2011 SUPER GT : MOTUL AUTECH GT-R wins bad-weather season opener

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Sunday, May 1, 2011

2011 SUPER GT - Fuji 400 km. Race GT500 Winners : No. 23 MOTUL AUTECH GT-R [ Satoshi Motoyama - Benoit Treluyer ]

FUJI SPEEDWAY : May 1, 2011 - The FUJI GT 400km RACE, Round 2 of the 2011 AUTOBACS SUPER GT series, took place at Fuji Speedway (one lap 4.563 km x 66 laps) in Shizuoka Pref. on May 1. The come-from-behind winner in the GT500 class was the 6th-place qualifying MOTUL AUTECH GT-R driven by Satoshi Motoyama and Benoit Treluyer.


This race was scheduled as the second round of the 2011 series, but the first round at Okayama originally scheduled for April 3rd was postponement because of the Great East Japan Earthquake disaster, it effectively became the season opener. Also, the race distance was shortened from the originally planned 400 km to 300 km.

The race started under the worst of conditions with heavy rain and strong winds, which meant that everything hinged on the teams' choice of tires. Bad tire choices by a number of teams, including the pole-sitting (first qualifying) DENSO SARD SC430, and spin-outs in the wet conditions hampered one team after another. One driver who seemed to be unaffected by these bad conditions was Benoit Treluyer, who started from 6th position on the grid in the MOTUL AUTECH GT-R. In the early stages of the race he moved up steadily to take the lead.
Before returning to the pit and turning the wheel over to teammate Motoyama, Treluyer managed to build up a lead of 16 seconds over the 2nd-place machine. Motoyama continued to stay in control in the lead during his stint until the rain increased in fury with about 10 laps remaining in the race. Judging the conditions to be too dangerous to continue the race, the officials stopped the competition with six laps remaining. Eventually, that signaled the end of the race and the finishing order was that at end of the 59th lap. This gave the MOTUL AUTECH GT-R team the first win of the season.
This victory extended Motoyama's record of most wins for a driver in the GT500 class to 13.

2011 SUPER GT - Fuji 400 km. Race GT300 Winners : No. 33 HANKOOK PORSCHE [ Masami Kageyama - Tomonobu Fujii ]

The GT300 class race became an impressive runaway victory for the pole-starting HANKOOK PORSCHE driven by Masami Kageyama and Tomonobu Fujii. The team's Hankook tires fit the track conditions perfectly and enabled the drivers to build a 30-second lead over the field by the end of the race.
(Spectators: 36,000)

Winner Comments
GT500 Podium

No. 23 MOTUL AUTECH GT-R [GT500]

Satoshi Motoyama: "I am tremendously happy. We didn't get any wins last year and the last couple of seasons have been tough ones for our team, so we feel determined to do well this season. I didn't expect us to win the opening round and today's conditions were very difficult, but we thought that might give us a chance. In the first half of the race Benoit did a great job, driving magnificently to get in front and give us a big margin of lead. He raced intelligently to overcome the bad conditions. [During my stint] the conditions weren't that bad at first but in the final stages the rain got worse and I started hydroplaning. We hadn't changed tires during the pit stop, so they were getting worse and I nearly spun out several times. It was hard just to keep the machine on the track. I believe it was the right decision for the officials to stop the race when they did. I want to thank Nissan for giving us a winning opportunity and everyone on the team, the engine and tire staff a
nd my wonderful teammate Benoit."

Benoit Treluyer: "I am truly happy! It was a very difficult weekend. With the terrible earthquake and the long interval without racing, it was hard to get back into the competitive mode. Also, returning to Bridgestone tires after a year with another maker we didn't have much time for tests and that left some uncertainties in the machine set-up. Still, everything went very well during the race and I felt good at the start. During Satoshi's stint the rain got worse and I'm sure the conditions were bad. But, the great driver he is, he ran very well. I want to dedicate this victory to all the people who have suffered from the earthquake and tsunami."

GT300 Podium

No.33 HANKOOK PORSCHE [GT300]

Masami Kageyama: "First of all I would like to send my condolences to all who have suffered in the Eastern Japan Earthquake and Tsunami and to thank all the people who worked to make this race possible. Tomorrow is my birthday, so I want to make this victory a present to myself, too (laughs). We owe this victory to Hankook (Tire), the team, Fujii-san who drove so well in these difficult conditions, all the fans who came out in the rain to cheer us on and Mitsuru Kinoshita-san who worked on the tire development with us last year. Before the start we had a very hard time deciding what tires to use, but our decision to go with wet tires was the right one. It was a good decision by the team. Another reason for this win was the fact that we didn't make any mistakes. The 2nd-place finisher was a team that had recovered from a spin and a penalty, so the fact that we were able to race at a high level without any mistakes makes this not only my victory but a victory by the whole team.
"

Tomonobu Fujii: "By running fast in the qualifying and winning the race in these tough conditions, I feel that I have been able to pay back all the people of the team and the people at Hankook who got us here. Today the conditions were so bad that I wished I didn't have to drive, but watching Kageyama-san build a lead and hold off on making the pit stop in those uncertain conditions filled me with admiration. Honestly, I really didn't want to go out there and drive today, so I'm glad I was able to make it back with no mishaps (laughs). But, since the tire choice and the machine setting were good, I was able to drive with confidence. But, when I saw the GT500 machines start hydroplaning I realized how dangerous it was out there. So, I'm glad I was able to finish the race successfully."

Race result : GT500 Class























































































































































Po.
No.
Machine
Drivers
Time/Diff
Lap
Best Lap
1
23
MOTUL AUTECH GT-R Satoshi Motoyama

Benoit Treluyer
1:56'19.904
59
1'46.488
2
6
ENEOS SUSTINA SC430 Daisuke Ito

Kazuya Oshima
0'05.211
59
1'46.875
3
19
WedsSport ADVAN SC430 Tatsuya Kataoka

Seiji Ara
0'28.128
59
1'46.599
4
36
PETRONAS TOM'S SC430 Andre Lotterer

Kazuki Nakajima
0'48.002
59
1'46.923
5
38
ZENT CERUMO SC430 Yuji Tachikawa

Kohei Hirate
1'01.381
59
1'47.123
6
39
DENSO SARD SC430 Hiroaki Ishiura

Takuto Iguchi
1'06.776+45sec
59
1'44.968
7
24
ADVAN KONDO GT-R Hironobu Yasuda

Bjorn Wirdheim
1Lap
58
1'46.712
8
17
KEIHIN HSV-010 Toshihiro Kaneishi

Koudai Tsukakoshi
1Lap
58
1'46.443
9
8
ARTA HSV-010 Hideki Mutoh

Takashi Kobayashi
1Lap
58
1'47.903
10
46
S Road MOLA GT-R Masataka Yanagida

Ronnie Quintarelli
1Lap
58
1'45.823
11
35
D'STATION KeePer SC430 Juichi Wakisaka

Andre Couto
1Lap
58
1'45.307
12
100
RAYBRIG HSV-010 Takuya Izawa

Naoki Yamamoto
1Lap
58
1'47.351
13
1
Weider HSV-010 Takashi Kogure

Loic Duval
2Laps
57
1'46.834
14
12
CALSONIC IMPUL GT-R Tsugio Matsuda

J.P.L.de Oliveira
2Laps
57
1'47.970
15
32
EPSON HSV-010 Ryo Michigami

Yuhki Nakayama
6Laps
53
1'46.654


Race result : GT300 Class














































































































































































Po.
No.
Machine
Drivers
Time/Diff
Lap
Best Lap
1 33 HANKOOK PORSCHE Masami Kageyama

Tomonobu Fujii
1:56'21.130
55
1'55.120
2 11 JIMGAINER DIXCEL DUNLOP 458 Tetsuya Tanaka

Katsuyuki Hiranaka
0'34.820
55
1'54.310
3 25 ZENT Porsche RSR Akihiro Tsuzuki

Takeshi Tsuchiya
0'35.899
55
1'55.995
4 31 HASEPRO MA IWASAKI apr COROLLA Koki Saga

Yuki Iwasaki
1'32.611
55
1'56.584
5 4 HATSUNEMIKU GOODSMILE BMW Nobuteru Taniguchi

Taku Bamba
1'53.506
55
1'55.633
6 43 ARTA Garaiya Shinichi Takagi

Kosuke Matsuura
1'59.938
55
1'54.927
7 74 COROLLA Axio apr GT Morio Nitta

Yuji Kunimoto
1Lap
54
1'58.022
8 88 JLOC Lamborghini RG-3 Hiroyuki Iiri

Yuhi Sekiguchi
1Lap
54
1'57.223
9 41 NetMove TAISAN Ferrari Shinichi Yamaji

Hiroshi Koizumi

Shogo Mitsuyama
1Lap
54
1'57.799
10 34 HARUHIRACING HANKOOKPORSCHE Hiroshi Takamori

Michael Kim

Naoya Gamou
1Lap
54
1'58.183
11 27 PACIFIC NAC IKAMUSUME Ferrari Yutaka Yamagishi

Hideki Yamauchi
1Lap
54
1'57.358
12 26 Verity TAISAN Porsche Hidedshi Matsuda

Kyosuke Mineo

Junichiro Yamashita
2Laps
53
1'57.009
13 22 R'Qs Vemac 350R Hisashi Wada

Masaki Jyonai
2Laps
53
1'57.636
14 87 RIRE Lamborghini RG-3 Atsushi Yogo

Manabu Orido
2Laps
53
1'57.605
15 69 ThunderAsia MT900M Melvin Choo

Hiroki Yoshida
3Laps
52
1'57.661
16 14 SG CHANGI IS350 Ryo Orime

Alexandre Imperatori
3Laps
52
1'56.746
17 360 RUNNUP SPORTS CORVETTE Atsushi Tanaka

Kazuyoshi Okamura
4Laps
51
1'56.891
18 62 R&D SPORT LEGACY B4 Tetsuya Yamano

Kota Sasaki
5Laps
50
1'57.726


Drivers Ranking : GT500 Class































































































































































Po. No. Team
R1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
Total
1 23 Satoshi Motoyama

Benoit Treluyer


20
























20
2 6 Daisuke Ito

Kazuya Oshima


15
























15
3 19 Tatsuya Kataoka

Seiji Ara


11
























11
4 36 Andre Lotterer

Kazuki Nakajima


8
























8
5 38 Yuji Tachikawa

Kohei Hirate


6
























6
6 39 Hiroaki Ishiura

Takuto Iguchi


5
























5
7 24 Hironobu Yasuda

Bjorn Wirdheim


4
























4
8 17 Toshihiro Kaneishi

Koudai Tsukakoshi


3
























3
9 8 Hideki Mutoh

Takashi Kobayashi


2
























2
10 46 Masataka Yanagida

Ronnie Quintarelli


1
























1

Drivers Ranking : GT300 Class































































































































































Po. No. Team
R1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
Total
1 33 Masami Kageyama

Tomonobu Fujii


20
























20
2 11 Tetsuya Tanaka

Katsuyuki Hiranaka


15
























15
3 25 Akihiro Tsuzuki

Takeshi Tsuchiya


11
























11
4 31 Koki Saga

Yuki Iwasaki


8
























8
5 4 Nobuteru Taniguchi

Taku Bamba


6
























6
6 43 Shinichi Takagi

Kosuke Matsuura


5
























5
7 74 Morio Nitta

Yuji Kunimoto


4
























4
8 88 Hiroyuki Iiri

Yuhi Sekiguchi


3
























3
9 41 Shinichi Yamaji

Hiroshi Koizumi


2
























2
10 34 Hiroshi Takamori

Michael Kim


1
























1


Team Ranking : GT500 Class









































































































































































































































Po. No. Team
R1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
Total
1
23
NISMO



23

























23
2
6
LEXUS TEAM LeMans ENEOS



18

























18
3
19
LEXUS TEAM WedsSport BANDOH



14

























14
4
36
LEXUS TEAM PETRONAS TOM'S



11

























11
5
38
LEXUS TEAM ZENT CERUMO



9

























9
6
39
LEXUS TEAM SARD



8

























8
7
24
KONDO RACING



6

























6
8
17
KEIHIN REAL RACING



5

























5
9
8
AUTOBACS RACING TEAM AGURI



4

























4
10
46
MOLA



3

























3
11
35
LEXUS TEAM KRAFT



2

























2
12
100
TEAM KUNIMITSU



2

























2
13
1
Weider Honda Racing



1

























1
14
12
TEAM IMPUL



1

























1
15
32
NAKAJIMA RACING



1

























1

Team Ranking : GT300 Class

















































































































































































































































































Po. No. Team R1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
Total
1
33
HANKOOK KTR



23

























23
2
11
JIMGAINER



18

























18
3
25
SAMURAI Team TSUCHIYA



14

























14
4
31
apr



11

























11
5
4
GSR&Studie with TeamUKYO



9

























9
6
43
AUTOBACS RACING TEAM AGURI



8

























8
7
74
apr



7

























7
8
88
JLOC



6

























6
9
41
Team TAISAN CINECITTA



5

























5
10
34
HANKOOK KTR



4

























4
11
27
LMP MOTORSPORT



3

























3
12
26
Team TAISAN CINECITTA



1

























1
13
22
R'Qs MOTORSPORTS



1

























1
14
87
JLOC



1

























1
15
69
ThunderAsia Racing



1

























1
16
14
Team SG CHANGI



1

























1
17
360
TOMEI SPORTS



1

























1
18
62
R&D SPORT



1

























1


Images : 2011 SUPER GT : FUJI GT 400km RACE





[Source : SUPERGT - Official]
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