【SUPER GT Round 6 / Suzuka】

WedsSport ADVAN RC F finishes in fifth for second time this season.
Upgarage Bandoh 86 takes pole position but ends race in fourth.

SUPER GT Round6

Date	2016/08/26-28
Venue	Suzuka Circuit
Weather	Cloudy / Rain
Surface	Dry & Wet
Race Lap	173Laps (1Lap = 5,807ｍ)

• >>Report
• >>Result

International Suzuka 1000km, held as the sixth round of 2016 Super GT series, has a long and illustrious history. Racing for 173 laps, which normally takes nearly six hours, on this famous and challenging 5.807km Grand Prix circuit tests the true ability of the competing teams, as it would be extremely tough task for both cars and drivers, particularly in the heat and humidity of midsummer in Japan.

In return for the severity, however, some extra championship points are awarded to the leading finishers of this long distance race. So this could be a good opportunity for weaker parties in the early part of the season to jump up in points and rejoin the title race in the closing stage.

As expected, it was extremely hot on Saturday, the day for official practice and qualifying sessions. When the qualifying session got underway, the air temperature already reached 33 degrees Celsius, with the track surface at 44 degrees. But it was clear that Yokohama tires were suited to the track conditions, considering the fact that 11 out of 14 GT300 cars that made their way into Q2 relied on Yokohama tires.

The most remarkable driver among them was Tadasuke Makino who was called up as the third driver of Syntium Apple Lotus for this event. He had narrowly missed the FIA-F4 championship title last season but he has scored three podium finishes in Japanese F3 in his rookie season this year, so Makino’s high ability had been already well known. However, the fact that he set the fastest time in Q1 in his first ever Super GT car race was still a pleasant surprise for his veteran teammates, Kazuho Takahashi and Hiroki Kato.

Unfortunately, as Kato struggled with oversteer in his stint because the set up change for Q2 backfired, Syntium Apple Lotus ended the qualifying session in third. The pole position in the GT300 class was taken by Yuhki Nakayama in Upgarage Bandoh 86. The third fastest time in Q1 set by the series rookie Shinnosuke Yamada was already brilliant and then Nakayama, being senior to Yamada, even bettered it. “Finally, we took the pole position but the most important part is the race. So we shouldn’t be relaxed yet,” Nakayama said.

Takamitsu Matsui secured the fifth grid for VivaC 86 MC. As the team leader Takeshi Tsuchiya wanted to play engineer’s role as much as possible in this race, they hired Kenta Yamashita, who is also a leading competitor in Japanese F3, as the third driver.

In Q1 for the GT500 cars, Daiki Sasaki drove Forum Engineering ADVAN GT-R and Yuhi Sekiguchi was at the wheel of WedsSport ADVAN RC F and their stunning performance in the session led to the second fastest time for Sasaki and the third for Sekiguchi, which of course were good enough to go on to Q2.

Although Masataka Yanagida in the GT-R had to settle for seventh in Q2, he later said the top three was not beyond the reach. On the other hand, Yuji Kunimoto in WedsSport backed car secured the fourth grid for the race. It was one step down from the position in Q1 but was still the highest grid for them this year. After the session, Sekiguchi delightfully said, “Last year, we had a great race after starting from the tenth grid. Now we got the fourth grid and I think this should be a good launching pad for a win!” Thus, the two Yokohama shoed cars looked very promising for the race.

It was raining on Sunday morning at Suzuka Circuit. Because there was no warm up session in the early morning on the schedule this time, the 8-minute warm up run which was included within the race starting procedures was extended to 20 minutes and everyone went out on the track with wet tires. But, as the rain almost stopped before the session ended, the teams opted for dry tires for the race and started to change tires on the grids one after another. Eventually, all GT500 cars had the slicks when the race began.

WedsSport ADVAN RC F with Sekiguchi at the wheel was running in sixth in the early stage, followed by Yanagida in Forum Engineering ADVAN GT-R. On Lap 17, however, Yanagida went off the track by a spin and the car halted in the gravel bed. With the course marshal’s assistance, he could rejoin the race but he lost four laps against the race leader in the process, which meant that their race virtually ended at the time.

The GT-R’s aerodynamic balance became far from ideal because many parts on the bodywork were damaged when it went off the track. But it continued in a consistent pace and, surprisingly, Sasaki actually set the fastest lap of the race in the final stint! At the end of the day, Forum Engineering ADVAN GT-R finished in 12th, four laps down from the winner, with hope for a much better race in the next round.

Sekiguchi moved up to fifth in his stint and then changed to Kunimoto. Immediately after the first driver change, WedsSport ADVAN RC F was running in fourth but Kunimoto couldn’t go further up the field, as he damaged the car’s aerodynamic parts on the front end when he was involved in a close battle with the other car. But they never gave up and finished the race in fifth by some solid efforts. The fifth place was their best result this year after the same feat in the fourth round in Sugo and now the car’s consecutive point finish record extended to 15 races.

In the GT300 class, Upgarage Bandoh 86 led the first half of the race after starting from the pole position. But the Safety Car period just before entering the third hour of the race meant the gap which the car gained over the rest of the field came to nothing. On top of this, the Upgarage backed car had to give way to a few opponents that made the third driver changes before the Safety Car period, when it made the third and last driver change to Yamada.

While the team decided to forgo the tire change at the pit stop, putting their hopes on the young Japanese to fight back, the heavy rain at the closing stage prevented him from regaining the lost positions. So he had to settle for the fourth place in the race they could have easily won.

The other two strong candidates for the class win, Syntium Apple Lotus and VivaC 86 MC, also led the race for a time but, unfortunately, the Lotus crashed out of the race and the VivaC backed car had to retire due to a gearbox problem. As for the other Yokohama equipped cars, Nobuteru Taniguchi and Tatsuya Kataoka in GoodSmile Hatsune Miku AMG brought the car home in fifth and Excellence Porsche driven by Naoya Yamano and Yuya Sakamoto finished in seventh.