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【SUPER GT Round 7 ／ Autopolis】
Autopolis Round’s Timetable Slashed to 1 Day Due to Bad Weather, Natori Marks Maiden GT500 Pole And Venteny Lamborghini GT3 Wins in GT300
SUPER GT Round 7
| Date | 19-20 October 2024 |
|---|---|
| Course | Autopolis |
| Weather | Race : Cloudy, Qualify : Cloudy |
| Surface | Race : Dry, Qualify : Wet |
| Race Times | 3 hours (1Lap = 4,674m) |
The seventh round of the 2024 Super GT series, the first-ever 3-hour race at Autopolis, was heavily affected by bad weather. The official practice on Saturday, October 19th, had to be canceled because of dense fog in the morning hours. Furthermore, heavy rain came in the afternoon, which caused the cancellation of a support race due to poor visibility.
The rain actually eased as the time to start the qualifying session approached. Yet, many streams of water crossed the track here and there, conveying a considerable amount of mud from the course side to the tarmac.
Given such track conditions, the race control gave up on the possibility that it would improve by the scheduled time for qualifying. It was decided that the session would be postponed to Sunday, October 20th. The new timetable was that a 30-minute timed session for the GT300 class would begin at 8:00, and the same for the GT500 class would follow.
The fog remained there on Sunday morning, but the visibility was okay, so the qualifying got underway as planned with the session for the GT300 class cars. Unlike the usual grouped sessions, all 27 cars in the class shared the track this time to make their qualifying attempts. It meant heavy traffic all over the place, and it was challenging for everyone to have a clear lap. Moreover, GoodSmile Hatsune Miku AMG (Nobuteru Taniguchi/Tatsuya Kataoka) went off the track with seven minutes left before the session was to end, which caused the red flag.
The session resumed for a short time, and the two Yokohama Tire users, Realize Nissan Mechanic Challenge GT-R (Daiki Sasaki/Joao Paulo Lima de Oliveira) and Uni-Robo Bluegrass Ferrari (Yoshiaki Katayama/Robert Merhi Muntan), fought for the top slot. Oliveira took the initiative in the battle by setting the interim fastest time, but Merhi Muntan renewed it immediately. While the Brazilian overturned it again on the next lap, the fight ultimately ended in the Ferrari driver’s victory, and Uni-Robo Bluegrass Ferrari claimed its first pole position of the season.
Yokohama users performed well in the GT500 class qualifying, too. A GT500 rookie, Natori, behind the wheel of Realize Corporation ADVAN Z (Tsugio Matsuda/Teppei Natori), was tasked with their qualifying attempt this time. Under cold track conditions, with the air/track temperatures at 10/14 degrees centigrade, he warmed up his tires sufficiently before clocking the fourth fastest time at the time and then improved it on the next lap to the quickest of all.
He couldn’t better his best time further in the last attempt, but his drive secured the Realize Corporation ADVAN Z’s first pole position this year, which was, of course, Natori’s first in the GT500 class as well. WedsSport ADVAN GR Supra (Yuji Kunimoto/Sena Sakaguchi) took the eighth grid by Sakaguchi’s qualifying effort.
With only a two-and-a-half-hour interval after the session, the teams had the warm-up run prior to the race, and the 3-hour race began at 13:20. With Matsuda at the wheel, Realize Corporation ADVAN Z led the early laps. Although he had to step back to second on Lap 12, his pace was still fast enough to remain in second.
About 45 minutes into the race, the track status turned to Full Course Yellow (FCY). The reason for it was WedsSport ADVAN GR Supra’s breakdown at Hitachi Astemo Corner. Starting from the eighth grid, Kunimoto, in the driving seat of the car, lost a few positions in the early laps but was on the course of recovery at a much better pace afterward. However, the car was hit by a mechanical problem, and he had to retire on the spot.
To remove the halted car, the FCY was switched to the Safety Car period, and the race was restarted about 15 minutes later. When the race’s first hour had passed, Realize Corporation ADVAN Z made its first pit stop, changing the driver from Matsuda to Natori.
With fresh tires fitted to the car, Natori went out to the track but struggled a bit in the early part of his stint when he was still in the warm-up phase of his tires. However, once they were adequately heated, he could recover at a pace comparable to the leaders and was running in second when the Safety Car came out for the third time with an hour to go, as some of the rivals had already made their second pit stop.
As soon as the Safety Car period terminated, Natori headed to the pit lane for the second stop and returned to the track without changing the driver. He immediately started to catch up with the leaders, but the car halted at the Final Corner during the fourth Safety Car period toward the end of the race due to a sudden failure in the drive-line. Thus, they couldn’t turn the jubilation after the qualifying into a significant achievement in the race, but Realize Corporation ADVAN Z still classified in 12th in the final result.
Regarding the GT300 class, Uni-Robo Bluegrass Ferrari started the race from the pole position but fell back soon after that as it struggled to keep up with the other leading cars. Then, Realize Nissan Mechanic Challenge moved up to second only to lose positions gradually because of a similar situation to that of the Ferrari.
Whereas the top two qualifiers had a hard time in the race, Venteny Lamborghini GT3 (Takashi Kogure/Yuya Motojima) played great catch-up with the leaders from the lowly 15th grid. Driving for their first two stints, Motojima moved up through the field at an excellent pace. On top of this, the team’s decision on the pit stop was right on the mark in relation to the Safety Car periods and the FCY. So, when the third SC period was lifted and the leading cars headed to the pit lane for the final stop, the Lamborghini floated to the top in the class.
Kogure, who was entrusted with the car for their final stint, managed to build a more than 20-second gap with the car in second place and comfortably led the field. However, with 15 minutes left to the end, the Safety Car was deployed for the fourth time in this race, which meant the gap he built came to nothing. Fortunately for the team, it took a long time to retrieve the parked car, and the field received the checkered flag behind the Safety Car while Kogure was still leading. It was Venteny Lamborghini GT3’s second victory of the season.
Drivers’ Voice
Tsugio Matsuda (REALIZE CORPORATION ADVAN Z)
【Result : 12th. in the GT500 class】
“I drove for our first stint, and my pace in the early stage was really good. As the no.23 Z was even faster than us, I had to give way to it. But I could lead the cars behind me easily after that. I suspected that I might struggle with cold tires after the Safety Car period, but the tire performance quickly came back so that I could go along with the leader. However, we have to admit that Natori had much difficulty with the tire warm-up after the driver change. Therefore, we need to improve in that area. There were a few positive things this time since Natori got the pole position, and we could race at the top of the field. On the other hand, we still need improvement in several areas. So, together with people at Yokohama Tire, we need to explore every detail to develop our tires further.”
Teppei Natori (REALIZE CORPORATION ADVAN Z)
【Result : 12th. in the GT500 class】
“We had to retire the car toward the end because of a problem in drive-line. Looking back my drive until then, I could drive at a decent pace once the tires warmed up properly. But the tires were slow to warm up, and it got even more difficult to keep a good pace when the air and track temperatures dropped rapidly as we faced toward the end of the race today. My feeling with the tires was good when they were in the working window in the qualifying, so I wish I could continue and stay in that position, but our race ended in that way, which was a shame. The remaining two rounds will be held under the low temperature conditions like today. So, we need to somehow sort out the issues we have.”
Yuji Kunimoto (WedsSport ADVAN GR Supra)
【Result : Retire in the GT500 class】
“Considering how we would race during the first stint, we chose those tires. But the warm-up characteristics of them weren’t ideal, which caused us to lose a few positions on the opening lap. While my pace came back later, and I could recover gradually, I then suffered from a mechanical malfunction, and it ultimately led to the retirement because the steering system stopped working properly. It was a race in cold weather, and I felt that we lagged behind the others until the tires warmed up. But, once the tires reached the proper temperature window, the performance gap with the leading car wasn’t so wide. I hope to develop the tires that are able to win a race even under cold weather conditions and to make use of them in the future. It was a disappointing weekend because we couldn’t finish the race. But we still have two rounds remaining, so we will work hard to be able to show stronger performances in those two races.”
Sena Sakaguchi (WedsSport ADVAN GR Supra)
【Result : Retire in the GT500 class】
“It was quite difficult for me to maximize the tire performance in the qualifying because it took long to warm them up. We started the race from the eighth grid but fell back a few positions, as we still have some homework to do in the tire warm-up characteristics. After the difficulty in the early laps, our performance was solid and consistent, but our race abruptly ended because of a technical problem, which was disappointing. We will have the next round only two weeks later. While the temperature conditions will be similar to this round, the character of the track is totally different from this one. So, we will focus on the next race and give everything to find the best possible setup for Motegi.”
Takashi Kogure (VENTENY Lamborghini GT3)
【Result : Winner in the GT300 class】
“I took charge of the qualifying. It was so challenging because I had to overtake slower cars while I was trying to set the fastest possible time. The timing to start the qualifying attempt could have been better, too, as the duration available for me became limited by keeping sufficient space between me and the car ahead of me. Therefore, all in all, it was a bit frustrating. However, the tires suited our car and performed well in the race. And above all, Motojima was really fast today. The next round is to be held at Motegi, and we won the race at the circuit last year, so we want to repeat it.”
Yuya Motojima (VENTENY Lamborghini GT3)
【Result : Winner in the GT300 class】
“I couldn’t imagine winning the race from the 15th grid. But I am very happy about the result because Kyushu is my home area. Honestly, I haven’t performed at Autopolis very well in the past and have always had a feeling of inadequacy. However, the tires worked well together with our car today, and the team made me feel comfortable when they sent me out to the track. I now realize that we are a team that can win a race when the circumstances are favorable and feel relieved so much with this result. We have a single aim for the next Motegi round, which is to win the race.”
Engineer’s Voice
Takayuki Shiraishi [The Yokohama Rubber Co.,LTD. Motorsports Tire Development Dept. No.1 Tire Development Division]
“The temperature conditions were just on the lower edge of our anticipated range or slightly below it. We knew the tires would perform in terms of grip but were concerned that they might take too long to warm up. In this regard, the change of qualifying format due to lousy weather ended up helping us to a certain extent.
“Realize Corporation ADVAN Z struggled in the early part of its first stint but could keep up with the others after that. Overall, we felt that the car’s pace during the race was good enough. As for WedsSport ADVAN GR Supra, the tires we supplied them were different from those we did for the Z. Partly because of it, they had to use tires that didn’t suit the conditions in the race, so we regret that we didn’t provide them with suitable tires. We planned to test the tires with different specifications in the car’s second stint, but the opportunity was missed, which was a shame for us.
“Venteny Lamborghini GT3 showed an excellent pace and won the GT300 race. However, many other cars in the class experienced a considerable drop in their pace in the second half of the race, and we suppose that the reason for their struggle was the tire pick-up under the low-temperature conditions. It isn’t easy to address this issue because it relates not only to the weather conditions but also to the characteristics of each race track. We are going to try to sort this out for next season.
“We have a relatively good track record at Motegi, where the next round will be held, in both GT500 and GT300 classes. We reckon the track is sort of compatible with our tires. In addition, reducing the success weight by half will be more helpful for our users than it was in the past years. So, we will make every effort to return to the front in the GT500 class and to replicate the good results like this round and last year’s race at the circuit in the GT300 class.”