If notching the top qualifying spot was ripping up the form book, then leading from start to finish would be stomping and letting loose a burnout on top of those shredded pieces of figurative paper. The Weider Honda Racing team built on their unexpected pole position to take their, and Honda's, first win of the season in the GT500 class following a perfect drive from drivers Takashi Kogure and Loic Duval during Round 3 of the 2011 Super GT season at Sepang International Circuit.
Although it was Kogure that secured the cardinal fastest lap during Super Qualifying, it was Duval that was starting the race. He put in a solid start but lost some of that gap to the chasing pack when he came up against GT300 traffic after around six laps.
A clean pit stop and driver switch ensured Kogure could continue building on the gap Duval had built up and it was enough for him to led the rest of the GT500 pack home in a time of 1:33:34.849, 14.198 seconds ahead of the second placed S Road Mola GT-R piloted by Ronnie Quintarelli and Masataka Yanagi.
"The track was a little bit slippery towards the end, but I think everyone suffered a bit from that. The car was excellent today and we are very happy to finally win and be back in the championship," said Kogure. Incidentally, Sepang has been a good hunting ground for Kogure, who also happens to hold the GT500 class lap record for the circuit, which he set back in 2007 with the Takata Dome NSX.
Coming in third place was the Keihin Real Racing HSV-010. Although running with the heaviest weight handicap for the amongst the top three qualifiers, drivers Toshihiro Kaneishi and Koudai Tsukakoshi managed to cross the chequered flag in third, just 32.487 seconds behind. The team's third place finish meant that the top three starters finished the race in the exact same positions.
It was a nightmare race for the team that were leading the team standings, the Calsonic Impul GT-R. Although they started the race in fourth, tyre problems and generally bad race saw the come in last.
The closet thing that the local crowd have to a home team would be the Petronas Tom's SC430. After enduring a poor qualifying that saw them start from eleventh, some of the home crowd support would have clearly boosted starting driver Andre Lotterer as he climbed through the field to sixth by Lap 14.
Following the driver change, Kazuki Nakajima managed to fend off the Raybrig HSV-010 of Team Kunimitsu to finish sixth with the latter coming in seventh.
The surprising results today mean that although Team Nismo maintain their lead in the team standings, Keihin Real Racing are now second with Weider Honda Racing jumping up to third, hot on their heels.
It was a similar story in the GT300 class although things were way more nail biting as the winning Hatsunemiku Goodsmile BMW won by less than a second from the Jimgainer Dixcel Dunlop Ferrari 458.
Although the Jimgainer 458 started from fourth, it managed to work its way up the field to bite on the tail of the GSR & Studio with Team UKYO BMW Z4 GT3 that was piloted by Nobuteru Taniguchi and Taku Bamba. The Jimgainer 458, with Tetsuya Tanaka and Katsuyuki Hiranaka behind the wheel, almost overtook the BMW on the last few laps on more than a few occasions.
With Nob Taniguchi starting for the Hatsunemiku Goodsmile BMW, he managed to open up a comfortable lead but second driver Bamba had a nervous last few moments as he held on for the hard-fought win.
"We are very happy with the win and everything went according to plan, except for maybe the finish, which I am a bit disappointed with myself. I couldn't keep the lead that Taniguchi had given me and I got a bit nervous towards the end. I just tried to keep my cool and work with the strengths of the car and thankfully it all worked out," said Bamba.
It was a treble of second place finishes for Jimgainer, making this their third second place finish in as many races this season. Coming in third was the LMP Motorsport Ferrari 430 with Yutaka Yamagishi and Hideki Yamauchi in the cockpit.
The results mean that Jimgainer are still leading the team standings and will be looking at a whopping 90kg weight handicap for their next race. Winning here now pushes the GSR & Studie with Team UKYO up to second with Hankook KTR in third, after finishing a disappointing ninth today.
The race this year drew a commendable crowd to the Sepang International Circuit. The carnival-like atmosphere that saw bazaars, concerts and various display booths as well as the supercar gathering played a cardinal part in pulling in spectators.
"I think we have certainly achieved our target of bringing a world of entertainment into the world of motorsports and I am pleased at the response we have received. We will be organising the Super GT here at SIC next year as well, and we will strive to make it even bigger and better," said JP Chin, Chairman of JP Performance Motorsport, the organizer of Round 3 this year.
