2019.07.01

Rd. 4 GT500 Race: WAKO'S 4CR LC500 comes from pole to win for first time in six years!

Round 4 Chang International Circuit : Race GT500

On Sunday, June 30, the Chang SUPER GT RACE, Round 4 of the 2019 AUTOBACS SUPER GT, was held at Chang International Circuit (4,554m X 66 laps) in Buriram, Thailand. In the GT500 class, the No. 6 WAKO'S 4CR LC500 (Kazuya Oshima/Kenta Yamashita) started from the pole position to win their first victory in six years. In the GT 300 class, an overtake in the final lap gave the No. 10 GAINER TANAX triple a GT-R (Kazuki Hoshino, Keishi Ishikawa) a come-from-behind the victory.

 

 

 

 

 

Despite forecasts of rain for round four of the series during race week in Thailand, dry conditions held up in the rounds leading up to the race with no squalls or rain. On the morning of the race the sky was heavily overcast, but conditions had cleared by the warm-up laps with sunlight showing through; the respective vehicles warmed up on a sunny track.

 

The race began precisely at 3:00 in the afternoon, local time (17:00 Japan Standard Time). All vehicles made a clean start, headed by the pole-starting No. 6 WAKO'S 4CR LC500 (Kazuya Oshima) to clear the first turn. Cars in the lead maintained single-file, but the fourth lap saw the No. 8 ARTA NSX-GT (Takuya Izawa), which was leading the NSX-GT’s at that point, spin out and lose position. On lap 6, the No. 36 au TOM'S LC500 (Daisuke Nakajima) began attacking the second-place No. 19 WedsSport ADVAN LC500 (Yuji Kunimoto), and eventually passed it. The No. 19 went on to put the pressure on the leading No. 6, negotiating the lapped cars and following the lead car by about a second. A short distance behind the two lead cars was No. 19, followed by the No. 24 REALIZE CORPORATION ADVAN GT-R (Jann Mardenborough), the No. 3 CRAFTSPORTS MOTUL GT-R (Frederic Makowiecki) and the No. 37 KeePer TOM'S LC500 (Ryo Hirakawa).

 

After 1/3 of the race’s 66 laps had bee passed, the No. 38 ZENT CERUMO LC500 (Yuji Tachikawa), the No. 17 KEIHIN NSX-GT (Bertrand Baguette) and the No. 37 succeeded each other in taking early pit stops. But choosing a no-tire-change strategy, No. 17 (Koudai Tsukakoshi) succeeded in moving up in the race order.
Vying for the top position, car No. 36’s Nakajima was able to overtake No. 6 on the 29th lap. Ending the 30th lap with a fraction of a lead, car No. 36 headed for the pit, with No. 6 soon to follow. Pit work completed, it was No. 6 that came out on top in this pit battle, leaving the pit in the lead.

 

 

On lap 37 the No. 16 MOTUL MUGEN NSX-GT (Daisuke Nakajima) in 13th place collided in the eighth turn with the 12th place No. 1 RAYBRIG NSX-GT (Jenson Button). The No. 8 ARTA NSX-GT (Tomoki Nojiri) piled into car No. 16 as it was losing control. The Safety Car was brought out when No. 8 came to a stop on the track.

 

The race was restarted in the 43rd lap. In competition for top position were three Lexus LC500’s, the No. 6 WAKO'S 4CR LC500 (Yamashita), the No. 36 au TOM'S LC500 (Yuhi Sekiguchi) and the No. 37 KeePer TOM'S LC500 (Nick Cassidy). However, in turn three immediately following the restart, the No. 37 jumped into the inside of the turn, with No. 36 on the outside. Car No. 36 was forced off the track as a result, dropping back to 5th place.

 

The race continued in close competition between the No. 37 and the No. 6 at an approximate distance of one second, the cars coming side-by-side at times. The No. 6’s Yamashita pressed on, refusing to give up the lead. Among the NSX-GT cars, the No. 17 KEIHIN NSX-GT adopted a no-tire-change strategy, which brought them at one point to 6th place, but as their pace slackened the No. 24 REALIZE CORPORATION ADVAN GT-R (Mitsunori Takaboshi) was able to overtake them on the 44th lap. Car No. 17 further suffered a flat tire, losing position.

 

 

Eventually, the No. 6 WAKO'S 4CR LC500 (Kazuya Oshima, Kenta Yamashita) ran on to win, racing the full 66 laps and taking the checkered flag with a lead of 1.236 seconds. The team’s last victory was in Round 8 of the 2013 series, at Twin Ring Motegi. This marks the team’s eighth victory, the fifth victory for Kazuya Oshima, and for Kenta Yamashita, his first GT500 win. This victory placed the pair in the lead of the Driver’s Point Standings.

Following in 2nd place was the No. 37 KeePer TOM'S LC500 (Ryo Hirakawa/Nick Cassidy), in 3rd place the No. 19 WedsSport ADVAN LC500 (Yuji Kunimoto/Sho Tsuboi), giving the LEXUS LC500 cars a sweep of the podium, as they had in the previous round at Suzuka.
First among the NISSAN GT-R NISMO GT500 cars was the No. 24 REALIZE CORPORATION ADVAN GT-R (Mitsunori Takaboshi/Jann Mardenborough), coming in at 4th place. Between the NSX-GT’s, the No. 64 Modulo Epson NSX-GT (Narain Karthikeyan/Tadasuke Makino) came home first in 10th place.

 

 

 

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