It’s about time, once again this year, for the hot race. Japan too is hot for June, but it’s not about Japan this time, it’s about AUTOBACS SUPER GT’s series event held overseas, 2013 Round 3 Malaysia. Qualifying will be held on 6/15 (Sat) and the race will be on Sunday, Jun 16th. Being near the equator, Malaysia is extreme in heat in terms of both the temperature and enthusiasm. Cars, tires, and drivers are forced to suffer extreme condition almost every year, always causing something to happen during the race. What can happen this year and who will claim the victory this year? Keep your eyes on the race that wraps up the first half of season!
Strike-back of GT-R or 3-straight-wins for HSV-010!?
Malaysia event has been held at the Sepang International Circuit as a series event since 2002. There have been ten races so far (2003 event was held at Fuji in substitution due to SARS). In the recent years, GT-R won three years straight from 2007 to 2010 and HSV-010 GT won back to back in 2011 and 2012.
Sepang’s track layout is built on a flat land and has many tight corners, making cars with good cornering ability advantageous. It is indeed shown in the results. It goes all the way back to 2004, when DENSO SARD SUPRA won, to find the last victory for a LEXUS/TOYOTA machine, which have better performance in high-speed, and the manufacturer has never gotten a pole position (excluding the one recorded by au CERUMO SUPRA in an exhibition race in 2001)
Then it would leave HSV-010 GT fleet to be seen as the top candidate. Takashi Kogure, who won last year and the year before back-to-back, has moved to No.100 RAYBRIG HSV-010 (Takuya Izawa/Kogure) and won the season opener. Weight handicap is a bit of concern, but, considering its suitability to the track, it is sufficient enough to be named as one of the victorious candidates. Also, No.18 Weider HSV-010 (Naoki Yamamoto/ Frederic Makowiecki) of Weider Modulo DOME RACING, the team that won consecutively with Kogure, and No.17 KEIHIN HSV-010 (Koudai Tsukakoshi/Toshihiro Kaneishi), finishing second last year and in 2010, are the teams that should be paid attention.
In the GT-R squad, the 2010 winner No.12 CALSONIC IMPUL GT-R (Tsugio Matsuda/Joao Paulo de Oliveira) also favors Sepang. Speaking of favor, No.24 D’station ADVAN GT-R (Hironobu Yasuda/Michael Krumm) has also accomplished back-to-back win in the past, and, thus, should be added to the list. The team now has a different pair of drivers, but both of the current drivers are Sepang winners. Out of the SC430 fleet that is in the hunt for its first win at Sepang, No.36 PETRONAS TOM’S SC430 (Kazuki Nakajima/James Rossiter) would come to mind. Handicap weight is a bit heavy on the car, but with the momentum from winning the last race at Fuji as well as the rooting from its local sponsor, PETRONAS, we may see consecutive win for the team. In addition, a win can be very likely for No.38 ZENT CERUMO SC430 (Yuji Tachikawa/Kohei Hirate), finishing second last year with a run that afflicted the weider HSV-010 until the last lap as if it was trying to prove wrong the talk in the paddock that SC430 was disadvantageous, as well as No.6 ENEOS SUSTINA SC430 (Kazuya Oshima/Yuji Kunimoto), that charged back hard from the last place on the grid due to a problem in qualifying to finish third at the end.
Sepang is a circuit for FIA GT3 cars, but…
GT300 class saw the first ever win by a hybrid car at the previous race in Round 2 Fuji. It was almost a dominant stage for No.31 Panasonic apr PRIUS GT (Morio Nitta/Koki Saga), the winner, and No.16 MUGEN CR-Z GT (Hideki Mutoh/Yuhki Nakayama), that lead the pack until the final phase of the race.
It had been said that the FIA GT3 cars have advantage if it were a battle in high-speed, but it was hybrid machines of JAF GT that reigned over the high-speed track of Fuji Speedway. But, considering the race as a whole, the race distance of 500km and the fuel mileage issue gave somewhat advantage to the hybrids. Having said that, the consequence of the Round 3 Malaysia with the normal race distance of 300km should reflect the way the competition will flow ahead.
Taking above into account, a win by either of the two hybrids that dominated the top positions at Fuji can be anticipated, but it may not be easy considering the handicap weights. Then, another hybrid race car, No.55 ARTA CR-Z GT (Shinichi Takagi/Takashi Kobayashi), can jump right into the center of attention. Speaking of JAF GT, No.61 SUBARU BRZ R&D SPORT (Tetsuya Yamano/Kota Sasaki) can also be listed as a potential candidate as it is in the streak of getting pole positions consecutively. That is all backed by BRZ’s superb cornering ability, and Yamano and Sasaki’s winning experience at Sepang with two wins and a win, respectively. On the other hand, the FIA GT3 cars like No.33 HANKOOK PORSCHE (Masami Kageyama/Tomonobu Fujii), winner of last year’s Malaysian round, and the defending champion No.0 ENDLESS TAISAN PORSCHE (Kyosuke Mineo/Naoki Yokomizo) may come back strongly. No.4 GSR HATSUNEMIKU BMW (Nobuteru Taniguchi/Tatsuya Kataoka) should come out hunting for a win considering that, despite retiring the race last year, the team was the winner in 2011. To note, Taniguchi is the most winning driver at Sepang with three wins.
In addition to above, No.2 EVA RT TEST-01 PETRONAS MP4-12C (Kazuho Takahashi/Hiroki Katoh), No.3 S Road NDDP GT-R (Kazuki Hoshino/Daiki Sasaki), and No.88 ManePa LAMBORGHINI GT3 (Manabu Orido/Takayuki Aoki) are most likely to be seen in the battle for top places.
Eye-catching Round 3 Malaysia will be held on June 15th and 16th. Due to the time difference and the heat, the event is schedule with later times than usual, so be sure to check the broadcast time if you are watching it on J SPORTS.