2019.08.24

[SUZUKA 10H] No. 00 Mercedes-AMG Team Goodsmile qualifies for the race in dry conditions with sixth fastest time

The Official Qualifying for the 48th SUMMER ENDURANCE 2019 “BH AUCTION SMBC SUZUKA 10 HOURS” was held on Aug. 24 (Sat.). The previous day’s Free Practice unfortunately had to be run in the rain at Suzuka Circuit, but Qualifying day was blessed with fair skies as the ten cars of GT300 teams aiming to compete in the SUZUKA 10H resolutely made their time attacks for a qualifying time.

In the Q1, Q2, and Q3 qualifying sessions, each of the teams’ three drivers ran for 15 minutes, and when it was over the No. 88 JLOC (LAMBORGHINI HURACAN GT3: Andrea Caldarelli/Marco Mapelli/Dennis Lind), No. 21 Audi Team Hitotsuyama (Audi R8 LMS GT3：Richard Lyons/Ryuichiro Tomita/Alession Picariello), No. 87 JLOC (LAMBORGHINI HURACAN GT3: Takashi Kogure/Yuya Motojima/Yuhi Sekiguchi), No. 00 Mercedes-AMG Team Goodsmile (Mercedes-AMG GT3: Nobuteru Taniguchi/Tatsuya Kataoka/Kamui Kobayashi) had advanced to the Pole Shootout by qualifying in the top 20.
In the ensuing Pole Shootout for the top 20, the No. 00 Mercedes-AMG Team Goodsmile (Kamui Kobayashi) made a good showing to finish 6th fastest.

 

 

Track finally dry for the third Free Practice session

The third Free Practice session was run for an hour beginning at 9:15. Because of the rain the previous day, this was the first time that this year’s SUZUKA 10H competitors had a chance to run at Suzuka in dry conditions. Despite the Red Flag being brought out twice to stop the session temporarily, there was no other serious trouble before the session was complete.
Of the SUPER GT competitors, the fastest times were an 8th-place time of 2’3.491 by the No. 00 Mercedes-AMG Team Goodsmile and a 12th-place time by the No. 88 JLOC (2’3.806), followed by a 14th-place time of 2’3.857 by the No. 18 TEAM UPGARAGE (Honda NSX GT3 Evo: Takashi Kobayashi/Kosuke Matsuura/Tadasuke Makino).

 

 

 

On total time of the three drivers, No. 88 JLOC places 6th. Four SUPER GT teams qualify for the Pole Shootout

The Qualifying started at 13:00. The SUZUKA 10H was run in three sessions, Q1, Q2 and Q3 for 15 minutes each, but unlike the knock-out format of the SUPER GT Qualifying, each team’s three drivers took turn making time-attack runs. Then the qualifying order was determined by the total time of the three drivers’ best lap. The top 20 teams in that order then qualified for the Pole Shootout.

In the Q1 session there were cases of machine trouble and crashes at various points around the track, and with 3 min. 21 sec. remaining, the Red Flag was shown to stop the session for a while. The session was then restarted with 3 min. remaining for the teams to try to make their best time attacks. Of the GT300 teams, Takashi Kogure of the No. 87 JLOC team recorded the 8th-fastest time in Q1. This was followed by an 11th-fastest time by Kamui Kobayashi in the No. 18 TEAM UPGARAGE. Alession Picariello of the No. 21 Audi Team Hitotsuyama team ran the 13th-fastest time, while Mika Hakkinen in the No. 11 PLANEX SMACAM RACING ran the 19th-fastest time and Nobuteru Taniguchi in the No. 00 Mercedes-AMG Team Goodsmile ran the 20th-fastest time.

In Q2 as well, there were cars that ran off the track, but nothing caused the session to be stopped. Of the GT300 teams, Ryuichiro Tomita in car No. 21 ran a 14th-place time of 2’2.678. Marco Mapelli in car No. 88 ran a 16th-place time of 2’1.957 and Yuya Motojima in the No. 7 JLOC placed 17th with a time of 2’2.997. Then Tatsuya Kataoka in car No. 00 ran a time of 2’2.715 to place 19th and Kosuke Matsuura in the No. 18 car ran a time of 2’3.594 to finish in 20th place.

There was also no serious trouble to interrupt Q3. In this final session the total time score of each team’s three drivers was posted on the lap monitor screen so all could follow the ups and downs of each team. The SUPER GT teams that eventually qualified to the Pole Shootout were No. 88 JLOC, when Dennis Lind’s time of 2’2.004 brought the team’s total time to 6’7.548 to finish the session in 6th place. Richard Lyons’ best time in No. 21 Audi Team Hitotsuyama brought the team to 16th place. Yuhi Sekiguchi’s time brought the No. 87 JLOC into 17th place and Kamui Kobayashi’s time put the No. 00 Mercedes-AMG Team Goodsmile in 18th place, meaning that four GT300 teams moved on to the Pole Shootout.

 

 

 

 

Kobayashi’s time in the final session puts the No. 00 Mercedes-AMG Team Goodsmile in 6th place

The Pole Shootout competed by the top 20 qualifiers began at 5:30 in the afternoon. The skies overhead were cloudy, making the weather a bit more comfortable for the final 20-minute session. Being a collection of experienced drivers, there would be no real trouble to interrupt the session, as the teams began to improve on their times in the early going. By the third lap of the session, the top times were already dropping into the 2 min. 1 sec. range.

Of the SUPER GT teams, Kamui Kobayashi was driving for the No. 00 Mercedes-AMG Team Goodsmile. His best time of 2’1.024 put the team in 6th place, the highest place for a Japanese driver.
Although it wasn’t a team eligible for the SUPER GT Prize, the No. 35 KCMG (NISSAN GT-R NISMO GT3) finished in 13th place driven by GT500 driver Tsugio Matsuda. With Takashi Kogure driving, the No. 87 JLOC finished in 18th place.

The fastest time overall that took pole position was a 2’0.455 recorded by Augusto Farfus (No. 42 BMW Team Schnitzer), who in the past made a spot entry in the SUPER GT Suzuka 1000km round.

 

 

 

 

 

   

 

   

 

   

 

   

 

 

> Qualifying Result (PDF)

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