With undeniable speed, ARTA NSX claims its second win of the season!
2nd-place podium finish ends TAKATADOME NSX nightmare streak

The SUGO GT 300 km Race, Round 5 of the 2007 AUTOBACS SUPER GT, took place at SPORTS-LAND SUGO in Miyagi Pref. on July 29. In the GT500 class, victory went to the second-place qualifier, ARTA NSX (Daisuke Ito and Ralph Firman). In the GT300 class, WedsSport Celica ( Akira Iida and Yuhi Sekiguchi) emerged the winner.

Race?Weather:Rain | Course:Wet | Air Temp. 22°C | Track Temp. 25°C


GT500 Class

The race started at just after 14:00. Before the start the weather was cloudy with the air temperature at the start was 22°C. and the track surface temp. was 25°C., but rain began to fall when all the cars had returned to the dummy grid after the warm-up run. The rain wasn't heavy at first but it was enough to spread a film of water across the track and all the teams with the exception of a few in the GT300 class changed to wet tires on the grid.
This led to trouble for the No. 6 Forum Eng. SC430 (Tatsuya Kataoka) when the right front brake caliper was found to be scraping the inside of the wheel. What's more, the machine also developed clutch trouble. The car was pushed back to the pit to attempt repairs butte team ended up being unable to start the race.



No.1 houzan TOM'S SC430 Meanwhile, the cars on the grid were started behind the safety car (SC). The first six laps of the race were run that way. During this time, the No.24 WOODONE ADVAN Clarion Z (Joao Paulo Lima De Oliveira) took the gamble of returning to the pit to switch to heavy rain tires.
It was on the 7th lap that the SC turned into the pit lane to signal the start of the real racing. The pole starting No. 18 TAKATA DOME NSX (Takashi Kogure) pulled away to a 2.6-second lead over 2nd place by the end of that lap. The 2nd-place runner No. 8 ARTA NSX (Ralph Firman) and the rest of the top five grid starters remained in their starting order. Behind them, No. 38 ZENT CERUMO SC430 (Toranosuke Takagi) had moved up to 6th position.
After that, a drive-through penalty was placed on No. 24. The gamble of returning to the pit to change tires had led to a reverse of fortunes when failing to stop for the red light at the end of the pit lane brought the penalty.

After lap 10, the pace of No. 18 began to slow as it encountered back-lappers. Trouble with its windshield wipers and resulting poor visibility made it impossible to pick up the pace. This allowed No. 8 to close the gap and on the next lap it slipped past No. 18 into the lead when it got caught behind a GT300 class machine in the SP Corner. Then No.32 also began to close in on No.18, but by this time the rain had stopped and as the lines through the curves began to dry, No. 32 was no longer able to keep pace.
Moving up from behind next was the No. 1 houzan TOM'S SC430 (Andre Lotterer). On lap 26, No. 32 almost ran off the track coming out of the number three corner and No. 1 was able to slip past into 3rd position. Behind them, the 7th-position No. 23 XANAVI NISMO Z (Satoshi Motoyama) led a string of six cars. Unable to pick up the pace, No. 23 was passed on lap 27 by the No.39 DENSO SARD SC430 (Andre Couto). On lap 31, No. 23 had no choice but to make an early pit stop. They made a driver change to Richard Lyons, changed to slick tires and refueled. However, while the track had begun to dry, the track temperature remained low and the slick tires would not warm up quickly. As a result, Lyons was unable to pick up the pace for several laps.


No.32 EPSON NSX During this time, No. 1 was charging hard after passing No. 32 and was closing in on the tail of No. 18 in 2nd position. The battle between these two continued for several laps and in the meantime the leading car, No. 8, made its pit stop on lap 40. Drivers were changed from Firman to Daisuke Ito, the tires changed to slicks and the car refueled. All the cars that made pit stops after this would also change to slick tires. The No. 22 MOTUL AUTECH Z had also made its pit stop on this same lap, but when Tsugio Matsuda, who had taken over the wheel from Michael Krumm spun out in the pit exit area. Unable to restart the car, he was forced to retire from the race at this point. But, his car was still blocking the pit exit area when No. 8 tried to return to the track after its pit stop. Ito was able to get around it, however, by running onto the in-side grass.
During this time, No. 1 had passed No. 18 and taken the lead. These two machines both made their pit stops at the end of lap 43. At the same time two GT300 machines ahead of them also turned into the pit lane and these four cars almost collided in the pit lane entrance. No. 1 (Juichi Wakisaka) and No.18 (Ryo Michigami) let the pit with No.1 in front of No.18. Both cars had to run slow laps until their tires warmed up. In the meantime, No.8 was closing in on them from behind, having finished its pit stop three laps earlier.

Excluding the other machine that had not yet made their pit stops, these three machines were not effectively in the lead and an intense battle would develop between them in the laps to come. Approaching the last curve of lap 46 when No.1 slowed slightly behind a back-lapper, No. 18 pulled up even with it on the inside as they entered the last curve. Coming out of the curve, No.8 also slipped in on the inside to bring all three machines in an even line three-abreast down the straight and into the 47th lap. Just before the first curve, No. 8 moved slightly ahead of No. 18 and they went into the curve in the order, No. 1, No. 8 and No. 18.
After that the three machines continued to open up leads and lose them again over the next 10 laps. Then, on lap 61 a drive-through penalty board came out for No. 1. It seems that when the four machines had come into near collision entering the pit together on lap 43, No. 1 had run over the white line.
Running this penalty on lap 63, No. 1 fell back to 5th position. This put No. 8 in the lead followed by No. 18 and, ten seconds back in 3rd position a third NSX machine, No. 32 (Fabio Carbone), gave the NSX a 1-2-3 sweep of the top positions.


No.18 TAKATA DOME NSX
After that there were several scenes where the No. 18 nosed in briefly on the in-side of No. 8 but their order remained unchanged to the checkered.
For No. 8 ARTA NSX (Daisuke Ito, Ralph Firman) this was their second win of the season, following the win in round two at Okayama. And it served to broaden their lead in the point ranking over their rivals.
The 2nd-place podium finish by No. 18 TAKATADOME NSX (Ryo Michigami, Takashi Kogure) finally ended their bad-luck streak that had included repeated no-finishes. For No.32 EPSON NSX (Loic Duval, Fabio Carbone) this was their second 3rd-place finish of the season, following the series opener. Coming in 4th was the No. 3 Yellow Hat YMSMOBAHO! TOMICA Z (Sebastien Philippe, Masataka Yanagida) leading the Z machines. The No.1 houzan TOM'S SC430 (Juichi Wakisaka, Andre Lotterer) in 5th place was the top SC430 finisher. It was a regrettable finish due to the drive-through penalty.


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GT300 Class
Rookie Sekiguchi drives hard to dramatic come-from-behind victory!
A true team victory! WedsSport Celica celebrates a brilliant win!
Disappointment for early leader CUSCO DUNLOP SUBARU IMPREZA




In the GT300 class race, the 3rd-place qualifier, No. 13 ENDLESS ADVAN SENZAIKAKUMEI Z (Masami Kageyama), took the big gamble of starting the race with slick tires. This turned out to be a mistake that caused Kageyama to loose a lot of ground in the early stages of the race. Starting from 2nd position on the grid, the No. 43 ARTA Garaiya (Morio Nitta) also had trouble warming its tires and fell to 4th position. This allowed the No. 46 houzan DUNLOP Z (Kota Sasaki) and the No. 62 WILLCOM ADVAN VEMAC408R (Hiroki Kurosawa) to move up and give chase to the pole starter, the No. 2 Priv_e KENZO Asset Shiden (Hiroki Kato).


Meanwhile, the No. 77 CUSCO DUNLOP SUBARU IMPREZA (Tetsuya Yamano) was moving up at a blazing pace from its 15th -position start. While the competition struggled with the wet track surface, Yamano was able to take full advantage of his machine's 4-wheel drive to maintain a high pace. By lap nine he had moved up to 10th position and amidst the confusion among the leaders on lap ten he was able to jump up to 6th position. Then on lap 11 he moved into 4th place. By lap 14 he even managed to pass No. 62 and set himself up for a podium finish in 3rd place. On lap 20 the 2nd-place runner No. 46 damaged its right rear fender in a brush with another car, which brought out an orange flag. This put the Impreza in 2nd place. But its pace was now the same as the leader, No. 2. It looked as if it would be difficult to overtake the leader, but on the first curve of lap 39 Yamano made his move and took the lead.
On the next lap after taking the lead, No. 77 made its pit stop. They changed to slick tires and changed drivers to Takayuki Aoki. This set the team back in the field temporarily but they were back in the lead when all the other machines had finished their pit stops. With a nearly 10-second lead over the 2nd-place machine, it looked as if No. 77 was bound for victory, but several laps later Yamano was forced to make another pit stop. Having changed tires he returned to the track only to find that there was trouble in the hubs. Rather than risking a serious development, the decision was made to retire , thus ending what had been a brilliant charge and near victory.


No.33 HANKOOK NSC PORSCHE
Taking over the lead at this point was the No. 47 houzan DUNLOP Z (Shogo Mitsuyama > Shigekazu Wakisaka) . Although its charge had not been as impressive as that of No.77, No. 47 had also worked its way up steadily thought the pack from the early stages of the race, and aided to some degree by the troubles and accidents of other teams, was in position to vie for the lead by the middle stages of the race.
Behind No. 47 running second was No.62 (Shinsuke Shibahara). But running at an even faster pace was the No.19 WedsSport Celica (Akira Iida > Yuhi Sekiguchi). Driving in the first half of the race, Iida had improved the team's position, and after Sekiguchi took the wheel h had maintained a fast pace, even if he worried those around him with his bold moves that frequently had him on the verge of running off the track. On lap 62 Sekiguchi passed No. 62. After that he continued to pick up the pace and on the last curve of lap 72 he pulled up in the in-side of No.47 in a skillful move that gave him the lead. From there, Sekiguchi drove on unchallenged to the checkered.


No.47 houzan DUNLOP Z
The GT300 class victory went to the No.19 WedsSport Celica (Akira Iida, Yuhi Sekiguchi). The No.47 houzan DUNLOP Z (Shogo Mitsuyama, Shigekazu Wakisaka) finished 2nd. The battle for 3rd developed between the No.2 Priv_e KENZO Asset Shiden (Kazuho Takahashi), No.62 and the No.33 HANKOOK NSC PORSCHE (Mitsuhiro Kinoshita, Yuya Sakamoto) , but when No. 2's pace slowed on the final lap and No. 62 got caught behind it, No.33 slipped past them to take the remaining podium spot by just 0.021 sec.
The series ranking leader No. 101 TOY STORY Racing apr MR-S (Kazuya Oshima, Hiroaki Ishiura) had a bad race this time, including running off the track once on the first lap out after its pit stop, and ended up in 15th place. This ended their streak of consecutive podium finishes since the season opener at four.


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Comments
Daisuke Ito, Ralph Firman, Akira Iida, Yuhi Sekiguchi
GT500 Class | Winner
No. 8 ARTA NSX
Daisuke Ito
Ralph drove the first half and was able to overtake No. 18 at a good pace and after that he opened up a good lead, so I knew that the machine balance must be good. But, as the track began to dry and the SC pace picked up and I knew the conditions would change, I thought that the machine would not be that good.
After I took over the wheel and we changed to slick tires, the first lap back on the track was tough. I also had the bad luck of getting caught in traffic and lost a lot of time. During this delay, the No. 1 and No. 18 cars got ahead of us. About the "three wide" situation, the same kind of scene happened with the Integras in the support race. As Michigami and I watched it, we commented about how dangerous it was to run that way. But I was to find out just how dangerous it was when I got in that situation in this race (laughs). But I knew I had to stay in there and I never thought about letting up on the accelerator.
Since the aim was to use good judgment in the difficult conditions out there today and get to the goal, I am glad that we got the best result possible. It was also a good battle with No. 18. And I am glad for the 1-2-3 NSX finish as well. As you know, the No. 18 machine had been having trouble in successive races and the Honda people and the staff had spent a lot of time working out the trouble spots, and we asked them for the new revised parts as well. So, this was a race that we really wanted to win. So, I am glad that we were able to pay them back in this way for their efforts.
After this win we are going to have to carry more handicap weights. But the next race is at [Honda's] home course Suzuka and it is a long race, so I believe that if we run a steady, strong race we will get a good result.
Ralph Firman
When it started raining 30 minutes before the start, we had a hard time deciding on the tires. We spent all the time we could considering what tires to go with, talking with Bridgestone and Daisuke. So, we made a very good choice. We chose tires with shallow groves. But for the first few laps it was difficult [because of the amount of water on the track]. After that it got easy though. I was able to get past No. 18 and the back-lappers well and maintain a good pace. As the track dried, I talked with the team on the radio about the timing of the pit stop and what kind of tires to change to. At that time there happened to be a crash and there was the possibility of the safety car coming out, so we decided to make the pit stop at that time. When Daisuke took over the track was wet for a few laps and I believe that he must have had a very difficult time out there. But he ran very well for us.
GT300 Class | Winner
No. 19 WedsSport Celica
Akira Iida
To tell you the truth, I am very relieved. We knew this was going to be a difficult season. A lot of thought and effort has gone into building our team strength. Those efforts paid off in this race. We were allowed some advantages this time that made it possible to improve our machine's aerodynamics (front and rear overhang extension) and that helped the performance. We believed that the SUGO course offered us the best chance for a win. So, we focused on this race. Throughout the race week we had the clear goal of getting a podium finish, even if we couldn't win.
It was very difficult driving conditions today, and it was all I could do just to keep the car on the track. I kept telling myself to stay in control and hold back until the track dried off. But my estimations about how many more laps to run before making our pit stop and the changes in the track conditions came together well, and I believe that we were able to get [second driver] Sekiguchi out on the track at a very good time. I know Sekiguchi is fast, so I knew we would get a good result if he ran well. But he can be young and wild, and when he gets out on the track, he tends to think about nothing but driving fast. So I stayed on the radio telling him to keep calm and he was able to get through it and bring the car back to the goal first. I believe that he was the star of the GT300 race today.
I had felt that the machine performance was at a point where it was capable of winning. Our car's support contract with TRD had actually ended and we were not really used to be getting their back-up for this race. But I asked them to make an exception and help us out for this race because it was the one race where we had the best chance of winning. In the qualifying we got a better time than expected and that gave me the sense that we could do well. Then I thought that all we needed was to have the drivers and mechanics relax and run their own race, and I am glad that we were able to do that and get this result.
Yuhi Sekiguchi
During the first stint, Akira was running on rain tires. In the laps just before the pit stop, he was running 9 to 10 seconds slower than our qualifying times with slick tires, so it was decided that I would drive with slick tires, but I was a bit worried. But I thing that the timing with which I got out on the track was very good. But when I got out on the track is was still slippery and it had me really scared. I am rather proud of myself for being able to keep the car on the track. Later in the race I was getting worked up when I couldn't get past some of the GT300 back-lappers, but Akira-san got me to cool down by talking to me on the radio. Finally, when I saw the Z in front of me [the leader No. 47] I really wanted to rush past it. But once I got the lead I suddenly felt the pressure of being out there in the lead thanks to all of the efforts of everyone on the team. I knew it would be bad if I messed up, so I suddenly tensed up (uncomfortable laugh). I made a number of mistakes out there today, like running off the track when I was trying to get around a GT500 machine that had been in an accident, and nearly running myself off the track a few times. So, I can't say I performed 100% up to potential. If I had gone a better job I think I could have gotten into the lead earlier. I realized that I still have a lot to learn.
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