2021 SUPER GT Round 2 Report

【SUPER GT Round 2 / Fuji】

WedsSport ADVAN GR Supra Takes Pole Position.
Kunimoto And Miyata Finish In Seventh But Hopeful.

SUPER GT Round 2

Date 2021/05/03-04
Venue Fuji Speedway
Weather Fine
Surface Dry
Race Lap 110Laps
(1Lap = 4,563m)
2021 SUPER GT Round 2

After less than a month since the curtain-raiser at Okayama, the 2021 Super GT series arrived at Fuji Speedway for its second round. This 500km race held during the Golden Week holidays has always welcomed many fans, being filled with excitement. However, but this kind of great atmosphere was denied by Covid-19 this year. Still, the race was exciting and hotly fought to meet the expectations of the fans watching it via online streaming, etc.

In the GT300 class qualifying session, six Yokohama Tire users found their way into Q2, four from Group A and two from Group B. As the high temperatures were expected for the race, however, the teams chose relatively harder rubbers, so the highest placed Yokohama user, Yuya Hiraki / Reiji Hiraki in Mach Syaken MC86 GT Net Mach-go, ended Q2 only in the eighth. According to the team, their car had a brake issue in Q2, which meant they could have achieved better results if the vehicle had been in perfect condition. GoodSmile Hatsune-Miku AMG, driven by Nobuteru Taniguchi and Tatsuya Kataoka, took the 11th grid, just one place shy of the top ten.

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In the GT500 class, WedsSport ADVAN GR Supra set the fastest time in the official practice, and the team tapped the car’s full potential in the qualifying session as well. First, Yuji Kunimoto survived Q1 with the sixth-fastest time, just 0.2 seconds behind the top qualifier. Then, utilizing the data collected by his teammate, Ritomo Miyata performed brilliantly in Q2 to beat the second fastest car by only 0.003 seconds! It was his first-ever pole position in Super GT, and the first in three years for a Yokohama shoed car, and the first in five years for the team led by Masataka Bandoh.

Realize Corporation ADVAN GT-R with Mitsunori Takaboshi behind the wheel ended Q1 in 14th and failed to make its way into Q2.

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Sunday’s race was favored by good weather, as was the case on Saturday, and the conditions were nearly perfect to race. WedsSport ADVAN GR Supra started it with Miyata in the driving seat. Unfortunately, he was passed by two rivals before they reached Turn 1 and dropped to fifth when he completed the opening lap.

After losing another position, Miyata started to pull away from the rest of the field and moved up to fifth by the dropout of the leading cars. He came into the pit on Lap 36, and Kunimoto found himself running in the tenth when he rejoined the race. But Kunimoto’s pace was consistent, and then Miyata drove in a pace that was comparable with the leaders after the second driver change on Lap74. After all, Miyata gained a few more positions because of the leading cars’ accident and finished in seventh, completing full 110 laps.

Realize Corporation ADVAN GT-R wasn’t competitive enough, and all they could do in the race was just driving around the track. Their final result was finishing in 12th, one lap down from the winner.

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In the GT300 class, the recovery of two cars from the lower end of the grids was remarkable. Takashi Kogure and Yuya Motojima in JLOC Lamborghini GT3, and Kiyoto Fujinami and Joao Paulo de Oliveira driving Realize Nissan Automobile Technical College (NATC) GT-R picked harder compound for the race, which resulted in their lower starting grids, 20th and 26th, respectively. But they steadily climbed up through the field, helped by the rising track temperature during the race.

So, when Motojima made a stop to hand the car to Kogure on Lap 29, JLOC Lamborghini GT3 was already running in seventh. On top of this, Full Course Yellow (FCY), just after Motojima coming in, meant that they could gain a valuable few seconds. Kogure even became the interim leader on Lap 64 because of the difference in the pit stop sequence between the teams, and he went to the pit lane on the next lap to change to Motojima.

When all GT300 cars got over the second mandatory stop, JLOC Lamborghini GT3 was still in seventh. Although a rival overtook Motojima, the car finished the race in sixth because a few leading cars dropped out toward the end.

Realize NATC GT-R carried a 60 kg success weight for this weekend since they won the previous meeting. The weight penalized the car heavily in the qualifying session, but the starting driver of the vehicle, Oliveira, made his way to 13th during his stint. And, as he changed to Fujinaimi on Lap 29, they had the same fortune with the JLOC crew about the stop and FCY. Eventually, the GT-R passed as many as 19 cars through the race to finish in seventh.

GoodSmile Hatsune Miku AMG followed these two Yokohama users and came in eighth. Kataoka did a very short 18-lap stint from the start, and Taniguchi drove for a 41-lap second stint. So, the team’s individualistic approach seemed to pay off.

DRIVER VOICE

Yuji Kunimoto [WedsSport ADVAN GR Supra]

—Result : 7th. in the GT500 class—
“I drove for our second stint and had to do a set number of laps, so I saved my tires and controlled my pace. The tires allowed me more consistent pace than before, and I could pick up my pace when I had less fuel on board toward the end of my stint. We got the pole position on Saturday and, of course, wanted a better result in the race. But I think we could bring out our strength this weekend, while we still have a lot of work to do. Anyway, coming in seventh and getting some championship points was a good thing for us. How things went today gave us hope for the coming races.”

ENGINEER VOICE

Takayuki Shiraishi [THE YOKOHAMA RUBBER CO., LTD.]

“WedsSport ADVAN GR Supra struggled a little to set good lap times in the recent GTA official test day. However, we had productive communication with the team on the car set-up for the race, sharing the relevant data between involved parties. From the tire durability standpoint, we must avoid a drastic change in tire construction. So, we feel the team made certain progress in the car set-up to use the tires effectively, which we have been working on since last year.

“In result-wise, it was a sort of setback in the race, but they were catching up in the second half. Although it was a shame that the car lost position immediately after the start, the pace in the latter part of the race was comparable with the leaders, and the drivers gave us positive feedback. So, I would say we had a truly fruitful race today

“Realize Corporation ADVAN GT-R couldn’t show its pace. However, if you look at the positive side, the team finally figured out what kind of tires would work for them in a 500km race at Fuji, considering that they had struggled with it last year.

“As for the GT300 class, we knew Realize NATC GT-R would have a very tough race since they had a 60kg weight handicap. But this was a long-distance race, and we expected they would catch up in the second half, even if they couldn’t set an impressive qualifying lap time. So, we weren’t surprised at all to see what happened with the car today. JLOC Lamborghini GT3 also did a great catch-up in the same manner.”