2019.05.25

Rd. 3 Qualifying GT300: Erasing the bad memories of last year, HOPPY 86 MC wins pole position

Round 3 Suzuka Circuit : Qualifying GT300

The qualifying for the SUZUKA GT 300km RACE, Round 3 of the 2019 AUTOBACS SUPER GT series was held at Suzuka circuit in Mie Prefecture on May 25. The No. 36 au TOM'S LC500 team (Kazuki Nakajima/Yuhi Sekiguchi) won the GT500 class pole, with Sekiguchi taking his second career pole position in the GT500 class. In the GT300 class, the No. 25 HOPPY 86 MC (Takamitsu Matsui/Kimiya Sato) took class pole position.

 

 

 

In the early stages of Q1, it was the JAF-GT300 cars, including the Mother Chassis cars, that aggressively set into their time trials. The No. 25 HOPPY 86 MC (Kimiya Sato) brought its time down to 1’57.895, and then the No. 2 SYNTIUM Apple LOTUS (Hiroki Katoh) ran a 1’57.969 lap. As the remaining time in the session dwindled, it was the No. 5 ADVICS MACHSYAKENMC86 MACH GO (Natsu Sakaguchi) that emerged at the top of the time board with a time of 1’57.827.

 

With 3 minutes remaining in the session, the No. 9 PACIFIC MIRAI AKARI NAC PORSCHE (Kyosuke Mineo) ran onto the green on the inside of the hairpin turn and ran of the course and crashed into the sponge barrier on the outside of the turn. This brought out the Red Flag to stop the GT300 class session until just after 3:00, when it was restarted to run the final 4 minutes. This left the teams with just one chance to try to beat the top time, but none could. The No. 5 ADVICS MACHSYAKENMC86 MACH GO was able to qualify for 2 with its earlier top time. It was followed in order by the No. 25 HOPPY 86 MC and the No. 2 SYNTIUM Apple LOTUS, putting three Mother Chassis cars at the top of the GT300 class Q1. The No. 360 RUNUP RIVAUX GT-R (Takayuki Aoki) was 4th fastest, while last year’s winners from pole position at the 2018 Suzuka round, the No. 96 K-tunes RC F GT3 (Morio Nitta) finished the session with the 5th fastest time.

 

Meanwhile, The previous round’s pole-sitter, the No. 56 REALIZE NISSAN AUTOMOBILE TECHNICAL COLLEGE GT-R (Kazuki Hirame), last year’s champion team, the No. 65 LEON PYRAMID AMG (Haruki Kurosawa) finished 21st and 22nd in the session and thus failed to advance to Q2.

 

 

 

After the GT500 class Q1, the GT300 class Q2 began at 3:34. The air temperature remained at a high 28℃ as the cars began to run time attacks one after another. Among these, the No. 25 HOPPY 86 MC (Takamitsu Matsui) was quick to set a time of 1’57.008. With this as a target time, the No. 61 SUBARU BRZ R&D SPORT (Hideki Yamauchi) and No. 4 GOODSMILE HATSUNE MIKU AMG (Tatsuya Kataoka) ran times in the 1’57 range.

 

For a while, no cars were able to beat Matsui’s time, but close to the end of the session the No. 5 ADVICS MACHSYAKENMC86 MACH GO (Yuya Hiraki) recorded a time of 1’57.571 to move up to 2nd position. And then, the No. 96 K-tunes RC F GT3 (Sena Sakaguchi) ran a 1’57.134 that nearly reached Matsui’s time. However, the top position of the No. 25 HOPPY 86 MC remained in tact. Remembering their frustration at finishing 2nd in last year’s Suzuka round qualifying, the No. 25 HOPPY 86 MC (Takamitsu Matsui/Kimiya Sato) succeeded proudly in winning pole position this time. For Matsui and the No. 25 team it was their first pole position since Round 5 at Fuji in 2018.

 

Qualifying 2nd was the No. 96 K-tunes RC F GT3 (Morio Nitta/ Sena Sakaguchi), and although the order is reversed this team these two machines will again start from the front row. The 3rd-place qualifier was the No. 5 ADVICS MACHSYAKENMC86 MACH GO (Natsu Sakaguchi/Yuya Hiraki), while 4th position went to the No. 61 SUBARU BRZ R&D SPORT (Takuto Iguchi/Hideki Yamauchi).Qualifying 5th was the No. 10 GAINER TANAX triple a GT-R (Kazuki Hoshino/Keishi Ishikawa).

 

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