2022.08.28

Rd. 3 Race GT300: Skillful racing strategy gives GOODSMILE HATSUNE MIKU AMG a win to dispel the last round’s tragic defeat

Round 5 Suzuka Circuit : Race GT300

The FUJIMAKI GROUP SUZUKA GT 450km RACE, Round 5 of the 2022 AUTOBACS SUPER GT series took place at Suzuka Circuit (1 lap 5,807m) in Mie Prefecture on August 28 (Sun.). In the GT500 class, the No. 12 CALSONIC IMPUL Z (Kazuki Hiramine/Bertrand Baguette) started from the last position of 15th on the staring grid to charge ahead in magnificent style and take the win. In the GT300 class, the No. 4 GOODSMILE HATSUNE MIKU AMG (Nobuteru Taniguchi/Tatsuya Kataoka) executed a skillful race strategy to take its first win in five years.

 

 

 

 

 

The early stages of the race saw the Pole-sitting No. 10 TANAX GAINER GT-R command the lead. Chasing it were the No. 244 HACHI-ICHI GR Supra GT and the No. 88 weibo Primez Lamborghini GT3.

On the 10th lap, car No. 244 passed No. 10 to take the lead. Behind this, came a group fighting at close quarters for 4th position, led by the ranking leader carrying a 100-kg load of Success Weights, the No. 56 REALIZE NISSAN MECHANIC CHALLENGE GT-R, and followed by Tatsuya Kataoka in the No. 4 GOODSMILE HATSUNE MIKU AMG and the No. 55 ARTA NSX GT3. At the same time, a few cars including the No. 52 SAITAMATOYOPET GB GR Supra GT and the No. 2 muta Racing GR86 GT adopted a strategy of making one of the required pit stops in the first or second lap of the race and performing only a refueling to fulfill the requirement with minimum time loss. For this second consecutive 450km race of the series, the teams were one again in this way showing different race strategies, as cars No. 4 and No. 55 made also made early first pit stops, at the end of the 16th lap, and No. 88 at the 17th lap. In contrast, the leading cars No. 244, No. 10 and No. 56 made their pit stops from the 23rd lap, being a logical 1/3rd of the way into what would theoretically be a 77-lap race distance.

As the race entered its middle stages in this way, the leader after all the cars had finished their first pit stop was car No. 4 (with Kataoka now at the wheel). Following close behind it were cars No. 55 and No. 2. The strategy for No. 4 would them be to make its second pit stop on the 42nd lap, earlier than those adopting an orthodox race strategy, thus leaving a long last stint in the hands of Nobuteru Taniguchi. As if following the same strategy, cars No. 2, No. 88 and No. 244 also made their second pit stop in that way. Contrary to these, car No. 55 made its pit stop even earlier on the 39th lap.

In the process of these developments, car No. 244 ran off the track at the 130R curve on its first lap out of the pit on the 44th lap (49th lap for the top GT500 cars) and crashed. This crash brought out the Safety Car, which resulted in a resetting of the margins between the competing cars in a way that undermined the strategy of the cars still running in the lead group while holding off on their second pit stop, including the No. 11 GAINER TANAX GT-R and the No. 50 Arnage MC86.

 

 

 

 

 

By the time the Safety Car had withdrawn, and all of the cars had finished their second pit stop, car No. 4 held the lead. Chasing close behind No. 4 were the cars No. 10, No. 55, and No. 88. Of these, car No. 88 suffered a burst tire and dropped out of contention. This left No. 4 competing with No. 10 and No. 55 and gradually widening its lead.

And just as it looked as if these three would claim the podium spots, car No. 55 suddenly began to slow down. Soon it would voluntarily pull off to trackside and come to a stop.

As the tension continued in these ways in the latter stages of the race, Taniguchi in car No. 4 was able to continue widening his margin of lead over No. 10 without being threatened. In the end Taniguchi would go on the take the checkered flag and the win by a margin of more than 3 sec. For the No. 4 GOODSMILE HATSUNE MIKU AMG (Nobuteru Taniguchi/Tatsuya Kataoka) this was their first victory since Round 1 of the 2017 season at Okayama.

Finishing 2nd came the No. 10 TANAX GAINER GT-R (Ryuichiro Tomita/Riki Okusa/Yusuke Shiotsu*) Third place went to the No. 30 apr GR86 GT (Manabu Orido/Hibiki Taira/Yuta Kamimura) that had climbed steadily throughout the race after starting from 21st position on the grid. This gave this season’s newly debuted TOYOTA GR86 GT its first podium finish. Furthermore, after continuing to contend for the third podium spot despite carrying a heavy 100-kg load of Success Weights, the No. 56 REALIZE NISSAN MECHANIC CHALLENGE GT-R (Kiyoto Fujinami/Joao Paulo de Oliveira) ended the race in 10th position after being imposed a Drive-through Penalty for a collision with another car. However, another penalty was later imposed on No. 56 for passing another car during a Full Course Yellow call that moved further back to 13th position and out of the series points.

*Since the car No. 10 designated driver Shiotsu did not drive during the actual race, he received no driver points.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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