2024.07.26

【Round 4 Preview】 Long-distance battle in super severe midsummer! Here comes 350km Fuji clash!

As the summer heat gets real in Japan, the 2024 AUTOBACS SUPER GT Round 4 "FUJI GT 350km RACE" is taking place on August 3rd (Sat) and 4th (Sun) at Fuji Speedway in Shizuoka Prefecture. It is the series' second stop at Fuji in this season, and the race will be competed in a distance of 350km this time whereas it was a timed race of 3 hours for the previous stop (Round 2). Situation must be fiercer for the drivers and teams since the race will be longer than usual 300km plus in the middle of hot summer. The heat would put a significant strain on the cars and must be especially hard on tires. Team strategy would definitely be a point of attraction as some may choose to change tires more frequently as it can wear faster than usual, and some others may be able to go without changing tires by relying on driver's skill to last them longer. Third driver can become a factor in the GT300 class since upcoming event also permits entry of a third driver like in the Round 2. The 2024-season will move into its middle phase with this Round 4. Point allocation among the teams will become more important from here as the championship contention gets fiercer in both classes.

※Above photo is from this 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)

 

 

　GT500 class' drivers point standing after the Round 3 Suzuka is led by the defending champion No.36 au TOM’S GR Supra (Sho Tsuboi / Kenta Yamashita) that won the season opener in Okayama and continued to score points. However, the car has to load a heavy Success weight (SW) at 74kg for upcoming Round 4 Fuji, so it may not output the speed it would hope for, but the team still should be capable of aiming to be in the top 5 with the long race distance of 350km.
　The team that is especially keen to win at the TOYOTA GAZOO Racing squad's home Fuji must be No.38 KeePer CERUMO GR Supra (Hiroaki Ishiura / Toshiki Oyu). Oyu, a driver of No.38 car, qualified third and led the race in the last phase before he eventually finished in second place at the Super Formula event held at the same Fuji on July 21st. The team would want to take advantage of the speed Oyu has been showing and bring in a first win under the leadership by new team manager, Yuji Tachikawa. Another team to keep an eye on would be No.39 DENSO KOBELCO SARD GR Supra (Yuhi Sekiguchi / Yuichi Nakayama) that came out with a second place in qualying as well as a second position on the podium in the race from the season opening round. Although ending at 9th position at following Round 2 Fuji, probably due to an impact from the success weight, it would want to win or climb on the podium at least at the second Fuji race.

 

   

 

 

　After starting from second spot on the grid, No.3 Niterra MOTUL Z (Mitsunori Takaboshi / Atsushi Miyake) stole the top position quickly after the race start and went solo onwards at previous Round 2 Fuji race. It was an impressive first win of the season which pushed the team to the second position in the drivers point standing right behind the champion No.36. However, the team is in a similar circumstance as No.36 in terms of a heavy Success weight, and, thus, it might want to change the focus to the championship contention already and target to surely finish in front of No.36 car instead of pushing for a podium finish.
　The hunter of victory this time must be Nissan's ace car No.23 MOTUL AUTECH Z (Katsumasa Chiyo / Ronnie Quintarelli). It finished in second place at the Round 2 Fuji behind No.3 car to complete Nissan's 1-2, but the team would want No.23 car to achieve the first win this time. No.24 Realize Corporation ADVAN Z (Tsugio Matsuda / Teppei Natori) has a quite good chance considering the advantage it can enjoy from a light Success weight. The team is fighting with a new driver combination of 3-time GT500 champion Matsuda and GT500 rookie Natori this season, and, although they struggled in first 2 races, the finish in points at the Round 3 Suzuka must have given the team a good thrust. Considering the package of the team and Z itself has captured pole position at last year's Round 4 Fuji, the podium should be within the reach if it can get an upper position in qualifying.

 

   

 

 

　Honda squad has switched their race machine to CIVIC TYPE R-GT from this season. No.17 Astemo CIVIC TYPE R-GT (Koudai Tsukakoshi / Kakunoshin Ohta) brought in the first pole position at the Round 3 Suzuka. For the race, the car finished at third position in 3 consecutive races up to now (each by different team), and the squad must be abmitiously wanting to capture the first victory at the fourth race of the season.
　The first team seen to accomplish the ambition is No.8 ARTA MUGEN CIVIC TYPE R-GT (Tomoki Nojiri / Nobuharu Matsushita). The team captured the fourth position in qualifying and ran at third place until 10 minutes before the finish in the race, where the car eventually ended without any points due to out of gas, at previous Round 2 Fuji event. It has shown pretty good speed, so only piece it is missing seems to be luck. With a light Success weight for upcoming Round 4, the team would want to claim the first victory of CIVIC TYPE R-GT this time. Despite rather heavy Success weight at 40kg and 38kg, respectively, No.100 STANLEY CIVIC TYPE R-GT (Naoki Yamamoto / Tadasuke Makino) and No.17 Astemo CIVIC TYPE R-GT (Koudai Tsukakoshi / Kakunoshin Ohta) should be considered victorious candidates for the performances they have been showing. Yamamoto has come back to drive No.100 car this season after the crash he suffered at last year's Round 6, and the team has been scoring points consistently after the third-place finish at the season opener. They would want to score a win at its favorite Fuji, for the title contention too. No.17 car would want to nail the win this time for sure especially after they had to settle with a third-place finish despite capturing the pole position at previous Round 2 Fuji. Entire CIVIC TYPE R-GT fleet must be keen to present a scene of raising the trophy of first win to the Honda fans.

 

   

 

 

　As mentioned in the preview of Round 2, if to name a car that especially favors the track of Fuji, that would be GR Supra. Among them, the defending champion No.52 Green Brave GR Supra GT (Hiroki Yoshida / Seita Nonaka) is worth an attention, but with the Success weight being at the limit set for GT300 class at 50kg for this event, the first target would be to finish in an upper position. If their proven tire strategy works out perfectly, then the team should have a good chance for fighting for the lead too, considering they were competitive enough to fight for the win at the Round 2 Fuji depite finishing in third place. Point leader No.2 muta Racing GR86 GT (Yuui Tsutsumi / Hibiki Taira) and second-ranked No.88 JLOC Lamborghini GT3 (Takashi Kogure / Yuya Motojima) that completed a pole-to-win at the Round 2 Fuji are ahead of No.52 car in points, but they are also at the limit of 50kg of Success weight, so their priority would also be to aim for finishing at an upper position rather than for the win, as per the theory.
　While the top rankers could be taking a safe strategy, the main role of the fight could be taken up by No.56 REALIZE NISSAN MECHANIC CHALLENGE GT-R (Daiki Sasaki / Joao Paulo de Oliveira) fielding NISSAN GT-R NISMO GT3, an FIA GT3 regulated race car, that has been strong at Fuji. The team added Sasaki, who competed in the GT500 class until last year this season and captured second place on the podium at previous Round 2 Fuji race, falling just short of their fourth Fuji win. The team would want to capture a win at upcoming Round 4 to gain momentum towards recapturing of the title. Among the GT3 race cars that are acclaimed to be a strong contender at Fuji, Mercedes AMG GT3 would be the first name on the list. No.4 GOODSMILE HATSUNE MIKU AMG (Nobuteru Taniguchi / Tatsuya Kataoka) clinched the pole position and led the field strongly until rain started to fall in the final phase of the race, which costed them the victory, at the Round 4 Fuji last year. Expectation is placed on the two veterans for their expertise in tire management in severe heat.

 

   

 

　No.60 Syntium LMcorsa GR Supra GT (Hiroki Yoshimoto / Shunsuke Kohno) boasts a record of two wins at Fuji, a second highest among GR Supra teams after No.52 car, and it can well be a dark horse. No.61 SUBARU BRZ R&D SPORT (Takuto Iguchi / Hideki Yamauchi), wearing the same Dunlop tires as No.60 car, could well be fighting for the highest position of the podium if the car can clinch an upper position in qualifying. Michelin tire is well known to be advantageous on wet track surface, and, thus, No.45 PONOS FERRARI 296 (Kei Cozzolino / Lilou Wadoux), No.20 SHADE RACING GR86 GT (Katsuyuki Hiranaka / Eijiro Shimizu), and No.7 Studie BMW M4 (Seiji Ara / Niklas Krütten / Bruno Spengler) along with hybrid No.31 apr LC500h GT (Kazuto Kotaka / Jin Nakamura / Yuki Nemoto) and previous race winner No.777 D'station Vantage GT3 (Tomonobu Fujii / Charlie Fagg) with rather heavy Success weight of 40kg and 46kg, respectively, could become an interesting player on the field.

 

   

 

 

 

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