2023.08.26

Rd.5 Qualifying GT500： The No. 16 ARTA MUGEN NSX-GT takes rewarding first Pole Position under new team organization

Round 5 Suzuka Circuit : Qualifying GT500

The official qualifying for the SUZUKA GT 450km RACE, Round 5 of the 2023 AUTOBACS SUPER GT series, took place at Suzuka circuit (1 lap 5,807m) in Mie Prefecture on August 26 (Sat.). In the GT500 class, Fukuzumi in the No. 16 ARTA MUGEN NSX-GT (Nirei Fukuzumi/Hiroki Otsu) won a memorable first pole position for the No. 16 team under its’s new organization. In the GT300 class, Yamauchi in the No. 61 SUBARU BRZ R&D SPORT (Takuto Iguchi/Hideki Yamauchi) won the class pole position to extend his record for most PP wins to 14. On August 27, these two teams will start from the front of their respective class grids in the race.

 

 

 

The GT500 class Q1 qualifying session started 10 minutes behind schedule at 3:53 in the afternoon due to a delay in the prior support race. The session was 10-min. in length. Just before the start of the session the air temperature stood at 32℃, while the track surface temperature had risen to 51℃ due to the strong sunlight.

　The session began with six cars taking to the track, the No. 1 MARELLI IMPUL Z (Kazuki Hiramine), No. 17 Astemo NSX-GT (Koudai Tsukakoshi), No. 36 au TOM'S GR Supra (Ritomo Miyata), No. 37 Deloitte TOM'S GR Supra (Ukyo Sasahara), No. 38 ZENT CERUMO GR Supra (Hiroaki Ishiura) and the No. 39 DENSO KOBELCO SARD GR Supra (Yuhi Sekiguchi). The remaining cars went out with around 7 min. remaining in the session, with the last car being the No. 3 Niterra MOTUL Z (Katsumasa Chiyo) that left the pit with 5 min. left in the session.

　With less than one minute remaining in the session, an intense battle of time attacks ensued. After two warm-up laps, car No. 17 recorded a lap time of 1’47.176 to take the top spot on the time board. Then in an amazing moment, car No. 38 came in with exactly the same time to move into second position (due to the regulation giving priority to the first car to record the time).

　The first to beat this time was the No. 23 MOTUL AUTECH Z (Tsugio Matsuda), with a lap of 1’46.509 that moved it into the top spot. Next to beat car No. 23’s time and move into the top spot was the No. 8 ARTA MUGEN NSX-GT (Tomoki Nojiri) with a lap of 1’46.399. But just after that the No. 24 REALIZE CORPORATION ADVAN Z (Kohei Hirate) also recorded the same time of 1’46.399. When the Q1 session ended, car No. 8 was in the top spot, followed in order by cars No. 24, No. 23, and the No. 64 Modulo NSX-GT (Kakunoshin Ohta), while the No. 16 ARTA MUGEN NSX-GT (Hiroki Otsu) and car No. 17 also moved on to Q2.

　The only TOYOTA GR Supra GT500 to qualify on to Q2 was car No. 38, and with this, its driver Ishiura ensured that his teammate, Yuji Tachikawa, would have one last chance to run in Q2 at Suzuka before his scheduled retirement this year. The No. 100 STANLEY NSX-GT (Naoki Yamamoto) also qualified in 8th position to move on to Q2. However, due to the fact that the team’s other driver, Tadasuke Makino, who had been under medical observation regarding injuries from a crash in a Super Formula race the previous weekend, the final decision reached by the doctor involved was that he could not compete in this round, thus meaning that car No. 100 would not be able to compete in Q2 and had to settle for a best qualifying position of 8th.

 

 

 

The GT500 class Q2 session began with the track opening at 4:31 in the afternoon. With the exception of car No. 100, which stayed in the pit, the other seven cars took to the track for the 10-minute competition for pole position.

　The first car to leave the pit with 7 min. 30 sec. remaining in the session was car No. 64 (Takuya Izawa). After this, the remaining six cars followed in succession, with car No. 8 (Toshiki Oyu) being the last to take to the track with 5 min. 30 sec. remaining in the session. As evening approached, the air and track surface temperatures had begun to fall, which made it easier to get faster lap times as the end of the session approached. This led to a succession of changes in the top positions in the fight for pole position by the time the checkered flag was shown.

　First, it was car No. 23 (Ronnie Quintarelli) who recorded a top time of 1’46.422. Just after that, car No. 8 moved into 2nd position with a time of 1’46.577, but because it had run far off the track coming out of the Degner Curve, after the Q2 session was over, this time was disqualified. Meanwhile, car No. 17 (Tsukakoshi) had moved effectively into 3rd position with a time of 1’46.659.

　In the end, the No. 16 ARTA MUGEN NSX-GT (Nirei Fukuzumi) came through with a time of 1’46.385 to take the top spot on the time board. This gave the No. 16 ARTA MUGEN NSX-GT (Nirei Fukuzumi/Hiroki Otsu) its first pole position of the season and also its first pole since car No. 16 became a member of the ARTA team. For Fukuzumi, it was his 4th personal pole position. What’s more, this became the last SUPER GT qualifying for the current Honda NSX-GT car at it’s home course of Suzuka. This brought special meaning to this pole position, while also bringing the team closer to another final accolade (victory) at Suzuka.

　Finishing the qualifying in 2nd and 3rd positions were the No. 23 MOTUL AUTECH Z (Tsugio Matsuda/Ronnie Quintarelli) and the No. 17 Astemo NSX-GT (Koudai Tsukakoshi/Nobuharu Matsushita) respectively. Fourth position went to the No. 64 Modulo NSX-GT (Takuya Izawa/Kakunoshin Ohta).

　Furthermore, in what would be his final valiant shot for a PP at Suzuka, after having announced his retirement from SUPER GT at the end of this season, Yuji Tachikawa drove the No. 38 ZENT CERUMO GR Supra (Yuji Tachikawa/Hiroaki Ishiura) to a 5th-place finish in the qualifying with a time of 1’47.253.

 

 

 

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