First of all, we wish to extend our deepest sympathies and condolences to the friends and family of those lost during the heavy rain in the Kyushu district.
<#8 ARN Ferrari 488 GT wins fourth consecutive pole position!>
ARN Ferrari 488 GT
July 15th, Super Endurance Race Round 4 qualifying session was held at AUTOPOLIS (Oita prefecture). #8 ARN Ferrari 488 GT (Nagai / Sasaki) of the ST-X class won pole position for the fourth consecutive race, showing its consistent strength.
Qualifying started at 13:00 pm under dry conditions from a relatively cool summer day with air temperature reaching a mild 26℃. The 25 machines were entered from ST-4 classes and ST-5 classes in Gr.2. The 28 machines entered from ST-X, ST-1, ST-2, ST-3 and ST-TCR classes in Gr.1.
# 88 Murakami Motors MAZDA ROADSTER ND
In the ST-4 class of Gr.2, Toyota 86 group were in good condition. #86 TOM’S SPIRIT 86(Matsui/Gamo/Tsuboi) of the ST-4 class won the pole position for the 3rd consecutive race. #93 SKR ENGINEERING ings S2000 (Ota/Sasaki) of the 2nd place of the series, got the qualifier 3rd place and fierce battle with #86 is expected.
Also in the ST-5 class, # 88 Murakami Motors MAZDA ROADSTER ND (Murakami/ Wakitani/Kato) won the class pole for the 3rd consecutive race, showing a feel for speed despite the existence of the weight handicap. #2 TEAM221 BOMEX MACH SYAKEN ND5RC (Tsutsui/Yamashita/Yamanishi) was 2nd place, #66 odula MAZDA DEMIO 15MB(Hashimoto/Ohtsuka/Takechi) was 3rd place, #37 DXL Aragosta NOPRO.
#8 ARN Ferrari 488 GT (Nagai / Sasaki)
In the Gr.1, #8 won the pole position. Currently the 2nd in the series ranked #1 ThreeBond NISSAN AUTOMOBILE TECHNICAL COLLEGE GTR (Uchida/Fuji/Hiramine) was 2nd place in qualifying. #99 Y’s distraction GTNET GT-R (Uematsu/Hoshino/Fujinami) of 3rd place in the series ranked 4th place in qualifying.
As such, this class was expected to have a very close race. On the other hand, #45 LIQUI MOLY RS3 LMS won the won the pole position to 4 consecutive qualifying in the ST-TCR class. This team lost the win due to an unexplained trouble in past finals. So, the thought that the team wanted to take the checkered flag at the end seemed very strong in this final.
#45 LIQUI MOLY RS3 LMS
The final race will be held tomorrow on July 16 (Sunday), Gr.2 at 8:30 and Gr.1 at 13:20. Because of the accumulation of the weight handicap will increase this time, it will be noteworthy to see how far the machine with weights can advance to the top. This team lost the win due to unexplained trouble in past finals.
In addition, the STO carries out Super Endurance original “Kyushu northern heavy rain disaster donation” in this time, in the same way as in the case of Kumamoto earthquake.