2019.06.21

[Round 4 Preview] What can we expect to see at series' only overseas race?　Who will conquer technical and high-speed Chang?

Round 4 Chang International Circuit : Preview

Round 4 "Chang SUPER GT RACE" will take place on June 29 and 30 as the series' overseas race at Thailand enters sixth years since its first event. Despite preseason outlook that labeled them as underdog, which lasted until even after the season opener, LEXUS LC500 completed two-in-a-row win over Round 2 Fuji and Round 3 Suzuka which drastically changed the situation at the battle field. What kind of a race will we see at Chang International Circuit then? Thailand is also in the rain season like Japan at this time of the year and sudden rain can be worrisome to the teams. Who will grab the trophy at the last race of the first half of the season and gain momentum towards the title?

 

 

Hosting circuit of Round 4, Chang International Circuit, is located on flat land that enables spectators to view almost entire track from the main stand. First half of the track is characterized as high-speed section mainly with three straightaway, whereas the last half is considered very technical. It can be categorized as a technical circuit as a whole, but the average speed is much faster when compared with that of Okayama International Circuit.

 

LEXUS has been the most successful car at Chang so far. Inauguration race in 2014 was won by PETRONAS TOM'S RC F (driven by Kazuki Nakajima / James Rossiter). RC F and LC500 brought in three consecutive victories for the automaker from 2016 to last year, and the fleet has also captured three pole positions in five races. Hence, it's only natural to name a victorious candidate from the LC500 teams.
First of all should be No.19 WedsSport ADVAN LC500 (Yuji Kunimoto / Sho Tsuboi) for its light handicap weight of 13kg. The team should be looking for their second win in Thailand after 2016. Another candidate can be No.6 WAKO'S 4CR LC500 (Kazuya Oshima / Kenta Yamashita) that has been showing good runs in the race, but falling short to a win. Lead by Kazuki Nakajima who crowned 24 Hours of Le Mans two years in a row, No.36 TOM'S LC500 (Kazuki Nakajima / Yuhi Sekiguchi) could be doing back-to-back win from the previous race at Suzuka in spite of heavy handicap weight.

 

 

Last year's champion car Honda NSX-GT already had two wins after first three races of the season last year. However, this season has not been that delightful for the squad yet as it only has one win from the season opener so far. In fact, losing at Round 3 Suzuka held on the home ground of Honda this year must had been a huge let down to the squad. Chang shouldn't be difficult to NSX-GT that has a mid-engine layout, but, for some reason, NSX-GT is yet to score a win at the track. No.1 RAYBRIG NSX-GT (Naoki Yamamoto / Jenson Button) as well as No.17 KEIHIN NSX-GT (Koudai Tsukakoshi / Bertrand Baguette) must be keen to bring in the first Thai win for the NSX-GT fleet. Last year's pole-sitter No.16 MOTUL MUGEN NSX-GT (Hideki Mutoh / Daisuke Nakajima) can be showing strong performance, of course, and, if we see unusual weather condition like rain or high temperature, we might see No.64 Modulo Epson NSX-GT (Narain Karthikeyan / Tadasuke Makino) running in the top group of the pack.

 

 

NISSAN GT-R NISMO GT500 squad was a popular pick of the paddock before the season kickoff, but, although No.23 MOTUL AUTECH GT-R (Tsugio Matsuda / Ronnie Quintarelli) have been fighting hard against the rivals, the squad is still winless after finishing first three races of the season. They should be wanting to charge back from upcoming Thai round. After finishing both of last two races with unfortunate trouble, No.12 CALSONIC IMPUL GT-R (Daiki Sasaki / James Rossiter) should be coming in with must-win attitude especially when the team has a good track record at Chang. Like No.12 car, the handicap weight is quite light for No.24 Realize Corporation ADVAN GT-R (Mitsunori Takaboshi / Jann Mardenborough), and that can open up some chances for the car.

 

 

 

24 cars are entering in the GT300 class at upcoming Thai event this season. Very flat and technical Chang International Circuit is advantageous to the car models that are typically fast around the corners. If to accord with the theory, mother-chassis cars should be considered as top favorite, and, especially, No.25 HOPPY 86 MC (Takamitsu Matsui / Kimiya Sato) could be aiming for a pole-to-finish after missing the podium at the previous race in Suzuka. Third place finisher of the season opener No.52 SAITAMA TOYOPET GB MARK X MC (Shigekazu Wakisaka / Hiroki Yoshida) is another strong candidate.

 

   

 

Out of the FIA-GT3 cars, NISSAN GT-R NISMO GT500 has been showing good suitability to Chang with three wins though it doesn't have one-shot speed in the qualifying, and No.10 GAINER TANAX triple a GT-R (Kazuki Hoshino / Keishi Ishikawa) as well as No.52 Realize Nissan Automobile Technical College GT-R (Kazuki Hiramine / Sacha Fenestraz) can be contending strong in the race with their light handicap weight. No.4 GOODSMILE HATSUNE MIKU AMG (Nobuteru Taniguchi / Tatsuya Kataoka) and No.65 LEON PYRAMID AMG (Haruki Kurosawa / Naoya Gamou), both fielding a Mercedes AMG GT3 with proven records, are known for its cornering performance and certainly are victorious candidates. We can also expect strong performance from No.60 SYNTIUM LMcorsa RC F GT3 (Hiroki Yoshimoto / Ritomo Miyata) for their third place podium finish last year.

 

If the race becomes turmoil by unexpected events like sudden rain shower, we cannot underestimate No.33 EVA RT TEST-01 X Works GT-R (Shaun Thong / Marchy Lee) or Thai local No.35 arto RC F GT3 (Nattapong Hortongkum / Sean Walkinshaw) either. We could be seeing No.96 K-tunes RC F GT3 (Morio Nitta / Sena Sakaguchi) and No.55 ARTA NSX-GT competing in the top group as well despite heavy handicap weight.
Five teams will be absent at upcoming event, which are No.5 ADVICS MACHSYAKEN MC86 MACH GO, No.22 R'Qs AMG GT3, No.48 SHOKUMOU GO&FUN GT-R, No.720 McLaren 720S, and No.360 RUNUP RIVAUX GT-R.

 

   

 

 

Round 4 Thailand is a halfway mark of this year’s 8-event season. This would be a perfect race to check the baseline performance of this season's machine. You must not take your eyes away until the end to find out which direction the series will roll.

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