【SUPER GT Round 7 /Autopolis】

WedsSport ADVAN LC500 makes second podium finish this year.
Yokohama shoed Lamborghini and NSX get on GT300 podium.

SUPER GT Round 7

Date	2018/10/20-10/21
Venue	Autopolis
Weather	Fine
Surface	Dry
Race Lap	65Laps (1Lap = 4,674m)

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The seventh round of the eight race 2018 Super GT series was held at Autopolis in Kyushu Prefecture. Until the previous round, every car had to carry the weight handicap that was equal to twice the championship points the car had earned in kilograms. For this penultimate round, however, the coefficient was one, not two, so the weight handicaps were effectively reduced by half.

Under a clear sky, the weather was perfect for a race meeting on Sunday, October 21st. The air temperature was moderate at 17 degrees Celsius, when the race was about to start, but everybody was a little concerned about the track surface temperature which had already rose to 36 degrees at that time.

Before the start, the crew of WedsSport ADVAN LC500 had made a decision on their race strategy. Considering the way things were in the practice and qualifying sessions, they were going to go to a two stop strategy and reduced the amount of fuel on-board at the start accordingly.

WedsSport ADVAN LC500 started the race from the tenth grid with Kenta Yamashita at the wheel. He overtook the cars ahead of him one after another because his car was lighter than others by having less fuel on-board and the tires suited to the conditions very well.

Actually, he was already running in seventh on Lap 10 and then came in to the pit as scheduled five laps later. The team changed all four tires at this stop but Yamashita stayed in the car for the second stint.

Motul Mugen NSX-GT and Hideki Muto began the race from the sixth grid but struggled to keep a good pace. Meanwhile, Joao Paulo de Oliveira in Forum Engineering ADVAN GT-R, which had settled for lowly 13th in the qualifying session, lost a position further on the opening lap. Therefore, he had to play catch-up with the other competitors but he did it really well and found himself running in tenth on Lap 18.

On Lap 20, the Safety Car was deployed for a GT300 car going off the track. This greatly benefited WedsSport ADVAN LC500, as the gaps between the cars were reduced almost to null, which in turn cancelled the time it had spent during its first pit stop.

The race restarted on Lap 25. And after several laps, now it was time for other GT500 cars to make their first and only pit stops. Forum Engineering ADVAN GT-R did it on Lap 31 to change to Mitsunori Takaboshi. Motul Mugen NSX-GT followed the path on the next lap and resumed racing with Daisuke Nakajima behind the wheel.

With most of other cars making stops, there was a clear space ahead of Yamashita and he started to push to make the most of it. After becoming the provisional race leader on Lap 33, he continued to push hard until he completed 41 laps, which was almost the maximum number of laps a driver allowed to drive by the rules, and came back to the pit. Thanks to Yamashita’s effort, Yuji Kunimoto was still running in third when all cars had done their mandatory pit stops.

In sharp contrast to the qualifying session which Honda NSX-GTs dominated, the four Lexus LC500s, including the Yokohama shoed WedsSport backed car, were leading the second half of the race. Kunimoto’s pace was good enough to keep the position and the car made the second podium finish of the season, since the third place finish in the fourth round in Thailand.

Forum Engineering ADVAN GT-R was in ninth when it completed 40 laps from the start but caught up with other cars which were fighting for seventh. After battling with them for a while, Takaboshi managed to move up to seventh on Lap 49 and finished the race in that position. This was the fourth point finish this year for the team.

On the other hand, Motul Mugen NSX-GT had to endure a hard time even in the second half and ended the race in 14th.

As for the GT300 class, the pole sitting Hoppy 86 MC started with Sho Tsuboi at the wheel sprinted from the start and pulled away from Hiroki Yoshida in Gainer Tanax triple a GT-R running in second. Even after the Safety Car period, from Lap 18 to 22 for the GT300 class leader, Tsuboi left Yoshida behind and built a certain gap with him.

On Lap 26, Hoppy 86 MC made its pit stop. The team changed only two front tires and sent Takamitsu Matsui back on the track. However, he suffered a problem caused by picking up a lot of rubber “marbles” on the track and, on Lap 34, he lost the lead to Legal Frontier Lamborghini GT3 which had just done the driver change from Yuya Motojima to Kimiya Sato. Even worse, Matsui hit another car from behind on Lap 40, which led to losing so many positions.

When all cars in the class had done their pit stops, Sato found himself running in second. Behind him, Hiroki Otsu in Modulo Kenwood NSX GT3 provided a good show by moving up to fourth on Lap 49 and then to third on Lap 57 at Turn 1.

Otsu’s first podium in the Super GT series in his rookie season ended a longtime podium drought of his partner, Ryo Michigami. The Motojima / Sato pair of Legal Frontier Lamborghini GT3 finished the race in second and got on the podium along with Otsu and Michigami.