MOTOYAMA CHALKS UP 11th SUPERGT VICTORY IN FUJI
6 May 2009

At the 2009 SUPER GT Championships Round 3 held at the Fuji Speedway, MOTUL Autech drivers Satoshi Motoyama and Benoit Treluyer emerged victorous from Petronas TOM's Jyuichi Wakisaka / Andre Lotterer and ARTA NSX' Ralph Firman / Takuya Izawa.

The start of the race saw Motoyama in a GT-R rockected off from pole into the lead at turn one along with the other GT500 machines.

While jostling for second place, No. 12 IMPUL CALSONIC's Tsugio Matsuda and No. 8 ARTA NSX's Firman touched, but the ARTA escaped unscathed to continue racing.

No. 24 HIS ADVAN KONDO's Joao Paulo Lima de Oliveira, promptly, took the opportunity to climb up to second. By lap 9, the much lighter No. 24 overtook No. 1 for the lead, elsewhere there were two SC430 cars battling for 3rd place. Petronas TOM's Andre Lotterer successfully captured 3rd following a close tussle with a rival SC430.

The first pitstops started on lap 20, No. 24 and No.1 were the first two cars to dive into the pits for fuel, tyre change and drivers switch. A quick pitwork by No. 1's pitcrew saw them emerged from the pits ahead of No. 24 for the brief overall lead. By lap 29, No. 36 reclaimed the overall lead, following their own version of a quick pitstop.

In the second stint of the race, the top three order was; No. 36, No. 1 and No. 24. The order ran for almost 28 laps before the second pitstop window opened, and this time the leader made the first stop followed by No. 1 on the very next lap on lap 59.

Again, a super efficient pitwork saw No. 1 back into the lead when they rejoined the race just ahead of No. 36 (left).

No. 24 ran in third for the better part of the race, but soon realized a significant drop in pace, allowing No. 8 to catch up and threaten 3rd position. A determined Firman, eventually, caught up and outpace No. 24 for 3rd, and the Irishman made it stick until the chequered flag.

Into the final lap, backmarkers were causing a concern among the front runners, No. 1's Motoyama was caught in a jam which gave a fighting No. 36 an opportunity for the race win.

However, the veteran SuperGT driver defended his turf well into the final corners of the Fuji Speedway and sealed his 11th career SuperGT victory. Second place went to No. 36 and third place fell to No. 8 (right).

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In 300, No. 43 ARTA Garaiya's Shinichi Takagi and Morio Nitta captured the Team's first win of the 2009 season. The victory extended Nitta's record for most career wins in the GT300 class to 16. In second place, No. 81 DAISHIN ADVAN Ferrari of Takayuki Aoki and Tomonobu Fujii (below left), and third went to No. 7 M7 MUTIARA MOTORS AMEMIYA SGC 7 of Nobuteru Taniguchi and Ryo Orime (below right), their third consecutive podium of the season.

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Next up, Round 4 will be held in Sepang, Malaysia, the only country outside Japan where this GT event is highly accepted. Again, the blazing heat will test the drivers and race queens come 20 & 21 June 2009.