A victory too perfect for first-time winners

Ishiura and Oshima take pole-to-checkered win in the KRAFT SC430!
ZENT CERUMO SC430 wins Lexus battle for a podium spot

On August 23, the 38th INTERNATIONAL Pokka GT SUMMER SPECIAL, Round 6 of the 2009 AUTOBACS SUPER GT, was held at Suzuka Circuit in Mie Prefecture. In the GT500 class the victory went to the No. 35 KRAFT SC430 driven by Hiroaki Ishiura and Kazuya Oshima. The GT300 class race was won by the No. 46 S Road MOLA Z (Kazuki Hoshino/Masataka Yanagida).

â–ˇRace weather: Cloudy to clear; track condition: dry; air temperature 31ď‚° C; track surface temperature: 42ď‚°

The No. 35 KRAFT SC430 had won the pole position on Saturday. For the race, Hiroaki Ishiura was the team’s starting driver, and after recording the fastest lap of the race on lap 5 he continued to pull away from the pack and open up a strong margin of lead. Bringing the machine into the pit at the end of lap 28, the wheel was handed over to teammate Kazuya Oshima. After that, the other leading teams made their pit stops between laps 29 and 34, and when they were completed No. 35 was in the lead again.

Oshima continued to run at a steady, fast pace and build up a 10-second lead over 2nd place after lap 40. He brought the machine in for the team’s second pit stop at the end of lap 58 and turned the wheel over to Ishiura again.
Running in 2nd place at that point was the No. 8 ARTA NSX Ralph Firman but it was suffering from a slow-leaking puncture in one tire that finally bust completely at the first corner of lap 85, causing the machine bottom to scrape the track and the resulting sparks to ignite a fire in the oil system, forcing Firman to bring the machine to a stop beside the track.

While the fire was being extinguished, the Safety Car came on track to neutralize the racing. Many teams quickly grabbed this opportunity to make their next pit stop and avoid time loss, which resulted in a big jam-up in the pit lane. There were also accidents, like the No. 36 PETRONAS TOM'S SC430 catching fire. The No. 35 team was able to avoid this confusion and complete its pit work and driver change to Oshima with no problems.

This enabled Oshima to run the last 30 some laps with no threat from the competition. By the end of the race he was running with a 10-second lead over 2nd place.

For both Ishiura and Oshima this was their first victory in the GT500 class. For the KRAFT team it is their second win, following a victory in round 3 of the 2006 series at Fuji Speedway.

Finishing 2nd was the No. 3 HASEMI TOMICA EBBRO GT-R (Ronnie Quintarelli/Hironobu Yasuda). Although it was passed at one point by the No. 8 ARTA NSX and the No. 6 ENEOS SC430, No. 6 would develop electrical system trouble and No. 8 would drop out of the race when the machine caught fire. Due to the pit work while the fire in the No. 8 NSX was being extinguished, the No. 36 PETRONAS TOM'S SC430 got ahead of No. 3, but at the Casio Triangle of lap 95, Yasuda (No. 3) passed Juichi Wakisaka in No. 36 to take back 2nd position. From there, Yasuda kept 2nd position to the finish and won the team their second podium finish of the season, following their win at round 4 at Sepang.

Third place went to the No. 38 ZENT CERUMO SC430 (Yuji Tachikawa/Richard Lyons). Staring from 4th position on the grid, the early stages of the race saw it drop in position before rallying to retake 4th around mid-race. During the safety car run the team managed to complete its pit work with no problems and in the end Lyons was able to slip past Wakisaka in car No. 36 when it had a brush-up with a GT300 class car on 130R curve and take 3rd place. This gave the team their second podium finish of the season following their win at the same Suzuka Circuit in round 2.

The ranking leader No. 1 MOTUL AUTECH GT-R (Satoshi Motoyama/Michael Krumm) finished 6th and won 5 series points, which was enough to keep them on top in the series ranking.

Turning confusion into the winning edge!
A dramatic come-from-behind victory makes it two in a row for S Road MOLA Z at the Pokka GT!
An intense 3-way battle that came down to the last lap

The unexpected victor in the GT300 class was the No. 46 S Road MOLA Z (Kazuki Hoshino/Masataka Yanagida) that had only managed to qualify in 14th position. In the morning practice on race day, however, the team showed that it was ready to race, putting in the 3rd fastest lap time of the session.

The starting driver for car No. 46 was Masataka Yanagida. He moved up steadily through the pack, passing one machine at a time. As the top runners made their pit stops he ran on into the temporary lead on lap 38.

Then Yanagida brought the No. 46 in for its pit stop at the end of lap 38. After changing drivers, Kazuki Hoshino returned to the track in 5th position. No pit work at all was done during the second pit stop on lap 52 and Hoshino remained in the driver’s seat. The rule for this race demanded three pit stops for every team and this no-work stop counted as one of the three, leaving just one more before the finish.

Hoshino brought the machine in for that third pit stop on lap 74, turning over the wheel to Yanagida again as the tires were changed and the car refueled. The timing of the other team’s pit stops varied, but when all had finished their third pit stop Yanagida stood in 3rd position behind the No. 2 APPLE•K-one•Shiden (Hiroki Katoh/Hiroki Yoshimoto) and the No. 43 ARTA Garaiya (Morio Nitta／Shinichi Takagi).

On lap 85, Yanagida in car No. 46 passed car No. 43 (Takagi) on the Casio Triangle to move into 2nd place. After that, the three lead cars remained in close proximity but unable to pass each other until Yanagida caught No. 2 (Katoh) stuck behind a slower GT500 machine on its out-lap and managed to slip past it on the Casio Triangle and finally grab the lead with just one lap remaining in the race. From there, Yanagida ran on unchallenged to the checkered.

This gave the No. 46 S Road MOLA Z (Kazuki Hoshino/Masataka Yanagida) team their first win of the season. For the team and Hoshino it was their first win since this same race last year. For Masataka Yanagida it was his second career win in the GT300 class, with the first one back in 2002 at round 3, SUGO.
Finishing 2nd came the No. 43 ARTA Garaiya (Morio Nitta/Shinichi Takagi) for their third podium finish of the year. The 15 series points they won for this put them on top in the season ranking.

In third place came the No. 2 APPLE•K-one•Shiden (Hiroki Katoh/Hiroki Yoshimoto), with the disappointment of having gotten caught behind a slower moving car at the end of the race and losing a chance for the win. The 11 points earned here move Hiroki Katoh up to 2nd position in the season ranking.
The ranking leader until this round, the No. 19 WedsSport IS350 (Manabu Orido/Tatsuya Kataoka), finished 6th in this race, and although they lost the ranking lead to the No. 43 pair (Nitta/Takagi), they still stand just 4 points back in 3rd position.

The pole-starting No. 81 DAISHIN ADVAN Ferrari (Takayuki Aoki/Tomonobu Fujii/Koji Aoyama) managed to stay among the leaders until the final stages of the race but lost a big margin of time in the confusion in the pit lane when the Safety Car was out. Eventually, they could only finish 8th.
 

â–  Winner Comments
No. 35 KRAFT SC430 [GT500]
Hiroaki Ishiura: “The first stint had to be run on the tire we ran the qualifying with, so my big concern was how to make the tires last. After building up a 3 or 4-second margin of lead, I started going easier on the tires. Even so, it got difficult near the end and car No. 3 was closing in. After I got through that, however, things got easier. It was a bit nerve-wracking when the Safety Car came out and we lost our margin, but the team made a good decision from the pit and we were able to build up a margin of lead again. That was a major factor in our victory today. After that I nervously watched Oshima drive with my heart racing (laughs). Last year I was given a big opportunity [to drive in the GT500 as one of the Toyota ace drivers] and it turned out to be a season with a lot of pressure for me, but with this victory I feel relieved at last.”

Kazuya Oshima: “The machine has been in good condition all weekend, we won the pole position and everything was fine up to that point. In the race I concentrated on not making any mistakes and keeping my concentration to the end. I am so relieved now that I was able to make to the end with no mistakes. We lost our 10-second margin when the safety car came out, but I told myself that couldn’t be helped and returned to the race determined to go all out. I was feeling good too, and I knew that the tires would hold out to the finish, so I was confident that even if they the competition caught up with me I could still outrun them. But in the latter stages of the race my cool suit stopped functioning and I soon drank all of my drink supply, so by the end I was running purely on will power (grimaces).”

No.46 S Road MOLA Z [GT300]
Kazuki Hoshino: “We didn’t decide whether to divide the race into three stints (with pit stops) or four stints, so we decided to make that decision after watching Yanagida’s first stint. Seeing how well he drove and gained ground for us, we decided to go for a 3-stint race, and that turned out to be the right decision. The race development also went in our favor and we got 3rd position after the Safety Car came out. Last year taught me that if you don’t give up until its over good things are bound to come your way [he won the title in the last lap of the last race], so I kept my hopes up all the time I was watching Yanagida drive. I don’t even remember the moment when he passed the leader. The mechanics were all embracing each other in joy even though the race wasn’t over yet (laughs). I am really grateful to everyone.”

Masataka Yanagida: “This is really unbelievable for me. We started in 14th place and won at the very end of the race. I really feel wonderful to be able be here now in this place as the winner. At the end, when I saw a GT500 car pass the No. 2 car on the 130R curve, I decided to make my move there. The three cars competing for the lead were all running at about the same pace, so it wasn’t really possible to pass it alone. When being passed by a GT500 car, the GT300 car suffers a time loss, so I decided to use that chance and pulled up alongside it on the 130R curve and then passed it in the chicane.
Thinking about the series title, the two of us (drivers) decided that this race at Suzuka was our last chance to keep the possibility of a title alive. The fact that we were able to win here in the last lap is a great result that will surely carry over into the last three rounds of the season. I am going to keep my hopes up for the remaining races and not give up until its over.”