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| Copyright © NISMO |
Round 6 of SUPER GT was held at Suzuka Circuit on August 20. The pole-starting CALSONIC IMPUL Z (#12) with drivers Benoit Treluyer, Kazuki Hoshino and Jeremie Dufour dominated the 6-hour, 173-lap race without ever giving up position. The car even scored the fastest lap of the race. Meanwhile, the MOTUL AUTECH Z (#22) with Michael Krumm, Richard Lyons and Fabio Carbone started from 10th and put up a good fight despite its 80kg handicap weight, taking the 2nd step on the podium. A crowd of 35,000 spectators witnessed the excitement in fine weather; temperatures hovering around 30c, the track surface measured at 55c at the 1:05pm start.
The pole sitting #12 Z was overwhelmingly fast from the start, immediately creating a gap over its pursuers.
Treluyer was the start driver, and he steadily increased the margin throughout his stint before handing over to Jeremie Dufour, registered as the car's third driver. Since this race is nearly three times longer than the usual round, each teams are allowed to register the third driver. Dufour also showed tremendous speed throughout his stint, handing the car over to Kazuki Hoshino. Hoshino's driving was also perfect, making no mistakes during his stint until he handed back to Treluyer. Dufour then took over from Treluyer, and finally it was Treluyer again who crossed the finish line after 173 laps, scoring a sweeping victory. This was the first win for the Nissan Z this season, 14 months after winning in Sepang in June of last year.
The #22 Z went into the race carrying the burden of 80kgs handicap weight. The team had registered Fabio Carbone as the car's 3rd driver, keeping him in reserve for when the two regular drivers were in need of a rescue. Michael Krumm started the race, and although the car had lacked instantaneous force because of the extra weight, the drivers kept a steady pace and with their clever tactics and through taking advantage of the mistakes of other cars, moved the car up to 4th place by lap 37, after most of the cars had completed their first pit stops. After the first driver change, the car caught the #1 SC430 to take 3rd, and after the second pit stops, the car went ahead of the #8 NSX who pitted at almost the same time. The NISMO team performed a magnificent pit stop and the car was now in 2nd place. Both Krumm and Lyons drove 3 stints each and with their steady lap times, the car scored its fourth podium finish of the season (after taking 3rd place on rounds 2 and 5, and 2nd place on round 4). In the championship standings, Krumm is now provisionally on top.
Fans expected a great deal in terms of performance from the #23 XANAVI NISMO Z (Satoshi Motoyama/Tsugio Matsuda /Yuji Ide). Matsuda started the race, moving up from seventh to fourth position. He then handed the wheel over to Yuji Ide, making a one-off entry for this round, Ide too kept up a fast pace, but 4 laps after he took the wheel, he made contact with a GT300 car at the entry to the chicane. Later, this conduct was deemed punishable and he was shown a drive-through penalty sign from the control tower. Ide failed to notice the sign, also missing the pit sign held out by the team. As a result of a radio communication problem in the car, he continued on track for more than 3 laps after the first sign was shown. This was judged to be neglecting the penalty caution, and he was given a black flag, disqualifying from the race. Ide then realized the situation, made the drive through -- but it was too late -- and he was given another black flag. The race for the #23 Z was terminated at this point.
The #24 WOODONE ADVAN Z (Erik Comas/ Masataka Yanagida/ Seiji Ara) started from 5th place.
Erik Comas improved on the starting position, running 2nd after a fierce fight that enthralled the fans.
Unfortunately, a few costly mistakes in the pits caused them to lose their earlier gains, and the car finished 5th. The #3 YellowHat YMS TOMICA Z (Naoki Yokomizo/Joao Paulo de Oliveira/ Darren Manning) started 8th, but with a few mistakes at the start, finished the race in the same position.
Yoshitaka Iijima, NISMO team director was quoted after the race: "Our task for this race was to review the rigidity of the chassis and to make an improvement. I believe this led to victory for the #12 car, and to the success of the #22. As it was a long distance race in excessive heat, we wanted to create a chassis that would be tire-friendly, and that must have been the right approach. Although it was not a perfect race for NISMO, a Fairlady Z victory after 14 months should be considered a success, and will reinvigorate the effort of the Z cars. Ide's mistake in ignoring the caution flag should be considered a serious driver mistake. Although there was trouble with the radio, there is much for him to be blamed as a professional racing driver. We owe apologies to all our fans and supporters for not living up to their expectations. The #22 car is now at the top of both the driver and team rankings. The #23 car still has a chance of winning the championship as well. The whole team will make their best effort toward our aims; and we ask our fans to give us their continued support"
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| Copyright © NISMO |
"The car was perfect, and the race was perfect - including the team work," said Benoit Treluyer, driver of the #12 Z. "I am grateful to the team, Nissan, NISMO, our sponsors and our fans. Thank you very much. "
"It was truly a fantastic race," recalled Michael Krumm, the current champion on the #22 Z. "The car was heavy but it was perfect. I thank our fans who waved the Nissan flags for more than 6 hours. It must have been very difficult for them because of the heat, but we were encouraged every lap. We can't thank them enough."
