SUPER GT ENTERS BLAZIN' HOT TERRITORY
2010-06-17 12:35:58 Author: admin Source:
The Super GT contingent has descended on Malaysian shores for Round 4 of the championship at the Sepang International Circuit this weekend. Since its inaugural demonstration race in 2000, the Super GT also known as Japan GT championship has been a runaway favorite among Malaysian motorsports enthusiasts, of course not necessary just for the spectacular race machines and competitive racing, but for the much fancied "Land of the Rising Sun" RaceQueens.
(Images: Alex CF Yue)
This season, the Super GT series makes its tenth appearance in Malaysia, the only international event of the series. Except 2003 during the height of the SARs epidemic, the series have witnessed many exciting banzai battles among top Super GT teams from the major marques i.e. Nissan, Honda and Toyota/Lexus.
After the first three races in the 2010 season, defending champions Petronas Tom's Juichi Wakisaka and co-driver Andre Lotterer lead the drivers' standings with 34 points to compatriots Daisuke Ito and Bjorn Wirdheim in second overall with 32 points and rivals ARTA's Ralph Firman and Yuji Ide in third with 27 points. In the Teams' category, the Lexus teams have pulled up hefty leads on Honda Racing teams and Nissan Motorsports teams, the top four positions led by Petronas Tom's on 43 points are separated by only ten-points.
With the all-important mid-season schedule in Sepang, the Honda Racing and Nissan Motorsports teams are vying desperately to make up ground to close the gap to the Lexus teams. The field should be even in terms of weight ballast and performance level at the Sepang circuit after looking at the previous rounds at Suzuka, Okayama and Fuji where the major teams have accumulated a victory apiece with Kondo Racing GT-R taking the season-opener in Suzuka, Honda's debut machine HSV-010 securing the first ever win at Okayama and Kraft Lexus capturing last month's Fuji race win.
As has been considered the hottest race in the World, Super GT drivers are aware of imminent heat stroke and massive fatigue throughout the race weekend at Sepang. Last year, some teams of the GT-R squad installed a small air-conditioner in their cars, which is not a common device in racing. For that, GT-R's may have some advantage in the heat compared to others.
The flat mid- and high-speed track layout of Sepang circuit is also deemed a happy hunting for the GT-Rs, considering that the cars are stable in braking and cornering. In 2008 and '09, Kondo Racing GT-R won back to back races here. But, this season, No.23 Motul Autech GT-R featuring perennial Super GT champion Satoshi Motoyama and co-driver Benoit Treluyer have a point to prove to arrest the all-important first victory of the season for their championship cause.
Next up, Honda has gained a certain attention at this Super GT Round 4 event, with the HSV-010 and intensive domestic media activities by Honda Malaysia. In an interview by Motorsportchannel.com, Honda has reported that prior to its first race at Suzuka, the HSV-010 had gone through comprehensive rounds of testing at the most demanding circuit in the Super GT series, Suzuka.
On which Honda teams have capitalized the most out of the HSV-010 after the first three races, Honda has picked out Raybrig (above) and Keihin team as the most consistent teams, but not not necessary the most formidable ones on the grid. For Round 4, Honda is optimistic that the new machine, having inherited all the know-how from NSX , can be expected to show its prowess and performance against the competition. Honda is pinning their hopes on No.8 ARTA HSV-010 of Ralph Firman and Yuji Ide and last year's runner-up No.17 Keihin HSV-010 of Toshihiro Kaneishi and Koudai Tsukakoshi.
Although dominating the podium at previous round in Fuji, Sepang is not seen as a favorite circuit for SC430 fleet, to say the least. The SC430s are also tagged with maximum of handicap weights for the weekend's race, therefore the strategies for Round 4 would be to pick up as many points as possible.
With rather lighter weight on the car, No.39 Denso SARD SC430 of Andre Couto and Kouhei Hirate have the best shot to challenge the GT-Rs and HSVs for victory. Couto won at Sepang in 2004. The second nominee for victory for the SC430s is defending champs No.1 Petronas Tom's of Juichi Wakisaka and Andre Lotterer. Additionally, the duo can no way finish the race with disappointing result as they gun for their second consecutive Super GT title at the end of the season.
Catch all the action at Sepang this weekend!
GT500 Entry list
1 PETRONAS TOM'S LEXUS SC430 Juichi Wakisaka/Andre Lotterer
6 ENEOS LEXUS SC430 Daisuke Ito/Bjorn Wirdheim
8 ARTA Honda HSV-010 GT Ralph Firman/Yuji Ide
12 CALSONIC IMPUL NISSAN GT-R R35 Tsugio Matsuda/Ronnie Quintarelli
17 KEIHIN Honda HSV-010 GT Toshihiro Kaneishi/Koudai Tsukakoshi
18 Weider Honda HSV-010 GT Takashi Kogure/Loic Duval
23 MOTUL AUTECH NISSAN GT-R R35 Satoshi Motoyama/Benoit Treluyer
24 HIS ADVAN KONDO NISSAN GT-R R35 Joao Paulo Lima de Oliveira/Hironobu Yasuda
32 EPSON Honda HSV-010 GT Ryo Michigami/Yuhki Nakayama
35 MJ KRAFT LEXUS SC430 Hiroaki Ishiura/Kazuya Oshima
38 ZENT CERUMO LEXUS SC430 Yuji Tachikawa/Richard Lyons
39 DENSO DUNLOP SARD LEXUS SC430 Andre Couto/Kohei Hirate
100 RAYBRIG Honda HSV-010 GT Takuya Izawa/Naoki Yamamoto
