2022 SUPER GT Round 4 Report

【SUPER GT Round 4 ／ Fuji Speedway】

WedsSport ADVAN GR Supra Takes Third Consecutive Pole Position, Realize Corporation ADVAN Z Claims Its First Podium Finish

SUPER GT Round 4

Date	6-7 Aug 2022
Course	Fuji Speedway
Weather	Race : Fine / Qualifying : Cloudy
Surface	Race : Dry / Qualifying : Dry
Race Laps	99 Laps (1Lap = 4,563m)

Making an end to a two-month interval, which was the longest during the season, the fourth round of the 2022 Super GT series was held at Fuji Speedway.

The teams utilized this long break to do their cars’ complete overhaul or testing, aiming for better performance. Consequently, the qualifying times in this fourth round became even closer, and there were many heated battles during the race. It can be said that this kind of constant evolution is one of the most intriguing parts of the Super GT series.

The forecast said that it would rain on Saturday, the qualifying day, or it would be brutally hot if there were no rain. However, it was disarmingly comfortable, as the sky was overcast, and the air/track temperatures stayed at 21/28 degrees centigrade when the qualifying session kicked off.

Among the GT300 Yokohama Tire users, four from Group A and two from Group B cleared the Q1 bar. While they couldn’t take the top slot of each group, Tatsuya Kataoka driving GoodSmile Hatsune Miku AMG and Ryohei Sakaguchi in Arnage MC86 ended Q1 in second in Groups A and B, respectively.

It was also worth noting that Realize Nissan Mechanic Challenge GT-R, with the championship leader Joao Paulo Oliveira on board, survived Q1 in the eighth, which was the last place of its group, even though the car carried a 99kg Success Weight.

Responding to expectations, Nobuteru Taniguchi at the wheel of the GoodSmile-backed AMG secured the third grid in Q2. One of the Super GT rookies, Kakunoshin Ohta, sharing UpGarage NSX GT3 with Takashi Kobayashi, came in fifth. Kiyoto Fujinami surprised everyone again by setting the tenth fastest time in Realize Nissan Mechanic Challenge GT-R. Arnage MC86 took the 12th grid by Takeshi Suehiro’s fine qualifying attempt.

In the GT500 class, both WedsSport ADVAN GR Supra with Yuji Kunimoto behind the wheel and Realize Corporation ADVAN Z driven by Daiki Sasaki got through Q1 elimination by setting the third and sixth fastest times. But something more remarkable still waited in Q2.

Sena Sakaguchi in the WedsSport Supra beat everyone else in Q2 and took the third consecutive pole position for the team. Furthermore, Kohei Hirate in another ADVAN-shoed car set the second fastest time to round out a Yokohama front row lockout, which we already saw in the second round this year at Fuji.

In this longer than usual 450km, 100-lap race, every team was mandated by rules to make two refueling stops. During the race’s starting procedures, there was an unexpected condition change, as the sky opened up and a short downpour instantly wetted the whole track surface. Consequently, the teams had to bring their wet tires to the grids, but no one eventually used them for the race. Actually, the rain stopped soon, and there was even some blue part in the sky when the ceremonies before the start were run.

As a result, the air temp reached 27 degrees, and the track temp went up to 31, exceeding 30 degrees for the first time this weekend. The race control took this sudden change in the track surface conditions into account and decided to add an extra formation lap and reduce the race distance to 99 laps.

Yokohama’s one-two formation was retained in the first corner, as Kunimoto in WedsSport ADVAN GR Supra led the field and Hirate at the wheel of Realize Corporation ADVAN Z followed. But Kunimoto’s pace was less than optimal, and he had to give way to Hirate on Lap 2.

In contrast to Kunimoto, who lost more places after the position change, everything ran smoothly for Hirate, keeping the lead until their first stop on Lap 37 to change to Sasaki. On the other hand, Kunimoto visited the pit three laps earlier, when he was running in eighth, and handed down the car to Sakaguchi.

Still leading the race, Sasaki came into the pit on Lap 72. At this stop, Hirate got in the car again, and the team put four fresh tires on the car. However, the teams running in second and third then watched Kondo Racing’s move and opted to let their drivers do a double stint to save the time needed for the driver change.

Hence, Realize Corporation ADVAN Z slipped down to third place, but Hirate remained in the position until the end, and they got on the podium for the first time with their Nissan Z.

WedsSport ADVAN GR Supra had a tough time but improved its pace in the second half. With Sakaguchi doing a double stint, the car finished the race in ninth.

In the GT300 class, the pole sitter led the race for 18 laps, only to drop out because of a mechanical problem. Thus, Kataoka in GoodSmile Hatsune Miku AMG emerged at the field’s top. The driver change to Taniguchi on Lap 26 meant losing a few positions, but the AMG regained the lead when all GT300 cars finished the first mandatory stop on Lap 45. Sakaguchi driving Arnage MC86 was leading the race until then by extending his stint as long as possible, thanks to the excellent fuel mileage of Mother Chassis car.

Taniguchi pulled far away from the rest of the field and made their second stop on Lap 61. And Kataoka found himself running in second just behind Suehiro in Arnage MC86 when he rejoined the race. Suehiro changed to Masaki Kano on Lap75, and it was thought that it would be a matter of time before Kataoka would take over the lead again, considering Kano’s actual race pace.

However, Kataoka’s car had a minor problem that required an extra pit stop, and it took about two and a half minutes for him to bring the vehicle back to the pit. Thus, GoodSmile Hatsune Miku AMG dropped out of contention for a race win.

The GoodSmile car’s downfall meant that UpGarage NSX GT3 with Ohta in the driving seat moved up to third as the leading Yokohama Tire user. Starting with Kobayashi on board, the NSX was in third before stopping on Lap 28, earlier than scheduled, due to a problem with the driver cooling system. But Ohta did a double stint after that and eventually came up to third. The UpGarage-backed car finished the race in that position, and the crew stood on the podium again since the second place finish in the season opener.

It was astonishing, to say the least, that Realize Nissan Mechanic Challenge GT-R with a 99kg Success Weight came in sixth by overtaking Arnage MC86 on the final lap. Fujinami and Oliveira remained the championship leader by gaining this result. Finishing in seventh, the Arnage crew achieved their first point finish, which they still felt proud of.

Drivers’ Voices

Daiki Sasaki (Realize corporation ADVAN Z)

【Result : 3rd. in the GT500 class】

“Hirate-san pushed so hard from the start, and he was leading the race when he handed the car to me. I was very nervous to drive as the leader for the first time in ages! But I felt confident about myself for the second stint because Hirate-san was fast, the car’s feeling was good, and the tires worked really well. We lost a few positions in the second half, but I think we still executed a good race, as we have made significant progress since this year’s opening race. I know we still have some room for improvement after today’s race, but we are confident for the next one and will do everything we can to win it.”

Kohei Hirate (Realize corporation ADVAN Z)

【Result : 3rd. in the GT500 class】

“I drove for the first and third stint. The race began with Yokohama users’ one-two, and I managed to pass #19 car (WedsSport ADVAN GR Supra) in the early stage. After that, I could keep the lead position, driving at my own pace, controlling the gap with the cars behind, and managing the tires, until Lap 37 when I changed to Daiki. I suppose he got a confidence boost by watching the car’s performance in the first stint. We had to end the race in the third place, but this was a real fruit of our steady development process, which was of course helped by the excellent performance of the rubbers that Yokohama Tire developed. I am sure this was just a beginning. As we have a good track records at Suzuka and Sugo where the coming races are to be held, we are looking toward an even better result there.”

Yuji Kunimoto (WedsSport ADVAN GR Supra)

【Result : 9th. in the GT500 class】

“My pace during the first stint wasn’t ideal, and I dropped back in the field, which I think led to this final result. I am not sure why that happened and we need to investigate it, but the car’s balance was very different from what I wanted to have. It was a tough race for me. However, I could drive at a really good pace in the final stint when the temperatures went down. So I would say that we experienced the worst and the best aspects of our package in one race. As for the qualifying, we couldn’t have done it any better, so we just wanted to keep the position and executed a good race. I am so disappointed that we couldn’t make it happen.”

Sena Sakaguchi (WedsSport ADVAN GR Supra)

【Result : 9th. in the GT500 class】

“Our race ended in a disappointing result after so many things happened. We must overcome those issues as a team and try to sort them out one by one, which is the only way to improve our package. I drove for the second and the third stint, and sometimes my pace was really good, but sometimes I wasn’t happy with it. In short, it was inconsistent. So I think we have to improve everything to enable us to keep a fast and consistent pace. On the other hand, our pace in one lap and qualifying time were incredibly good. What we need for the next race is the development work and testing to improve our race pace, even if it leads to sacrifice some of our speed in the qualifying.”

Yusuke Tomibayashi (UPGARAGE NSX GT3)

【Result : 3rd. in the GT300 class】

“The tires worked extremely well. We headed to the weekend with the soft and hard compounds in fifty-fifty split, but it was impossible to use the same compound in all three stints in the race because we have used both compounds in the practice and the qualifying. As we started the race with the softer ones, we didn’t think that we could go without a tire change. However, we could keep a consistent pace in the second stint even with the hard tires. Then there was a choice to keep going without tire change for the third stint, but we eventually decided to replace them with four fresh soft tires at the second stop. That was to secure some championship points, taking a safer way, and I think it was the right call in hindsight.”

Kakunoshin Ohta (UPGARAGE NSX GT3)

【Result : 3rd. in the GT300 class】

“I did a double stint and drove about 70 laps. It was physically tough, to be honest. The tires were good and their degradation during the race was at an acceptable level. So I think we could go faster if we needed, but we just changed our target to secure the third place. As for the result, it was a pleasant surprise because we expected a difficult race at Fuji due to our heavy Success Weight. Nevertheless, we have got two podium finishes out of four races. We will continue to try our best, as the championship title isn’t beyond our reach if we could keep this momentum.”

Kiyoto Fujinami (REALIZE NISSAN MECHANIC CHALLENGE GT-R)

【Result : 6th. in the GT300 class】

“The 99kg Success Weight was so heavy to race with, but we are happy to add some points here at Fuji. While our margin is reduced, we are still leading the championship. We thought this Fuji round would be most difficult for us, so we are kind of relieved. Now we will focus on the remaining four rounds. As for the next Suzuka round, I have no idea how it will be, but we are committed to do our best there!”

Ryohei Sakaguchi (Arnage MC86)

【Result : 7th. in the GT300 class】

“We had found a good car setup in the private test we had at Okayama International Circuit. So we used the setup at Fuji without any adjustment, and it worked very well for the tires. Both two types of tires showed good performance, and we used them up by choosing the faster one under the conditions at each situation. They were consistent and allowed us to race with only two sets of them. The time spent at the stop and on the outlap was minimum, no one made any major mistake, and there was no mechanical problem. As a result of getting more understandings about the Mother Chassis by the team, the car became able to fully extract the tire’s potential. So I feel it’s rewarding very much.”

Engineer’s Voice

Takayuki Shiraishi　[The Yokohama Rubber Co.,LTD. Motorsports Tire Development Dept. No.1 Tire Development Division]

“As for WedsSport ADVAN GR Supra, we knew the team has worked on the car setup to extract the speed in the qualifying, considering the characteristics of our tires. So we did not worry about their qualifying performance at all. We also thank the Realize Corporation ADVAN Z crew for securing the second grid. Again, the team exploited an excellent one-lap pace with much attention to this year’s tire compounds and construction.

“The Realize-backed car lost a few positions in the race, but its race pace was comparable to the top two. Indeed, there is still some work to do, but their car setup was in the right direction to extract our tire’s performance. So we think it was pretty positive, and we must overcome the weak points found today.

“Realize Nissan Mechanic Challenge GT-R went on to Q2 as the last survivor of its group. Thankfully, they finished the race in sixth, which was another proof of the excellence and consistency of the team’s performance. They have studied and worked on our tires for years. And they have tried to maximize the strength of the tires as much as possible. That is a part of the team’s outstanding ability and the reason why they perform well at every race track the Super GT series visits.

“UpGarage NSX GT3 finished in third in the GT300 class, and their results this year have been consistent. The team quickly understood our tire’s characteristics, which has led to their good results so far. We are grateful for their efforts.

“We had a testing session at Suzuka Circuit in July, and the temperatures were extremely high on that day. So it was a valuable testing for the mid-summer race at Suzuka. Some of the findings from the session were introduced to the tires used here, and the results at Fuji suggested they worked well. So I think we can hold high expectations for the next round.”