2009 SUPER GT : ZENT CERUMO SC430 Stages Dramatic Come-from-Behind Win!

No.38 ZENT CERUMO SC430 - Yuji Tachikawa/Richard Lyons

In the KEIHIN SUZUKA 2&4 RACE, Round 2 of the 2009 AUTOBACS SUPER GT held at the Suzuka Circuit (one lap 5.807 km x 52 laps) in Mie Pref. on April 19, the ZENT CERUMO SC430 driven by Yuji Tachikawa and Richard Lyons came from behind for a dramatic win.

The race started exactly at 14:00. In the early stages of the race there was a close race for the lead between the pole starting MOTUL AUTECH GT-R driven by Satoshi Motoyama and the ZENT CERUMO SC430 driven by Richard Lyons, but the ZENT CERUMO team's routine pit stop took longer than its rivals and by the time Tachikawa got on the track for his stint after the driver change, the SC430 had dropped to 4th position. Undaunted, Tachikawa began his chase and soon recovered to 3rd position. In the meantime, the MOTUL AUTECH GT-R running alone in the lead was having tire trouble and losing speed. This allowed the PETRONAS TOM'S SC430 to take the lead and Tachikawa moved into 2nd. Then Tachikawa pushed on to work his way past PETRONAS TOM'S SC430 driven by Jyuichi Wakisaka with four laps remaining in the race. Just after this there was a multi-car crash behind the leaders that brought out the safety car while the track was being cleared. Eventually the race ended with the leaders running in the same order behind the safety car, giving the ZENT CERUMO SC430 a well-earned come-from-behind victory.
This win was Tachikawa's 11th in his illustrious SUPER GT career, moving him one ahead of Satoshi Motoyama with a new all-time record of most wins. This win also stopped at five the GT-R winning streak that had continued since round six of last season at Suzuka. For the Lexus SC430 this was the first victory since the same team of Tachikawa and Lyons won round three of the 2008 season.

In the GT300 class, the HANKOOK PORSCHE driven by Mitsuhiro Kinoshita and Masami Kageyama started from the class pole position and ran the entire race without ever effectively giving up the lead. This was the first SUPER GT victory for both the HANKOOK PORSCHE team and HANKOOK Tires.
(Spectators: 35,000)

GT500 Winner - Y.Tachikawa/R.Lyons

Winner Comments - GT500

No.38 ZENT CERUMO SC430 [GT500]

Yuji Tachikawa: “A lot happened during the race and I can't remember it all (laughs). During our pit stop the engine wouldn't start again right away and we lost ground as a result. But the car was in very condition both yesterday and today. I didn't want to put too much stress on the tires, so it took me a while to get past car No. 12. But there was a way to go to the car ahead, so I pushed hard in the latter stages of the race. There was no problem with the tires and I had good momentum. As for the battle with Wakisaka, we didn't want any friendly casualties as fellow SC430 teams, and since we both know each others' hands, I thought I would have to make a one-shot try to get past him. I think that Wakisaka also didn't want to do anything too risky."

Richard Lyons: “I think this was an exciting race, both for us and the fans. It was a fantastic day of racing. In the early stages I tried to put the pressure on Motoyama, but it was difficult. And since I didn't want to push beyond a reasonable pace, I switched to staying in control and maintaining 2nd place through my stint. We had an unfortunate time loss during our pit stop, but Tachikawa made up for it with some outstanding driving. It was exceptional."

GT300 Winner - M.Kinoshita/M.Kageyama

Winner Comments - GT300

No.33 HANKOOK PORSCHE [GT300]

Mitsuhiro Kinoshita: “Kageyama-san worked hard to get a margin of lead, but car No. 7 closed the gap by shortening its pit stop by not changing tires. Since we hadn't made a long run to test the durability of the tires, I decided to take things nice and steady without putting too much strain on the tires. When we first started working with Hankook Tires there were a lot of problems to overcome. But now I want to say thanks to the people at Hankook for trusting me throughout the development process. I am very happy with this success."

Masami Kageyama: “The start went well, but since we hadn't done any long test runs, there were worries about how things would go. In the early stages of the race the performance was good, but we didn't know how things would go in the latter half of the race, so I wanted to build up as much of a lead as I could. In the final stages of my run the tires were losing grip but I managed to maintain pace and build up a lead of about 10 seconds, I think. Before the start of the season I didn't think I was going to be able to compete in the SUPER GT but I talked with the team and with Hankook Tire and we reached the decision that we should try for another year so that all our efforts until now would not be in vain. I think that is what brought us this win today and I am very happy about it."

GT500 - Classification

Pos	No.	Machine	Drivers	Time	Lap
1	38	ZENT CERUMO SC430	Yuji Tachikawa Richard Lyons	1:54'52.997	52
2	36	PETRONAS TOM'S SC430	Jyuichi Wakisaka Andre Lotterer	0'01.888	52
3	12	IMPUL CALSONIC GT-R	Tsugio Matsuda Sebastien Philippe	0'05.210	52
4	6	ENEOS SC430	Daisuke Ito Bjorn Wirdheim	0'09.585	52
5	18	ROCKSTAR DOME NSX	Ryo Michigami Takashi Kogure	0'13.897	52
6	17	KEIHIN NSX	Toshihiro Kaneishi Koudai Tsukakoshi	0'15.354	52
7	35	KRAFT SC430	Hiroaki Ishiura Kazuya Oshima	0'17.532	52
8	24	HIS ADVAN KONDO GT-R	J.P.L. de Oliveira Seiji Ara	0'20.330	52
9	32	EPSON NSX	Loic Duval Yuki Nakayama	0'24.063	52
10	39	DUNLOP SARD SC430	Andre Couto Kohei Hirate	0'25.904	52
11	1	MOTUL AUTECH GT-R	Satoshi Motoyama Benoit Treluyer	0'33.361	52
12	100	RAYBRIG NSX	Yuji Ide Shinya Hosokawa	1Lap	51
13	3	HASEMI TOMICA EBBRO GT-R	Ronnie Quintarelli Hironobu Yasuda	5Laps	47
14	8	ARTA NSX	Ralph Firman Takuya Izawa	5Laps	47

GT300 - Classification

Pos	No.	Machine	Drivers	Time	Lap
1	33	HANKOOK PORSCHE	Mitsuhiro Kinoshita Masami Kageyama	1:55'31.677	48
2	7	M7 MUTIARA MOTORSAMEMIYASGC 7	Nobuteru Taniguchi Ryo Orime	0'03.654	48
3	46	S Road MOLA Z	Kazuki Hoshino Masataka Yanagida	0'07.026	48
4	11	JIMGAINER ADVAN F430	Tetsuya Tanaka Katuyuki Hiranaka	0'08.922	48
5	43	ARTA Garaiya	Morio Nitta Shinichi Takagi	0'13.745	48
6	81	DAISHIN ADVAN Ferrari	Takayuki Aoki Tomonobu Fujii	0'15.942	48
7	2	Privée Apple Shiden	Hiroki Katoh Hiroki Yoshimoto	0'27.230	48
8	19	Weds Sport IS350	Manabu Orido Tatsuya Kataoka	0'39.276	48
9	74	COROLLA Axio apr GT	Takuto Iguchi Yuji Kunimoto	0'41.885	48
10	26	UP START TAISAN PORCHE	Haruki Kurosawa Tsubasa Abe	0'48.512	48
11	31	avex apr COROLLA Axio	Yuya Sakamoto Hideki Yamauchi	0'53.590	48
12	5	MACHGOGOGOSYAKEN320R	Tetsuji Tamanaka Akazame Oyaji	1Lap	47
13	88	triple a GALLARDO RG-3	Hideshi Matsuda Yuya Sakamoto	1Lap	47
14	55	J-TRUST F-PRO OUTOKITTO PORSCHE	Yutaka Yamagishi Hiroshi Koizumi	1Lap	47
15	111	ISHIMATSU with ARKTECH GT3	Takaya Tsubobayashi Daisuke Ikeda	2Laps	46

GT500 - Point Ranking

Pos	No	Driver	R1	R2	Total
1	38	Yuji Tachikawa Richard Lyons	5	20	25
2	24	J.P.L.de Oliveira Seiji Ara	20	3	23
3	18	Ryo Michigami Takashi Kogure	15	6	21
4	12	Matsuda Tsugio Sebastien Philippe	8	11	19
5	36	Jyuichi Wakisaka Andre Lotterer		15	15
6	8	Ralph Firman Takuya Izawa	11		11
7	17	Toshihiro Kaneishi Koudai Tsukakoshi	6	5	11
8	6	Daisuke Ito Bjorn Wirdheim	1	8	9
9	32	Loic Duval Yuki Nakayama	4	2	6
10	35	Hiroaki Ishiura Kazuya Oshima	2	4	6
11	100	Yuji Ide Shinya Hosokawa	3		3
12	39	Andre Couto Kohei Hirate		1	1

GT300 - Point Ranking

Pos	No	Driver	R1	R2	Total
1	7	Nobuteru Taniguchi Ryo Orime	11	15	26
2	19	Manabu Orido Tatsuya Kataoka	20	3	23
3	43	Morio Nitta Shinichi Takagi	15	6	21
4	33	Mitsuhiro Kinoshita Masami Kageyama	-	20	20
5	11	Tetuya Tanaka Katuyuki Hiranaka	8	8	16
6	46	Kazuki Hoshino Masataka Yanagida	4	11	15
7	2	Hiroki Katoh	5	4	9
8	74	Takuto Iguchi Yuji Kunimoto	6	2	8
9	81	Takayuki Aoki Tomonobu Fujii		5	5
10	2	Kazuho Takahashi	5	-	5
11	2	Hiroki Yoshimoto	-	4	4
12	30	Kouta Sasaki Naoya Yamano	3		3
13	26	Haruki Kurosawa Tsubasa Abe	1	1	2
14	31	Yuya Sakamoto Hideki Yamauchi	2		2