On Nov. 4, The FUJI GT 300km RACE, 9th and final round of the 2007 AUTOBACS SUPER GT series, took place at the Fuji Speedway in Shizuoka Pref. In the GT500 class the No. 32 EPSON NSX (Loic Duval/Fabio Carbone) ran to its first victory of the season.
The GT300 class winner was the No. 26 YUNKER-POWER TAISAN PORSCHE (Nobuteru Taniguchi/ Dominik Farnbacher), its second victory of the season. Also, the season title for drivers in the GT300 class was claimed by team of Kazuya Ohshima and Hiroaki Ishiura (No.101 TOY STORY Racing apr MR-S), who finished second in this race.
Race Weather:Cloudy | Course:Dry | Air Temp. 17°C | Track Temp. 25°C
GT500 Class
The race started at 14:05 under clear skies and with a dry track. The air temperature at the start was 17 degrees C. and the track surface temperature 25 degrees.
No.17 REAL NSX The start saw the top qualifiers of the GT500 class go through the first lap in their grid order. After the tires got warmed up, however, the No. 32 EPSON NSX (Loic Duval) began to pick up the pace. Just before the first turn of lap seven, Duval got past the No. 17 REAL NSX (Toshihiro Kaneishi) and moved into 2nd position.
On the last corner of lap 19, No. 32 finally caught up to the pole position starter, the No. 12 CALSONIC IMPUL Z (Benoit Treluyer). The two machines went down the straight side by side and by the entrance to the first curve No. 32 had pulled ahead to take the lead.
With the track surface temperature warmer than expected, some of the teams had begun preparing for a tire change after the 12th or 13th lap. It was just at this point that there was a collision between the No. 3 Yellow Hat YMS MOBAHO! TOMICA Z (Sebastien Philippe) and the No. 23 XANAVI NISMO Z (Satoshi Motoyama).
No. 23ran off the track as a result, and on the next lap it was forced to return to the pit for a tire change. Meanwhile, No. 3 was given a drive-through penalty.
No.12 CALSONIC IMPUL Z After 22 laps, the machines began to make their pit stops, beginning with the No. 25 ECLIPSE ADVAN SC430 (Takeshi Tsuchiya > Manabu Orido). Also making early pit stops and driver changes were the No.100 RAYBRIG NSX (Dominik Schwager > Shinya Hosokawa), the No. 38 ZENT CERUMO SC430 (Toranosuke Takagi > Yuji Tachikawa) and the No. 1 houzan TOM'S SC430 (Andre Lotterer > Juichi Wakisaka). After being passed by No. 17 on the 26th lap, No. 12 made its pit stop, changing tires, refueling and changing drivers to Kazuki Hoshino.
The leader at this point, No. 32 (Duval > Fabio CARBONE) made its pit stop two laps later and the 2nd position runner No. 17 (Toshihiro Kaneishi > Katsutomo Kaneishi) made its pit stop five laps later. No. 17 managed to get back on the track in between No. 32 and No. 12, but on its out-lap it was passed by No. 12 before its tires had warmed up.
This put the top three in the order of No. 32, No. 12 and No. 17. After this, No.17 tried to ride the tail of No. 12, but with its handicap lifted by two performance (restrictor) allocations, No. 12 proved faster on the straights and was able to pull away and open up a margin on its pursuer. All this while, No. 32 was maintaining a fast pace in the lead and opening up a margin of more than 20 seconds over No. 12.
On lap 48 the No. 6 Forum Eng.SC430 (Tatsuya Kataoka > Bjorn Wirdheim) suffered damage in a collision with another machine while running in 5th position and came to a stop at trackside. Although it couldn't continue to the checkered, No. 6 was classified as a finisher, having completed more than the required lap count.
After that, a battle for 6th position developed between Wakisaka in car No. 1 and Hosokawa in No. 100. There was one point where Hosokawa inched ahead at the last corner only to have Wakisaka pass him again through the first corner after the home straight. After that, as they passed back-lappers, a gap of about two seconds opened up between them.
No.32 EPSON NSX There were no changes in the order of the top three for the remainder of the race and they took the checkered at the end of lap 66. For No. 32 EPSON NSX (Loic Duval/Fabio Carbone) it was the first win of the season and the first since the final round of last year's series. Finishing 2nd was the No. 12 CALSONIC IMPUL Z (Benoit Treluyer/Kazuki Hoshino) and in 3rd the No. 17 REAL NSX (Katsutomo Kaneishi/Toshihiro Kaneishi).
The winners of the season's driver title in the previous round, Daisuke Ito and Ralph Firman in the No. 8 ARTA NSX, managed to finish 8th despite a brush with the No. 22 MOTUL AUTECH Z (Michael Krumm/Tsugio Matsuda) on the last lap. As a result, the team title also went to AUTOBACS Racing Team Aguri.
<!-- ===================== GT300 ===================== --> GT300 Class
<!-- end of 'review_topimg2' --> Runaway Victory for YUNKER-POWER TAISAN PORSCHE!
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</span --> TOY STORY MR-S wins hard-fought season title!
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Oil leakage was discovered on the No. 66 triple a GALLARDO RG-3 (Naohiro Furuya) after it reached the dummy grid and it had to be pushed back to the pit area. Also, drive shaft trouble caused the No. 31 DOUBLE HEAD apr MR-S (Kyosuke Mineo) to drop out of the race before the opening lap.
No.2 Privée KENZO Asset Shiden
In the early stages of the GT300 class race, the class pole sitter, No. 101 TOY STORY Racing apr MR-S (Kazuya Oshima) raced in the lead, followed by the No. 43 ARTA Garaiya (Morio Nitta). Behind them, the No. 2 Privée KENZO Asset Shiden (Hiroki Katoh) and the ensuing pack were blocked by No. 43, allowing No. 101 to build up a lead.
But, moving up at a faster pace was the No. 26 YUNKER-POWER TAISAN PORSCHE (Nobuteru Taniguchi) and the No. 88 AKTIO MURCIE RG-1 (Marco Apicella). Starting from 7th position on the class grid, No. 26 managed to pass four machines in the first three laps. On lap four it also passed No. 43 to move into 2nd position. No. 88 also passed No. 43 later on lap nine to move into 3rd.
On the hairpin of lap 13, No. 101 had its brakes lock when cut off by a GT500 machine while running in the [class] lead. No. 26 took advantage of this chance to slip past and quickly begin opening up a lead of its own. This set the top three order with No. 26 in the lead followed by No. 101 and No. 88. After the 20th lap, No. 101 seemed to be losing tire grip, as evidenced by increasing sliding on the curves. On lap 26 it was unable to prevent No. 88 from passing, and on the next lap it was passed by No. 2 as well.
Pressed by the need to finish ahead of No. 2 in order to win the season title, No. 101 made its pit stop at the end of lap 30. In just 29 seconds the crew changed the tires and refueled the machine and returned to the track with the second driver, Hiroaki Ishiura now at the wheel.
In contrast, No. 2 waited as long as possible before making its pit stop. At that point it had already built up a one-minute margin on No. 101. Meanwhile, the leader, No. 26 made its pit stop at the end of lap 33 and switched to second driver, Dominik Farnbacher, with the lead still effectively in hand.
No.101 TOY STORY Racing apr MR-S
On lap 42, No. 2 made its pit stop. Now at the wheel, Kazuho Takahashi returned to the track just in between No. 26 and No. 101. But, with his tires not yet warmed up, Takahashi was unable to prevent No. 101 from getting past him. By the time all the machines had finished their pit stops, the leader was No. 26 and No. 101 and No. 2 followed in that order.
Knowing that this order of finish would give No. 101 the drivers title based on number of wins to break the tie in point totals, No. 2 needed to get past No. 101 no matter what. Takahashi rose to the occasion with a magnificent display of driving. As No. 101 began to slide more on the turn in the latter half of the race, Takahashi in No. 2 was able to maintain constant lap times. He narrowed the gap to within less than one second and over the last two laps there was an intense battle that almost involved car contact.
But, Ishiura in car No. 101 managed to hold his position to the checkered and win second place in the race to clinch the drivers title.
The class victory went to the No. 26 YUNKER-POWER TAISAN PORSCHE (Nobuteru Taniguchi/Dominik Farnbacher). The high top speed of the Porsche proved to be enough of an advantage on the Fuji course with its long straight. This was the team's second win of the season.
Finishing in 2nd was the No. 101 TOY STORY Racing apr MR-S (Kazuya Oshima/Hiroaki Ishiura). For Ohshima, this gives him titles in both the SUPER GT and the All Japan F3 Championship. A 20 years of age, he has rewritten the record for the youngest driver to win a SUPER GT/JGTC title.
Third place went to the No.2 Privée KENZO Asset Shiden (Kazuho Takahashi/Hiroki Katoh). Although this was the second year in a row that their drivers lost the title in point tie, the Shiden team still managed to win the team title.
<!-- ==================== Comments ==================== -->
<!-- end of 'review_topimg2' --> Loic Duval, Fabio Carbone / Nobuteru Taniguchi, Dominik Farnbacher
GT500 Class | Winner
No. 32 EPSON NSX
<dl class="dl_com1"><dt>Loic Duval</dt><dd>This is the second year in a row that we have won the final round, but compared to last year this really has the feel of victory. Last year we were able to compete with a performance advantage in a larger restrictor allowance, etc., so it was natural that we won. This time the machine set-up was perfect and I want to thank the team for the fantastic job they did. I also want to thank Honda for preparing such a good car for us and the people at Dunlop for the great tires.</dd><dt>Fabio Carbone</dt><dd>I just feel great right now. I ran the second stint and by the time I got the wheel Loic had already gotten us a big margin, so I was able to drive confidently without worries. I am glad that I was able to expand that margin even more during my stint. I just aimed to concentrate on not making mistakes, like passing someone while a yellow flag was out. The car was in perfect condition and I want to thank the team for that.</dd></dl> GT300 Class | Winner
No. 26 YUNKER-POWER TAISAN PORSCHE
<dl class="dl_com2"><dt>Nobuteru Taniguchi</dt><dd>I want to thank team Taisan, Yokohama Rubber for making us such good tires, our main sponsor Sato Pharmaceuticals and all the fans who cheered us on. I also want to thank Dominik. It is fantastic to win a second race like this. The race went so well it was almost too good to be true. But I was aiming to win. Our lap times were an par with the top group. Our machine has speed on the straights but the others are faster in the third sector of the course. Yokohama made us some great tires that kept our time loss to a minimum. That is part of the reason why I was able to catch No. 101 near the end of my stint while the other cars were losing speed. I am grateful to the team for setting us up such a good car and to Yokohama for the good tires.</dd><dt>Dominik Farnbacher</dt><dd>It is a great honor to win the commemorative 100th SUPER GT race. I am very happy. It was good for us that Taniguchi was able to make such progress from the 7th position start and get us the lead. Our machine is fast in the straights thanks to its YUNKER-POWER (laughs). I just concentrated on running steady on pace during my stint. I was able to remain calm to the end. I think that is the reason things went this well.</dd></dl> <hr>
<!-- end of 'review_topimg2' --> GT500 Class | Driver Champions
No.8 ARTA NSX
<dl class="dl_com1"><dt>Daisuke Ito</dt><dd>I feel great. I am glad that we clinched the title at the previous round at Autopolis. It was difficult as we expected to finish among the leaders here at Fuji carrying 100 kg of handicap weights. Manager Aguri told us that all we had to do today was to finish well, but I wanted to go out there determined to run competitively and not let up, because it is a race. I knew we didn't want to push too hard, but it isn't good to be too relaxed, and we did need to win some points. It was also a difficult decide how to race in that sense. I did get a drive-through penalty, but we were able to come back from the 14th position start and win some points to get us the team title. I am very glad about that.</dd><dt>
</dt><dt>Ralph Firman</dt><dd>I am really happy. It has been a wonderful year. This race was very good, too. We started from 14th position on the grid and I was able to get past 4 or 5 cars on the first lap and get us in a better position. The machine was so well set up and I want to thank the team for that. In the last few years Honda hasn't been able to win the title, so I am very happy that we were able to win it like this. I also want to thank Bridgestone.</dd></dl>
GT300 Class | Driver Champions
No.101 TOY STORY Racing apr MR-S
<dl class="dl_com2"><dt>Kazuya Ohshima</dt><dd>We were able to win the title by finishing 2nd here today, but our rivals were really strong this year. We had a hard battled with the Shinden (No. 2) team, and I am really happy that we were able slip by to beat them. The whole team worked as one from the beginning this year to win the title. I think that we owe this result to the fact that we fought hard in every round of this year's season. From now on I want to do the same and battle hard every round.</dd><dt>
</dt><dt>Hiroaki Ishiura</dt><dd>Things went well in the first half of this season but after that we had a difficult time. We had some bad luck and we were unable to get the results we wanted in the second half and our rivals caught up with us. Then for the final round Michelin developed some new tires for us, and the engine tuner also prepared us a special engine. I think we were a good combination as drivers too. I feel that this is a title we all won together. We won this title because everyone gave 100%, and that makes me really happy.</dd></dl>
GT500 Class | Team Champions
No.8 AUTOBACS RACING TEAM AGURI
<dl class="dl_com1"><dt>Manager Aguri Suzuki</dt><dd>I want to thank everyone. Our drivers, our team and AUTOBACS too, as well as our other sponsors. Everyone really wanted to win the title this year and they worked hard with the determination that we would win the title. And this is the result. The drivers are in their third year together. Each year they were in contention for the title and I guess that the third time is the trick. They finally got their title. They are a great combination and they really made no mistakes to speak of this year. They really did a great job, and they were very fast.</dd></dl> GT300 Class | Team Champions
No.2 Cars Tokai Dream28
<dl class="dl_com2"><dt>Manager Makoto Goto</dt><dd>It would have been nice if I could have come here [to the winners press conference] with the drivers. It is not an easy feat to finish second in the drivers title race for the second year in a row with the same point total (laughs). It is an unfortunate result, but the contents of our racing this season was very good, I believe. This is our second year with this new team makeup using Shinden and with these drivers. I didn't expect us to do this well and come this far in just two years. And now we have won the team title. I hope that next year I can come here [press conference] with our two drivers.</dd></dl>
