Round two of the 2014 SUPER GT series saw the circus rolling into Fuji international speedway. The first round had seen Lexus record a 1-2 in GT500 and BMW repeated that result in GT300. But with a few weeks of development in between and a very different circuit to navigate it soon became apparent that those results would be much harder to replicate.
In qualifying GT500 was all about Nissan, The CALSONIC #12 GT-R followed up their impressive podium at Okayama with pole. Following behind were two further GT-R machines. Second was the #46 MOLA car and third was the #23 MOTUL entrants. It was a turnaround in performance made even more obvious by the winners of the race at Okayama only managing 8th on the grid. However their disappointment was nothing compared to that of Honda. Having struggled at the first round they would have been hoping to be a bit closer in Fuji. However the five NSX CONCEPT-GTs made up the last five places and none of them made it through to the pole shoot out.
GT300 also saw a very different look at the top. Pole position went to the #3 B-MAX Nissan GT-R giving Nissan pole in both classes. Japanese machinery took up the top five positions with the #61 Subaru ending up on the front row followed by one of the Honda CR-Z GT’S. The first of the BMWs that dominated the first round only managed 6th with Jorg Muller at the helm.
GT500 – Race
So race day came with a huge amount of expectation in the Nissan camp and things certainly started well. This first lap passed with little incident and most of the GT500 field remained in their starting positions. The #12 CALSONIC GT-R in the hands of Oliveira set about pulling away at the front. Lap two saw the first retirement and was further bad news for Honda as the #17 NSX pulled in with engine trouble.
With Oliveira running away things were looking promising for the CALSONIC car. That was until on the 4th lap one of the GT300 Lamborghinis crashed at the first corner bringing out the safety car and erasing the 4 second lead he had already built. When the safety car came in 5 laps later Oliveira started all over again posting fastest lap after fastest lap as he pulled away at the front. His job was made even easier when the #46 2nd placed GT-R, with Motoyama at the wheel, pulled off at turn two with flames coming from the front left of the car. Motoyama exited unharmed but the fire brought out another safety car.
The second safety car saw Honda roll the dice and try a different strategy for three of it’s remaining entrants. They pitted early hoping it would play to their advantage later in the race. As the safety car pulled in and the race got under way once more the battle for 2nd became tight through the traffic. The #23 MOTUL GT-R had been promoted to 2nd by the demise of the #46 car and was being chased hard by the #36 PETRONAS Lexus they swapped positions twice as the GT300 traffic became a factor.
As the first planned pit stops began Oliveira continued at the front and ended up pitting 3 to 4 laps later than most of the field after an extremely impressive run. His hard work was immediately wiped out though with a very untidy pit stop which dropped the car to 4th. After their earlier stop under the safety car the #18 NSX in the hands of Jean Karl Vernay had taken full advantage and found himself in the lead. However their joy was short lived as the superior speed of the #23 MOTUL Nissan with it’s fresher tires meant the Honda was easy prey.
At the same time as the Nissan was taking the lead the CALSONIC car was making up for the lost time in the pit lane. A few laps later it had caught and passed the #1 Lexus, who was sat in 3rd and by the end of that same lap had also passed the #18 Honda who had been in 2nd. Yasuda, who had now taken over the #12 Nissan, was rapidly catching the leader and had the #1 Lexus following it all the way.
As the Lexus dropped back a little and the #12 CALSONIC car pushed on it looked certain that there would soon be a challenge for the lead. However in his haste Yasuda clipped a back-marker all but ending his pursuit of the leader. He was able to keep a reasonable pace but nothing close the blistering laps he had been putting in to catch the leading Nissan. In a cruel twist though the leading #23 car ground to a holt out on track leaving the Calsonic Nissan to re-take the lead. He got going again but after a stop for new tires the MOTUL Nissan was out of contention for the win.
As the race sped on it looked as though nobody could challenge the Calsonic Nissan. Even though the top two Lexus machines, #1 and #6, seemed to look after their tires much better they were still unable to catch the leading Nissan. Finally the Nissan crossed the line for the win and #1 and #6 came close behind. Closing out the top five were the #24 Nissan and the #37 Lexus. The result left the championship close but with a win and a 3rd place the CALSONIC Nissan leads the way and has certainly looked like the class package thus far this year.
GT300 Race
The pole sitting Nissan found that he got the run on the rest of the pack from the start and used the gap to start to build a lead. The Subaru of Kota Sasaki, who had started 2nd, dropped back quickly and was swallowed up by the pack quickly. The crash by the #88 Lamborghini of Aoki on the 5th lap brought out the safety car and closed the field back up.
As the race got back under way the car that had sat 7th on the grid, the #31 Prius, chased down and passed all six cars in front of him including the leader in what was an inspired 8 laps. However the fire from the 2nd placed GT500 car and the ensuing safety car caused a chaotic scramble for the pit lane. The pole sitting Nissan, the winner and 2nd placed BMW Z4s from Okayama, The Bjorn Wirdheim Mercedes SLS and the MUGEN CR-Z all headed in for a fairly early stop.
With the safety car piting, the Prius continued in the lead having not stopped, with the #2 McLaren of Hiroki Katoh a few seconds down the road. After their stops the two cars still found themselves in contention for the win. However a costly collision between them both put paid to any chance of a win. Both cars continued but had re-joined outside the top 5.
Taking their place at the top were the group of five cars who had taken advantage of the safety car to make their stop. The pole sitting Nissan led once more but with the #11 Mercedes and the #0 CR-Z chasing him down quickly. As their 2nd round of stops began the CR-Z took full advantage of it’s hybrid technology and pitted later also spending less time being refuelled too. This gave the CR-Z the lead.
As the laps counted down the Honda was struggling badly with tire wear and with only six laps to go, in trying to pass a slow moving GT500 car, the #0 car spun allowing the hard charging #4 BMW and #11 Mercedes to pass. They remained nose to tail all the way to the flag but it was the round one winners Nobuteru Taniguchi and Tatsuya Kataoka in the #4 BMW who added the winner’s trophy to the one they won just a few weeks ago.
Notably the #11 Mercedes who finished 2nd had come from 13th in class on the grid after transmission problems in qualifying. The understandably gutted #0 Honda CR-Z crew completed the podium in what was another race to forget for Honda.
So as the championship moves on to the Autopolis circuit at the end of May the #12 Calsonic Nissan crew have shown the most speed and consistency to lead the championship and in GT300 the #4 BMW is so far unbeaten but with at least 7 marques leading for at least a lap in GT300 it is a lot closer than the results would have you believe.
James Goodwin
