2021.03.07

【Official test at Okayama: Day 2】 DENSO KOBELCO SARD GR Supra at top but NSX-GT is right behind! GRANSEED LAMBORGHINI GT3 fastest in GT300.

Official test: Okayama International Circuit 3/7 (Sun)

Day 2 (last day) of 2021 SUPER GT official test took place at Okayama International Circuit on March 6th with blue sky extending over. This was the last opportunity to run at Okayama before the season opening round approaching in about a month. Teams were working restlessly in executing their test with a great intensity.

 

 

 

　The sky over the circuit where the second day of official test at Okayama took place had no clouds in the blue sky, but the air and track surface temperatures at the beginning of the session were quite low at 4℃ and 11℃, respectively. As the sunlight got stronger later on, the track surface temperature rose up to 19℃ by the time the morning session ended at 11:15. In contrast, air temperature did not increase as much and the session ended at 8℃.

 

　Session 3 started at 9AM, but it was quickly suspended with a red flag after about 15 minutes from the start. Some parts fell off on the track from No.5 MACHSYAKEN GTNET MC86 MACH GO and the marshals had to remove it. After the session resumed at 9:20, the SC (Safety Car) drill was carried out as scheduled at around 9:30. The drill ended in about 15 minutes, and 1'18.473 marked by Sho Tsuboi in No.36 au TOM'S GR Supra was the fastest lap time at that point.

 

 

 

　In the mid-phase of the session, Heikki Kovalainen behind the wheel of No.39 DENSO KOBELCO SARD GR Supra shortened the lap time to 1'18.181 and jumped to the top. Ryo Hirakawa in No.37 KeePer TOM'S GR Supra as well as Nobuharu Matsushita driving No.12 CALSONIC IMPUL GT-R were getting closer to Kovalainen's time, but Naoki Yamamoto in No.1 STANLEY NSX-GT was a bit faster than the two and placed second with 1'18.277. Not much movement seen in the top positions from there and the morning session came to an end.

 

 

　Session 4 in the afternoon was scheduled to start at 2PM, but a practice for the start procedure took place from 13:35. The order of the overall time result of Day 1, which was carried out the day before, was used as the starting grid for the practice, and, just like the real event, firstly the cars at second place and below from both classes parked at their respective grid and then the pole position of each class (the top time from previous day), No.52 SAITAMATOYOPET GB GR Supra GT and No.16 Red Bull MOTUL MUGEN NSX-GT (Ukyo Sasahara / Toshiki Oyu), drove up the center alley to the front row of each class. Cars made two laps of formation lap before they were off for full throttle. From there on, the track moved on to a normal session.
　Probably because Session 4 took place at about same time of the day as the actual race of the season opening round, many teams were doing long stints repeatedly with the actual race in mind. After only 3 laps from the start, Sakaguchi in No.37 KeePer TOM'S GR Supra clocked 1'19.224 and Ronnie Quintarelli in No.23 MOTUL AUTECH GT-R marked 1'19.317 which put them in top 2 places. Ritomo Miyata at the wheel of No.19 WedsSport ADVAN GR Supra emerged to the third place in the middle stage of the session after passing by No.36 au TOM'S GR Supra. This top 3 order stayed unchanged and became the top 3 of Session 4.

 

 

 

　After seeing TOYOTA GR Supra GT500 marking top times in the morning and afternoon of the day, Kazumoto Yuasa, General Manager, Vehicle Development Div, TOYOTA CUSTOMIZING & DEVELOPMENT Co.,Ltd, who oversees entire car development at TOYOTA GAZOO Racing, commented, "Our main objective of this test was to determine the tire and the setting of the car (that matches the tire) for the season opener. Our role or what we had to do is to support the teams so that they can execute the test plan without any issues. In that perspective, there has not been any major issues up to now, so that's a relief. I think it's same for everybody (rival manufacturers), isn't it?"
　With No.12 CALSONIC IMPUL GT-R clocking the fifth fastest lap time of the morning and No.23 MOTUL AUTECH GT-R taking the second place in the afternoon, the NISSAN GT-R NISMO GT500 squad appeared to be having a decent test day. Motohiro Matsumura, Executive director of NISSAN/NISMO, responded with a wry smile on his face when we interviewed him, "It's too early to conclude the pre-season." He closed with the same comment as the TGR squad, "It was good that we were able to do our work without any major problems."

 

 

 

　In GT300 class, 1'26.138 marked by Natsu Sakaguchi in No.87 GRANSEED LAMBORGHINI GT3 during Session 3 in the morning became the top time of the day. After finishing both sessions of previous day at top, No.52 SAITAMATOYOPET GB GR Supra GT (Hiroki Yoshida / Kohta Kawaai) ran with a fourth fastest time in the morning, but spent most of the time doing tire test for the race in the afternoon where the team finished at fifth. Top place of Session 4 in the afternoon went to No.60 SYNTIUM LMcorsa GR Supra GT, which switched the car to GR Supra GT300 from this season, with a lap time of 1'26.934 by Hiroki Yoshimoto.

 

 

　No.6 Team LeMans Audi R8 LMS (Satoshi Motoyama / Yoshiaki Katayama) is receiving attention with 3-time GT500 champion Satoshi Motoyama taking the wheel again for the team. Motoyama now competes as a playing manager. He was giving instructions on the setting through the radio as he drove so that the crew can quickly get down to work as soon as he comes back to the pit. It must have been the busiest test Motoyama had ever experienced.

 

 

 

　After completing the 2-day official test at Okayama, the camp will get back together again for another official test at Fuji on March 27 and 28. And, in two weeks from there, the opening round of 2021 season will kick off at Okayama International Circuit.

 

 

Today, we checked the lap times in the morning session and then checked the long-runs in the afternoon. I'm not sure if we completed the whole test menu, but we were able to find some good ideas on how to set up the car, so it was a satisfying test. But we have to choose the tire for the season opener based on today's result, so, in a way, the test is not finished yet. Anyways, the direction on the tire became clear. I don't know what the actual level of our lap time is, but the car didn't feel bad, so I think we can take on the season opener with positive feeling.

 

The brake (on Lamborghini) is a lot different from the mother-chassis car that raced with until last year. It feels I can push farther into the corner. I was given multiple chances to test up to now and I was not adopting well (to the car) at first, but today I think I fit perfectly. I was able to concentrate on my driving today because Kosuke (Matuura) worked on setting up the car yesterday. It was so easy to drive and felt good. I didn't think it was going to be a top time when I was driving, but I felt it right away it must had been a good lap time. It's not certain yet if we can actually target the win at the season opening race, but I will try to learn from Kosuke because he has a lot of experience and make it a good season for the team.

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