adds a little more to the expectation for the first win of No.34 Modulo KENWOOD NSX GT3 (Ryo Michigami / Hiroki Otsu).
Former champions in Mercedes AMG GT3 like No.4 GOODSMILE HATSUNE MIKU AMG (Nobuteru Taniguchi / Tatsuya Kataoka) and No.65 LEON PYRAMID AMG (Haruki Kurosawa / Naoya Gamou) can also be fighting in the top group. If to pick a driver who has successful record at Suzuka, we need to look at No.10 GAINER TANAX triple a GT-R (Kazuki Hoshino / Keishi Ishikawa).

 

   

 

Among the JAF-GT300 cars, No.25 HOPPY 86 MC (Takamitsu Matsui / Kimiya Sato) can take a strategy of no tire change. Suzuka-meister No.61 SUBARU BRZ R&D SPORT (Takuto Iguchi / Hideki Yamauchi) can be at full throttle from qualifying and reign at the top position.
No.7 D'station Vantage GT3 (Tomonobu Fujii / Joao Paulo de Oliveira) and No.720 MaLaren 720S (Seiji Ara / Alex Palou) should have a pretty good understanding about their cars by now as they reach third round of the season, and they can be exerting full potential out of the car for fighting their way up to the top group.

 

   

 

 

2019 season has been turmoil up to now, but Round 3 Suzuka will surely provide exciting scenes again this year. You have to come out to Suzuka Circuit on May 25th and 26th and experience the intense head-to-head battle of SUPER GT. Unfortunate fans who cannot visit the circuit should follow all the excitement via J SPORTS broadcast as well as SUPER GT Plus shown in TV Tokyo network.

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