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【SUPER GT Round 4 ／ Fuji Speedway】
Yokohama Users Fight Against Each Other in Both Classes, Two Yokohama Shoed GT300 Cars Make Podium Finish
SUPER GT Round 4
| Date | 3-4 August 2024 |
|---|---|
| Course | Fuji Speedway |
| Weather | Race : Fine, Qualify : Fine |
| Surface | Race : Dry, Qualify : Dry |
| Race Times | 77 Laps (1Lap = 4,563m) |
The fourth round of the 2024 Super GT series, which consists of eight races, took place at Fuji Speedway on the first weekend of August, in the middle of the school summer vacation in Japan. This was the second race at the famous race track this year and was held as a 350km race, while the first one in May was the first three-hour race in the series’ history.
The rainy season was over in the Tokai area, and it was blistering hot on Friday, August 2nd, when the teams brought in their cars and equipment. Thanks to the high altitude, it was still cool in the morning and evening at the Speedway, but the temperatures brutally rose under sunlight during the day. At 9:00 on Saturday, August 3rd, when the official practice commenced, the air/track temperatures already hit 30/47 degrees centigrade.
In the 105-minute session, WedsSport ADVAN GR Supra (Yuji Kunimoto / Sena Sakaguchi) and Realize Corporation ADVAN Z (Tsugio Matsuda / Teppei Natori) were the eighth and ninth fastest in the GT500 class, respectively. Their best lap times were set in their qualifying simulations during the exclusive period for the class toward the end of the session.
Realize Nissan Mechanic Challenge GT-R (Daiki Sasaki / Joao Paulo Lima de Oliveira) took the top slot in the GT300 class. The runner-up in the second round held at the same track appeared to remain strong this time again. JLOC Lamborghini GT3 (Takashi Kogure / Yuya Motojima), the winner of the previous Fuji race, came in second, but the gap between the top two was just 0.175 seconds. Then, Uni-Boro Bluegrass Ferrari (Yoshiaki Katayama / Robert Merhi Muntan) and GoodSmile Hatsune Miku AMG (Nobuteru Taniguchi / Tatsuya Kataoka) followed in third and fourth, which meant that Yokohama Tire users made a top-four lock-out. While the whole field was close, as 14 cars ended the session within one second from the top, many expected the Yokohama users would achieve some good results in the qualifying.
An accident in the support race caused some oil to be spilt on the track, and since the work to remove the oil took some time, the qualifying session was delayed. Plus, the race control thought the track conditions might considerably vary because of the oil-removing treatment, particularly in the early part of the session, and decided to adopt the qualifying format normally used under the wet track declaration.
Therefore, the GT300 class’s starting grids were determined by each car’s best time in Q2 instead of the two drivers’ combined time, and position swapping between Upper 16 and Lower 17 was also dismissed. Anyway, the GT300 competitors’ first mission was to set the fastest possible time with fresh tires to survive for Upper 16 and join the fight for the pole position.
Due to a large number of competitors, the cars in the GT300 class were divided into two groups, and the drivers of Group B went out to the track first this time. Among the seven Yokohama users in this group, Realize Nissan Mechanic Challenge GT-R, Metalive S Lamborghini GT3 (Kosuke Matsuura / Natsu Sakaguchi), GoodSmile Hatsune Miku AMG, and RunUp Rivaux GT-R (Takuya Otaki / Takayuki Aoki / Rin Arakawa) finished the session in the top eight and were assigned to Upper 16.
Group A included eight Yokohama-shoed cars, and four of them were classified as Upper 16. They were Mach Syaken Air Buster MC86 Mach-Go (Kiyoto Fujinami / Yusuke Shiotsu), Uni-Boro Bluegrass Ferrari, JLOC Lamborghini, and Anest Iwata Racing RC F GT3 (Igor Omura Fraga / Yuga Furutani).
In Q2, Metalive S Lamborghini GT3 was the second fastest in Upper 16, which was their season’s best result. They introduced the latest Evo 2 model for this round, but the official practice on Saturday was the first opportunity to run the brand-new car because its delivery took longer than expected. The drivers really wanted to reward the team’s effort to prepare the vehicle within a limited time by securing a good starting grid. GoodSmile Hatsune Miku AMG took third place in Q2, their highest qualifying position of the season. Then, JLOC Lamborghini GT3 and Realize Nissan Mechanic Challenge GT-R ended the session in fifth and sixth. Thus, four out of the top six qualifiers were Yokohama Tire users.
Regarding the GT500 class, the starting grids were decided by the combined best time of each car in Q1 and Q2, as usual. Realize Corporation ADVAN Z secured the seventh grid, and WedsSport ADVAN GR Supra followed in ninth. Driving the Z in Q2, Natori did a remarkable job by setting a respectable lap time in fewer laps than the drivers around him. As all competitors must start the race with the tires they used in the qualifying, minimizing the number of laps done with them before the race was important.
It was scorching hot again on Sunday, August 4th, and everyone out of the doors was wet with sweat from the morning hours. The 77-lap race, watched by a large number of fans, including many families, went underway.
Realize Corporation ADVAN Z and WedsSport ADVAN GR Supra, in the GT500 class, were trusted to Matsuda and Kunimoto for their first stint, and they ran in eighth and ninth in the early stage. The conditions were extremely tough, as the air/track temperatures rose to 34/55 degrees, the weekend’s highs, when the race started. But the two Yokohama-shoed cars went on at a consistent pace.
When the race leader was on Lap 29, Hoppy Schatz GR Supra GT (Togo Suganami / Takamitsu Matsui / Kimiya Sato) in the GT300 class halted at the exit of Dunlop Corner, which caused Full Course Yellow (FCY). However, clearing the track didn’t take long, and FCY was lifted on the next lap.
At about this point, the GT500 cars’ tire change stops began. Realize Corporation ADVAN Z headed to the pit lane at the end of Lap 31, and WedsSport ADVAN GR Supra, running closely behind the Z, followed suit on the next lap. Thanks to smooth pit stops, they rejoined the race without changing relative track positions.
Because of the tire change before the halfway point, both Natori in the Z and Sakaguchi in the Supra were bound to do a long stint to the end, more than 40 laps. Sakaguchi, chasing Natori, set 1’30″102 on Lap36 when his tires were still fresh, and it eventually was the race’s fastest lap. Natori tried to extend the gap by clocking his own fastest time, but Sakaguchi’s pace was better than Natori’s. Consequently, the two cars became tail-to-nose on Lap 41.
On Lap 45, Natori slightly fumbled a maneuver to overtake a GT300 car at Supra Corner, and Sakaguchi didn’t miss the opportunity. The Supra driver took the inside line at the exit of Panasonic Corner, the final corner before the long pit straight, and passed the Z before they reached the control line. Natori tried to regain the position using the slipstreaming but couldn’t make it in the remaining distance down to Turn 1. In this way, they swapped positions, and now WedsSport ADVAN GR Supra was running in eighth and Realize Corporation ADVAN Z in ninth.
After that, Natori came under heavy pressure from the car behind and was involved in a side-by-side battle with it for several laps from Lap 56. While he gave everything to defend the position, the fight ended in his defeat at No.13 Corner on Lap 61. The battle forced him to use his tires harder than he wanted, and the tire performance had deteriorated. As a result, he lost another position soon after that and dropped to 11th.
On Lap 62, Natori headed to the pit box because he felt something wrong with his tires. The team found a slow puncture on the left-hand side rear tire, so they replaced all four tires and sent him back to the track. Because of the time lost in this unscheduled second stop, Realize Corporation ADVAN Z ended the race in 14th, one lap behind the eventual winner.
Winning the contention between the two Yokohama-shoed cars, WedsSport ADVAN GR Supra finished in ninth after being passed by a rival toward the end. Still, they earned valuable championship points for the second time this season.
The fight for the GT300 class win effectively concluded early. The eventual winner made a pit stop just before the FCY period, during which the competitors on the track had to slow down, was declared, and it gave them a considerable advantage against the rest of the field. However, there were hotly fought battles everywhere else, and the most fascinating was the one between GoodSmile Hatsune Miku AMG and Realize Nissan Mechanic Challenge GT-R for second.
These two cars got ahead of Metalive S Lamborghini GT3 during the pit stop round. Then, Oliveira, in the driving seat of the GT-R for their second stint, showed his strength by aggressively overtaking two cars between Taniguchi in the AMG and himself. On Lap 48, the gap between them was reduced to just one second, but the veteran driver, Taniguchi, was hard to beat. Therefore, a breathtaking seesaw match between two ex-GT300 champions continued.
In the end, Taniguchi fended off Oliveira’s furious attack, and GoodSmile Hatsune Miku AMG finished the race in second. The result put a period on their days without podium celebration since the 2022 season’s fifth round at Suzuka, pushing them up to fifth in the point standings. While the hard-charging attitude didn’t bear fruit, Realize Nissan Mechanic Challenge GT-R took third place and got on the podium for the second time this year. They also gained a position in the championship and are ranked sixth.
Drivers’ Voice
Yuji Kunimoto (WedsSport ADVAN GR Supra)
【Result : 9th. in the GT500 class】
“As for the first stint that I drove, I didn’t experience a considerable drop in my pace, which was better than I expected. The difficulty from the tire pick-up and degradation was felt less severely as well, so I could drive consistently. The feeling was good in the official practice on Saturday, but the condition change in the race was significant and beyond our anticipation. It was disappointing that this condition change prevented us from showing performance as we had wanted. Still, we could get some championship points, and the positive thing for me was that I could drive more consistently than I have done in recent races. Regarding the next race, we have a good track record at Suzuka, so I hope to perform well in the qualifying and then drive at a better pace to the end on Sunday.”
Sena Sakaguchi (WedsSport ADVAN GR Supra)
【Result : 9th. in the GT500 class】
“When I went out to the track for our second stint, the surface temperature was high, and my pace was good during the early part of the stint. But I couldn’t keep the pace when the track temperature went down and the conditions changed. So, it is for sure an issue to be solved for the coming races. I am happy to set the race’s fastest lap, but, in the race, we couldn’t keep a pace that we thought we could from the feeling in the testing and the official practice. This is a big problem to be overcome because we must avoid the puzzling situation that what seemed to be good in a testing doesn’t always work in a race. We were really frustrated with the result of the race at Suzuka, the third round of this season. So, looking to the next round at that circuit, we will make every possible effort to improve the situation that we are in, though we won’t have any testing opportunity until then.”
Tsugio Matsuda (REALIZE CORPORATION ADVAN Z)
【Result : 14th. in the GT500 class】
“As the rules say we must use the same set of tires from the qualifying to the start of the race, we decided to compete in the qualifying session, both Q1 and Q2, running only for minimum possible laps. I could set a competitive qualifying time in Q1, and Natori got the job done perfectly in Q2 with an out-lap, a warm-up, and only one attack lap. In this way, we ran the least number of laps in the session in our class and still set competitive times, which was good. As for the race, I could keep up with the cars ahead because the new tire construction, which we introduced in this race, worked well. We expected the same kind of performance in our second stint as well, but I had to make a pit stop earlier than planned, which meant Natori had to do a long stint. The race execution in relation to the tires’ behavior might be an area to be improved for the coming races.”
Teppei Natori (REALIZE CORPORATION ADVAN Z)
【Result : 14th. in the GT500 class】
“In the qualifying, I could clock a competitive time despite limiting the number of laps to the minimum. Under the given circumstances, I believe we got a good result, working together with Matsuda. I really enjoyed the race, aside from the final result. While working hard to hold up the car behind, I tried several ways to drive at the same time, so I learned many things which may be useful in the forthcoming races. My only regret is that I had a problem with a tire. We will prepare everything thoroughly to fight to the end in the next race.”
Nobuteru Taniguchi (GoodSmile Hatsune Miku AMG)
【Result : 2nd. in the GT300 class】
“The race leader built an enormous gap with others in the first half of the race, when Kataoka was behind the wheel. Therefore, my mission, when I was handed the car, was to win the fight for second. At first, Kogure in the no.88 car (JLOC Lamborghini GT3) quickly came close to me, but I could pull away after the temperature of my tires got into the right range. Then, the no.56 car (Realize Nissan Mechanic Challenge GT-R), with Oliveira at the wheel, closed in really fast, so I was on the defensive throughout my stint. Because Oliveira’s pace seemed to be better than mine, Kataoka’s effort in the qualifying to get a higher starting position than the no.56 and the no.88 was the main factor for us securing the second place today. My stint was very tough, but I enjoyed a hard race to the fullest for the first time in a long time.”
Tatsuya Kataoka (GoodSmile Hatsune Miku AMG)
【Result : 2nd. in the GT300 class】
“We were very confident about our long-run pace this time, so I was sure that the tide would turn in our favor after a few laps into the race. However, the eventual winner’s pace was as good as ours, and, more than anything, other Yokohama users around us were using the same tires. Then, I realized the situation and I was like ‘Oh, we are in good form, but some others are, too.’ As a result, my stint was like a middle formula race. I mean that everybody was driving flat out, keeping a fast and consistent pace, and it looked uneventful but was so intense because everybody was competing at a very high level. The tires did a great job and lasted out to the end despite my hard push. I could feel our progress, but rivals were getting stronger as well. To win the next race, we will make greater efforts.”
Engineer’s Voice
Takayuki Shiraishi [The Yokohama Rubber Co.,LTD. Motorsports Tire Development Dept. No.1 Tire Development Division]
“As for the GT500 class, we had a hard time in the race as we did in the previous round. We introduced a new specification that reflected the findings in the tire manufacturers’ testing held at Autopolis in June and Sugo in July. We have also been working on optimizing the tires for the new qualifying format introduced this year, and the lap time falloff from Q1 to Q2 is improving. We found a few positive things in the race. Still, overall, we needed to be more competitive under the very high-temperature conditions in conjunction with the track characteristics of Fuji Speedway. We still have many questions to be solved.
“WedsSport ADVAN GR Supra had a speed under the high temperature conditions, but it didn’t last long in the track temperature range around 50 degrees. Regarding Realize Corporation ADVAN Z, the tire performance in general has yet to come back to last year’s level. This situation forced the team to overuse the tire, leading to consistency and durability issues. While the need for more competitiveness is shared between the two cars, there are specific issues for each car, so we face a difficult challenge. However, we are taking different measures for each car, looking at the next Round 5 at Suzuka. We will get ahead with our work to see the positive effects of those improvements and better results, ultimately.
“In regard to the GT300 class, we could demonstrate that most of our GT3 cars performed really well in the qualifying and the race as we did in the second round of the season at Fuji. In fact, we changed the tires a lot after the two GTE testings, we are relieved to know the new tires still brought these results. We struggled in round three at Suzuka because of unexpected low temperatures, but, for the next race at the same place, we are committed to help Yokohama users achieving good results as we saw today.”