ARTA took the “Pole to Win” in both GT500 and GT 300 classes. They dyed Fuji Speed Way to orange!
ARTA from the left #8 Honda NSX GT Kobayashi, Nojiri, Director Aguri Suzuki Takagi and Walkinshaw
The race of the SUPER GT round 5 “FUJI GT 300km RACE” was held at Fuji Speedway in Shizuoka Prefecture on Sunday, August 6th. A special event “YOSHIHIDE MUROYA Special Flight @ FUJI SPEEDWAY Supported by LEXUS” was also held by Yoshihide Muroya who is active in Red Bull Air Race called “Foumula 1 at Sky “. Mr. Muroya’s “super low-sky” special flight boosted the venue with the race.
Yesterday’s qualifying session was expected to be advantageous for lightweight teams due to the weight handicap, but the predicted teams were stall prominent. As the Honda NSX got the pole position 4 times in this season and the NSX’s speed was also proven,so good result of # 8 Honda NSX GT (Nojiri / Kobayashi) was not a surprise.
In the meantime, two teams despite being “probable winner”, (qualifying 14th place) # 19 WedsSport ADVAN LC 500 (Sekiguchi / Kunimoto) and (qualifying 15th place) # 100 RAYBRIG NSX-GT (Yamamoto / Izawa), both teams had machine troubles the cause of which is unknown, but if they would be able to clarify the cause by the end of the race, it was expected that it could also reverse final standings.
#23 MOTUL AUTECH GT-R
On the other hand, # 23 MOTUL AUTECH GT-R (Matsuda / Ronnie Quintarelli) who got into the 2nd position (front row), had a great opportunity because he was suffering from the slump in this season. In the previous race at SUGO, # 46 S Road CRAFTSPORTS GT-R (Motoyama / Chiyo), also equipped with a new engine, had secured the 2nd podium, and the performance of the engine has been confirmed.
Quintarelli had a high opinion about new engine, so they wanted to get for the podium since the second round last year at all cost. If the LEXUS LC500 that carried heavy weight handicap will win this championship, it would be the 5th consecutive win for the first time in SUPER GT history. It was one of the most noteworthy races of the current season, though it was really difficult to predict which team would win the top podium.
#8 Honda NSX GT
GT 500: The race started off under the weather: sunny (temperature: 29℃, road surface temperature: 36℃) in a summer climate. “The 3rd time is lucky(honestly)” #8 Honda NSX GT (Nojiri / Kobayashi) won the victory and kept a vow.
Yesterday was the deathday of Mr. Soichiro Honda, the founder of Honda, and on that day, they won pole in qualifying. And on the next day they took pole-to-win, so it became a memorable race for Honda fans.
Behind it, a battle for 2nd place was fought by # 23 MOTUL AUTECH GT-R (Matsuda /Ronnie Quintarelli) and # 38 ZENT CERUMO LC 500 (Tachikawa / Ishiura) until the end of the race. # 38 Ishiura kept track of # 23 Matsuda by bringing his machine to the bumper-to-bumper every round, but Fuji had a characteristic long straight, #38 could not quite catch up # 23 and finishes 3rd.
# 4 Good Smile Hatsune Miku AMG
GT300：Super close battles were unfolding at this time as well. After the start, at the 1st corner # 3 B-MAX NDDP GT-R (Hoshino / Takaboshi) got caught up in a crash soon and was forced off course with a disappointing retire. The contact penalty was given to # 65 LEON CVSTOS AMG (Kurosawa / Gamo).
After that, there was also some confusion, but # 55 ARTA BMW M6 GT 3 (Takagi / S. Walkinshaw) of the pole started steadily and lead the race defending the top. 2nd is # 4 Good Smile Hatsune Miku AMG (Taniguchi / Kataoka), 3rd is # 31 TOYOTA PRIUS apr GT (Saga /Kubo) who wished to took the podium for a long time.
#55 ARTA BMW M6 GT3
As a team, ARTA team achieved “pole to win” in both class GT500 and GT300, Fuji Speed way stained orange.
The Next race, SUPER GT Round 6 “Suzuka 1000km”, will be held at Suzuka Circuit on August 26th (Sat) and 27th (Sun), three weeks later. Suzuka 1000 km, which became a summer tradition race, will be renewed to a 10-hour race of a single event from next year, so this year be the last as 1000 km and as a series game of SUPER GT.
In addition, the lineup drivers have become even more impressive. 2009’s F1 World Champion Jenson Button and one of the most famous Japanese driver Kamui Kobayashi will enter. For fans, three weeks is too long to wait!