2019.08.04

Come-from-behind second consecutive win for WAKO'S 4CR LC500 on pit timing judgment!

Round 5 Fuji Speedway : Race GT500

The FUJI GT 500mile RACE, Round 5 of the 2019 AUTOBACS SUPER GT series, was run on August 4th at Fuji Speedway (4,563m x 175 laps) in Shizuoka Prefecture. This longest race of the series at 500 miles (807 km) turned out to be a truly tough midsummer endurance race. The winner of the GT500 class race thanks to a quick and decisive pit stop when the Safety Car appeared was the No. 6 WAKO'S 4CR LC500 (Kazuya Oshima/Kenta Yamashita), in what was a second consecutive win for the team following the victory in Round 4 in Thailand. In the GT300 class, the winner was the No. 87 T-DASH Lamborghini GT3 (Tsubasa Takahashi/Andre Couto/Kiyoto Fujinami).

 

 

 

 

 

In the pre-race warm-up session, a GT300 car had a rear tire come off, which brought out the Red Flag to stop the session. This caused the race to start 10 minutes later than scheduled at 1:40.

Before the start, 14 GT500 cars lined up on the grid, while the No. 17 KEIHIN NSX-GT remained in the pit. During yesterday’s Q2 qualifying session No. 17 had crashed and damaged a tire, so the team elected to stay in the pit to immediately change the tire after the start and begin the race from the back of the pack and try to make up ground. At 1:40 in the afternoon, motorcycles and patrol cars of the Shizuoka Prefectural Police led the GT machines in a parade lap followed by one formation lap to start the 500-mile (approx. 807 km) race, longest in the series, when the green light came on.

In the early going, two NISSAN GT-R NISMO GT500s led the race, the pole-starting No. 23 MOTUL AUTECH GT-R (Ronnie Quintarelli) and the other front row starter, the No. 3 CRAFTSPORTS MOTUL GT-R (Frederic Makowiecki). Starting from the seventh grid position, the No. 64 Modulo Epson NSX-GT (Tadasuke Makino) began to move up through the field lap by lap until it moved into 3rd position by lap four. As the GT500 class cars entered their fifth lap, they began to come up behind the GT300 class back markers, which slowed their lap times and resulted in contact between machines here and there, as the race began to take on a survival aspect.

Around the 30th lap, the lead group began making their first routine pit stops, and by the 37th lap all of the GT500 class cars had finished their first pit stops. The first to have made its pit stop immediately after finishing the 25th lap was the No. 19 WedsSport ADVAN LC500 (Sho Tsuboi), and after the driver change it returned to the race and assumed to lead. Pursuing it then were the No. 23 MOTUL AUTECH GT-R (Tsugio Matsuda), No. 16 MOTUL MUGEN NSX-GT (Daisuke Nakajima) and the No. 38 ZENT CERUMO LC500 (Ryo Hirakawa) and No. 3 CRAFTSPORTS MOTUL GT-R (Kohei Hirate) followed. By the 44th lap of the race, No. 3 had made its comeback and worked its way up to 3rd place. On the home straight of the 48th lap No. 23 finally caught and passed the leading No. 19 to take the lead in the race again. But on the 62nd lap, No. 23 would get caught in the Dunlop Corner with a GT300 car and run off the track, which enabled car No. 3 to take over the lead.

Cars began making their second routine pit stop from after the 66th lap of the race, and one the first lap back in the race after the pit stop, the No. 38 ZENT CERUMO LC500 (Yuji Tachikawa) ran off the track at the 100R turn of the 69th lap and crashed into the barrier. This accident brought out the Safety Car and the pit road entrance was closed, and the fact that most of the leaders had already finished their second pit stop the race order was not affected much.

When the race was restarted on the 79th lap, the leading car No. 3 (Makowiecki) collided with car No. 19 on the Dunlop Corner and spun out. After that, car No. 23 (Quintarelli) resumed the lead, followed by two LEXUS LC500 machines, the No. 36 au TOM'S LC500 (Kazuki Nakajima) and the No. 6 WAKO'S 4CR LC500 (Kenta Yamashita).

 

 

By the end of the 100th lap, with the sun sinking low in the west and the track surface temperature falling, the No. 23 MOTUL AUTECH GT-R continued to run on strongly in the lead. On the 102nd lap, the No. 36 au TOM'S LC500 running in 2nd place bumped a GT300 car with its left front end and that took it out of the race for the lead.

At the end of the 104th lap, machine trouble cause the No. 24 REALIZE CORPORATION ADVAN GT-R (Jann Mardenborough) to come to a stop on the main straight near the entrance to the pit road. Then a fire broke out on car No. 24 and the Safety Car was brought in.

Once again the accident came at a time when the teams were making their routine pit stops, and sensing another the Safety Car intervention, manager Juichi Wakisaka quickly ordered his team’s No. 6 WAKO'S 4CR LC500 to return to the pit. It was just seconds before the pit road was closed that No. 6 (Kazuya Oshima) finished its pit work. When the Safety Car intervention ended on the 113th lap, all the cars hurried to make their pit stops, leaving car No. 6 in the lead.

Car No. 23 (Quintarelli) made its pit stop immediately after the Safety Car’s run was lifted, while the No. 1 RAYBRIG NSX-GT (Naoki Yamamoto) pushed on hard for one more lap before following suit. Car No. 1 (Jenson Button) made it back unto the race in 2nd place, in front of No. 23 (Tsugio Matsuda). However, the leading No. 6 had almost a minute’s margin over the competition at this point.

Around that time the sun was lower in the west and long shadows were reaching out across the track, further lowering the track temperature. After the 140th lap of the race, the teams began to make their last routine pit stop. When all the cars had finished their last pit stop, car No. 6 (Yamashita) had returned to the lead. Car No. 1 running in 2nd place was 53 seconds behind the leader No. 6, which meant there was almost no chance of it being overtaken. Running in 3rd place, No. 23 (Quintarelli) had closed the gap with No. 1, but Yamamoto held it off and it gradually No. 23’s pace began to slacken.

 

 

With the overtime limit for the race set at 6:40, the chances of completing the full scheduled 177 laps difficult, and when the time limit was reached and the checkered flag waved, it was on the 175th lap of the race. As pilot Yoshihide Muroya was thrilling the 38,000 fans with his “Yoshi MUROYA X LEXUS CROSSING Special Flight @ FUJI SPEEDWAY” flight performance, down below car No. 6 was the first to take the checkered flag and the win.

For the No. 6 WAKO'S 4CR LC500 (Kazuya Oshima/Kenta Yamashita) it was their second consecutive SUPER GT series win follow that at the previous round. The last team to score consecutive wins in the GT500 class was car No. 23 (Matsuda/Quintarelli) when it won the opening round of the 2016 season at Okayama and Round 2 at Fuji. As the point leader coming into this race, No. 6 succeeded in stretching its lead in the series. With the No. 1 RAYBRIG NSX-GT (Naoki Yamamoto/Jenson Button) finishing 2nd and No. 23 MOTUL AUTECH GT-R (Tsugio Matsuda/Ronnie Quintarelli) in third, each of the three makers had one car on the podium.

 

 

 

 

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