2021.07.18

Rd. 4 Race GT300: A strategy of delaying the pit stop works perfectly for come-from-behind win! No. 2 muta Racing Lotus MC gets first win under its new team organization

　The MOTEGI GT 300km RACE, Round 4 of the 2021 AUTOBACS SUPER GT series was held on the afternoon of July 18 (Sun) at Twin Rings Motegi (one lap 4,801m x 63 laps) in Tochigi Pref. In the GT500 class, the No. 1 STANLEY NSX-GT (Naoki Yamamoto/Tadasuke Makino) came from behind after giving up the lead once to take its first win of the season. In the GT300 class, the No. 2 muta Racing Lotus MC (Hiroki Kato/ Ryohei Sakaguchi) took its first win as a new team.

 

 

 

　In the formation lap start, the No. 50 Arnage AMG GT3 (Masaki Kano) in the 26th position is unable to start and returns to its pit.

After beginning in this way, the GT300 class race saw the pole-sitting No. 11 GAINER TANAX GT-R (Hironobu Yasuda) hold on to the lead position, followed by the No. 244 Takanoko-no-yu GR Supra GT (Yuui Tsutsumi), the No. 56 Realize Nissan Automobile Technical College GT-R (Kiyoto Fujinami) and the No. 52 SAITAMATOYOPET GB GR Supra GT (Kohta Kawaai). Behind them, a battle developed between the No. 4 GOODSMILE HATSUNE MIKU AMG (Tatsuya Kataoka) and the No. 88 JLOC LAMBORGHINI GT3 (Yuya Motojima). In the early stages of the race the leaders were divided between the two machines in the lead followed by a second group of four cars led by car No. 56 in 3rd position.

From around the end of the 18th lap, some teams began to make their routing pit stops. The first to make its pit stop and change drivers from Naoki Yokomizo to Kei Cozzolino was the No. 9 PACIFIC NAC CARGUY Ferrari that had dropped to 12th position after a collision. Then on the next lap car No. 4 made its pit stop while running in 5th position, changing drivers from Tatsuya Kataoka to Nobuteru Taniguchi.

By the end of the 24th lap of the race, the leading No. 11 GAINER TANAX GT-R also made its routine pit stop, changing drivers from Yasuda to Katsuyuki Hiranaka. The No. 244 Takanoko-no-yu GR Supra GT running in 2nd position also made its pit stop at the same time and changed its driver to Atsushi Miyake. Car No. 11 was able to return to the race still in the lead of the cars that had finished their pit stops. But following it in 2nd position now was not car No. 244 but car No. 4, which had made an early pit stop and opted to change only its two left-side tires. Another car that had moved ahead of No. 244 was the No. 52 SAITAMATOYOPETGB GR Supra GT (Hiroki Yoshida), which had nonetheless changed all four of its tires.

At this point in the race the leaders were No. 11, No. 4 and No. 52, in that order. On the 37th lap, as the race entered its second half, white smoke began to pour out of the No. 35 arto RC F GT3 (Sean Walkinshaw) running in 21st position, and it came to a stop on the 130R curve. This put a FCY (Full Course Yellow) in effect until the accident could be cleared.

 

 

 

　Taking advantage of the timing of the trouble that struck car No. 35 was the No. 2 muta Racing Lotus MC, which had continued to run at the front without making its pit stop by that point in the race. Car No. 2 had started the race from 17th position on the grid and had progressed to this point with strong driving of Hiroki Katoh, but if the race had continued as it was, it was unclear whether the team could get any series points out of this round. However, just after No. 2 made its pit stop the FCY was declared, and what’s more, having opted for a no-tire-change strategy in order to return to the race as quickly as possible, it was able to return to the track in front of car No. 11 and hold on to the lead.

 

　In the final stages of the race, a collision with a GT300 class car caused one of the GT500 class machines to come to a stop at trackside, which brought on another FCY break. When the race was restarted again, the No. 2 muta Racing Lotus MC (Ryohei Sakaguchi) was still in the lead with the No. 11 GAINER TANAX GT-R (Katsuyuki Hiranaka) closing in on it. What’s more, a battle was heating up between the No. 4 GOODSMILE HATSUNE MIKU AMG (Nobuteru Taniguchi) and the No. 52 SAITAMATOYOPETGB GR Supra GT (Hiroki Yoshida). On the 45th lap of the race, the No. 52 SAITAMATOYOPETGB GR Supra GT (Hiroki Yoshida) moved up into 3rd position.

 

 

 

　With 10 laps remaining in the race, Hiranaka in car No. 11 had made several attempts to pass car No. 2, but each time Sakaguchi had skillfully held him off. In the meantime, Yoshida in car No. 54, running in 3rd position, was closing in on No. 11’s tail, forcing Hiranaka to turn his attention partly to defending his position. With the three lead cars now battling nose-to-tail, the race entered its final lap. To the end, the No. 2 muta Racing Lotus MC (Hiroki Katoh/Ryohei Sakaguchi) was able to hold its lead and take the checkered flag first for the win. After having started the race in 17th position, this was truly a magnificent come-from-behind victory. The was the second win for the Lotus MC team, and for Katoh it was his 6th win in SUPER GT, while Sakaguchi was pleased to receive his first GT300 class win in the team’s first year under its new organization.

Finishing the race in 2nd position was the No. 11 GAINER TANAX GT-R (Katsuyuki Hiranaka/Hironobu Yasuda), while also rising to 2nd position in the Drivers ranking. Third place went to the No. 52 SAITAMATOYOPET GB GR Supra GT (Hiroki Yoshida/Kohta Kawaai), while 4th position went to the No. 244 Takanoko-no-yu GR Supra GT (Atsushi Miyake/Yuui Tsutsumi) and 5th position to the No. 4 GOODSMILE HATSUNE MIKU AMG (Nobuteru Taniguchi/Tatsuya Kataoka). The No. 56 Realize Nissan Automobile Technical College GT-R (Kiyoto Fujinami/Joao Paulo de Oliveira) that had come into this race standing 1st in the season ranking, an unfortunate collision with another car left it out of the series points this time, dropping its season standing to 3rd place.

 

 

 

 

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