2024.04.26

【Round 2 preview】 Never know what happens in unpredictable 3-Hour race! Stay alert on team strategies.

3 weeks have passed since the 'hot' 2024 season opener. While the afterglow is still around, Round 2 is already approaching. 2024 AUTOBACS SUPER GT Round 2 "FUJI GT 3 Hours RACE" is taking place at Fuji Speedway in Shizuoka Prefecture during the Golden Week on May 3rd (Fri) and 4th (Sat), national holidays in Japan. The series had been competed generally in a race distance between 250 to 1000km, but upcoming event will be a timed race of 3 hours. Considering from past races held at Fuji, it will probably be just short of 500km. The distance is not unfamiliar, but, since it's difficult to predict what lies ahead in a timed race, it would be interesting to see different strategies the teams will be taking. 2 refueling pit-stops have to be made during the race by the rule. Use of a third driver will be permitted, thus, with different characteristics of different car models and third driver engagement, we may see unique strategies from the teams in GT300. In the GT500 class, the top question would be how will the new Honda CIVIC TYPE R-GT fight at Fuji.　Will there be any teams dare to take surprising strategy while the competitiveness and tactics options are pretty much the same?　Who will find the winning formula of "3-hour"? There's a lot to see at Round 2 Fuji.

※Above photo is from last year's Round 2 Fuji.

 

Fuji Speedway information
■Track details
Length: 4,563m
Width: 15 to 25m
Elevation difference:40m

■Track records
GT500
1'25.764 Kenta Yamashita / No.14 ENEOS X PRIME GR Supra 2021 Round 8 Qualifying - Q2 (Nov 27)
GT300
1'34.395 Hideki Yamauchi / No.61 SUBARU BRZ R&D SPORT 2021 Round 8 Qualifying - Q2 (Nov 27)

 

　At last year's Round 2 Fuji, No.36 au TOM’S GR Supra snatched victory that pretty much compensated them for the disastrous pit stop from the previous race in Okayama. This season, the team made a good start by a perfect pole-to-win at the season opening race. Both Sho Tsuboi and Kenta Yamashita appeared energetic from their comment in a post-race interview, "We are looking at 2-in-a-row." However, 46kg of Success weight (SW) must be a quite burden. Aiming for a podium finish to score a large point would be a realistic step towards consecutive title.
　Even without No.36 car, TOYOTA GAZOO Racing teams would want to bring in the win since Fuji is the home track of the fleet. In particular, No.38 KeePer CERUMO GR Supra (Hiroaki Ishiura / Toshiki Oyu) with a new team organization led by Team Manager Yuji Tachikawa must had a good impression from their fourth-place finish at the season opener. New joiner Oyu was able to demonstrate his speed by the second position in Q1. Together with new ace driver Ishiura, the driver combination carries expectation on their shoulder to deliver a first win since the Round 2 Fuji in 2019 at upcoming Round 2 Fuji.
　If No.36 car is not favorable due to heavy SW, then No.37 Deloitte TOM'S GR Supra (Ukyo Sasahara / Giuliano Alesi) from same TOM'S could be showing strong performance. Although the team could not produce results they would have wanted last year, they emerged from 11th in qualifying and finished at 6th place in the race at Round 2 Fuji, which eventually became their best result of the year. With the organization entering its second year since transformation, they would want to mark a milestone at upcoming Fuji.

 

   

 

 

　This season's Nissan Z NISMO GT500 has a new aerodynamics design. Former Nissan GT-R and Nissan Z tended to perform better on a track that demands downforce like Suzuka, but Nissan's race car of this season seems to be more like an all-rounder. If so, then the car should be able to fight strongly even at unfavorable Fuji. The team that should be watched closely the most is No.3 Niterra MOTUL Z (Mitsunori Takaboshi / Atsushi Miyake). No.3 car has been a final contender of the title 2 years in a row and Takaboshi's speed has been remarkable during the time. Miyake, who grabbed the chance to sit behind the wheel this season, is highly talented driver capturing attention despite being GT500 rookie. The team has won at Fuji last year at rainy Round 4 race. It's undeniable that Michelin's rain tire brought advantage, but the team also worked strongly to firmly produce result in turbulent race situation. Know-how of this season's Bridgestone tire has been shared among 3 teams already, so the car can be showing strong performance along side No.23 MOTUL AUTECH Z (Katsumasa Chiyo / Ronnie Quintarelli) at Round 2 Fuji.
　Precursor in terms of Bridgestone tire user, No.12 MARELLI IMPUL Z (Kazuki Hiramine / Bertrand Baguette) with third-year driver lineup can be stable in a long-distance race. In 2022 when the team captured title, they struggled in first 3 races, but they came in second at the Round 4 race held at Fuji which eventually allowed them to stay on in the title contention. The team would want to gain a good result at Round 2 Fuji and steer towards recapturing of the title.

 

   

 

 

　Honda launched a new car this season, CIVIC TYPE R-GT. Difference from predecessor NSX-GT is not just the appearance as the new race car acquired a new layout of components under the hood, such as radiator, intercooler, etc., in an attempt to reduce the weight and lower the center of gravity.
　Looking back at the season opener, No.100 STANLEY CIVIC TYPE R-GT (Naoki Yamamoto / Tadasuke Makino) overcame fierce battle to finish in 3rd place. No.100 car continues to be a candidate for win at the Round 2 race, but other CIVIC TYPE R-GTs seem to be having difficulty in finding the sweet spot. It is not difficult to imagine that the data from succeeded No.100 car has already been shared with other teams given it's a new model car, hence, all 5 Honda cars should have foundational improvement at Round 2.
　Car to keep an eye on at Round 2 Fuji would be No.8 ARTA MUGEN CIVIC TYPE R-GT #8 (Tomoki Nojiri / Nobuharu Matsushita). Although the car had to start from the end of the starting grid at the season opener since it fell short in Q1, it fought up to 8th position. Considering upcoming Round 2 will be a long race of 3 hours, the car could be fighting for the victory at the end if it can get an upper position in qualifying.
　No.17 car has been notably strong at Fuji. No.17 Astemo CIVIC TYPE R-GT (Koudai Tsukakoshi / Kakunoshin Ohta) should be able to continue the legacy. If Tsukakoshi can leverage newly joined young gun Ohta's speed and take control at critical points in the race, then the team may replay the dramatic come-from-behind win it showcased in their win at Round 2 Fuji in 2020.

 

   

 

 

　When it comes to a car that favors Fuji, GR Supra tops the list. No.52 Green Brave GR Supra GT (Hiroki Yoshida / Seita Nonaka), which fell short of podium at the season opening race despite running at a good position, could not score a win in two races held at Fuji last year, the highest being a 3rd place finish at Round 2. As the defending champion, the first Fuji race of the season is a race it must win. With the characteristics of the car, the team has an option to take a strategy to reduce the number of tire change, plus their drivers are highly skilled, so, if all that work out together in addition to the natural speed the car has, it could certainly be engaged in the battle for win. Another key player on the field is No.2 muta Racing GR86 GT (Yuui Tsutsumi / Hibiki Taira) that won the season opening race with impressive no-tire-change strategy, It has to carry 44kg of success weight in exchange for the win, therefore, upcoming race could be a difficult game to play. Nonetheless, podium or an upper position could be possible with a smart strategy and clever run in a long distance race. It can consequently become an important race for them for capturing the title.

　No.56 REALIZE NISSAN MECHANIC CHALLENGE GT-R (Daiki Sasaki / Joao Paulo de Oliveira), the winner of last year's Round 2 Fuji, is another strong candidate. Season opener turned out to be a stressful first race of the season for them, possibly due to car setting issue. However, with recent success of winning the title twice and the lineup of former GT500 drivers, the speed may come back on GT-R NISMO GT3 at its favorite Fuji track. Podium or even victory could be possible. GT-R NISMO GT3 and other FIA GT3 race cars cannot easily opt for a strategy like no-tire-change due to their characteristics. For this reason, the teams like No.4 GOODSMILE HATSUNE MIKU AMG (Nobuteru Taniguchi / Tatsuya Kataoka) and No.65 LEON PYRAMID AMG (Naoya Gamou / Takuro Shinohara / Haruki Kurosawa) could be planning to move the timing of pit-stops from others. We need to keep our eyes on their move too during the race.

 

   

 

　No.31 apr LC500h GT (Kazuto Kotaka / Jin Nakamura / Yuki Nemoto), which endured to finish in 5th place at last year's Round 4 Fuji despite unstable weather condition and captured its first podium finish at 3rd position at Round 7 race held on Autopolis track that possesses a similar layout as Fuji Speedway, could be a dark horse of upcoming race. It may show surprising run with its hybrid engine, one and only in SUPER GT, as mentioned by Team Manager Kaneso who was also involved with the car development, "LC500h runs better on a track like Fuji." No.61 SUBARU BRZ R&D SPORT (Takuto Iguchi / Hideki Yamauchi) could be another car drawing attention. 2021 champion BRZ boasts speed and success stories at Fuji. The team would want to gain momentum as well as points in order to regain the title.

 

   

 

 

 

Page Top