2020.10.04

Rd. 5 Race GT500：DENSO KOBELCO SARD GR Supra Comes from behind to win! Emerging skillfully from the pack after the tire change

The Takanokono Hotel FUJI GT 300km RACE, Round 5 of the 2020 AUTOBACS SUPER GT series, was held at the Fuji Speedway (one lap 4,563m×66 laps) in Shizuoka Prefecture on October 4 (Sun). In the GT500 class, the No. 39 DENSO KOBELCO SARD GR Supra (Heikki Kovalainen/Yuichi Nakayama) came from 5th place on the starting grid to run away in the final stages and take its first win of the season. In the GT300 class, REALIZE NISSAN AUTOMOBILE TECHNICAL COLLEGE GT-R (Kiyoto Fujinami/Joao Paulo de Oliveira) gave team manager Masahiko Kondo’ team its first class victory.

 

 

 

　The 2020 AUTOBACS SUPER GT series began with the first four rounds held without spectators. But from this Round 5 at Fuji Speedway, spectator presence was allowed, although under limited conditions, making this the first race of the season to be run in front of a large gathering of fans.

 

　Perhaps as a result of the first spectator presence of the season, fierce battles on the track commenced just after the start. On the TGR (first) turn after the start, Daiki Sasaki driving the No. 12 CALSONIC IMPUL GT-R pulled up from the outside to align himself with the fleeing pole starter, Nirei Fukuzumi in the No. 8 ARTA NSX-GT. As No. 8 desperately fought to hold the lead, No. 12 ran wide to the outside coming out of the second turn and fell back to 5th position. But then a new assault on No. 8 came from Mitsunori Takaboshi in the No. 24 Realize corporation ADVAN GT-R, moving in from the outside at the Dunlop Corner and passing No. 8 to take the lead.

 

　Then an accident occurred back in the following pack at the TGR corner. There was a collision between Hideki Mutoh in the No. 16 Red Bull MOTUL MUGEN NSX-GT and Katsumasa Chiyo in the No. 3 CRAFTSPORTS MOTUL GT-R. Probably as a result of that, the front cowling of car No. 3 came off and it came to a stop on the outside of the track at the 100R curve. This brought out the Safety Car on only the second lap of the race. At this point, the race order saw No. 24 in the lead followed by No. 8, then Ronnie Quintarelli in the No. 23 MOTUL AUTECH GT-R and No. 12 behind him.

 

　When the race was restarted on the fifth lap, the leading car No. 24 was unable to pull away from the pack, and from the 10th lap the three lead cars were running nose to tail. It was on the 13th lap that the order began to change. When the leading No. 24 got caught behind some GT300 class back markers, car No. 8 took the opportunity to attack and pass No. 24 and regain the lead. Next, it was car No. 12 that dropped out of the fray at the front when it was given a drive-through penalty for having passed another car despite the Safety Car board being posted at the 13th corner.

 

　This enabled Heikki Kovalainen in the No. 39 DENSO KOBELCO SARD GR Supra to move up into 3rd position. Having started the race from the 5th-position grid spot, No. 39 had been passed by Yuji Kunimoto in the No. 19 WedsSport ADVAN GR Supra on the first lap, only to be repassed by Kovalainen on the 10th lap, who then went on to pass No. 23 on the 13th lap to move into 4th position.

 

 

　From the 25th lap of the race, the leaders began to make their routine pit stop. First to return to the pit was car No. 24 in 2nd place and car No. 23 in 4th place and Kazuya Oshima in the No. 14 WAKO'S 4CR GR Supra then running in 8th place. On the 26th lap, the leading car No. 8 and car No. 39 in 3rd place Tadasuke Makino running in 6th place in the No. 100 RAYBRIG NSX-GT all made their pit stop. At this time, No. 8 (Nojiri) was able to return to the race before No. 24 (Mardenborough), but on its first lap out of the pit before it could get up to pace, No. 8 was passed in succession by cars No. 39 (Nakayama), No. 100 (Yamamoto) and then by No. 24. What’s more, No. 8 was also passed by Ryo Hirakawa in the No. 37 KeePer TOM'S GR Supra that had made its pit stop on the 27th lap.

 

 

　By the time all of the GT500 class cars had completed their pit stops, car No. 39 was in the lead, followed in 2nd by No. 37, and after that by No. 100 and No. 24, while No. 8 ran back in 5th position. However, from the 29th lap of the race, No. 8 had regained its pace and soon passed car No. 100. When machine trouble occurred in car No. 24, No. 8 found itself back in 3rd position. Racing on, No. 8 was closing in on car No. 37 in 2nd position and was soon on its tail.

 

　Meanwhile, Tsuboi in car No. 14 had also been moving up from behind at a fast pace. Though No. 14 had started the race from 12th position on the grid, its first-stint driver Oshima had managed to fight up to 8th place, and entering the second half of the race with teammate Tsuboi now at the wheel, he was lapping the track at a fast pace that was roughly equal to the lead car No. 39. On the 27th lap, Tsuboi had passed car No. 23 (Matsuda) to effectively take 6th position in the lead order. Then he had gone on to pass car No. 100 and was closing in on the two cars No. 37 and No. 8. By the time the race entered its 52nd lap, Tsuboi passed No. 8 on the inside at the Dunlop Corner, and on the home straight he managed to pull up alongside No. 37 on the inside and then overtake it to move into 2nd place. Meanwhile No. 8 skillfully used the slip stream of car No. 14 to pass it and recover to 3rd position.

 

 

　While these battles had been going on for 2nd place, Nakayama in the leading car No. 39 had steadily extended his lead to eventually finish the 66-lap race with a 10-sec. lead over the field. This gave the No. 39 DENSO KOBELCO SARD GR Supra (Heikki Kovalainen/Nakayama Yuichi) their first win of the season and first since Round 6 AUTOPOLIS of last year. Finishing this day’s race in 2nd place was the No. 14 WAKO'S 4CR GR Supra (Kazuya Oshima/Sho Tsuboi). Third place went to the No. 8 ARTA NSX-GT (Tomoki Nojiri/Nirei Fukuzumi) for its first podium finish of the season.

 

　Looking at the Drivers standings following this race, the No. 14 WAKO'S 4CR GR Supra pair of Oshima and Tsuboi moved to the top of the standings with 47 points. In 2nd position in the standings it the No. 37 KeePer TOM'S GR Supra pair of Hirakawa and Cassidy, having finished 4th in this Round 5 race, while the No. 17 KEIHIN NSX-GT pair of Koudai Tsukakoshi and Bertrand Baguette follow in 3rd position, having won one precious series point by finishing 10th on the day.

 

 

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