The FINANCIAL — What was originally supposed to be the opening round of the season took place at Okayama International Circuit on May 21st (Sat) – 22nd (Sun).
The postponed Round 1 (due to March's Great East Japan Earthquake) was held at the track located in Okayama prefecture's Mimasaka City. After qualifying in 2nd spot, the #12 CALSONIC IMPUL GT-R (Tsugio Matsuda/Joao Paolo de Oliveira) was victorious in the race. The win is the second in a row for the NISSAN GT-R, showing the true power of the machine in this highly competitive series.
Official qualifying took place on Saturday under skies that grew steadily darker, while the early part of race day morning was blanketed in heavy rain. The downpour was such that the morning's free practice session, due to commence at 08:30, had to be cancelled due to standing water on the track. However, shortly after 9am, the rain stopped, allowing the track to dry steadily. In conditions that made it difficult for temperatures to rise significantly, the race got underway at 2pm with the ambient measured at 22 degrees Celsius. The #12 GT-R started from a strong position and right away, starting driver Oliveira kept the leader honest by never letting him pull out a major gap as the pair drove away from the rest of the pack. The car came in for its driver switch on lap 30, and with Matsuda now behind the wheel, was soon in 2nd position behind the #23 MOTUL AUTECH GT-R (Satoshi Motoyama/Benoit Treluyer). Soon after, the #23 GT-R pitted for its driver change, leaving the #12 machine in the lead. The car then fought off the approaches of the pole-sitting #17 HSV-010, which had faced delays in its pit stop. However, Matsuda didn't make sufficient room for the rival to overtake as both machines battled intensely for position. The #17 car did get ahead on lap 45, though it was a desperate attempt that was never going to come off cleanly, and the rear of the HSV-010 slid into the rear of the GT-R, forcing Matsuda into a spin. He now had to make up lost ground, but on lap 47, the Honda was given a drive-through penalty, putting the CALSONIC IMPUL GT-R back in the top spot. Matsuda maintained his strong pace as he counted down the remaining laps and was never threatened on his way to victory after 68 tours of the tight and twisty circuit. Coming just three weeks after the dominant opening round win for the #23 GT-R at Fuji Speedway, this successive victory illustrates the strength of the NISSAN GT-R.
As for the #23 GT-R, the win at Fuji Speedway means 40kgs' success ballast on the car for this round, and the reason it could qualify only 12th. In order to come away with a good result from the tight and twisty Okayama International Circuit, qualifying position is critically important. NISMO decided to battle the odds, putting starting driver Treluyer in for a long stint, and also gambled on a no tyre-change stop to further mitigate any time loss. Despite most of the rivals' pitting between laps 30 – 35, the GT-R delayed its visit to the pits until lap 42. The #23 pit crew correctly calculated the exact amount of fuel needed to make it to the end, finishing the process quickly and getting the car back out in 5th place. Despite driving on worn tyres, Motoyama put in solid lap times and, though temporarily passed by another car, made it to the flag in 5th place after taking back a position on the last lap. Championship points were earned, and the team's target of another title this year was greatly enhanced.
"A mistake at the previous round at Fuji meant we lost out on a good chance for success, but this time the guys didn't put a foot wrong. We can now face the public, and even our sponsors!" says TEAM IMPUL Team Director Kazuyoshi Hoshino, "Ours is a team that can win only through attacking. I was getting a stomach ache towards the end, even though I believed the car was in a good position to defend and that both the car and driver are good."
With a qualifying position of 10th, the #46 S Road MOLA GT-R (Masataka Yanagida/Ronnie Quintarelli) had Quintarelli behind the wheel for the first stint. On the opening lap, the Italian quickly moved into 9th place. He continued to move up and by the time he handed the car over to his teammate on lap 32, the car was running in 2nd place. Yanagida returned to the track in 7th, and was soon picking off his rivals as he advanced to 5th. He remained in this position until the final lap when trouble struck and he fell to sixth at the flag.
The #24 ADVAN KONDO GT-R of Hironobu Yasuda and Bjorn Wirdheim started from 12th on the grid, the Swede taking charge for the first half. He handed the baton to Yasuda for the latter stages, the car rising to 9th after a sensible drive and valuable championship points accumulated for the second 9th-place result in a row.
"J.P. came back to the pit in 2nd place and because the team were able to get me out ahead of the #17 machine, I made it my objective to protect that lead. However, the pace of the #17 was formidable – and I wasn't sure how things would turn out. We had a good battle, though making contact was unfortunate. He (Kodai Tsukakoshi) is still young, and a very good driver, don't you think?" asks #12 GT-R driver Tsugio Matsuda.
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