2024.03.16

【Official Tests Okayama Day-1 Qualifying Simulation】 au TOM'S GR Supra takes come-from-behind win in new qualifying format, and in GT300 class the apr LC500h GT gets a perfect win!

Official Tests Okayama International Circuit Mar. 16 (Sat.) Qualifying Simulation

On March 16th at Okayama International Circuit the first day of the year’s first SUPER GT Official Tests was held. In the afternoon Session 2 a simulation of the new qualifying format was run. All the cars in the GT500 and GT300 classes ran not only in Q1 but in Q2 as well. This gave all the teams and drivers an experience of the new format.

 

 

 

 

 

　This session was held as a simulation of the new qualifying format. It started with the GT300 class Q1 Group A session.

　This Group A consisted of 11 cars, and rookie Jin Nakamura in the No. 31 apr LC500h GT was first to record a top time of 1’26.245. He beat the time of the No. 52 Green Brave GR Supra GT (Hiroki Yoshida) by 3/1000ths of a sec. to take the top spot. Running times in the 1’26 sec. range, came eight cars making up the second group, the No. 60 Syntium LMcorsa GR Supra GT, the No. 87　Lamborghini, the No. 777 D'station Vantage GT3, the No. 7　Studie BMW M4 the No. 2 muta Racing GR86 GT, and the No. 96 K-tunes RC F GT3, which would run as the Q2 Group 1 (Upper 16). The three cars finishing from 9th downward, including the No. 48 Datsumou K’s Frontier GO&FUN NEKONEKO GT-R, the No. 5 MACHSYAKEN AIR BUSTER MC86 MACH GO, and the No. 62 HELM MOTORSPORTS GT-R would run in the Q2 Group 2 (Lower 17). Also, although Katsuyuki Hiranaka in the No. 20 SHADE RACING GR86 GT would run in the session, due to machine trouble, his time could not be recorded. According to the new rule, the team could run in the Q2 Group 2 (Lower 17), but in terms to the Combined time, they would be the last finisher in the qualifying, meaning they would start the race from the pit.
　After an interval of eight minutes the Q1 Group B session started. Running a time of 1’25.865, which was 0.4 sec. faster than the fastest car in Group A was Takashi Kogure in the No. 88 Lamborghini. The following cars, the No. 18 UPGARAGE NSX GT3, No. 4 GOODSMILE HATSUNE MIKU AMG, No. 6 VELOREX FERRARI 296 GT3, No. 45 PONOS FERRARI 296, No. 65 LEON PYRAMID AMG, No. 30 apr GR86 GT, and the No. 50 ANEST IWATA Racing RC F GT3 would qualify to run in the Q2 Group 2 (Upper 16). Finishing 9th came the No. 61 SUBARU BRZ R&D SPORT (Hideki Yamauchi), which after running for some time 7th position with a chance to move on to the Upper 16, fell back in position after that. The remaining cars No. 360 RUNUP RIVAUX GT-R, No. 9 PACIFIC VSPO NAC AMG, No. 56 REALIZE NISSAN MECHANIC CHALLENGE GT-R, and the No. 22 R'Qs AMG GT3 would move on to the Lower 17 in Q2.

 

 

 

 

 

 

　All 15 cars of the GT500 class ran in Q1. Running with their A drivers were the following five cars, the No. 100 STANLEY CIVIC TYPE R-GT (Naoki Yamamoto), No. 23 MOTUL AUTECH Z (Katsumasa Chiyo), No. 3 Niterra MOTUL Z (Mitsunori Takaboshi), No. 37 Deloitte TOM'S GR Supra (Ukyo Sasahara), No. 16 ARTA MUGEN CIVIC TYPE R-GT #16 (Hiroki Otsu). There was an announcement from the No. 100 team just before the start of the qualifying that driver Tadasuke Makino would not be taking part because of poor physical condition, which meant that Naoki Yamamoto would be driving in both Q1 and Q2 in the qualifying simulation.

　The top time went to the No. 14 ENEOS X PRIME GR Spura (Nirei Fukuzumi). Fukuzumi ran a time of 1’17.317, followed by the No. 36 au TOM'S GR Supra (Kenta Yamashita), which meant that the TOYOTA GR Supra GT500 scored a 1-2 finish.

 

 

 

 

 

 

　The GT300 Q2 started from Group 2 (Lower 17). The session’s top time was recorded by car No. 20 (Eijiro Shimizu) with a 1’25.851. However, because No. 20 had not been able to record a lap time in Q1, it ended up with the slowest combined time after the Q2 session. Finishing third in this session was car No. 61 (Takuto Iguchi) with the fastest time in the Lower 17 group. The time difference between Q1 and Q2 for No. 61 was about 0.1sec. The fact that it had recorded good times in both sessions resulted in this good final position. Following this was car No. 9 thanks to the good time scored by Yusuke Tomibayashi also in Q2. Car No. 56 had finished Q1 in 12th position, but when Daiki Sasaki scored the 4th fastest time in the Q2 session, it moved the team up to 3rd position in the Lower 17. For car No. 5 as well, Kiyoto Fujinami’s time attack after the team finished in 10th position in Q1 move the team up to 4th position in the Lower 17. The time difference between these four cars and the four slowest cars in the Upper 16, brought the special switch rule into effect.

　In the Group 1 (Upper 16) session that followed, Kazuto Kotaka in car No. 31 made a fine run on used tires that was faster than teammate Nakamura’s time in Q1. With the resulting fastest time in both sessions, the team won an undisputed top position. Finishing in 2nd place was car No. 52, which had finished 2nd in Q1 and 3rd in Q2. The car No. 45 that had finished in front of No. 52 in Q2 moved up to 3rd place due to the time difference. The four cars that were switched to the Lower 17 were cars No. 4, No. 96, No. 50, and No. 30. Of these, cars No. 4 and No. 96 had combined times that were faster than that of car No. 61 that finished fastest in Group 2 (Lower 17）, but this only moved them up to 13th and 14th places, while car No. 50 finished 16th overall and car No. 30 finished 19th overall. Conversely, No. 61 finished 15th, while No. 9 and No. 56 17th and 18th to put them ahead of the Lower 17.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

　The final session of the qualifying simulation was the GT500 class Q2, in which car No. 36 (Sho Tsuboi) ran the fastest time. In car No. 14 that had run the fastest time in Q1, the time attack by Kazuya Oshima put the team in 3rd position, which meant that the combined time of car No. 36 made it the overall winner. The combined time of car No. 14 put it in 2nd place by a margin of 0.237 sec.
　Following in 3rd place came car No. 39 (Yuhi Sekiguchi) that recorded the 2nd fastest time in Q2, which gave the GR Supra a sweep of the top three places. Finishing 4th overall was car No 100, which finished 7th in Q2, while 5th place went to car No. 23, which had finished 5th in Q1 and 6th in Q2 (Ronnie Quintarelli).

 

 

 

 

 

　Usually, （in Q2） it’s a time when I have to worry about how to best run on used tires and the machine set-up, but this time it was my first run so I decided to run it like an experiment. I the cold the tire grip was good and the condition felt better, so I there wasn’t as much difference as I expected. But since as the season progresses and it gets warmer, it won’t be like this, the drop in tire grip and such, I think I couldn’t grasp it all. The combined time format means that the overall strength and teamwork will be tested more than ever. In that regard, I don’t think there will be any problem, and if the two of us do our best, I think we will be able to work in a good environment.

 

Kenta Yamashita（No.36 au TOM'S GR Supra）

　It was quite fascinating and an interesting qualifying. (Since there is just one set of tires for the qualifying) Q2 is run with used tires I thought there would be a bigger gap in times from Q1, but everyone kept within a one or two seconds, and although it isn’t a new discovery, I thought that was interesting. As for my own time attack, since Tsubio-san was within a second, I was slow. Leading up to Q2 I think the conditions were not good, but since some teams got faster times in Q2, I think it was a very interesting qualifying. I think it was a poor show for me that I got beat by Fukuzumi-san (car No. 14) but I think that the team is progressing well toward the opening round.

 

 

　The various things I have thought about with regard to this qualifying format seem to have come together for me. Today I ran a lot in the tire tests in in the morning, so it meant I could hand over something to Nakamura-san for his (Q1) time attacks with new tires. But I still don’t know if it is best for me to squeeze out as much as I can from the used tires (in Q2) or to go for a fast time with fresh tires. It is a question of which would give us the best advantage. I think that is something we will have to decide by trying a variety of things going forward.

 

Jin Nakamura（No.31 apr LC500h GT）

　I think my time was OK, but because Kotaka-san’s time (in Q2) was very fast we came out as fastest overall. Looking back at my own time attack, since I honestly feel that I wasn’t able to bring out the full potential of the tires, that is what I need to think about. The atmosphere is very good now in the team, so I feel that I’m fortunate to be in a good environment. I think that tomorrow I will be expected to put in a lot of distance on the track, so I want to work on the areas that I think I am lacking in so I can get a little closer to the level that Kotaka-san is at.

 

 

 

　This is very different from what we have had until now. We now have to think about the reduction in tire grip (because of the limit to one set) that we never had to worry about in the qualifying until now. For the fans, there will be a new method of competition and new way of determining the team positions, which will bring new points of interest, I believe. But for us, we never had to think about how to maintain the performance of the tires before. This time the weather was good and there was no worry about the tire (overheating), and although there was little drop in the lap times, things will surely be different when the temperatures get warmer.

 

Katsumasa Chiyo（No.23 MOTUL AUTECH Z）

　The times in Q2 didn’t drop as much as I had expected (with the used tires) in Q2. I think it was good that we got the chance to think this time about the adjustments to be made between Q1 and Q2 and the preparation of the tires. I think the teams have surely gotten a variety of new data. But I was surprised at how close the times were with the new combined time format. It demands a lot of very detailed adjustments. One mistake can cost you everything. When the rules change like this it increases the number of changes we have to make through trial and error, but I thing that will lead to a higher level of competition.

 

Yuhi Sekiguchi（No.39 DENSO KOBELCO SARD GR Supra）

　In summer, I think that the difference between the performance of the new tires (in Q1) and the used tires (in Q2) will be greater, but today I don’t there wasn’t much difference. I feel that today there was a need to think about how to drive and how to use the tires in Q1. So, if the conditions are the same for everyone, it is a test of a professional how well they can perform no matter what rules apply, and that is our job, so I have no questions about how the rules have changed.

 

Hiroki Yoshida（No.52 Green Brave GR Supra GT）

　I think that the standards by which we tires will change compared to last year. If this means that the number of factors depending on chance that we have to worry about are reduced, it will mean that we can spend less time concentrating on our qualifying order and more on the final race, but if that trend increases to an extreme it also brings the danger of dropping lower in the qualifying and losing the chance to compete in the race. In that sense, there may be more worries than last year, but we will surely have to be more severe about our tire choices that in the past. But in fact, we won’t really know until we try actually racing under these conditions.

 

Takuto Iguchi（No.61 SUBARU BRZ R&D SPORT）

　While there are some interesting aspects, there is something sad about not having the option to run time attacks on fresh tires. Since there have measures taken to show the timing, that will bring new interest for the spectators. With the BRZ, there is a burst of speed that can come from fresh tires, I think that now there will be an issue of how to manage the tires that have been used (in Q1). I think this increases the number of things we have to consider during the qualifying. It means the ways the tires are chosen and developed will also have to be reconsidered. We will also have to think about measures for changing conditions and machine settings.

 

Naoki Yamamoto（No.100 STANLEY CIVIC TYPE R-GT）

　This time there wasn’t much drop in the lap times from Q1 to Q2. I think that was due to the improvement in the track condition and the amount of deterioration in the tire performance, but when the track surface temperature rises in summer races, I believe the conditions will be different, and when it is on tracks like Suzuka where one lap is longer, there will be more wear on the tires. Still, everyone will be running under the same conditions, so the fact that teams and drivers that are able to adapt skillfully to the changes will move ahead doesn’t change. In order to continue racing for a long time in this changing world, I believe these changes that have been made are necessary.

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