NISSAN DRAWS FIRST BLOOD THROUGH KONDO IN SUPER GT OPENER
2010-03-22 17:08:28 Author: admin Source:
The 2010 Super GT Championship season kick started with the opening event at the Suzuka Circuit last weekend. As the most popular Touring Cars series in Japan and well renowned in Asia, this year's Super GT Championship spans 9 rounds at six circuits in Japan and one outside of Japan at the Sepang International Circuit, Malaysia.
After a long off-season wait, some 31,000 race fans were on hand to witness the first race of the season. The start of the race saw a chaotic struggle for top positions amongst the front runners due to rainy and extreme wet conditions.
It was HIS ADVAN KONDO GT-R #24 driver Joao Paolo de Oliveira who emerged first following a major accident on the tenth lap and a 5-lap safety car period. Once he took control at the front, Oliveira and team mate Hironobu Yasuda managed to extend the lead and stir clear of other troubles until the end of the race, recording the team's second consecutive season opener victory. Last season, they took the opening round at the Okayama International Circuit.
KONDO GT-R #24 race wasn't all smooth sailing, but in the end they were able to overcome stiff competition from #6 SC430 and the #1 SC430 for the top position. When the bulk of cars made their pit stops to switch drivers, #24 GT-R rose to the premier position, extending that lead until lap 34 when Yasuda took the wheel. In addition, following team director Masahiko Kondo orders to keep current tyres, the car returned to the track still leading the race. From there, Yasuda set stable lap times for the remaining 18 of 52 laps and took the chequered flag in the prime position.
In the Honda camp, the new replacement for the NSX, the new HSV-010 GT (RAYBRIG team) car could have secured victory, but an early spin-off dropped them way off the front pack, but drivers Takuya Izawa and Naoki Yamamoto fought back valiantly lap on lap to a place on the podium in third overall.
Other Nissan teams, the MOTUL AUTECH GT-R #23 of Satoshi Motoyama and Benoit Treluyer was also the team to watch at the Suzuka race. #23 GT-R started third on the grid with Treluyer leading the charge, but due to the extreme weather, he, too, spun off at the first corner and lost positions. After the safety car period, #23 was eighth and pitted for drivers' switch, fuel and tyres. Motoyama held the rein for the rest of the race as he climbed from tenth to eighth by the end of the race.
Meanwhile, the CALSONIC IMPUL GT-R #12 of Tsugio Matsuda and Ronnie Quintarelli also spun immediately after the start at Turn 1, dropping to ninth. Then, the worst happened to the team when the car lost power on the tenth lap, forcing Quintarelli to park the GT-R on the side of the track to retire from the race.
In the GT300 class, victory went to the M7 MUTIARA MOTORS AMEMIYA SGC7 driven by Nobuteru Taniguchi and Ryo Orime. Despite losing ground after running off the track in the early going, the team pushed all the way to take the class win, aided as well by a no-tyre-change strategy.
Results
1 HIS ADVAN KONDO GT-R J.P.Lima de Oliveira/ Hironobu Yasuda 1:53'23.333
2 ENEOS SC430 Daisuke Ito/ Bjorn Wirdheim + 0'09.322
3 RAYBRIG HSV-010 Takuya Izawa/ Naoki Yamamoto + 0'15.397
4 PETRONAS TOM'S SC430 Juichi Wakisaka/ Andre Lotterer +0'17.954
5 DENSO DUNLOP SARD SC430 Andre Couto/ Kohei Hirate + 0'19.326
6 MJ KRAFT SC430 Hiroaki Ishiura/ Kazuya Oshima + 0'20.363
7 KEIHIN HSV-010 Toshihiro Kaneishi/ Koudai Tsukakoshi + 0'46.508
8 MOTUL AUTECH GT-R Satoshi Motoyama/ Benoit Treluyer +1'32.333
9 ZENT CERUMO SC430 Yuji Tachikawa/ Richard Lyons +1Lap
10 EPSON HSV-010 Ryo Michigami/ Yuhki Nakayama + 1 lap
