2020.06.21

【SGT×GTS Special Race】Rd.1: Daiki Sasaki becomes historical first-ever winner undisputedly!

　SUPER GT and Gran Turismo Sport's collaborative online virtual race, SGT × GTS　Special Race Round 1, was held with 20 drivers in participation.
　The event was staged at Fuji Speedway. No separation of class like GT500 and GT300, instead, all drivers competed with an FIA GT3 car or a Group 3 car (equivalent to GT3 car) in the Gran Turismo Sport of, basically, the same make and the car number as which each uses in the actual SUPER GT series. Legend driver Satoshi Motoyama and Juichi Wakisaka used No.023 NISSAN GT-R and No.39 GR Supra, respectively. Each car was colored with a livery data created by a fan.
　For the unusual online race, the drivers used Playstation 4 and Gran Turismo Sport to control the race car at home, office, or wherever they were. Drivers also enjoyed their freedom in the attire which the virtual world enabled, and a lot of their personality were reflected in how they dressed. Some drivers wore real racing suit and gloves and there were also drivers in casual outfit with a T-shirt but couldn't let go of the racing gloves.
 

Highlight of Sporting regulations

・Tire types: Medium and Soft.
・Qualifying: One 8-minute session.
・Race: 30 laps.
・Format of start: Rolling start.
・Slipstream effect on straight: Weak.
・Two types of tire must be used in the race, but no limitation on the tire type for the start.
・Refueling during a pit-stop is not mandatory,
・Tire type and amount of fuel remained (weight) affect the feel of the car.
・Race director Naoki Hattori provides judgment in case of an accident.
　If a car were to be penalized, the respective car would be required to slow down for a specific seconds.

 

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Qualifying：Ryo Hirakawa showing smooth run! Grabs pole with unbeatable attack.

　Stage was set with a fine weather for the qualifying at Fuji Speedway. All 20 cars entered the track in a chain headed by No.10 Kazuki Hoshino (NISSAN GT-R). It was the beginning of the 8 minutes of the one-time qualifying session. All drivers chose soft tires for the session.
　Although drivers were already aware of the characteristics of the car as well as the tires from the practice session held prior to the event, some drivers spent early part of the session to try different tires or setting like in a real situation.

　After 4 minutes into the session as it reached the halfway mark, No.61 Takuto Iguchi (SUBARU WRX) stood at top with the fastest lap time so far. Last year's GT500 champion No.14 Kazuya Oshima (GR Supra) and uprising GT300 driver No.65 Togo Suganami (Mercedes-AMG GT) trailed behind Iguchi. Then, from there, No.37 Ryo Hirakawa (GR Supra) got in aggressive mode as he started his first attack and whipped out 1 min 36.981 sec. No.31 Yuhki Nakayama (GR Supra), No.64 Hiroki Otsu (Honda NSX), and No.3 Katsumasa Chiyo (NISSAN GT-R) followed with a lap time in the 1 min 37 sec mark.
　At 3 minutes to go, Hirakawa and other drivers who had not made a pit-stop came in, changed the tires, and quickly went back to the track for a last attack. No.100 Tadasuke Makino (Honda NSX), who started an attack lap before them, leaped to the second place with 1 min 37.035 sec. And in the final attack that began just before the time ran out, Hirakawa improved his top time to 1 min 36.888 sec. It barely missed the real GT300 track record of Fuji (1 min 35.707 sec), but good enough to secure the pole position. Makino qualified second. Iguchi and Otsu were able to run quicker than Nakayama in their final attack to give them 3rd and 4th positions, respectively. Nakayama was fifth and Chiyo qualified sixth.

　The legends, No.39 Juichi Wakisaka (GR Supra) and No.023 Satoshi Motoyama (NISSAN GT-R), were 16th and 17th, respectively. Despite showing his confidence in the Gran Turismo, No.10 Kazuki Hoshino (NISSAN GT-R) had to settle with 18th place as he held his head and shouted "It's shocking."

 

   

 

 

 

　The race opened up in a rolling-start format. Top qualifiers, Hirakawa, Makino, and Otsu, started with the medium tire whereas Iguchi, Nakayama, and Chiyo chose the softs. Tire selection was split evenly to 50-50.
　Cars entered TGR Corner (first corner) in the order of qualifying with pole sitter Hirakawa at the lead followed by Makino, Iguchi, and Otsu. No.16 Hideki Mutoh (Honda NSX), qualified 13th, pushed out No.23 Ronnie Quintarelli (NISSAN GT-R) at TGR Corner which cost him a penalty of slowing down for one second on the straightaway in his next return. Motoyama, who started from the last position in the qualifying, took a strategic move and completed his first pit-stop at the end of first lap. Wakisaka also completed his pit-stop early in Lap 4. In the upper half of the pack, Otsu lost ground to the soft tire group bringing him down to 8th place while 7th fastest qualifier No.60 Hiroki Yoshimoto (LEXUS RC F) gradually emerged.
　Despite showing unmatchable speed in the qualifying, Hirakawa was not able to pull away, possibly due to wearing medium tires, and cars lined up behind him down to 6th place Chiyo in a straight line as they went around the track. Makino with also medium tires was getting fierce pressure from Iguchi, Nakayama, and Yoshimoto, all wearing soft tires, in their intense battle for the 2nd place. 14th qualifier No.38 Hiroaki Ishiura (GR Supra) and Hoshino, starting from 18th position with medium tires, made a move early and quickly merged to 7th and 11th position by Lap 5.

　In Lap 6, Iguchi and Yoshimoto finally passed Makino at TGR Corner. Yoshimoto kept his momentum in the following lap also and overtook Hirakawa for the leading position. While the leader changed, Motoyama was struck with a problem in his car which forced him to conclude his race in unfortunate retirement. Hirakawa returned to the pit in Lap 9. It appeared he was taking a 2-top strategy to enable lesser refueling. Yosihmoto and Iguchi, then, got in a hard fight for the top position with Ishiura and Chiyo trailing behind. Otsu made a pit-stop earlier than others which implied he was taking a strategy to try to be easy on the tires to run longer distance on them.

　Middle part of the race saw Iguchi at the lead. Yoshimoto, Ishiura, and Chiyo ran tightly together battling for the 2nd place at about a second behind the leader. Nakayama and Makino followed behind them. What mysterious here was No.12 Daiki Sasaki settling at 7th or 8th place with medium tires. At Lap 13, Makino returned to the pit. From seeing Makino going out quickly without refueling, he seemed to be taking a 2-stop strategy also. Unlike the real race, the driver himself makes decision on when to come to the pit, the amount of refueling, and the tires for next stint based on any changes on the car or the fuel gauge. This calculating while driving could become a significant factor for win or lose in the last part of the race.

 

 

　Chiyo returned to the pit at the end of Lap 14, the halfway mark of the race. He appeared to be taking 1-stop strategy as he filled up his car full. Mutoh came in to the pit at about the same time, but he made a mistake when he was pushing the tire selection button and the car returned to the track after changing the tires from soft to soft. Director Hattori quickly responded and directed to do a pit-stop one more time.

　Iguchi at the lead continued to stay ahead of the pack with the soft tires even after 15 laps, but, apparently, it was becoming difficult for him to keep the car steady around the corner. Iguchi, Yoshimoto, and Nakayama also returned to the pit in Lap 16. This pushed Sasaki, who had been trying to be easy on the medium tire and keep the gas, to the top position. Then, it was a matter of when will he come in to the pit.　And also, for Hirakwa who emerged to the 2nd position, he needed to make another pit-stop, but, then, the vital point would be whether he could drive fast enough to compensate a pit-stop.
　After skidding around in technical Sector 3 in Lap 17, Sasaki came in for a pit-stop. Hirakawa also came in to the pit, but, surprisingly, he skipped refueling again. It became clear that 3-stop strategy was the choice for him. This brought Makino to the top, Chiyo to 2nd, and Iguchi to 3rd position. While Otsu made his second pit-stop, Hirakwa with faster lap times made his way up to the top group.

　8 laps to go. Makino came in for his last pit-stop, but, believe it or not, trouble occurred. He lost a race that was so assuring to win. This brought Hirakawa to the top. But he had to make his last pit-stop at the end of Lap 23. He would lose position to 11th, but how much can he regain?
　Sasaki with conservative 1-stop strategy moved to the top position with 6 laps to go, but then the question was, will he be able to run away with soft tires?　Chiyo and Iguchi wearing medium tire chased the leader from 2 seconds behind. Ishiura at 4th was another 7 seconds behind. 2-stop strategy Otsu at 7th position started to close in the gap in a good pace. As the race entered the final phase, Chiyo with a concern on the remaining fuel began to fall back from Sasaki and got his tail hanging right in front of Iguchi.
　The race came down to 2 laps to go. Sasaki driving stably at the leading position had created a gap of more than 5 seconds against the group competing for the second place. Iguchi advanced to the 2nd place after getting passed Chiyo. Otsu with faster lap time made his way up to the 4th place, however, a podium finish appeared to be a difficult task for him as Chiyo at 3rd was 7 seconds ahead of him.

 

 

　At last, No.12 Daiki Sasaki (NISSAN GT-R), who also completed the final lap without any shaky moments, received the inaugural checkered flag of SGT × GTS　Special Race. In the contention for the second place, Chiyo again got ahead at TGR Corner in the final lap. While all thought the game was decided, No.3 Katsumasa Chiyo (NISSAN GT-R) came around last and final Panasonic Corner and suddenly started to slow down. "I made a mistake in calculating the number of laps when I made a pit-stop, so I had to save gas in the later part of the race. And, when it was 2 laps to go, I saw the number of possible laps (by remaining fuel) on the screen was the same, so I thought 'I can do it now' and got in the battle with Iguchi, but I guess I used too much (fuel) in that", commented Chiyo. This awarded No.61 Takuto Iguchi (SUBARU WRX) the 2nd place and No.64 Hiroki Otsu (Honda NSX) the 3rd position.
 

 

Winner: No.12 Daiki Sasaki (NISSAN GT-R)
"I knew you can get a pretty good effect from slip (stream) in this race (when you are running closely with other cars in the early part of the race), so the key was how fast of a lap time I could go with the medium tires. And then, in the later half, change to the soft and boom, that was my strategy. There weren't many battles, but I had confidence in tire management, so I think I was able to take advantage of my ability. In the real race, we would need to deal with an element so called pick-up (tire debris sticking to the tire surface causing slow-down), but I'm good at keeping the tire (grip), and that worked out well (in this virtual race)."

 

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Race result

　　※Fin / Dry (Weather / Track)

Po	No	Driver	Machine	Time（Diff.)	Q-Pos
1	12	Daiki Sasaki	GT-R NISMO GT3	50'01.251	8
2	61	Takuto Iguchi	WRX Gr.3	07.680	3
3	64	Hiroki Otsu	NSX Gr.3	12.851	4
4	38	Hiroaki Ishiura	GR Supra Racing Concept	14.147	14
5	10	Kazuki Hoshino	GT-R NISMO GT3	15.182	18
6	3	Katsumasa Chiyo	GT-R NISMO GT3	17.169	6
7	37	Ryo Hirakawa	GR Supra Racing Concept	19.161	1
8	60	Hiroki Yoshimoto	RC F GT3	25.488	7
9	31	Yuhki Nakayama	GR Supra Racing Concept	26.031	5
10	65	Togo Suganami	Mercedes-AMG GT3	26.138	11
11	16	Hideki Mutoh	NSX Gr.3	31.320	13
12	14	Kazuya Oshima	GR Supra Racing Concept	35.545	15
13	25	Takamitsu Matsui	911 RSR (991)	37.457	9
14	23	Ronnie Quintarelli	GT-R NISMO GT3	39.780	12
15	34	Ryo Michigami	NSX Gr.3	42.442	10
16	39	Juichi Wakisaka	GR Supra Racing Concept	49.347	16
17	52	Hiroki Yoshida	GR Supra Racing Concept	1'12.120	20
18	55	Shinichi Takagi	NSX Gr.3	1Lap	19
19	100	Tadasuke Makino	NSX Gr.3	9Laps	2
20	023	Satoshi Motoyama	GT-R NISMO GT3	25Laps	17

 

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　If you missed the premiere streaming, you can always watch it in below URL. Don't miss the action. It's about 1.5 hour video. The commentary is the same as all other series races with Pierre Kitagawa as MC and Jiro Takahashi as the pit reporter. (*Japanese only)

 

≫ SGT × GTS　Special Race Rd.1 (YouTube)

 

≫ Gran Turismo official website
© 2019 Sony Interactive Entertainment Inc. Developed by Polyphony Digital Inc.
 

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