2020.10.25

Rd. 6 Race GT500: Stunning win from a last-place grid start! Good decision on pit timing gives second straight Suzuka win to MOTUL AUTECH GT-R

The FUJIMAKI GROUP SUZUKA GT 300km RACE, Round 6 of the 2020 AUTOBACS SUPER GT series took place at Suzuka circuit (one lap 5,807m × 52 laps) in Mie Prefecture on October 25 (Sun). In the GT500 class, the No. 23 MOTUL AUTECH GT-R (Tsugio Matsuda/Ronnie Quintarelli) came from the very back of the pack after a Qualifying crash to take a magnificent second straight win at Suzuka thanks to great pit stop timing. The GT300 class race saw the No. 21 Hitotsuyama Audi R8 LMS (Shintaro Kawabata/Tsubasa Kondo) grab a come-from-behind victory from 6th position on the grid.

 

 

 

　After an opening ceremony that had Team SHACHI sing the national anthem and an opening address by AUTOBACS SEVEN Co., Ltd. Director Yugo Horii, the formation lap for the race start began at 1:00. This Round 6 Suzuka race would be competed over 52 laps. The team members of the No. 23 MOTUL AUTECH GT-R that had suffered severe crash in Q1 of the Official Qualifying worked tirelessly to repair the car in time to start the race from the last position on the GT500 class grid.

 

　At the start, it was the No. 8 ARTA NSX-GT (Tomoki Nojiri) that grabbed the lead and then ran on strongly to open up a substantial margin ahead of the pack in the early going. By the end of the seventh lap of the race, No. 8 had built up a lead of 3.233 sec., and by the end of the tenth lap the lead was at 5.158 sec. Behind the leader, the No. 12 CALSONIC IMPUL GT-R (Daiki Sasaki) that had started from 4th position on the grid had passed No. 19 WedsSport ADVAN GR Supra (Yuji Kunimoto) on the straight at the end of lap five to move into 3rd place. Then, on the first turn of the 12th lap No. 12 also caught and passed the No. 64 Modulo NSX-GT (Takuya Izawa) to move into 2nd place. In car No. 12, Sasaki continued to keep up his fast pace, and by the end of the 18th lap of the race, he had closed to within 3.648 sec. of the leading No. 8 ARTA NSX-GT.

 

　It was on the 20th lap that the race’s first big new development took place. The leading car No. 8 made its routine pit stop at the end of the 19th lap, while car No. 12 in second place waited another lap before making its pit stop. But when No. 12, now driven by Kazuki Hiramine, returned to the track after its pit stop it was in front of car No. 8, now driven by Nirei Fukuzumi. Even though his tires were not yet warmed up, Hiramine managed to hold off the challenge from Fukuzumi through the 21st lap. With this, it looked like No. 12 now the effective lead over the cars that had finished their pit stops.

 

 

　However, it was just at this point that a GT300 class car, the No. 52 SAITAMATOYOPETGB GR Supra GT ran off the track at the “S” curve. It was here that a quick, decisive move was taken by the No. 23 MOTUL AUTECH GT-R (Tsugio Matsuda/Ronnie Quintarelli), which had started the race from the very back of the grid but had managed to move up to 11th position before the leaders began making their routine pit stops. As that first stint driver, Quintarelli, was coming out of the 130R curve of the 22nd lap, he got a call from the team on his radio to immediately make his pit stop. And it was on that same 22nd lap that the Safety Car was brought onto the track to control the race in response to the GT300 car’s accident. With that, No. 23 (now driven by Tsugio Matsuda) was able to return to the race in front of the supposedly leading car No. 12, to take over the race lead. What’s more, Matsuda’s first lap out of the pit before his tires were warmed up was still when the cars were running at the controlled pace behind the Safety Car, which meant that No. 12 couldn’t pass him according to the race regulations. The Safety Car run continued until the 26th lap, and then the race was resumed from the 27th lap.

 

　No. 12 did its best to catch up to the leading car No. 2, and meanwhile No. 8 was also closing in from behind until the battle for 2nd was nose to tail by the 35th lap. At this point it was all No. 12 could do just to hold off the challenge from No. 8. Furthermore, the No. 3 CRAFTSPORTS MOTUL GT-R (Katsumasa Chiyo) and No. 38 ZENT GR Supra (Hiroaki Ishiura) were also moving up, and by the 49th lap it had become a packed four-car battle for 2nd place.

 

 

　While this tense contest was playing out behind it, the leading No. 23 MOTUL AUTECH GT-R was gradually able to expand its lead, until it finished the 52-lap race with a 4.616 sec. lead over 2nd place. This was No. 23’s second consecutive victory this season at Suzuka, following their win here in Round 3. In the Drivers ranking as well, the Matsuda/Quintarelli was able to move up to 3rd place with this win.

 

　Hanging on to hold of the other three cars in the fierce battle for 2nd was the No. 12 CALSONIC IMPUL GT-R, which gave the team its first podium finish of this season. The No. 8 ARTA NSX-GT finished 3rd to take its second podium of the season, following the one in Round 5 at Fuji. Fourth place went to the No. 3 CRAFTSPORTS MOTUL GT-R, while 5th went to the No. 38 ZENT GR Supra, as the top finisher among the TOYOTA GR Supra cars.

 

 

　The No. 14 WAKO'S 4CR GR Supra (Kazuya Oshima/Sho Tsuboi), which had come to this round at Suzuka as the leader in the season standings, was unable to score any series points because of its 12-place finish after having to make two pit stops. As for the No. 37 KeePer TOM'S GR Supra (Ryo Hirakawa/Nick Cassidy, despite moving steadily up though the pack in the first half, a collision with the No. 100 RAYBRIG NSX-GT (Naoki Yamamoto/Tadasuke Makino) in the pit lane cause it to receive a drive-through penalty as well as machine damage that kept it from finishing the race. However, it didn’t change the one-two positions of the two cars in the series ranking. The No. 17 KEIHIN NSX-GT (Koudai Tsukakoshi/Bertrand Baguette) started today’s race from 9th position and ended the race in 10th for one series point, which dropped it to 4th place in the ranking.

 

 

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