2007 AUTOBACS SUPER GT Series Round 4
SUPER GT INTERNATIONAL SERIES IN MALAYSIA Race Report

WOODONE ADVAN Clarion Z (Ara / Lima De Oliveira)Scores First Victory

The SUPER GT INTERNATIONAL SERIES IN MALAYSIA race, Round 4 of the 2007 AUTOBACS SUPER GT, took place at the Sepang International Circuit (lap = 5.542 km) in Malaysia Pref. on June 24. Coming up from 14th place on the starting grid to grab the win in the GT500 class was the pair of Joao Paulo Lima De Oliveira and Seiji Ara driving the No 24 WOODONE ADVAN Clarion Z.

The race started in typical Malaysian tropical heat with an air temperature of 34deg C and track temperature of 48deg C. Leading the formation lap was the two Honda factory cars of No 18 TAKATA NSX, the pole position car and No 8 ARTA NSX. However, history repeats and as with the previous race at Fuji, the team watches in disbelief from the pits as the pole car No 18 TAKATA NSX retires right at the formation lap itself, apparently with yet another gearbox failure.

This leave the No 8 ARTA to take over the lead of the formation lap and to start the race in the lead. Driver Ralph Firman quickly established a lead over the rest of the field, from 1sec to over 1.6second over the first few laps. Unfortunately, this blinding pace would not last and as the race went on, Firman's lap-times started degrading, until well into the 2'02" range. It was revealed that he started suffering from lack of tyre grip at this point and eventually had to do an early pit-stop for a tyre change. For the rest of the race, and after the 2nd pit-stop and passing the car over to Daisuke Ito, the No8 ARTA NSX was fighting hard with the No 25 ECLIPSE ADVAN SC430 for P5. At one point, the No8 ARTA even attempted a pass at the No25 but they pair came into contact when the No25 defended its position aggressively. Eventually, bad luck befell the No8 ARTA NSX in the final laps as the No3 YELLOWHAT 350Z ran wide with a dehydrated Yanagida at the wheels (due to a premature exhaustion of water supply from his drink bottle) and causing the No8 ARTA to spin. This spin lost the No8 ARTA P5 as it allowed the No38 ZENT CERUMO SC430 to overtake. No8 ARTA NSX eventually finished the race in P6, despite potentially looking at as high as a P4 finish throughout the latter half of the race.

While the top qualifying machines suffered mechanical trouble, tire problems, and eventful races, De Olivera and teammate Seiji Ara drove a flawless race in the No 24 WOODONE 350Z to take the Kondo Racing team's first Super GT victory in its second year of competition.

Honda's pride was somewhat redeemed with the No 100 RAYBRIG NSX taking P2 at the finish. This acheivement was bittersweet as they had a drive-through penalty early in the race when the stewarts judged the No 100 RAYBRIG to have overtaken another car during the formation lap and before having crossed the starting line. Naturally, it left the team thinking about the 'it could have been', had they not incurred that penalty.

Of the remaining NSX cars, the No 17 ROLLING STONES REAL NSX finished in P12 while the No 32 EPSON NSX finished in P15, both also with an eventful race.

Winner's Comments

No. 24 WOODONE ADVAN Clarion Z
Seiji Ara: "I have won once at the Le Mans 24 Hours, but this victory today with Nissan, Yokohama Tires and Kondo Racing all working together has made me equally excited and happy. It is not easy to win in this fierce heat. The fact that we were able to score the second consecutive victory for a Z machine this season under such conditions is proof of just how strong the Z is. The tires were great too. Just before the goal both team manager Masahiko Kondo and I were shouting on the intercom at the same time: "We did it!" There was no response after that (laughs).

De Olivera: "Yesterday I was hoping that we could have a good race today. Today the tires were so good, and I think it made a big difference that I was able to push hard before our pit stop and open up a lead. In the second half I was just watching but I was still so tense. Ara did a good job. Still, I can't believe that we really won (laughs)."

Silver lining in the clouds

Despite a relatively disastrous race (especially for the No8 ARTA NSX when compared to the last two years), in relation to the season as a whole, the important thing for the Honda challenge is that their biggest challengers, the No 22 MOTUL AUTECH Z and No 23 XANAVI NISMO Z had an even more dismal race, finishing in P10 and P14 respectively, both also fighting with tyre grip problems like the No 8 ARTA NSX.

With the conclusion of the Sepang race, the championship standing actually sees the Honda NSX take over the lead at the drivers championship standings, with the No8 ARTA and No100 RAYBRIG driver pairs taking joint first, both with 37 points. In P3 and just a solitary point behind is the No 23 XANAVI NISMO (350) Z team driven by Motoyama and Richard Lyons. Of the other NSX driver pairs, the No 32 EPSON pair is at P7 while the second factory team of No18 TAKATA is at P10. The No 17 REAL NSX drivers pair of the Kaneishi brothers are in P16.

Honda also holds the lead in the teams championship, with Takahashi Kunimitsu's No 100 KUNIMITSU team flying the Honda flag high, being joint leaders with the No 22 NISMO team with 45 points apiece. In P3 is the 2nd factory Nissan team of No 23 XANAVI NISMO with 43 points. The No 8 ARTA team is in P5 with 37 points in the team championship. Team No 32 NAKAJIMA RACING is in P7 with the No17 Rolling Stones REAL in P14 and the No 18 DOME RACING TEAM in P15.

For full results and championship standings details, visit the Official SUPER GT website.

SUPER GT Round 5

Round 5 of the 2007 AUTOBACS SUPER GT will be the 300km race at the Sportsland SUGO circuit on July 28th and 29th. The good news is that the No 8 ARTA NSX will gain from a further reduction of another 5kg in weight handicap for this race, having finished in P6. Meanwhile, the No 22 and No 23 Lexus pair will benefit from a 20kg weight reduction. This puts both the No 8 ARTA NSX and the No 23 XANAVI NISMO 350Z with the same weight handicap of 40kgs for the SUGO race, and will make for an extremely tantalizing race as the two series leaders will be battling on equal footing.

Playing 'spoiler' will of course be the No 100 RAYBRIG NSX who is currently joint leader of the drivers championship with the No8 ARTA NSX drivers pair. They however will be an extra 30kg weight handicap courtesy of their P2 finish. Added to the 30kg handicap they carried for the Sepang race, this means they will race at SUGO with a total of 60kg which will have a strong negative impact on their outright pace. It's the same story with the Sepang race winner, the No24 WOODONE ADVAN 350Z who will be given a 50kg weight handicap. They have not been really a front-runner for the whole season so the Sepang result might well be just a 'one-off' and the 50kg handicap will probably devastate their outright pace at SUGO.

The No18 TAKATA will not be racing with any weight handicap so it should continue to set blinding pace at the qualifying. We sincerely hope its race reliability can live up to its qualifying pace at SUGO. Sadly, as stated by their driver Ryo Michigami during the qualifying press conference, their DNF at Sepang have probably destroyed any realistic chances of them fighting for the championship this year. Indeed No 18 TAKATA is currently lamenting in P10 in the drivers championship standings, the 2nd lowest amongst the five NSX team drivers. In the teams championship, it is the lowest placed amongst the NSX teams, in P15. So unless the front runners falter in all the remaining races of this season, the chances for the No18 TAKATA for this season seems rather bleak.

With the conclusion of the Sepang race, this is not yet the conclusion of our special feature coverage of this round as I will be publishing some of the many photos I took while covering this race from the paddocks. Stay tuned for the photo gallery.

WongKN
June 2007
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