On August 6th, SUPER GT official test kicked off at Fuji Speedway, and, in GT500, No.39 DENSO KOBELCO SC430 marked the top time of the day in the afternoon session. In GT300, No.62 LEON SLS recorded the fastest time of the class. The test continues until August 7th.
Session 1: 10:00 – 12:00, Weather: Cloudy with occasional shower, Track: Dry occasionally wet, Temp: Air 25℃ – 27℃, Track surface 28℃ – 30℃ (at start: 25℃ / 29℃)
Session 2: 14:00 – 16:15, Weather: Cloudy then rain, Track: Dry>wet, Temp: Air 24℃ – 28℃, Track surface 27℃ – 32℃ (at start: 27℃ / 32℃)
ZENT CERUMO SC430 marks the fastest time in the morning
Light rain sprinkled in the morning before the session, but the rain stopped allowing the first session to start on a cloudy/wet condition from 10AM for two hours.
At this point, the air and track surface temperatures were 25℃ and 29℃, respectively. Light rain wetted the track for about ten minutes at around 11:30AM, but it was not enough to make a full wet condition. Some cars changed to rain tires and continued running, but, with the record line drying up quickly, they had to put dry tires back on again.
Right after the session started when the track was still wet, No.18 Weider Modulo HSV-010 (Naoki Yamamoto/Frederic Makowiecki) was first to cut down the lap time to 43 second mark from 1 min 45 sec mark to become the first target time for the field. At around 30 minutes into the session, No.12 CALSONIC IMPUL GT-R (Tsugio Matsuda/Joao Paulo de Oliveira) broke the 40 second wall and got into 39 second and 38 second marks, and finally reached a lap time of 1 min 37.954 sec. Track condition got even better, it seemed, as No.36 PETRONAS TOM’S SC430 (Kazuki Nakajima/James Rosstier) and No.24 D’station ADVAN GT-R (Hironobu Yasuda/Michael Krumm) updated the top time sequentially. Both cars cut it down to 35 second mark, and No.24 D’station ADVAN GT-R topped the field at that point by marking 1 min 35.046 sec.
In the mid-stage of the session before 11AM, No.38 ZENT CERUMO SC430 (Yuji Tachikawa/Kohei Hirate) got on the top with a time in 34 second mark. No.39 DENSO KOBELCO SC430 (Juichi Wakisaka/Hiroaki Ishiura), No.36 PETRONAS TOM’S SC430, and No.6 ENEOS SUSTINA SC430 (Kazuya Oshima/Yuji Kunimoto) followed this and marked fast lap times over and over. In addition, No.19 WedsSport ADVAN SC430 (Seiji Ara/Andre Couto) also improved their lap time, and, thus, many Lexus’ appeared in the upper portion of timing monitor. Among their rivals, GT-Rs of No.23 MOTUL AUTECH GT-R (Masataka Yanagida/Ronnie Quintarelli) and No.24 D’station ADVAN GT-R and No.100 RAYBRIG HSV-010 (Takuya Izawa/Takashi Kogure) emerged into the upper group. Although light rain dropped again at around 11:30AM, many teams began to run in fast laps again. No.100 RAYBRIG HSV-010 marked a lap time in lower 34 second mark to place them in third position with No.19 WedsSport ADVAN SC430 following behind, but No.38 ZENT CERUMO SC430 whipped out 1 min 34.104 sec at very last moment, which became the top time of the morning session. No.36 PETRONAS TOM’S SC430 followed at second to wrap up the morning session with 1-2 by SC430 fleet.
In GT300, given that many GT300 cars began to run with a fast lap times earlier thant GT500, No.3 S Road NDDP GT-R (Kazuki Hoshino/Jann Mardenborough/Alex Buncombe) already marked a time in 1 min 42 sec mark in the early stage of the session and placed second overall. After Kazuki Hoshino drove the car for a checkup, Jann Mardenborough and Alex Buncombe, who are planned to join the team for part-time, took the wheel to concentrate on learning the machine.
From there and beyond, lap time of No.62 LEON SLS (Haruki Kurosawa/Tsubasa Kurosawa) became a target time of GT300 class, but No.48 DIJON Racing IS GT-R (Hiroshi Takamori/Katsumasa Chiyo/ Inoue Keiichi) marked 1 min 41.063 sec and emerged to the top. After all, the time became the fastest time of the morning with a large gap of about 0.4 second. Third position behind No.62 LEON SLS was taken by No.30 IWASAKI OGT Racing GT-R (Yuki Iwasaki/Igor Sushko/Kenji Kobayashi), which changed their car to GT-R from the previous round in SUGO.
Session 2 was from 2:00PM. Weather remained cloudy and the session started with dry track. As in the morning, No.18 Weider Modulo HSV-010 set a target time again with 1 min 34.011 sec, but No.23 MOTUL AUTECH GT-R bettered that with a lap time in 33 second mark, and then No.24 D’station ADVAN GT-R cut it down to 1 min 33.852 sec to take the lead.
At around 10 minutes into the session, No.36 PETRONAS TOM’S SC430 marked a top time. And then No.39 DENSO KOBELCO SC43 surpassed this. No.100 RAYBRIG HSV-010 also marked a better time than No.18 Weider Modulo HSV-010 to jump up to the fifth position, highest among the HSV-010 squad. Middle stage of the session saw the upper portion of timing monitor changing rapidly.
Many teams began focusing on tire testing under a race simulation with long runs in the latter half of the session. Some teams improved their best time, but the session moved into final stage with no changes in the top 6. Drops of light rain started to fall at the west side of the circuit as the exclusive run of GT300 class began (at 15:45). It was pouring rain when the GT500 exclusive run started (16:00) and the track got fully wet. Few cars entered the track to check their rain setup, but none improved their best lap times, of course, thus, the lap times recorded in the first half of session became the final result of Day 1.
It was similar beginning in the GT300 class too as No.3 S Road NDDP GT-R once again set the first target lap time in the 1 min 40 sec mark as it did in the morning. No.61 SUBARU BRZ R&D SPORT (Tetsuya Yamano/Kota Sasaki/Takuto Iguchi) was first to beat this time, but No.62 LEON SLS that finished the morning session in the upper positions jumped to the top in the middle stage of session. No.48 DIJON Racing IS GT-R that recorded the top time in the morning ended the afternoon session with only two laps due to some problem.
With about 30 minutes remaining in the session, No.55 ARTA CR-Z GT (Shinichi Takagi/Takashi Kobayashi/Tomoki Nojiri) and No.16 MUGEN CR-Z GT (Hideki Mutoh/Yuhki Nakayama) bettered their respective best lap time sequentially and moved up to second and third places. Rain got harder after that and the Day 1 ended with these top 3 remaining in the same order.
GT500 class top lap time
Hiroaki Ishiura / No.39 DENSO KOBELCO SC430 : Our most important testing menu this time was to test tires under a heavy load on the car (assuming the handicap weight for Fuji), and we were right in the middle of tire testing when I got the top time. TOM’S (No.36 PETRONAS TOM’S SC430) got a good lap time, so their time was a target but I was not necessarily pushing (to get the top time). We got a problem as we were trying to move on to test next tires, so I think if we were able to continue to run, then we would have gotten a little better time. We were able to improve significantly in the morning session. Of course, the testing is mainly to test tires for Fuji, but we also had some testing menu to try few things on the car for Suzuka. But in terms of aerodynamics it was less downforce as the car was with Fuji spec, so the aero-parts we tested were only for Fuji. We couldn’t complete all testing menu smoothly (due to problem), but I was able to feel the speed the car has.
GT300 class top time
Haruki Kurosawa / No.62 LEON SLS : Although we were able to mark the top time, the setup on the car is not perfect yet, and it’s only about 80% in terms of the level of completion. We are a new team (that began to compete in the series from this year), but our car is getting better significantly. Of course, we cannot change something greatly because it’s an FIA GT3 car, but Mizuno (Tadashi Mizuno, engineer) is improving the car step by step. We were able to find a good setup to match up with the tires again this time. We will work one full day on the car to improve it again tomorrow, and I hope we can link our effort to a good result at not only Fuji but also at Suzuka next weekend.
Source : SUPER GT