Kogure and Duval win Super GT race at Suzuka21/08/2011
Suzuka Circuit, Mie Prefecture, Japan
Super GT Round 5
Round five of the Super GT Championship took place at Suzuka Circuit last weekend (21 August) and 27,000 spectators were at the track on race day. It was the longest race in this series, at 500km, and the teams had uncertain weather conditions again to content with. Takashi Kogure and Loic Duval in their Weider Honda Racing run Honda HSV-010 started from third and led from half way through the race and won. It was their second win since the third round in Sepang. In the GT300 class, Shinichi Takagi and Kosuke Matsuura in their AUTOBACS RACING TEAM AGURI run ARTA Garaiya were in one of the top car battles but had to retire from the race due to a mechanical failure.
Qualifying
The weather was overcast in the morning and track conditions were dry until the first qualifying session had finished. Then the rain started and the track was wet for the second and third qualifying sessions. The winners of the last round Masataka Yanagida and Ronnie Quintarelli in their S Road MOLA GT-R got a consecutive pole position. Toshihiro Kaneishi and Koudai Tsukakoshi in their KEIHIN REAL RACING run KEIHIN HSV-010 qualified second. The third grid position was secured by Kogure and Duval. The ARTA Garaiya showed off outstanding speed in the wet and was also rewarded with a consecutive pole position in the GT300 class.
Race
It was raining lightly at the start of the race, and all teams opted for full wet tyres except the driver pairing of Satoshi Motoyama and Benoit Treluyer in their NISMO run MOTUL AUTECH GT-R which they had on intermediate tyres. Bridgestone’s intermediate specification gave excellent performance and the NISMO car led under light rain conditions for the first part of the race. All cars changed over from full wet tyres to intermediates at first pit stop and Bridgestone runners made up positions and dominated at the front of the field. Some parts of the track dried up and some cars selected slick tyres for the last part of the race, but the rain started again. Kogure and Duval, on Bridgestone’s intermediate tyres, stayed in front of the competition from MOLA and won.
Winning Drivers
Takashi Kogure:
“We had wet conditions from start to finish, but it kept changing between light and heavy rain, so I had to concentrate during every single second. I would like to thank Bridgestone for giving us good grip under hard conditions. I am really happy to win and we will start our attack for the championship.”
Loic Duval:
“Thanks to the team, Honda and Bridgestone for their help and I want to dedicate this win to them. It was a really hard race but the performance of Bridgestone’s tyres were fantastic and we were able to win.”
Bridgestone tyre engineer: Yoshihiro Hosoya
“The weather and track conditions changed so many times and it was very difficult for the teams to select the right tyres. It was a very unusual situation to have cars on full wet, intermediate and slick tyres in the same stint, and luck had a part to play for the winners. In the GT300 class, it was a great pity that the ARTA Graiya stopped during a podium-finish battle.”
