2009 SUPER GT : Round8 SUPER GT IN KYUSHU 300km RACE - PETRONAS TOM'S SC430 grabs first win of the Season!

GT500 Winner : No. 36 PETRONAS TOM'S SC430 ; Juichi Wakisaka - Andre Lotterer

On Oct. 18, the SUPER GT IN KYUSHU 300KM, Round 8 of the 2009 AUTOBACS SUPER GT, was held at the Autopolis (one lap 4?674km_65 laps) in Oita Pref. In the GT500 class the PETRONAS TOM'S SC430 driven by Juichi Wakisaka and Andre Lotterer won its first victory of the season.

Driving the PETRONAS TOM'S SC430 from the 4rth position on the grid, Lotterer got a great start and moved up on the tail of the pole position starter, Richard Lyons in the ZENT CERUMO SC430. These two machines continued to run that way with never a gap of more than one second until they both pulled into the pit at the same time at the end of lap 30. Of the two teams it was the PETRONAS TOM'S that had the faster pit work, enabling it to return to the track two seconds ahead of the ZENT CERUMO, effectively in the lead.

Back in the race with the positions now reversed, with Yuji Tachikawa in the ZENT CERUMO SC430 chasing Juichi Wakisaka in the PETRONAS TOM'S SC430. These two drivers are also the SC430 development drivers and their battle remained close and fierce, but the ZENT CERUMO would soon be penalized for a violation during the pit stop in which the engine was started before the car was completely lowered from the jack after the tire change. After that, Wakisaka continued to run clean in the lead to the checkered and the win.
For the PETRONAS TOM'S SC430 team this was their first victory of the season and their first since round six at Suzuka in 2006. For the SC430 camp it was the second win of the season and their first ever at Autopolis.

This result takes the championship title race down to the last round of the season. There are three pairs of drivers now with a chance to win the season title, including Satoshi Motoyama (MOTUL AUTECH GT-R) who now leads the ranking with 78 points. Today?s winners, Wakisaka and Lotterer, hold 2nd place with 73 points, and today?s 4th-place finishers, the ARTA NSX pair of Ralph Firman and Takuya Ito, stand in third position with 61 points. The titles will be decided at the final round on November 7-8 at Twin Ring Motegi (Ibaraki Pref.).

GT300 Winner : No. 11 JIMGAINER ADVAN F430 ; Tetsuya Tanaka - Katsuyuki Hiranaka

In the GT300 class, the JIMGAINER ADVAN F430 driven by Tetsuya Tanaka and Katsuyuki Hiranaka came from 3rd position on the starting grid to win the race. This was the second consecutive with for the Ferrari camp, with the other Ferrari F430 having won the last round.
With this, the GT300 class title race will also come down to the final round at Twin Ring and here six teams still have a chance for the title.

(Spectators: 28,050)

Winner Comments

GT500 Winner : No. 36 PETRONAS TOM'S SC430 ; Juichi Wakisaka - Andre Lotterer

No. 36 PETRONAS TOM'S SC430 [GT500]

Juichi Wakisaka: "This year we haven?t had any races we could be proud of until now, so it?s really good to get this win. But today was really Andre?s (Lotterer) race. During my stint in the second half of the race Tachikawa was right behind me but I continued to run conservatively with concern for tire wear. Tachikawa had the same car and the same tire (maker) as us, so there wasn?t much difference in our lap times. This is a course where it is difficult to pass, and I believe that we both had that in mind. And I think Tachikawa was also thinking about maintaining a gap over his title rival, the No. 1 car.
The Motegi course where the final round will be held is a track that both Andre and I like. I want to see us go all out to battle for the title with an eye on car No. 1.?

Andre Lotterer: "I feel great! At the start I almost got along side Richard (Lyons). After that there were one or two chances to pass him, but I didn?t want to do anything risky. Wakisaka-san just said that it was my race today, but in these races when we win, we win together and when we lose, we lose together. I want to see us win the last round. In these last two or three races we have been giving more than 100% in our battle with the NISMO (No. 1 MOTUL AUTECH GT-R) team. So we intend to win in the last race.?

GT300 Winner : No. 11 JIMGAINER ADVAN F430 ; Tetsuya Tanaka - Katsuyuki Hiranaka

No.11 JIMGAINER ADVAN F430 [GT300]

Tetsuya Tanaka: "This year we have almost won but fallen short in a number of races with this new machine designed and constructed by JIMGAINER. That?s why I?m especially happy that we won this race. From the start, the Axio (No. 74) and the Garaiya (No. 43) in front were very fast, but their tires wore down faster and just when I finally got past them and was thinking "Great!? I got hit and spun out. But I was able to get back into the race right away and I could see the leaders in front of me, so I said to myself, "It?s not over yet.? When Hiranaka took over in the second half I though we would be OK, because he had done well in our long test run. This result has narrowed the point gap for the final round, so I want to try to win it.?

Katsuyuki Hiranaka: "This season we have had several chances to win but failed time after time, so I?m really glad we won today. When I saw Tetsuya-san (Tanaka) spin out I almost gave up hope. But when I got out on the track for my stint and heard over the radio that I was in 3rd position and I could see Orido-san (in No. 19) right ahead of me, I started pushing hard. On the 100R curve it looked like Orido-san was slowing down and a GT500 car came along just at that time, so I was able to get past him. This win has given us a shot at the title. For the last round there will be no weight handicaps, so I think we have a chance. At the opening round when there were also no weights, Tetsuya-san won the pole position. That, and the fact that the machine is in good condition now should give us a chance.?

SUPER GT Round8 SUPER GT IN KYUSHU 300km RACE

AUTOPOLIS | Length : 4.674km x 65Laps =303.810 km
Weather: Fine | Course: Dry

GT500 - Classification

Pos	No.	Machine	Drivers	Time
1	36	PETRONAS TOM'S SC430	Juichi Wakisaka Andre Lotterer	1:57'37.259
2	1	MOTUL AUTECH GT-R	Satoshi Motoyama Benoit Treluyer	0'02.910
3	24	HIS ADVAN KONDO GT-R	J.P.Lima de Oliveira Seiji Ara	0'36.242
4	8	ARTA NSX	Ralph Firman Takuya Izawa	0'36.430
5	18	ROCKSTAR DOME NSX	Ryo Michigami Takashi Kogure	0'37.968
6	100	RAYBRIG NSX	Yuji Ide Kosuke Matsuura	0'38.656
7	35	KRAFT SC430	Hiroaki Ishiura Kazuya Oshima	0'50.038
8	3	HASEMI TOMICA EBBRO GT-R	Ronnie Quintarelli Hironobu Yasuda	1'42.045
9	32	EPSON NSX	Loic Duval Yuki Nakayama	1Lap
10	6	ENEOS SC430	Daisuke Ito Bjorn Wirdheim	1Lap
11	38	ZENT CERUMO SC430	Yuji Tachikawa Richard Lyons	6Laps
12	39	DUNLOP SARD SC430	Andre Couto Kohei Hirate	7Laps

GT300 - Classification

Pos	No.	Machine	Drivers	Time
1	11	JIMGAINER ADVAN F430	Tetsuya Tanaka Katsuyuki Hiranaka	1:59'30.531
2	7	M7 MUTIARA MOTORSAMEMIYASGC 7	Nobuteru Taniguchi Ryo Orime	0'01.528
3	19	WedsSport IS350	Manabu Orido Tatsuya Kataoka	1Lap
4	43	ARTA Garaiya	Morio Nitta Shinichi Takagi	1Lap
5	31	avex apr COROLLA Axio	Yuya Sakamoto Kyosuke Mineo	1Lap
6	5	MACHGOGOGOSHAKEN320R	Tetsuji Tamanaka Akazame Oyaji	1Lap
7	74	COROLLA Axio apr GT	Takuto Iguchi Yuji Kunimoto	1Lap
8	46	S Road MOLA Z	Kazuki Hoshino Masataka Yanagida	1Lap
9	26	UP START TAISAN PORCHE	Tsubasa Abe Katsuhiko Tsutsui	1Lap
10	808	HATSUNE MIKU Studie GLAD BMW Z4	Taku Bamba Shozo Tagahara	2Lap
11	66	triple a MURCIE RG-1	Koji Yamanishi Atsushi Yogo	2Lap
12	88	triple a GALLARDO RG-3	Hideshi Matsuda Yuya Sakamoto	2Lap
13	52	KUMHO TIRE SHIFT IS350	Kota Sasaki Yuhi Sekiguchi	2Lap
14	112	ISHIMATSU with ARKTECH GT3	Aaron Caratti Keita Sawa	2Lap
15	666	FieLDS BOMEX 320R	Shogo Suho Junichiro Yamashita	2Lap
16	2	APPLE•K-one•Shiden	Hiroki Katoh Hiroki Yoshimoto	5Laps
17	87	giraffa GALLARDO RG-3	Hiroyuki Iiri Hisashi Wada	7Laps
18	81	DAISHIN ADVAN Ferrari	Takayuki Aoki Tomonobu Fujii	7Laps
19	10	JIMGAINER ADVAN F360	Masayuki Ueda Masataka Kawaguchi	10Laps

GT500 - Point Ranking

Pos	No	Driver	R1	R2	R3	R4	R5	R6	R7	R8	Total
1	1	Satoshi Motoyama			20	3	20	5	15	15	78
2	1	Benoit Treluyer			20	3	20	-	15	15	73
3	36	Jyuichi Wakisaka Andre Lotterer		15	15	5	4	3	11	20	73
4	8	Ralph Firman Takuya Izawa	11		11	11			20	8	61
5	3	Ronnie Quintarelli Hironobu Yasuda			4	20	2	15	5	3	49
6	18	Ryo Michigami Takashi Kogure	15	6			11	8	3	6	49
7	24	J.P.L.de Oliveira Seiji Ara	20	3	8	6				11	48
8	35	Hiroaki Ishiura Kazuya Oshima	2	4	6	2		20	4	4	42
9	38	Yuji Tachikawa Richard Lyons	5	20	2	1	1	11	1		41
10	17	Toshihiro Kaneishi Koudai Tsukakoshi	6	5		15	5	1	8		40
11	12	Matsuda Tsugio Sebastien Philippe	8	11		4	3	6			32
12	6	Daisuke Ito Bjorn Wirdheim	1	8	5		6		6	1	27
13	100	Yuji Ide	3			8	8	2		5	26
14	39	Andre Couto Kohei Hirate		1	1		15	4			21
15	100	Shinya Hosokawa	3		-	8	8	2		-	21
16	32	Loic Duval Yuki Nakayama	4	2	3				2	2	13
17	1	Michael Krumm	-	-	-	-	-	5	-	-	5
18	100	Kosuke Matsuura	-	-		-	-	-	-	5	5
19	17	Katsutomo Kaneishi	-	-	-	-	-	1	-	-	1

GT300 - Point Ranking

Pos	No	Driver	R1	R2	R3	R4	R5	R6	R7	R8	Total
1	19	Manabu Orido Tatsuya Kataoka	20	3	6	15	6	5	8	11	74
2	43	Morio Nitta Shinichi Takagi	15	6	20	1	2	15	4	8	71
3	11	Tetuya Tanaka Katuyuki Hiranaka	8	8		3	11	6	15	20	71
4	7	Nobuteru Taniguchi Ryo Orime	11	15	11	11		4		15	67
5	2	Hiroki Katoh	5	4	2	20	15	11	6		63
6	2	Hiroki Yoshimoto	-	4	2	20	15	11	6		58
7	46	Kazuki Hoshino Masataka Yanagida	4	11	5	8	5	20	2	3	58
8	81	Takayuki Aoki Tomonobu Fujii		5	15		8	3	20		51
9	33	Mitsuhiro Kinoshita Masami Kageyama	-	20	-	-	20	-	5	-	45
10	74	Takuto Iguchi Yuji Kunimoto	6	2	3		3	8		4	26
11	31	Yuya Sakamoto	2		4	5	1			6	18
12	66	Koji Yamanishi Atsushi Yogo				6			11		17
13	26	Tsubasa Abe	1	1	8	-	4			2	16
14	31	Hideki Yamauchi	2		4	5	-	-	-	-	11
15	26	Haruki Kurosawa	1	1	8		-			-	10
16	52	Kouta Sasaki	3			4		2			9
17	52	Naoya Yamano	3			4		2	-	-	9
18	5	Tetsuji Tamanaka Akazame Oyaji			1				3	5	9
19	31	Kyosuke Mineo	-	-	-	-	1			6	7
20	2	Kazuho Takahashi	5	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	5
21	26	Tsubasa Kurosawa					4	-	-	-	4
22	10	Masayuki Ueda Masataka Kawaguchi				2					2
23	52	Yuhi Sekiguchi	-	-	-	-	-	2			2
24	26	Katsuhiko Tsutsui	-	-	-		-		-	2	2
25	88	Hideshi Matsuda Yuya Sakamoto						1	1		2
26	808	Shozo Tagahara				-				1	1
27	808	Taku Bamba	-	-	-	-	-		-	1	1

GT500 - Team Point Ranking

Pos	No	Team	R1	R2	R3	R4	R5	R6	R7	R8	Total
1	1	NISMO	1	3	23	6	23	8	18	18	100
2	36	LEXUS TEAM PETRONAS TOM'S	1	18	18	8	6	6	14	23	94
3	8	AUTOBACS RACING TEAM AGURI	14	1	14	14	1	1	23	11	79
4	18	TEAM YOSHIKI & DOME PROJECT	18	9	2	2	14	11	6	9	71
5	3	HASEMI MOTOR SPORT	1	1	7	23	4	18	8	6	68
6	24	KONDO RACING	23	6	11	9	1	1	1	14	66
7	35	LEXUS TEAM KRAFT	4	7	9	5	1	23	7	7	63
8	38	LEXUS TEAM ZENT CERUMO	7	23	5	4	3	14	3	1	60
9	17	KEIHIN REAL RACING	8	8	2	18	8	3	11		58
10	12	TEAM IMPUL	11	14	1	7	5	9	1		48
11	100	TEAM KUNIMITSU	5	2	2	11	11	5	2	8	46
12	6	LEXUS TEAM LeMans ENEOS	2	11	8	1	9		9	3	43
13	39	LEXUS TEAM SARD	1	4	4	2	18	7	2	1	39
14	32	NAKAJIMA RACING	6	5	6	3	2		5	4	31
15	21	TEAM NOVA	1	-	1	-	-	-	1		3

GT300 - Team Point Ranking

Pos	No	Team	R1	R2	R3	R4	R5	R6	R7	R8	Total
1	19	RACING PROJECT BANDOH	23	6	9	18	9	8	11	14	98
2	43	AUTOBACS RACING TEAM AGURI	18	9	23	4	5	18	7	11	95
3	11	JIMGAINER	11	11		6	14	9	18	23	92
4	7	M7 RE-AMEMIYA RACING	14	18	14	14	3	7		18	88
5	2	Cars Tokai Dream28	8	7	3	23	18	14	9	1	83
6	46	TEAM NISHIZAWA MOLA	7	14	8	11	8	23	5	6	82
7	81	TEAM DAISHIN	1	8	18		11	6	23	1	68
8	33	HANKOOK KTR	-	23	-	-	23	-	8		54
9	74	apr	9	5	6	1	6	11	3	7	48
10	31	apr	3	3	7	8	4	1	3	9	38
11	26	Team TAISAN	2	4	11		7	1	3	5	33
12	66	JLOC	1		1	9	3	1	14	1	30
13	52	SHIFT	4	1	1	7	1	5	3	1	23
14	5	TEAM MACH	1	3	2	1	1		6	8	22
15	88	JLOC		3	1		3	4	4	1	16
16	10	JIMGAINER		1	1	5	1	1	1	1	11
17	55	TOMEI SPORTS	1	3	1	-	1	1	1		8
18	666	Avanzza Rosso	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	8
19	87	JLOC	1			1	1	1	3	1	8
20	808	Studie GLAD Racing	1		1	-	1			2	5
21	111	ARKTECH MOTORSPORTS	1	1	1	1	-	-	-		4
22	110	ARKTECH MOTORSPORTS			1	-	1	-	-		2
23	4	Avanzza Rosso	-	-	-	-	-	1	-		1
24	62	R&D SPORT	-	-	-	-	-		1		1
25	112	ARKTECH MOTORSPORTS	-	-	-	-	-	-		1	1