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Race Report
2024.10.20
Rd. 7 Qualifying GT500: Natori is fast in the final time attacks! REALIZE CORPORATION ADVAN Z takes its first pole position of the season!

Rd. 7 Qualifying GT500: Natori is fast in the final time attacks! REALIZE CORPORATION ADVAN Z takes its first pole position of the season!の画像

Round 7 AUTOPOLIS : Qualifying GT500

　The Official Qualifying for the AUTOPOLIS GT 3 Hours RACE, Round 7 of the 2024 AUTOBACS SUPER GT took place on the morning of October 20th (Sun.) at AUTOPOLIS (one lap 4,674m) in Oita Prefecture. Originally scheduled for yesterday afternoon, the qualifying had to be cancelled due to bad weather and was re-scheduled to be held in one 30-session for each class this morning. In the GT500 class, the No. 24 REALIZE CORPORATION ADVAN Z (Tsugio Matsuda/Teppei Natori) won pole position. In the GT300 class, the No. 6 UNI-ROBO BLUEGRASS FERRARI (Yoshiaki Katayama/Roberto Merhi Muntan) won its first pole position in the class. In today’s race (starting at 1:20 P.M.), these two cars will start from the front positions of their respective class grids.

□ Official Qualifying Weather: cloudy ｜ Track: wet｜ Air temperature/Track temperature before the start of GT500 session: 10℃/13℃; 11℃/13℃ at the finish

 

■The teams run with caution throughout the first half of the qualifying. Serious time attacks begin from the second half

　Since both the Official Practice and Official Qualifying scheduled for yesterday had to be cancelled due to bad weather, on this Race Day (October 20th (Sun.) the Official Qualifying was re-scheduled to start from 8:00 in the morning as a one-shot competition with first a 30-minute session for the GT300 class and then another 30-minute session for the GT500 class.

　Again this morning, there was a lot of fog settled in from the main straight to the first corner of the track. However, there was a comment from commentator of the J SPORTS broadcast that based on driving images taken from the on-board car filming, it appeared that the view from the drivers’ standpoint was at a sufficient level for running. However, although rain wasn’t falling at the time, the track surface was completely wet. Of course, a board was posted to declare a WET track condition, which meant that wet-use tires could be used. Also, since the GT300 class qualifying session had just been run, the track had dried out considerably. Still, with the exception of the No. 100 STANLEY CIVIC TYPE R-GT (Naoki Yamamoto/Tadasuke Makino), many cars could be seen starting out on wet-use tire to test the conditions on the track.

　During the first half of the qualifying session, the top position belonged to the No. 39 DENSO KOBELCO SARD GR Supra (Yuhi Sekiguchi/Yuichi Nakayama) with a time of 1’37.845. Behind this came the No. 17 Astemo CIVIC TYPE R-GT (Koudai Tsukakoshi/Kakunoshin Ohta), and the No. 14 ENEOS X PRIME GR Supra (Kazuya Oshima/Nirei Fukuzumi).

 

 

 

 

 

■Natori in car No. 24 runs strongly to take his first GT500 pole position! Car No. 23 finishes 2nd to give the Z a 1-2 finish

　Before the second half of the session, most of the cars returned to their pits to change to slick tires and then begin their serious time attacks. The first to claim top position was car No. 100 with a time of 1’34.729, and as it approached 7 minutes before the end of the session, car No. 17 came in with a time of 1’33.801 to make it appear that the Honda CIVIC TYPE R-GT teams had an advantage.

　However, after entering the last 5 minutes of the session, Natori in the No. 24 REALIZE CORPORATION ADVAN Z (Tsugio Matsuda/Teppei Natori) ran a time of 1’35.166 to move into 4th position. Then, on his next lap he came in with a time of 1’33.162 to move into the top spot. Natori continued his attacks after that, and after setting a new fastest time in Sector 1 and Sector 2 of the course and appearing to be on the way to yet another top time, his pace slowed over the last Sector and he was unable to improve on his time in his last attempt.

　Next, Fukuzumi in car No. 14 ran a time of 1’33.326 to move up to 2nd position. However, just before the end of the session, Chiyo in the No. 23 MOTUL AUTECH Z (Katsumasa Chiyo/Ronnie Quintarelli) beat that time with a lap of 1’33.243 to grab 2nd position.

　When all was said and done, the GT500 rookie Natori driving the qualifying in car No. 24 won pole position. Of course, for Natori this was his first pole position in the GT500 class (and his first since Round 7 of 2021 in the GT300 class). Qualifying 2nd was car No. 23, which gave the Nissan Z NISMO GT500 teams a 1-2 finish. Third position went to the No. 14 ENEOS X PRIME GR Supra (Kazuya Oshima/Nirei Fukuzumi). The top finisher among the CIVIC TYPE R-GT teams was the No. 17 Astemo CIVIC TYPE R-GT (Koudai Tsukakoshi/Kakunoshin Ohta) finishing in 4th position.

 

 

 

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