The FUJI GT 300km RACE, Round 4 of the 2015 AUTOBACS SUPER GT series, took place at Fuji Speedway (one lap 4.563 km x 66 laps) in Shizuoka Pref. on Aug. 9th. In front of a large gallery of some 36,400 spectators, Manager Masahiko Kondo’s team, the No. 24 D’station ADVAN GT-R driven by Daiki Sasaki and Michael Krumm, moved steadily up from a 6th-position grid start to take the win in the GT500 race. This was the team’s first win since the 2010 season.
It was a great day to watch a race at Fuji Speedway with bright sunny skies, towering white cumulus clouds and a fresh breeze blowing down from the slopes of Mt. Fuji. Just before the start of the race, the spectators were treated to the sight of the 44 competing SUPER GT cars parading down the racetrack behind an escort of nine white police bikes and four patrol cars of the Shizuoka Prefectural Police. This parade combined a traffic safety message for the SUPER GT spectators.
In contrast to the 500-km race held here at Fuji Speedway as Round 2 of the season, this time the race distance was 300 km to be competed over 66 laps. The race started at exactly 3:00 in the afternoon. Starting from pole position (1st position on the grid), Yuji Tachikawa in the No. 38 ZENT CERUMO RC F held the early lead. Meanwhile, in the No. 24 D’station ADVAN GT-R of the team led by singer and accomplished race driver Masahiko Kondo, veteran driver Michael Krumm, and experienced former SUPER GT champion, was holding position comfortably from a 6th-position grid start. At the routine pit stop, Krumm turned over the wheel of car No. 24 to his teammate, the young second-year GT driver Daiki Sasaki. In the second half of the race, as the pace of the leading No. 38 ZENT CERUMO RC F (Hiroaki Ishiura) slowed, the winner of this year’s Round 2 here at Fuji, the No. 1 MOTUL AUTECH GT-R (Ronnie Quintarelli) began to close in. But, running behind car No. 1 at an even faster pace came Sasaki in the D’station ADVAN GT-R. Moving up to 3rd position with ten laps remaining in the race, Sasaki then went on to past in succession the remaining two cars in front of him, the MOTUL AUTECH GT-R and the ZENT CERUMO RC F, representing the ace teams of the GT-R and RC F camps. Having won no series points as of the previous round, the D’station ADVAN GT-R was carrying none of the handicap weights unique to SUPER GT, which was clearly an advantage over the other two cars. Still, one couldn’t help but be impressed by with the way Sasaki drove the D’station ADVAN GT-R past his rivals to take the lead. Then, with five laps remaining in the race, Sasaki continued to push hard like the aggressive young driver he is, and by the time he took the checkers to complete his come-from-behind victory, he had a roughly 4-second lead over the ZENT CERUMO RC F in 2nd place.
For Manager Kondo and his KONDO RACING team, this was their first GT500 class victory since the opening round of the 2010 season at Suzuka and their fifth win overall. For the 23-year-old Sasaki this was a felicitous first GT victory, while for Krumm it is his sixth career GT win and his first since 2004.
In the GT300 class, the pole-starting No. 55 ARTA CR-Z GT (Shinichi Takagi/Takashi Kobayashi) pulled steadily away from the pack in the early stages of the race. After a flawless pit stop, the team went on to score a pole to checkers win without having given up the effective lead at any point in the race.
(Spectators: 36,400)
■Winner Comments
No. 24 D’station ADVAN GT-R [GT500]
Daiki Sasaki: “Despite the hot conditions, [first stint driver Michael] Krumm ran strongly for us through it all. When I took over the wheel, I didn’t know if I could move up enough to get the win, but I set my sights on 3rd place and drove as hard as I could. I am really happy that our efforts [as the drivers] and the hard work of everyone on the team paid off and we were able to get the win. For me, having Krumm-san back with us on the team is a feeling like having a father return to us. It was so reassuring to have him with us.”
Michael Krumm: “Since the team haven’t had a win in SUPER GT since 2010, I’m really happy with this result. Also, the motivation is really high on the KONDO RACING team this year and everyone has been very determined to win a race. In order to win, you always need a certain amount of luck, and this time we were able to take advantage of that luck. This win really makes me happy. I have gotten older (40) but I still feel young in spirit. At the next Round, the Suzuka 1000km, it will not be easy because of the handicap weights we will now be carrying, but I hope we can win again at SUGO or Motegi.”
No. 55 ARTA CR-Z GT [GT300]
Shinichi Takagi: “This season there is only one CR-Z competing, and because of that we have been lucky to get lots of spare parts. This time, because the added weight of the car was making us slower, I decided to run without the cool suit. In the end that turns out to have been a help, because I was able to run at the same speed all the way to the end, and the performance of the Bridgestone tires was good too. Since we were able to win this race, I feel that we will be able to run more relaxed at the Suzuka 1000km in the next round.”
Takashi Kobayashi: “Today, [teammate Shinichi] Takagi was able to run at a very fast pace without the cool suit, and because he built up such a lead [and there was no longer any competition around him], our car wasn’t on the TV monitor much. When I took over for the second stint, it was still very hot in the car, but since we had a good margin of lead, I was able to run a controlled pace while watching the cars behind. With only one CR-Z competing this year, we have no other standard to base judgments on, and as a result it is harder to judge what is good and bad, but I am very glad to see that we are able to win races like this.”