2020.08.23

Rd. 3 GT500 Race: MOTUL AUTECH GT-R Returns to Its Famed Speed and Strength! Dominating an Eventful Race

The FUJIMAKI GROUP SUZUKA GT 300km RACE, Round 3 of the 2020 AUTOBACS SUPER GT series took place at Suzuka circuit (one lap 5,807m × 52 laps) in Mie Prefecture on August 23 (Sun). In the GT500 class, the No. 23 MOTUL AUTECH GT-R (Tsugio Matsuda/Ronnie Quintarelli) came through with a magnificent first win of the season in a race interrupted by three Safety Car breaks. The GT300 class race was also won by a NISSAN GT-R, the No. 11 GAINER TANAX GT-R (Katsuyuki Hiranaka/Hironobu Yasuda).

 

 

 

　The Round 3 race at Suzuka Circuit started with the Formation Lap at 1:00 in the afternoon. At this time the air temperature stood at 32 degrees Celsius, ensuring very hot conditions for the 52-lap race to come, and from the early stages of the race there were a number of accidents. Starting from pole position, the No. 64 Modulo NSX-GT (Takuya Izawa) managed to hold the lead at the start. But the 2nd-grid-starting No. 23 MOTUL AUTECH GT-R (Ronnie Quintarelli) was right on No. 64’s tail keeping steady pressure on and pulling even with it before entering the Degner Curve, but Izawa was able to hold off this challenge. Meanwhile, two GT300 cars collided with each other back in the field, and this accident brought out the Safety Car in the first lap of the race.

 

　The race was finally restarted from the fifth lap. At his time, the No. 16 Red Bull MOTUL MUGEN NSX-GT (Hideki Mutoh) developed trouble in its left rear tire and ran off the track at the last turn. It was here that the race eventually ended for No. 16.

 

　After the restart, the leading car No. 64 began to open up a lead over the pack, but soon it was having trouble keeping up a strong pace. On the sixth lap, the No. 38 ZENT GR Supra (Yuji Tachikawa) that had moved into 2nd place by passing car No. 23 on the inside at the Hitachi Automotive Systems Chicane was now putting pressure on the leader. But No. 23 refused to be left behind and stuck close on No. 38’s tail, making it a 3-wat nose-to-tail battle for the lead. What’s more, by the 13th lap the No. 14 WAKO'S 4CR GR Supra (Kazuya Oshima) and the No. 100 RAYBRIG NSX-GT (Tadasuke Makino) had also caught up with the leaders to make it a close 5-car brawl.

 

 

　On that 13th lap, Quintarelli in car No. 23 succeeded in moving into the 2nd spot by passing No. 38 when it got caught behind a GT300 back marker. Then, No. 23 succeeded in taking the lead by passing No. 64 on the inside in the Dunlop Corners of the 15th lap. Unable to pick up the pace, No. 64 gradually dropped back to 7th position in the field.

 

　The car No. 38 then standing in 2nd position was passed by car No. 100 in the Spoon Curve of the 16th lap and dropped further back after that. With this, No. 100 began to chase No. 23 in the lead. But the race would be interrupted once again when the hood of the No. 24 REALIZE CORPORATION ADVAN GT-R (Jann Mardenborough) flew off and landed right in the middle of the track on the back straight. To stop the race so the obstacle could be removed, the Safety Car came out for the second time in the race. After the fallen hood had been retrieved, the race was restarted from the 23rd lap. Since it was possible for the teams to make their routine pit stop at that point in the race, the cars returned to the pits one after another to complete their pit work and driver changes.

 

　The first cars to enter the pits were the leading cars No. 38 and No. 64. Due to gear box trouble that had developed in car No. 38, however, its race would end at that point. The next to return to the pit was car No. 100, which was running in 2nd position at that stage. Then, the leading car No. 23 made its pit stop on the next lap and was able to complete its pit work quickly and return to the track effectively still in the lead.

 

　By the time all of the GT500 cars still in the race had completed their routine pit stops, the No. 23 MOTUL AUTECH GT-R (Tsugio Matsuda) had returned to the lead position on the 29th lap. Then, there was a collision between two GT300 cars while exiting the second turn that left one of the cars stopped at a standstill near the track, which required the Safety Car to be called out again for the third time in the race. At this point, the leader was car No. 23 and following in 2nd and 3rd positions were the No. 100 RAYBRIG NSX-GT (Naoki Yamamoto) and the No. 36 au TOM'S GR Supra (Yuhi Sekiguchi), which had worked its way up steadily through the pack from a 12th-position grid start.

 

 

　The race was restarted from the 34th lap. Now at the wheel of car No. 23, [Tsugio] Matsuda showed his ability to pull away from the pack and begin building a lead until he had a 2.215 sec. lead over car No. 100 in 2nd place by the 40th lap, and the gap continued to grow to 7.051 sec. by the 50th lap. Eventually, Matsuda drove on the finish holding a lead of 3.725 sec. at the checkered flag. This gave the No. 23 MOTUL AUTECH GT-R (Tsugio Matsuda/Ronnie Quintarelli) its first win since Round 2 at Fuji Speedway in the 2018 season. It was also an encouraging first win of the season for the NISSAN GT-R NISMO GT500 teams that had been struggling at a disadvantage in the first two rounds of the 2020 series. The win also extended Matsuda’s record for most GT500 wins by a driver to 21.

 

　Finishing this day’s race in 2nd place was the No. 100 RAYBRIG NSX-GT (Naoki Yamamoto/Tadasuke Makino). Third place went to the No. 36 au TOM'S GR Supra (Yuhi Sekiguchi/Sacha Fenestraz), extending the teams string of podium finishes to three in a row.

 

 

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