In our attempt to please the japanese car enthusiasts, we at NihonCar, decided to propose to our visitors a review of each of the 9 races of the Super GT championship.
Even though we mentionned this (very important in Japan) series in the past, we never got deeper in the details of actual motorsport action.
Related links:
Honda
Toyota
Nissan
Firstly let me say that we will here focus entirely on the most prestigious part: the GT500 championship !
Before getting into the details of this second race let's take a look at what happened at Suzuka, where round#1 was held a couple weeks ago.
If you skip the text and head straight to the final standings you might believe in a "remake" of the previous season which saw the domination of the Lexus (Toyota) SC430 and here, the
ZENT CERUMO number 38 driven by Yuji Tachikawa and Toranosuke Takagi but in reality it has been a whole different story.
As the last manufacturer still using 6 cylinders engines (with the exception of some Nissan teams still waiting for the new 8 cylinders motor), Honda and the NSX did not look like a serious threat but the Suzuka race proved me wrong.
The
ARTA,
TAKATA DOME and
RAYBRIG NSX completely dominated on the track before retiring one by one for various reasons; accident, mechanical failure and an heartbraking engine issue for the leading
ARTA NSX number 8 in the
LAST LAP !
Finally the first NSX (number 32 Team
EPSON) came 3rd with Loïc Duval and Fabio Carbone behind the wheel.
Final standings at Suzuka, round#1 of the season:
1 n°38 ZENT CERUMO SC430 Yuji Tachikawa/Toranosuke Takagi
2 n°23 XANAVI NISMO Z Satoshi Motoyama/Richard Lyons
3 n°32 EPSON NSX Loïc DUVAL/Fabio CARBONE
4 n°6 Forum Eng. SC430 Tatsuya Kataoka/Bjorn Wirdheim
5 n°22 MOTUL AUTECH Z Michael Krumm/Tsugio Matsuda
6 n°17 REAL NSX Katsutomo Kaneishi/Toshihiro Kaneishi
7 n°1 Houzan TOM'S SC430 Juichi Wakisaka/Andre Lotterer
8 n°35 BANDAI DUNLOP SC430 Naoki Hattori/Peter Dumbreck
9 n°25 ECLIPSE ADVAN SC430 Takeshi Tsuchiya/Manabu Orido
10 n°3 YellowHat YMS MobaHO ! TOMICA Z Sébastien Philippe/Masataka Yanagida
11 n°12 CALSONIC IMPUL Z Benoît Tréluyer/Kazuki Hoshino
12 n°8 ARTA NSX Daisuke Ito/Ralph Firman
13 n°18 TAKATA DOME NSX Ryo Michigami/Takashi Kogure
A minimum of 36 laps was required to be ranked.
Did not finish:
n°100 RAYBRIG NSX Dominik Schwager/Shinya Hosokawa
n°24 WOODONE ADVAN Clarion Z J.P.L. De Oliveira/Seiji Ara
n°39 DENSO SARD SC430 Andre Couto/Katsuyuki Hiranaka
It was obvious that the NSX were fast. At this point we could wonder if the reliability issues were only due to bad luck.
So this takes us to the Okayama International Circuit, 600km west of Tokyo.
The qualifications on the 3.703km track looked like "deja vu" as the NSX were back at the top !
The Starting grid:
1 18 TAKATA DOME NSX Ryo Michigami/Takashi Kogure
2 8 ARTA NSX Daisuke Ito/Ralph Firman
3 1 Houzan TOM'S SC430 Juichi Wakisaka/Andre Lotterer
4 32 EPSON NSX Loïc DUVAL/Fabio CARBONE
5 100 RAYBRIG NSX Dominik Schwager/Shinya Hosokawa
6 22 MOTUL AUTECH Z Michael Krumm/Tsugio Matsuda
7 17 REAL NSX Katsutomo Kaneishi/Toshihiro Kaneishi
8 38 ZENT CERUMO SC430 Yuji Tachikawa/Toranosuke Takagi
9 6 Forum Eng. SC430 Tatsuya Kataoka/Bjorn Wirdheim
10 23 XANAVI NISMO Z Satoshi Motoyama/Richard Lyons
11 25 ECLIPSE ADVAN SC430 Takeshi Tsuchiya/Manabu Orido
12 12 CALSONIC IMPUL Z Benoit Treluyer/Kazuki Hoshino
13 39 DENSO SARD SC430 Andre Couto*/Katsuyuki Hiranaka
14 3 YellowHat YMS MobaHO ! TOMICA Z Sébastien Philippe*/Masataka Yanagida
15 35 BANDAI DUNLOP SC430 Naoki Hattori*/Peter Dumbreck
16 24 WOODONE ADVAN Clarion Z J.P.L.De Oliveira*/Seiji Ara
With 5 teams in the first 7, Honda Teams were showing more determination than ever. Time for some action !
Third on the grid the
HOUZAN TOM'S SC430 flies at the start and takes the lead at the first corner, unfortunately the agressive attack to the inside got the
TAKATA DOME NSX number 18 to spin and lose the benefit of its qualifying efforts after a couple metres.
A few seconds later the SC430 was punished with a Drive Through Penalty.
This was more than what Ralph Firman, in the number 8 (
ARTA NSX), could ask for. Free from the pressure of the two cars positionned in front and behind him on the grid he started to pull fast laps and built a comfortable gap. Behind, the 100
RAYBRIG NSX and the
MOTUL AUTECH Nissan Z were trying to keep up.
The next incident occured on lap 20 as team
XANAVI NISMO Nissan Fairlady Z suffered from electrical problems and had to give up its 5th place and any chance to see the checkered flag.
To see more action you had to look behind as a strong battle for 7th place was taking place between the nr 39
DENSO SARD SC430, the nr 12
CALSONIC IMPUL Fairlady Z and another S430, the number 35 of the
BANDAI DUNLOP team. Strong but clean but unfortunately without any overtake as the nr 35 ended it on lap 30 reaching the pit lane.
Once all the pit stops had been done the "real" standings appeared and, unsurprisingly, the
ARTA NSX number 8 now with Daisuke Ito in the cockpit was ahead with a enjoyable 8 seconds gap ahead of the number 100 NSX. Not so far behind were the 22 and 32 machines fighting for the podium, on lap 51 the 22
AUTECH MOTUL Z grabbed the 3rd spot and soon was on the tail of second seeded
RAYBRIG NSX. Not for long as the Z managed to overtake again but lost its position 6 laps later. In the end everything worked like in a dream for the leading NSX number 8, winner of this second race of the season !
Super GT round 2 @ Okayama final standings:
1 8 ARTA NSX Daisuke Ito/Ralph Firman
2 100 RAYBRIG NSX Dominik Schwager/Shinya Hosokawa
3 22 MOTUL AUTECH Z Michael Krumm/Tsugio Matsuda
4 32 EPSON NSX Loïc DUVAL/Fabio CARBONE
5 1 Houzan TOM'S SC430 Juichi Wakisaka/Andre Lotterer
6 25 ECLIPSE ADVAN SC430 Takeshi Tsuchiya/Manabu Orido
7 18 TAKATA DOME NSX Ryo Michigami/Takashi Kogure
8 12 CALSONIC IMPUL Z Benoit Treluyer/Kazuki Hoshino
9 35 BANDAI DUNLOP SC430 Naoki Hattori/Peter Dumbreck
10 17 REAL NSX Katsutomo Kaneishi/Toshihiro Kaneishi
11 38 ZENT CERUMO SC430 Yuji Tachikawa/Toranosuke Takagi
12 39 DENSO SARD SC430 Andre Couto/Katsuyuki Hiranaka
13 3 YellowHat YMS MobaHO ! TOMICA Z Sébastien Philippe/Masataka Yanagida
14 6 Forum Eng. SC430 Tatsuya Kataoka/Bjorn Wirdheim
15 24 WOODONE ADVAN Clarion Z J.P.L.De Oliveira/Seiji Ara
A minimum of 57 laps was required to be ranked.
Did not finish:
23 XANAVI NISMO Z Satoshi Motoyama/Richard Lyons
After 82 laps on the hot asphalt of the Okayama Circuit the smiles are on the faces of the
ARTA NSX team with a well deserved victory after a cruel desillusion on round#1. Again, with 3 Hondas in the top 5 the situation is starting to look concerning for Toyota and Nissan but, with the weight handicap rule we should see those teams back on top of the podium way before the end of the season !
Next race on May 4th at the spectacular Fuji Speedway !
Overall standings after 2 rounds:
1 8 Daisuke Ito/Ralph Firman
2 32 Loic DUVAL/Fabio CARBONE
3 38 Yuji Tachikawa/Toranosuke Takagi
4 22 Michael Krumm/Tsugio Matsuda
5 100 Dominik Schwager/Shinya Hosokawa
6 23 Satoshi Motoyama/Richard Lyons
7 1 Juichi Wakisaka/Andre Lotterer
8 18 Ryo Michigami/Takashi Kogure
9 6 Tatsuya Kataoka/Bjorn Wirdheim
10 25 Takeshi Tsuchiya/Manabu Orido
11 17 Katsutomo Kaneishi/Toshihiro Kaneishi
12 35 Naoki Hattori/Peter Dumbreck
13 12 Benoit Treluyer/Kazuki Hoshino
14 3 Sebastien Philippe/Masataka Yanagida
Photos courtesy of Honda.
Posted on 12/04/07 By F.B
