【SUPER GT Round 8 / Motegi】

McLaren 720S captures GT300 pole position.
GoodSmile Hatsune Miku AGM ends race and season as best Yokohama user.

SUPER GT Round 8

Date	2019/11/2-3
Venue	Twinring Motegi
Weather	Cloudy
Surface	Dry
Race Lap	53Laps (1Lap = 4,801m)

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The 2019 Super GT series came to its final stop of the season at Twin Ring Motegi. The teams which took part every round were allowed to run their cars without the weight handicaps for this 250km race, which was 50km shorter than usual. The “stop & go” race track is always harsh to the cars’ brakes, as well as the tires. So, people in the paddock said how to nurse those parts was certainly one of the keys to win this race.

In the GT300 class, ten Yokohama-shoed cars made their way into Q2, and Alex Palou, who pair up with Seiji Ara to drive McLaren 720S, got the pole position by setting a new course record. Kazuki Hiramine / Sacha Fenestraz pair in Realize Nissan Jidousya Daigakkou GT-R followed in second. At that point, their very slim chance to win the championship was gone at this time because they had to get the extra one point for the pole position to make it. The same applied to GoodSmile Hatsune Miku AMG with Nobuteru Taniguchi / Tatsuya Kataoka behind the wheel, as the pair ended the qualifying session in seventh.

In the GT500 class, Sho Tsuboi in WedsSport ADVAN LC500 stayed in the top eight for most of the Q1 session, but he was bumped out by just one hundredth in the last minutes. With Mitsunori Takaboshi at the wheel of Realize Corporation ADVAN GT-R being classified in 12th, and Daisuke Nakajima in Motul Mugen NSX-GT in 13th, all Yokohama-shoed GT500 cars failed to come through to Q2.

There was no concern about the weather on Sunday at all, and the track surfaces were dry throughout the day. Yuji Kunimoto was the starting driver of WedsSport ADVAN LC500, which started the race from the ninth grid. He struggled to warm up his tires properly after the start, which resulted in losing two positions on Lap 1. Although the situation continued for a few more laps, he managed to improve his pace gradually and overtook a Honda NSX-GT on Lap 8. And now Realize Corporation ADVAN GT-R was just in front of him.

Seeking for clean air which might allow them to go even faster, WedsSport ADVAN LC500 made a pit stop on Lap 19. The strategy worked, and they successfully undercut the Yokohama-shoed GT-R to move up to ninth. After a competitor running ahead of him dropped out, Tsuboi drove the car nicely and passed a Nissan GT-R on the final lap. This move gave them the seventh place at the end of the race, which was the highest place among the Yokohama tire users in the class.

After settling for the lowly 13th in the qualifying session, Motul Mugen NSX-GT started the race with Hideki Muto behind the wheel. He faced a similar problem with Kunimoto, and his performance wasn’t brilliant until the pit stop on Lap 22. Nakajima, who drove for the second half, also had to endure a tough race, but his persistent drive led to finishing in ninth and a few championship points at least.

Starting from the 12th grid, Realize Corporation ADVAN GT-R with Jann Mardenborough in the driving seat gained two positions on the opening lap and then moved up to ninth on Lap 8. Soon after that, Kunimoto in WedsSport ADVAN LC500 began to put pressure on him, but the Briton hung on in the position until he came in the pit on Lap 20 to change to Takaboshi. However, the WedsSport backed car managed to undercut them during the stop, and the Japanese’s pace in the second half wasn’t fast enough to catch up with the cars ahead of him. At the end of the day, while they still got championship points by finishing in tenth, their race itself was rather disappointing.

The GT300 pole-sitter McLaren 720S with Palou behind the wheel led the early laps of the race, but Hiramine in Realize Nissan Jidousya Daigakou GT-R followed close behind him. And Kataoka driving GoodSmile Hatsune Miku AMG was running in sixth by gaining a position during the opening lap.

At the 90 Degree Corner on Lap 6, Hiramime passed by Palou and started to pull away from the rest of the field. On the other hand, Palou’s pace clearly dropped, which led to losing a lot of ground. Meanwhile, Realize Nissan Jidousya Daigakkou GT-R built a five-second gap with the car in second, but they lost the lead position during the pit stop on Lap 21, as their main rival did the stop earlier without changing tires.

Being handed the car from Hiramine, Fenestraz kept going to find a chance to regain the lead, but, on Lap 31, his car suddenly stopped on the track. Although he managed to start the car again, they fell back to fifth, because of this costly mishap.

As a result of Fenestraz’s halt, Taniguchi in GoodSmile Hatsune Miku AMG found himself running in fourth. Before this, the team called Kataoka to come in on Lap 20 and reduced the stoppage time by changing only two tires on the left-hand side. Taniguchi had to give way to an opponent later, but his pace was good enough to hold on in fifth until the checkered flag fell. By finishing this race in fifth, they ended the championship in fourth, which is the highest place among the Yokohama Tire users.

Sixth-place went to Realize Nissan Jidousya Daigakkou GT-R and seventh to McLaren 720S. Eva RT Test Type-01 X Works GT-R, driven by Shuan Thong and Shinya Michimi, came in eighth, which was their fourth point finish of the season.