Round 4 of the Japanese SuperGT championship was held on the Sepang circuit and provided its share of upsets and surprises plus an historical victory of the WOODONE ADVAN Clarion Z despite a 14th spot on the starting grid!
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Qualifications
1)18TAKATA DOME - 1'54.306
2)8ARTA NSX - 1'54.593
3)1houzan TOM'S SC430 - 1'54.595
4)12CALSONIC IMPUL Z - 1'54.851
5)17REAL NSX - 1'55.072
6)38ZENT CERUMO SC430 - 1'55.336
7)100RAYBRIG NSX - 1'55.472
8 )23XANAVI NISMO Z -
9)32EPSON NSX -
10)22MOTUL AUTECH Z - 1'55.613
11)3YellowHat YMS MobaHO ! TOMICA Z - 1'56.267
12)6Forum Eng. SC430 - 1'56.430
13)25ECLIPSE ADVAN SC430 - 1'56.526
14)24WOODONE ADVAN Clarion Z - 1'56.732
15)39DENSO SARD SC430 - 1'57.203
16)35BANDAI DUNLOP SC430 - 1'58.049
The qualifying sessions proved that the NSX were still very fast, especially the number 8 ARTA, always at the front, all 3 major Japanese manufacturers were on the top spots and ready for the battle!
The Race
34° in the air and 48 on the track where the temperatures by the time the race was underway and the friendly Malaysian sky was the guarantee of a tough race for both the drivers and the machines…
Under those conditions it didn’t take long for the fans to witness the first, and probably the biggest, upset of the race when the number 18 TAKATA DOME NSX was forced to retire during the warm up lap due to a mechanical problem…this first incident gave the number 8 ARTA NSX the opportunity to start, by the end of lap 1 the positions remained unchanged: number 8 (NSX), number 1 (SC430) and number 12 (Z)!
A little later, during lap 10, the leading NSX was overtaken by both the Houzan TOM’S SC430 and the CALSONIC IMPUL Z , pushing it down to the third spot, at the same time the WOODONE Z was showing a very good speed, unexpected after its disappointing qualifying session.
Around lap 15 the firsts pit stops clarified the strategy of various teams as most were not changing their driver it proved their intention to go for a 2 stops strategy…good idea? We’ll see that…
As usual the standings were deeply changed in the meantime and the leader was now the number 3 Z (TOMICA Yellow Hat), followed by the 24 (Z) and 23 (Z), good for a Fairlady Z trio at the top! At the same time the number 8 ARTA NSX started struggling from a lack of grip and couldn’t keep up, stuck to a 6th position.
While most of the top teams decided to go for a 2 pit stops strategy, the WOODONE Z (24) stayed on the track and thanks to a very high and consistent pace, managed to build itself a 40 seconds lead before entering the pit lane on lap 32! Changing the tyres, pilot and refuelling took the team exactly 37 seconds, not enough to keep the lead but when it got back on the track the number 24 Z seemed to have made the right choice: no more stops! Later on the top 3 was once again made of Fairlady Z, the 24, 3 and 22 for what already looked like a perfect race for Nissan.
Unfortunately for the Nissan fans, the end of the race had to give its share of ups and downs, especially for the number 22 which, due to severe tyre wear had to pit one additional time and let the number 25 (ECLIPSE ADVAN SC430) put one foot on the podium, an amazing performance as it started 13th on the grid! In the meantime a discrete and intelligent RAYBRIG NSX (number 100) managed to secure the second position but it was too little too late and despite a very high pace, there was nothing to do to catch up the WOODONE Z.
Finally and as in a dream, the number 24 WOODONE Z was the first to cross the finish line and see the chequered flag for what was the very first victory in the history of the team! An incredible success for De Oliveira and Ara! The RAYBRIG NSX of Schwager/Hosokawa and the CALSONIC IMPUL Z of Treluyer/Hoshino completed the podium!
Final standings
1)24WOODONE ADVAN Clarion ZJ.P.L.De Oliveira
Seiji Ara
2)100RAYBRIG NSX Dominik Schwager
Shinya Hosokawa
3)12CALSONIC IMPUL Z Benoit Treluyer
Kazuki Hoshino
4)38ZENT CERUMO SC430Yuji Tachikawa
Toranosuke Takagi
5)25ECLIPSE ADVAN SC430Takeshi Tsuchiya
Manabu Orido
6)8ARTA NSX Daisuke Ito
Ralph Firman
7)3YellowHat YMS MobaHO! TOMICA Z Sebastien Philippe
Masataka Yanagida
8 )1houzan TOM'S SC430Juichi Wakisaka
Andre Lotterer
9)6Forum Eng. SC430Tatsuya Kataoka
Bjorn Wirdheim
10)22MOTUL AUTECH Z Michael Krumm
Tsugio Matsuda
11)35BANDAI DUNLOP SC430Naoki Hattori
Ronnie Quintarelli
12)17REAL NSX Katsutomo Kaneishi
Toshihiro Kaneishi
13)39DENSO SARD SC430Andre Couto
Katsuyuki Hiranaka
14)23XANAVI NISMO Z Satoshi Motoyama
Richard Lyons
15)32EPSON NSX Loic DUVAL
Fabio CARBONE
Non classé
18TAKATA DOME NSX Ryo Michigami
Takashi Kogure
The overall standings after 4 races
1-NSX Arta n°8 37 points
2-NSX Raybrig n°100 37
3-Z Xanavi Nismo 36
4-SC430 Zent Cerumo 34
5-Z Motul Autech 33
6-SC430 Forum Eng. 22
7-NSX Epson 22
8-Z Woodone Advan Clarion 20
9-SC430 Houzan TOMS 19
10-NSX Takata Dome 16
11-Z Impul Calsonic 15
12-Z Yellow Hat TOMICA 13
13-SC430 Eclipse Advan 13
14-SC430 Bandai Dunlop 10
15-
16- NSX Real 6
17-SC430 Denso Sard 3
The next round (5) will be held at Sugo, from July 27 to 29!!
Posted on 29/06/07 By F.B
