2019.11.24

[Dream Race : Race 2 Qualifying] No. 16 MOTUL MUGEN NSX-GT's Nakajima records the fastest time

SUPER GT × DTM Dream Race : Qualifying 2

The official qualifying for Race 2 of the “AUTOBACS 45th Anniversary presents SUPER GT×DTM Dream Race” was held in the morning of Sunday Nov. 24. The official qualifying was held in the rain, and in it, Daisuke Nakajima in the No.16 MOTUL MUGEN NSX-GT recorded the fastest time. Qualifying in 2nd position was the same DTM car No. 28 BMC Airfilter Audi RS 5 DTM in as yesterday’s Race 1 qualifying driven by Loic Duval.

 

 

 

 

There was a misty drizzling rain falling on Fuji Speedway and the track was wet. Those were the conditions when the qualifying for Race 2 began at 9:00 in the morning. For the teams with a single driver this was their second qualifying of the weekend and they began getting fast times from early in the session, and as the session reached its midway point the top time was that of car No. 1 at 1’47.118. Compared to that, the No.33 Audi Sport RS 5 DTM (Rene Rast) recorded a time of 1’47.586, the No.99 Akrapovic Audi RS 5 DTM (Mike Rockenfeller) one of 1’47.692 and the No.11 BMW M4 DTM (Marco Wittmann) clocked in at 1’47.799, putting three DTM machines at the top of the time board.

The only GT500 car to break into that top group was Daisuke Nakajima in the No.16 MOTUL MUGEN NSX-GT. His time of 1’47.648 put him tentatively in 3rd position. Then another NSX-GT, car No. 17, bettered that time with a 1’47.308 to move up into 2nd position. Just after that, with one minute remaining in the session, car No. 16 took the top spot with a time of 1’47.003.

 

 

 

Just as the checkered flag was being waved to signal the last lap of the session, the No. 28 BMC Airfilter Audi RS 5 DTM (Loic Duval), which had qualified 2nd the day before for Race 1 but failed to participate in the race due to a crash on the way to the grid, turned in a time of 1’46.940 that bettered the top time of car No. 16, but then No. 16 also improved its time to 1’46.696 to take the fastest qualifying time for Race 2. Then another car on its last time attack, the No. 64 Modulo Epson NSX-GT (Narain Karthikeyan), jumped up into 3rd position with a time of 1’47.034 that ended the session.

Eventually, the top time was recorded by the No.16 MOTUL MUGEN NSX-GT’s Daisuke Nakajima. The 2nd place qualifier was the No. 28 BMC Airfilter Audi RS 5 DTM’s Loic Duval, as he had been the day before in the Race 1 qualifying. The 3rd and 4th place qualifiers were the No. 64 Modulo Epson NSX-GT (Narain Karthikeyan) and the No. 1 RAYBRIG NSX-GT (Naoki Yamamoto), making three of the top four machines Honda NSX-GTs. Of the DTM machines other than No. 28, the No. 33 Audi Sport RS 5 DTM (Rene Rast) with its time of 1’47.151 was the 5th qualifier and the No. 11 BMW M4 DTM (Marco Wittmann) with a time of 1’47.327 was the 7th place qualifier and the No. 99 Akrapovic Audi RS 5 DTM (Mike Rockenfeller) was 8th (1’47.396). Among the LEXUS LC500 cars, the No. 37 KeePer TOM'S LC500 (Ryo Hirakawa) that had won Race 1 qualified 9th (1’47.484) and among the NISSAN GT-R NISMO GT500 cars, the best qualifier after having its times disqualified several time for a wheel coming off was the No. 23 MOTUL AUTECH GT-R (Tsugio Matsuda) in 17th position (1’48.520).

Car No. 16 recorded the fastest qualifying time in this session, but due its crash in Friday’s official practice that damaged the car and the need to use a new chassis for its repair, meant that its qualifying position for both races would be dropped five places according to the race regulation. This moved car No. 28 up into pole position by default.

Also, in his post-session interview as the fastest time holder, Daisuke Nakajima (No. 16 MOTUL MUGEN NSX-GT) announced that he would be retiring as a race driver as of this season. About today’s Race 2 that will be his final race as a professional driver, Daisuke said, “I am going to be racing harder than ever.”

 

 

 

   

 

 

 

 

We didn’t change the tires during the session. It was a difficult decision because thought that if we continued to make our time attacks that way on the same tires and the track dried out the performance of the tires would drop drastically, but if we changed them there were worries that we wouldn’t be able to warm them up enough. As for me, once I was out on the track I wouldn’t know what was going on outside, so I consulted with the engineers about which was better, and as we watched the drivers that had already changed tires, we decided not to make a change. I think that is why we got the top time. After that the front tire were at there limit. I didn’t give up and made one last attack and then the rain began to fall lightly again, which was a big help. That is why I was just able to get the top time.

 

 

 

 

 

At this point, we have come to where there is no difference between the GT500 machines and our DTM machines and we can compete in equal conditions. It doesn’t matter now whether it is in fair weather or rain. My time attack on the first lap went very well but unfortunately [Daisuke] Nakajima-san (No. 16) was able to better it. Though Nakajima-san is part of my former team family in Japan (a former teammate in the Nakajima Racing team).
We weren’t able to compete in yesterday’s race because of my mistake (a crash on the way to the starting grid), so I want to be sure to get to the grid today (laughs)!
I used two sets of tires for my time attacks today. The first set of tires got better as I ran the laps, but still, the best timed lap is always the first one. That is why I quit my timed laps and went back to the pit to put on the second set of tires. As a result, I got my best time on the last lap.

 

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