Japanese
No.23 MOTUL AUTECH GT-R
Tsugio Matsuda
“I am so happy that we were able to win here in front of the fans today. During my time attack in the qualifying, the condition of the car was so good that I pushed too hard and crashed. But in my stint in the second half of the race I was able to believe in the preparations I had made until now and hold on to the lead to win. The team staff had been able to fix the car perfectly after the crash and the engineers’ decision on the pit stop timing was perfect, as was the performance of our Michelin tires, so I think this was really a victory that we owe to everyone.”
Ronnie Quintarelli
“Since I was able to run well in my stint today, I was planning to run on more before making the pit stop. Coming out of the 130R curve I was suddenly told over the radio, “Bring it in for the pit top immediately!” It surprised me so much that I wanted to check what I had just heard, but it turned out to be such a good decision by the team and we were fortunate that the timing was perfect. At the time I didn’t know what was going on but when I saw that we were in the lead when Tsugio [Matsuda] got back on the track after the pit stop, I really thought their decision had been perfect as always (laughs). When I think about what happened in the Qualifying, this win was truly a miracle.”
No.21 Hitotsuyama Audi R8 LMS
Shintaro Kawabata
“It has truly been a long time, but how great that our first podium finish in three years was a win. This year we have a new team organization and there were times that were frustrating because we were so close to a good result. This time we also had luck on our side, but my partner was really fast, and the tires were very good. I am so grateful that the team was able to prepare the car this well for us. At the end we were very close to running out of gas, so it was similar to our win at Super Taikyu, but this seems to be the way it always goes with me (laughs). But it is great that we won.”
Tsubasa Kondo
“I still can’t believe that we won. But the moment that Kawabata-san took the winning checkered flag, I was really happy. The team did such a good job on setting up the cart hat I was able to really enjoy driving it. It has been just a great race weekend.”
| 4/13-14 | Round1 OKAYAMA | |
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5/03-04 | Round2 FUJI |
| 6/01-02 | Round3 SUZUKA | |
| 8/03-04 | Round4 FUJI | |
| 8/31-9/01 | Round5 SUZUKA | |
| 9/21-22 | Round6 SUGO | |
| 10/19-20 | Round7 AUTOPOLIS | |
| 11/02-03 | Round8 MOTEGI |