2018 SUPER GT Round 6 Report

【SUPER GT Round 6 / Sugo】

Motul Mugen NSX-GT finishes one step short of podium.
Bunch of Yokohama shoed GT300 cars score good results.

SUPER GT Round 6

Date 2018/09/15-09/16
Venue Sportsland Sugo
Weather Fine
Surface Dry
Race Lap 81Laps
(1Lap = 3,704m)
2018 SUPER GT Round 6

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The Sugo rounds of Super GT series in the past have mostly been held as the fourth event in early summer. But the race was moved back to mid September this year as the sixth event of the series.

For the first time ever, the GT300 cars were separated into two groups for the Q1 of qualifying session. So there were two Q1 sections, one for each group, and the top 7 qualifiers of each went on to Q2. To make room for this format, the duration of Q1 had to be shortened from 15 to 10 minutes but most drivers liked it because they weren’t annoyed with traffic during their qualifying attempts.

Although the rain had already stopped, the first Q1 started with the damp track surfaces but the conditions changed to totally dry in Q2. And, led by Hoppy 86 MC which was the second fastest in the session despite a heavy weight handicap, many Yokohama shoed cars secured good starting positions.

The sky was clear on Sunday and the air/surface temperatures rose to 26/37 degrees Celsius when the race was about to start in front of a big crowd of spectators.

Starting from the fifth grid, Hideki Muto at the wheel of Motul Mugen NSX-GT gained a position on Lap 5, as a car in front of him went off the track. While his pace slightly dropped later in his stint, and he was under pressure from the cars behind him, Muto kept the position until he made the pit stop after completing 31 laps to change to Daisuke Nakajima.

The team chose the tires which had looked promising in the testing session at Autopolis just before the race for the second stint. The choice proved to be right and Nakajima who was running in fifth managed to keep the position, although the gap with Mitsunori Takaboshi in Forum Engineering ADVAN GT-R became marginal at one time.

But, in the closing stage of the race, the Safety Car came out because of a crash. This meant the gaps between the cars reduced to virtually zero and Nakajima began to push very hard when racing resumed for just six laps to go.

Three laps later, he actually managed to pass the car in front of him at Turn 1 to move up to fourth. Then he tried to catch up another car, but the remaining laps were too short to make it. Nakajima finished the race in fourth just 0.3 seconds behind the last podium finisher, so his face after the race clearly told his disappointment at just missing out the podium celebration.

Joao Paulo de Oliveira behind the wheel of Forum Engineering ADVAN GT-R started the race from the eighth grid and drove steadily to move up to sixth when he made the pit stop. Then Takaboshi did an excellent job to keep the position until the end of the race. This sixth place meant their third point finish of the season.

WedsSport ADVAN LC500 went off the track at Rainbow Corner on Lap 59, as a result of being hit by another car. The driver at the wheel, Yuji Kunimoto, managed to put the car back on the track but some white smoke from his car due to the damage caused by contact was clearly visible on its way to the pit. The team had to retire the car.

In the GT300 class, the FIA-GT3 cars which were superior in engine power improved their positions immediately after the start and the speed of Hiroki Yoshida in Gainer Tanax triple a GT-R stood out especially.

Just within three laps after starting from the fifth grid, Yoshida moved up to second and pulled away from the pack of cars behind. He actually became the interim race leader from Lap 31 to Lap 36 when he changed to Kazuki Hoshino. And when all GT300 cars completed mandatory pit stops, Hoshino was still running in second.

He was followed by Nobuteru Taniguchi behind the wheel of GoodSmile Hatsune Miku AMG. His partner, Tatsuya Kataoka, gained two positions during the early stage and came in to the pit at the end of Lap 23 to give Taniguchi the window of the longest possible stint. And the team decided to change only two tires on the left-hand side at the stop. The combination of all these strategic moves came to fruition as their third place in the later stage of the race.

In sharp contrast with hot battles in the GT500 class, the top two of GT300 were running on their own with each other and the race went on rather quietly. But the situation totally changed on Lap 64 when the Safety Car was deployed. The race was restarted very soon and Hiroki Otsu in Modulo Kenwood NSX GT3 who was running in tenth at the time made the most of it.

Helped by the car’s good engine performance, he overtook the direct competitions one after another on the straight lines. He was already in fifth on the final lap and, surprisingly, he was catching up Taniguchi and Marco Mapelli driving Manepa Lamborghini GT3 on the pit straight of that lap.

Otsu actually passed by Mapelli but fell just short of overtaking Taniguchi by 0.05 seconds. But the fourth place was still the best result for Ryo Michigami and Otsu driving Modulo Kenwood NSX GT3. By finishing in second, the Hoshino / Yoshida pair of Gainer Tanax triple a GT-R got on the podium for the first time this season.

Rintaro Kubo / Keishi Ishikawa who drove Gulf NAC Porsche 911 and Taku Banba / Shigekazu Wakisaka in Saitama Toyopet Greenbrave Mark X MC finished the race in sixth and seventh respectively, scoring their first championship points.

DRIVER VOICE

Kazuki Hoshino [GAINER TANAX triple a GT-R]

—Result : 2nd. in the GT300 class—
“It took so long and I am happy with the result! We have performed really well since the middle part of the season, but it just didn’t lead to good result this year. This time, the car was almost perfect from the first practice session, so I even thought ‘I want to race with this car straight away.’ And the tires that Yokohama provided us were perfect, too. We were only fifth in the qualifying session but we were so confident about the race because we thought the tires should be strong. Yoshida did a really good job during the first stint and built a significant gap with the cars behind us, so it wasn’t too difficult for me to keep the second place until the finish. As for the next round at Autopolis, we are very confident as well because we were in good form in the tire testing session there and I took a pole position at the circuit in the past. We will try our best to win there.”

ENGINEER VOICE

Shuichi Fujishiro [THE YOKOHAMA RUBBER CO., LTD.]

“Firstly, as for the GT500 class, the good thing was that all of our three cars went to Q2 in the qualifying session. It was a shame that none of them got on the podium in the race but, from the tire development point of view, there were some achievements. We provided the new spec tires to all three cars. And those had a few negative factors, especially on Motul Mugen NSX-GT and Forum Engineering ADVAN GT-R, but there were some positive factors as well. We felt we are in the right direction after the tire testing and we wish we could see the Motul Mugen NSX-GT crew on the podium for that reason. Last but not least, it was also a shame that WedsSport ADVAN LC500 had to retire from the race.

“In the GT300 class, Gainer Tanax triple a GT-R had a very solid race to finish in second. On the other hand, GoodSmile Hatsune Miku AMG came up to third, making the most of the drivers’ skill and used a clever strategy as usual, which was pretty impressive. But Hoppy 86 MC couldn’t do the race they wanted. There are still several Yokohama Tire user teams who have a chance to win the championship, so we have to do our best not to lose out in the remaining two races. For the other user teams, there weren’t many notable results until now. But the tires are certainly making progress throughout the season by the steady development works, while there was no major change this time.

“The track of Autopolis is normally tough for tires but, for the next race, the weight handicaps are to be reduced by half. Given these conditions, we think Yokohama users should have a relative advantage on tires. So our target in the GT500 class would be a podium finish. In the GT300 class, we have to avoid losing out anymore. We will try to give our best support on the tire side to our users in both classes.”