KRAFT SC430 POWERS TO FIRST VICTORY IN SUPER GT 2009

2009-08-25 15:33:00 Author: admin Source:

Round 6 of the Super GT Championships at Suzuka last weekend saw a spectacular display of grit and determination for victory by the KRAFT duo of Hiroaki Ishiura and Kazuya Oshima on a Lexus SC430. The 38th International Pokka GT Summer Special event was witnessed by 34,000 spectators and had 34 entries - fourteen GT500 machines and twenty GT300 competitors.

Joining the Kraft duo on the podium were Hasemi's Ronnie Quintarelli and Hironobu Yasuda in second place, and Zent Cerumo's Yuji Tachikawa and Richard Lyons. 

At race start, the KRAFT SC430 with its first driver Ishiura powered from pole ahead of the thirteen GT500 cars. Leaving the competition in the wake, Ishiura recorded the fastest lap of the race on lap 5 of 121 laps. From there, he cruised comfortably in the lead and built up a large margin at the front.

After the customary pitstop where Ishiura handed driving duties to team mate Oshima, the Kraft SC430 rejoined the race behind two leading cars before resuming the lead when these cars pitted. Oshima continued to run at a steady, fast pace and build up a 10-second lead over 2nd place after lap 40. He brought the machine in for the team's second pit stop at the end of lap 58 and turned the wheel over to Ishiura again.

#3 HASEMI TOMICA EBBRO GT-R was in second place by lap 60, and futher down the road, #8 ARTA NSX of Ralph Firman suffered a puncture which led to a severe tyre burst on lap 85, causing the car's bottom to scrape the track, and subsequently, a flaming ARTA NSX. Firman had to park his car beside the car which led to a brief safety car period.

Most Teams scrabbled into their pitlanes to make stops at this stage, causing plenty of confusion and havoc, most noticably, was when #36 PETRONAS TOM'S SC430's car caught fire while refueling. The leaders had no such problems with its due stop, Oshima assumed driving duties for the last 30 laps in clear air and the lead. Second and third place runners were over 10 - 20 seconds behind the Kraft SC430.

As the chequered flag was waved, the Kraft Team won by over 10 seconds to second place Hasemi Tomica Ebbro GT-R, while Ishiura and Oshima capture their first victory in the GT500 class. For the Team, it was their second win, following a victory in Round 3 in 2006 at Fuji Speedway.

Series Drivers' standings leaders #1 MOTUL AUTECH GT-R with Satoshi Motoyama and Michael Krumm finished 6th for 5 points, keeping them on top of the Drivers' Championship ranks.

In GT300, #46 S Road MOLA Z with Kazuki Hoshino and Masataka Yanagida withstood strong battles from #43 ARTA Garaiya and #2 APPLE K-one Shiden to emerge the victors. S Road MOLA surprised everyone with that victory, having qualified in a lowly fourteen position a day prior. However, through the drivers sheer determination, the Team did not give up the opportunity to taste their first victory of the season in Suzuka. 

Hoshino also won here last year, while team mate Yanagida took his second career win in GT300 with the first win way back in 2002 in SUGO.

#43 ARTA Garaiya with Morio Nitta and Shinichi Takagi came home second for their third podium finish of the year, enabling the ARTA Garaiya to hold the top spot in the Teams' rankings.

Third place went to #2 APPLE K-one Shiden with Hiroki Katoh and Hiroki Yoshimoto who had a shot for the win, but came up short due to traffic. On a brighter note, Katoh moves up to 2nd position in the GT300 Drivers' rankings.

The upcoming Super GT is scheduled for Fuji Speedway on 13 September.