2019.10.07

DTM Hockenheim - SUPER GT X DTM, a solid first step toward the special event SUPER GT X DTM Dream Race at Fuji Speedway

On October 6 (Sun.), 2019, saw three SUPER GT GT500 class cars compete in Race 2 of Round 9 of the 2019 Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters (DTM) series held at Hockenheim. Both the qualifying and the race held on this day had to be competed in heavy wet conditions. In this memorable exchange race between SUPER GT and DTM competitors, the No. 1 Honda NSX-GT (TEAM KUNIMITSU) driven by Jenson Button finished the race in 16th place and the No. 35 NISSAN GT-R NISMO GT500 (NISMO) driven by Ronnie Quintarelli finished 17th. Unfortunately, the No. 37 LEXUS LC500 (LEXUS TEAM KEEPER TOM’S) driven by Nick Cassidy had to retire from the race.

 

 

The Official Qualifying for Race 2 started at 10:35 local time in Hockenheim (Oct. 6 (Sun.) with a track surface temperature of 8-degrees C., the coldest of this race weekend. In the unfortunate wet conditions, all three cars from Japan were in a situation where they struggled to warm up their Hankook on such a cold track.

Despite these conditions, Nick Cassidy driving the No. 37 LEXUS LC500 was able to increase his understanding of the tires and help improve the machine’s set-up to qualify in 16th place, top among the SUPER GT entrants. with rain falling on and off. S, the 20-minute session was run in wet conditions throughout. Meanwhile, the No. 1 Honda NSX-GT driven by Jenson Button qualified 19th and the No. 35 NISSAN GT-R NISMO GT500 with Ronnie Quintarelli driving qualified 21st. Pole position was taken by Mike Rockenfeller in the No. 99 AUDI SPORT TEAM PHOENIX with a time of 1’50.80

 

 

For Race 2 that started at 13:30 local time, the conditions remained rainy with the track surface temperature slightly warmer at 10-degrees C., the equivalent of winter test conditions in Japan. After three formation laps the cars took their grid positions and then made their standing start on the wet track.

At the beginning of the race, Jenson Button in the No.1 Honda NSX-GT got a good start to put him on the tail of the machine in front of him, but with no place to turn, he ended up over-running the first turn. This dropped him back to the very tail of the pack. Having started in 16th position on the grid, Nick Cassidy in the No. 37 LEXUS LC500 struggled to get ahead of the car in front of him until coming out of the hairpin turn at the end of a long straight he found himself side-by-side with the No. 21 Audi in the mid-speed T8 turn and the two machines bumped each other. With this, Cassidy lost control of his machine and hit the guardrail and came to a stop, and in this way he had to retire from the race on the first lap. This accident brought out the Safety Car.

 

 

During that Safety Car run, thick smoke began pouring out of the hood of the No. 23 Aston Martin and it was brought to a stop at trackside. This combination of trouble brought out the Red Flag to stop the race. During this stoppage, some of the DTM cars were seen changing their tires.

On the fourth lap after the race was restarted, the No. 35 NISSAN GT-R NISMO GT500 driven by Ronnie Quintarelli made its pit stop. After making a tire change that is required even in wet conditions during pit stops, it turned out that the timing of the change made it invalid under the race regulation, so it wouldn’t count and No. 35 would end up having to make a second pit stop on the 13th lap.

 

 

 

Meanwhile, Button in car No. 1 made his pit stop on lap five and was then able to return to the race and run laps successfully, but he was unable to improve on his race position and would eventually finish the race in 16th place. Quintarelli in car No. 35 finished the race one lap behind in 17th place. The race winner was the No. 51 AUDI SPORT TEAM ABT SPORTSLINE driven by Nico Muller. Two more Audi RS5 machines also finished the race in 2nd and 3rd places to give Audi a sweep of the podium.

 

 

 

 

In a press conference held before the morning qualifying, ITR chairman Gerhard Berger and GTA chairman Masaaki Bandoh spoke about the significance of this exchange between SUPER GT and DTM.

 

 

Although the results of the SUPER GT entries in Race 2 were not as hoped, the fans at Hockenheim, Germany and the DTM representatives had given the SUPER GT participants a warm welcome, and race attendance had been strong on both Saturday and Sunday despite the rain.

Following the first step in the SUPER GT X DTM exchange races at Hockenheim, Germany, Japan will be welcoming DTM participants in the “AUTOBACS 45th Anniversary presents SUPER GT X DTM Dream Race.” Hopes are high that it will indeed turn out to be a Dream Race worth of its name.

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