|
 |
 XANAVI NISMO Z Team Scores
Its First Win of the Season
|
• GT 500 Class
In the opening lap Ryo Michigami in the No.18 TAKATA DOME NSX dropped from the pole
position to 4th position. It was the No. 8 ARTA NSX driven by Ralph Firman that took
the lead with the No. 23 XANAVI NISMO Z driven by Tsugio Matsuda in 2nd and the No.100
RAYBRIG NSX driven by S_bastien Philippe in 3rd position at the end of the first lap.
After that No. 8 opened up a lead of 3 sec. over No. 23, but on lap 8 an orange disc
flag came out for No. 8. In a collision with No. 23 there had been damage to the right
rear fender. With a danger of it falling off, the officials had ordered No. 8 back to
the pit for repairs. This gave No. 23 the lead. Following five seconds behind was
No. 100 with No. 18 right behind. A fierce battle raged between the two NSX machines
No. 100 and No. 18 until lap 26, when No. 18 passed No. 100 to claim 2nd place.
On the next lap No. 23 made its pit stop while running in the lead. In addition to changing
drivers from Matsuda to Satoshi Motoyama, the team also changed tires and refueled, taking
just under 33 sec. to return to the track. No. 100 made its pit stop a lap later on lap 28
and No.18 made its pit stop on lap 31. No. 100 changed drivers to Shinya Hosokawa and No. 18
changed to Takashi Kogure, with both teams changing all four tires and returning to the track
in roughly 30 seconds. These two machines now ran with No. 18 leading closely followed
No. 100. No. 23 trailed another 7 sec. behind No. 18.
By lap 38 all the machines had finished their pit stops and No.23 had regained the lead.
No. 18was running fast and had moved up to tail No.23 and No. 100 was just a few seconds
behind. From here to the finish the raced developed into a close battle between these three machines.
With five laps remaining No. 18's pace dropped considerably and No. 100 was able to pull away.
After that, No. 100 began closing on the tail of No. 23 in the turns but No. 23 was able to open
up a gap again on the straights. This catch-and-run battle continued until the last corner of
the last lap but No. 23 was able to stay in the lead all the way to the checkered flag.
This was the first win of the season for the No.23 XANAVI NISMO Z team. The 2nd-place finisher,
No.100 RAYBRIG NSX, was given a penalty after the race for a pit-work violation and 30 seconds
was added on to their finishing time as a result. This dropped No. 100 to 3rd place and moved
the No.18 TAKATA DOME NSX up to 2nd place.
• GT 300 Class
In the GT300 class, there was a collision in the opening lap between the No. 101 TOY
STORY Racing MR-S driven by Morio Niita and the No. 96 EBBRO BTEC MAZIORA 350R driven by
Takuya Kurosawa. The result was a serious crash for No.101 that forced it to retire from
the race. Meanwhile, No. 96 was given a drive-through penalty that changed the complexion
of the race from the very outset.
From the GT300 class pole position, the No. 2 Privée Zurich Shiden was driven this time by
Hiroki Katoh, who gradually widened his lead on the rest of the field in the opening stages
of the race. At the end of lap 42 Katoh was able to turn the car over to his teammate Kazuho
Takahashi with a lead of almost 1 min. 30 sec. When Takahashi got back on the track, that
lead had been reduced to just under 30 seconds but he was able to maintain his lead after
that. He continued to run in control and maintaining his margin of lead all the way to the
finish. For both Takahashi and Katoh this was their first JGTC/SUPER GT victory, and also
the first for the new Shinden car that just debuted this season.
Finishing in 2nd place was the No. 7 Amemiya AsparaDrink RX7 driven by Tetsuya Yamano and
Hiroyuki Iiri.
The battle for 3rd was led in the early stages by the No. 46 Kiccho Houzan DIREZZA Z driven
by Kota Sasaki. But, after falling back to last place after the routine pit stop the second
driver, Taku Bamba had a collision in the latter half of his drive with the No.13 ENDLESS
ADVAN CCI Z (Masami Kageyama > Tomonobu Fujii). This forced another pit stop that left them
far behind the field. The 11th-place starter, No. 55 DHG ADVAN FORD GT (Hidetoshi Mitsusada >
Daisuke Ikeda) , continued to work up through the field. Due to a spin-out by Ikeda in
No. 55, No. 11 moved up into 3rd position at one point only to run out of gas on the 55th
lap and have to make a pit stop. They refueled and headed back toward the track but the
car came to a stop at the pit exit, thus allowing No. 55 to go on to its first podium finish
with a 3rd-place finish.
With these results, the No. 2 team of Kazuho Takahashi and Haruki Katoh moved into 1st
position in the season's driver ranking with 86 points. The No. 7 team of Testsuya Yamano
and Hiroyuki Iiri stand in 2nd position with 81 points, followed by the No. 61 team of
Shogo Mitsuyama and Nobuteru Taniguchi with 75 points. These three teams have a chance to
claim the championship on the final race of the season..
Source: Super GT
|
|
|
