GT 500 #1 DENSO KOBELCO SARD LC 500 took champion trophy. LEXUS LC 500 has achieved 4 consecutive victories!
#1 DENSO KOBELCO SARD LC500
On July 23th (sun), SUPER GT 2017 Rd.4「SUGO GT 300 km RACE」was held in Sportsland SUGO (Miyagi pref.). As the weather forecast predicted, the rain was on and off all day. Each team suffered from tire selection until just before started race.
Before the race start 30sec.
<GT500 class>
In the qualifying sessions, the HONDA NSX(tires: Bridgestone) had a slight weight reduction from the previous race and Yokohama tires, which ranked at 4th to 6th, got off to a good start. But today the road condition was wet, a change in situations from yesterday’s race.
Because in the case of the wet conditions, it depends on the character of the tire from each tire manufacturer rather than the weight handicap. Among them, it is said that Bridgestone is steady and fast even in wet condition.
So it seemed the Honda NSX had an dvantage in this race. However trouble and incidents happened one after another at SUGO, so that it does not progress simply. Making tire selection was a key factor for success. In the early part of the race, the choice decided their fates.
This time, the team that selected the wet tire got up to the top. #19 WedsSport ADVAN LC500 (Sekiguchi / Kunimoto) started at 4th selecting a slick tire. It was clearly the wrong decision. Unfortunately the road condition had not changed. So they slipped to the back of the race.
The Safety Car showed up three times during this race. Battle for top position entered until the final lap, finally # 1 DENSO KOBELCO SARD LC 500 (Heiki Kovalainen / Hirate) won this close battle. This machine was not controlled by the fuel flow restrictor. It was also helped by luck, BRIDGESTONE tires, timing of Safety Car run and so on.
With this, the LEXUS LC 500 had won four consecutive victories from the opening race of 2017. 2nd was # 46 S Road CRAFTSPORTS GT-R (Motoyama / Chiyo). Despite the start from the end, they ran aggressively and luck helped them. They had trouble setting up the new engines and tires after qualify sessions but NISSAN GT-R got the podium for the first this season and it was a good news for the Nissan GT-R.
3rd was #6 WAKO’S 4CR LC 500 (Oshima / A. Caldarelli). In addition, the highest ranking Honda NSX was #8 ARTA NSX-GT (Nojiri / Kobayashi) which started from pole, but took 5th position.
#11 GAINER TANAX AMG GT3
<GT300 class>
GT300 class became intense competition like a GT500 class. #25 Viva C 86 MC (Matsui / Yamashita) who started from pole, developed a run away from the other cars. However, #35 ARTO 86 MC 101 (N. Jarunsurukawattana, N. Horton cam) crashed at the last corner at that time, causing the Safety Car run to come out and #25 lost its advantage.
After that, the Safety Car was deployed twice. # 11 GAINER TANAX AMG GT 3 (Hiranaka / Beyon Buildheim) took 1st and # 50 Ferrari 488 GT 3 (Tsuzuki / Nitta) ranked 2nd place. Hiranaka commented that BRIDGESTONE tires were strong, but he was able to win with good team ability and luck in the timing of SC.
In the back, the fight for 3rd position intensified with #4 Goodsmile Hatsune Miku AMG (Taniguchi / Kataoka) and #25 Matsui. Despite #4 is faster than #25 at straight, but #25 Matsui succeeded in overtaking using the GT 500’s machine after the battle. They won a podium with 3rd place.
From the left S Road CRAFTSPORTS GT-R(Motoyama / Chiyo)、DENSO KOBELCO SARD LC500(Hirate/Kovalainen)、 WAKO’S 4CR LC500 (Oshima / A. Caldarelli)
Next SUPER GT Rd.5 “FUJI GT 300 km RACE” will held at Fuji Speedway over two days on August 5 (Sat) -6 (Sun).
(Weather: rain and cloudy / condition: half wet / temperature: 24℃, road surface temperature: 26℃)