2009 SUPER GT : MOTUL AUTECH GT-R Wins Second Race This Season

GT-500 Winner : No. 1 MOTUL AUTECH GT-R

SPORTSLAND SUGO : July 26, 2009 - The “SUGO GT 300KM RACE," Round 5 of the 2009 AUTOBACS SUPER GT, was held at Sportsland Sugo (one lap: 3.704 km, 81 laps) in Miyagi Prefecture and the GT500 class winner was the MOTUL AUTECH GT-R driven by Satoshi Motoyama/Benoit Treluyer. It was the second win this season.

The final race started under the hot midsummer sun. Right after the start, the HASEMI TOMICA EBBRO GT-R took the lead from its pole position, but that lead was taken over by the ENEOS SC430, which had taken second position in qualifying, when it got stuck behind a back marker. Later when the rain began to fall, all the teams returned to the pits to change to rain tires and positions changed hands drastically. However, when all the teams had finished changing to rain tires, the ENEOS SC430 took back the lead.

But then, the rain began to let up some two-thirds of the way into the race and the pace of the ENEOS SC430, which had been fitted with heavy rain tires, began to fall. The MOTUL AUTECH GT-R, shod with tires for lighter rain, closed in quickly and took the lead 15 laps from the end.

Although the MOTUL AUTECH GT-R team had put up the 4th best time in qualifying, it was penalized in the morning practice, and was pushed back to starting in 6th position on the grid for the final race. It took back that 4th position in the early stages of race, and then moved up to 2nd thanks to timing its pit stop well.

This was the first time for Nissan to win the GT500 class at Sugo. Last year's champion team ended a 15-year jinx.

GT-300 Winner : No. 33 HANKOOK PORSCHE

In the GT300 class, the HANKOOK PORSCHE team of Mitsuhiro Kinoshita/Masami Kageyama claimed the victory. This is the second race for the team since Round 2 at Suzuka, and with the win they posted that time, this makes two wins in two appearances this season.
(Attendance: 26,000)

Winner Comments

GT500

No. 1 MOTUL AUTECH GT-R

Satoshi Motoyama: “I think it was just a coincidence (Nissan) hadn't won at Sugo, but when they said they hadn't won, it made me feel I had to give it all I had. Just for that alone, it makes me really happy that Nissan (GT500 class) got its first victory. We assumed that it would begin to rain during the race, and worked out what to do with the team beforehand. I radioed information about the course condition and rain, the team took into account other drivers' times and had me come into the pits. This victory and the top-place ranking is testament to the strength of the team and the machine, and further that motivates us. We want to run good races and have our sights set on the championship."

Benoit Treluyer: “I got the machine from Motoyama in good condition, and the team strategy and tire choice was also good. There were a few laps with heavy rain after I had taken over that were difficult, but I never let the No.6 car (leader) get away from me. After the rain let up, even though our machine was faster, I decided to bide my time, not push it and wait for a chance to overtake the No.6 car which I did. I want to give my thanks to the team for putting together a good machine and making good tire choices."

GT300

No.33 HANKOOK PORSCHE

Hiromitsu Kinoshita: “The rain didn't seem to be all that heavy to me, so I chose intermediate (shallow tread) tires, as did many others in the GT500. There would be a chance that wet (deep tread) tires in the latter stages of the race, when the track surface was getting dry, would not hold up. I knew that when the surface was dry, our tire compound would give us an advantage. Just that when I left the pits, it felt like I was driving on ice. In the final stages of the race, I got very apt advice from Kageyama over the radio, the lag between the cars behind me, and he told me, ‘Go for it!' which gave me back my composure. It was really a help to me. I'll be taking part in Round 7 at Fuji and in the final round at Motegi."

Masami Kageyama: “I am so overcome with emotion that I could cry. Budget restrictions meant we could only take part in four races this season. This was the second. The team put together a good machine for us, and HANKOOK (winning Round 2) made great tires for us different from those at Suzuka. On top of that, I want to give my thanks to Kinoshita who raced under some very trying conditions. The last win was thanks to me (laughs), but this time belongs to Kinoshita and the HANKOOK tires that were so good in the rain. And my thanks to heaven, which was on our side this time."

GT500 - Classification

Pos	No.	Machine	Drivers	Time
1	1	MOTUL AUTECH GT-R	Satoshi Motoyama Benoit Treluyer	1:59'33.479
2	39	DUNLOP SARD SC430	Andre Couto Kohei Hirate	0'21.062
3	18	ROCKSTAR DOME NSX	Ryo Michigami Takashi Kogure	0'25.012
4	100	RAYBRIG NSX	Yuji Ide Shinya Hosokawa	0'26.475
5	6	ENEOS SC430	Daisuke Ito Bjorn Wirdheim	0'54.864
6	17	KEIHIN NSX	Toshihiro Kaneishi Koudai Tsukakoshi	1'22.350
7	36	PETRONAS TOM'S SC430	Juichi Wakisaka Andre Lotterer	1Lap
8	12	IMPUL CALSONIC GT-R	Tsugio Matsuda Sebastien Philippe	1Lap
9	3	HASEMI TOMICA EBBRO GT-R	Ronnie Quintarelli Hironobu Yasuda	1Lap
10	38	ZENT CERUMO SC430	Yuji Tachikawa Richard Lyons	1Lap
11	32	EPSON NSX	Loic Duval Yuki Nakayama	1Lap
12	35	KRAFT SC430	Hiroaki Ishiura Kazuya Oshima	2Laps
13	24	HIS ADVAN KONDO GT-R	J.P.Lima de Oliveira Seiji Ara	3Laps
14	8	ARTA NSX	Ralph Firman Takuya Izawa	4Laps

GT300 - Classification

Pos	No.	Machine	Drivers	Time
1	33	HANKOOK PORSCHE	Mitsuhiro Kinoshita Masami Kageyama	1'59'53.260
2	2	APPLE•K-one•Shiden	Hiroki Katoh Hiroki Yoshimoto	0'02.299
3	11	JIMGAINER ADVAN F430	Tetsuya Tanaka Katsuyuki Hiranaka	0'29.943
4	81	DAISHIN ADVAN Ferrari	Takayuki Aoki Tomonobu Fujii	0'41.217
5	19	WedsSport IS350	Manabu Orido Tatsuya Kataoka	0'58.886
6	46	S Road MOLA Z	Kazuki Hoshino Masataka Yanagida	1'05.469
7	26	UP START TAISAN PORCHE	Tsubasa Abe Tsubasa Kurosawa	1'07.787
8	74	COROLLA Axio apr GT	Takuto Iguchi Yuji Kunimoto	1'16.784
9	43	ARTA Garaiya	Morio Nitta Shinichi Takagi	1Lap
10	31	avex apr COROLLA Axio	Yuya Sakamoto Kyosuke Mineo	1Lap
11	7	M7 MUTIARA MOTORSAMEMIYASGC 7	Nobuteru Taniguchi Ryo Orime	1Lap
12	88	triple a GALLARDO RG-3	Hideshi Matsuda Yuya Sakamoto	1Lap
13	66	triple a MURCIE RG-1	Koji Yamanishi Atsushi Yogo	1Lap
14	55	J-TRUST F-PRO OUTOKITTO PORSCHE	Yutaka Yamagishi Hiroshi Koizumi	2Laps
15	52	KUMHO TIRE SHIFT IS350	Kota Sasaki Naoya Yamano	3Laps
16	5	MACHGOGOGOSHAKEN320R	Tetsuji Tamanaka Akazame Oyaji	4Laps
17	808	HATSUNE MIKU Studie GLAD BMW Z4	Yasushi Kikuchi Shozo Tagahara	6Laps
18	110	KUMHO "ARKTECH SG-1"	Tatsuya Tanigawa Takashi Ohi	10Laps
19	87	giraffa GALLARDO RG-3	Hiroyuki Iiri Hisashi Wada	18Laps
20	10	JIMGAINER ADVAN F360	Masayuki Ueda Masataka Kawaguchi	18Laps
21	666	FieLDS BOMEX 320R	Shogo Suho Junichiro Yamashita	19Laps

GT500 - Point Ranking

Pos	No	Driver	R1	R2	R3	R4	R5	Total
1	1	Satoshi Motoyama Benoit Treluyer	-	-	20	3	20	43
2	36	Jyuichi Wakisaka Andre Lotterer	-	15	15	5	4	39
3	24	J.P.L.de Oliveira Seiji Ara	20	3	8	6	-	37
4	8	Ralph Firman Takuya Izawa	11	-	11	11	-	33
5	18	Ryo Michigami Takashi Kogure	15	6	-	-	11	32
6	17	Toshihiro Kaneishi Koudai Tsukakoshi	6	5	-	15	5	31
7	38	Yuji Tachikawa Richard Lyons	5	20	2	1	1	29
8	3	Ronnie Quintarelli Hironobu Yasuda	-	-	4	20	2	26
9	12	Matsuda Tsugio Sebastien Philippe	8	11	-	4	3	26
10	6	Daisuke Ito Bjorn Wirdheim	1	8	5	-	6	20
11	100	Yuji Ide	3	-	-	8	8	19
12	100	Shinya Hosokawa	3	-	-	8	8	19
13	39	Andre Couto Kohei Hirate	-	1	1	-	15	17
14	35	Hiroaki Ishiura Kazuya Oshima	2	4	6	2	-	14
15	32	Loic Duval Yuki Nakayama	4	2	3	-	-	9

GT300 - Point Ranking

Pos	No	Driver	R1	R2	R3	R4	R5	Total
1	19	Manabu Orido Tatsuya Kataoka	20	3	6	15	6	50
2	7	Nobuteru Taniguchi Ryo Orime	11	15	11	11	-	48
3	2	Hiroki Katoh	5	4	2	20	15	46
4	43	Morio Nitta Shinichi Takagi	15	6	20	1	2	44
5	2	Hiroki Yoshimoto	-	4	2	20	15	41
6	33	Mitsuhiro Kinoshita Masami Kageyama	-	20	-	-	20	40
7	46	Kazuki Hoshino Masataka Yanagida	4	11	5	8	5	33
8	11	Tetuya Tanaka Katuyuki Hiranaka	8	8	-	3	11	30
9	81	Takayuki Aoki Tomonobu Fujii	-	5	15	-	8	28
10	26	Tsubasa Abe	1	1	8	-	4	14
11	74	Takuto Iguchi Yuji Kunimoto	6	2	3	-	3	14
12	31	Yuya Sakamoto	2		4	5	1	12
13	31	Hideki Yamauchi	2		4	5	-	11
14	26	Haruki Kurosawa	1	1	8	-	-	10
15	52	Kouta Sasaki Naoya Yamano	3	-	-	4	-	7
16	66	Koji Yamanishi Atsushi Yogo	-	-	-	6	-	6
17	2	Kazuho Takahashi	5	-	-	-	-	5
18	26	Tsubasa Kurosawa	-	-	-	-	4	4
19	10	Masayuki Ueda Masataka Kawaguchi	-	-	-	2	-	2
20	5	Tetsuji Tamanaka Akazame Oyaji	-	-	1	-	-	1
21	31	Kyosuke Mineo	-	-	-	-	1	1