2024.10.20

Round 7 Regular Press Conference: GTA Representative Bandoh Announced the Round 5 “Final Race of the Season” to be run as a 300km race

　　GTA held its Regular Press Conference on the morning of Race Day of Round 7. In his opening address, GTA President and Chief Executive Officer, Masaaki Bandoh, announced that the Round 5 Suzuka race originally scheduled to be held as a 350 km race will be changed to a 300 km race.

 

　The Round 5 Suzuka race originally scheduled to be held on August 31st and Sept 1st had to be cancelled due to the effects of a typhoon and was subsequently changed to new holding dates of December 7th and 8th. Initially the final race was intended to be held as a 350 km race, but after consideration of the sunset time and the expected air temperature in December, the decision was made to shorten it to a 300 km race.

　President Bandoh explained that consideration of the various conditions involved led to the decision to change to a 300 km race. He said, “In the case of Suzuka, rather than softer tires, it is probably necessary to use tires with strong resilience in order for them to last. And compared to a summer race, it is anticipated that tires made of rubber with greater resilience will be necessary.” Also, considering the expected temperatures, the number of tire sets that can be brought in for the race will be increased from the usual 4 sets to 5 sets. President Bandoh added, “With five sets allowed, it will basically enable a selection from two sets of soft tires, one set of medium tires and two sets of hard tires.”

 

　　On the other hand, it was revealed that there had been requests from the drivers and teams for the use of tire warmers, and in response to this, it was explained that, “Although the use of warmers might lead to good times from the very start (of qualifying time attacks), because we don’t use them now, we decided to not allow their use.” Thus, it was explained that for the sake of fairness between teams with different operating conditions warmers would be prohibited.

　Furthermore, based on reference to records of the conditions at the Manufacturers’ Tests held last year on December 6th and 7th, it was noted that, “It would be best to have the race end before 3:30 in the afternoon at the latest, and to do that, the race should be started earlier. And that led to the decision that, rather than running a 350 km race, we should choose a 300 km race that would run from 1 hr. 40 min. to 50 min. That would allow the race to be run in a time span with the highest air temperature and track surface temperature.”
　 In addition, in consideration of the heat generated by the tires, the length of the qualifying sessions will be extended by 5 minutes compared to the usual length. It was also announced that the qualifying Q1 session would begin with the GT500 class, for which it is more difficult to warm up the tires.

 

 

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