SUPER GT 2008
Round 9 Finale : FUJI GT-300

Round 9 and the final round of the 2008 SUPER GT Championship took place at the FUJI speedway in the Shizuoka Prefecture, as the "FUJI GT-300km". Going into this round, the Honda NSX teams has since lost both the drivers and teams championship lead after the last round at Kyushu. So leading the driver's championship into this round was the Nissan/Nismo No. 23 pair of Motoyama and Treluyer. The No. 18 TAKATA pair of Michigami/Kogure still held on to the P2 slot in the driver's championship rankings, 14 points behind the leader and 1 point ahead of P3 in the rankings, the No.36 pair of Wakisaka and Lotterer. Of the other NSX teams, the closest was the No. 1 pair of Firman/Izawa but as lamented in the coverage from Round-8, the way they have raced thus far meant that they go into this round 25 points behind the leader, with no hope of defending their driver's title. Equally inconsistent racing means that all the rest of the 3 NSX teams are placed lower, with only the No. 100 pair of Ide/Hosokawa in the top-10 (in P8) while No. 32 and No. 17 are way down the rankings.

Leading the team's championship into this round was the Toyota/Tom's No. 36 (Lexus) SC430. P2 was the No. 23 NISMO team (i.e. the drivers championship leader) with another Toyota/Lexus SC430 in P3. The No.18 TAKATA team is again the highest placed team in P4, and still with a chance of winning the championship. Of the other 4 teams, No. 100 KUNIMITSU/RAYBRIG is in P6, while No. 1 ARTA, No. 32 NAKAJIMA/EPSON and No. 17 REAL are amongst the lower third of the rankings.

So of the 5 NSX teams, only the No. 18 TAKATA pair of Michigami/Kogure still have a chance of fighting for both titles, being 14 and 13 points behind the leaders in the drivers and teams championship respectively. None of the other 4 NSX teams have any chance of winning either title. The final race will start with all three major manufacturer in the championship : Honda, Nissan, and Toyota all with a chance of winning one or both titles.

QUALIFYING : NSX Dominates Again As No. 17 REAL NSX Takes Pole

The qualifying for the FUJI GT-300 km ran on November 8th 2008. Like so many qualifying before this, the Honda NSX once again dominated the qualifying runs. This time it was the newcomer No. 17 REAL pair of Kaneishi and Kaneishi (cousins) who brought home the pole. The morning qualifying was ran in the rain but by the time the afternoon Super-Laps started, the rain had more or less subsided though the track was still wet. No. 17 REAL actually just qualified for the Super-Lap, clocking the 10th fastest lap in the morning session which was 'won' by the No. 24 WOODONE ADVAN R35. However, perhaps it was due to the wet track and there was no rubbering of the track to disadvantage the early runners. So despite being the first one out, the No. 17 REAL clocked a time no-one else could beat over the rest of the Super-Lap session. No. 24 WOODONE ADVAN (R35) GT-R qualified P2 while No. 1 ARTA qualified P3. So it was once again 2 Honda NSX'es in the top 3 spot of the starting grid, as had happened so many times this season.

Of the other 3 NSX'es, No. 100 RAYBRIG qualified in P5, with No. 18 TAKATA in P7 and No. 32 EPSON in P10. So despite dominating the top spots in the qualifying/starting grid, it was actually the 'wrong' cars there, with the top NSX contender the No. 18 TAKATA being in not so terrific a starting place in P7.

The leader in the drivers' series ranking, the No 23 XANAVI NISMO GT-R pair of Motoyama and Treluyer qualified in P9. So in the next day's race proper, they will clinch the title if they can finish in the top five. Meanwhile, their rivals who have a shot at the title by winning or finishing 2nd are all sitting in 7th position (No. 18 TAKATA) or lower. This means that the Motoyama/Treluyer pair have the advantage going in the actual race.

It was an even better story in the teams championship for No. 36 PETRONAS/TOM's as they are the top placed team in the starting grid, of all the teams fighting for the title. No. 23 XANAVI NISMO is one place behind in P9 while No. 38 ZENT CERUMO qualified 2nd last on the GT500 grid. Only the 4th placed (in the teams ranking) No. 18 TAKATA NSX qualified higher, 1 place in P7. With a 13 points lead in the teams ranking, the 36 PETRONAS/TOM's SC430 was in a very good position for the final fight.

So it was clearly going to be a race of strategy and a fight for placings instead of the outright win in this final round, with both title leaders going in well-placed and needing to finish well to secure their respective titles.

RACE DAY : The R35 Wins The Race - And The Driver's Title

The FUJI GT 300km race ran on November 9th 2008, the final round of the 2008 AUTOBACS SUPER GT. The race started at 14:00. Light rain just before race start caused many teams to switch to light rain type shallow-groove tires. However, the No. 12 CALSONIC IMPUL GT-R and No. 39 DENSO DUNLOP SARD SC430 chose to bet on slick tires.

The formation lap, which is normally only a one-lap run, was extended to two in order to allow for better tire warm-up due to the extremely low track surface temperature. At the start there was a reverse in positions between the No. 1 ARTA NSX and the No. 24 WOODONE ADVAN Clarion GT-R but that was the only incident during the opening lap.

On lap two, the No. 22 MOTUL AUTECH GT-R driven by Michael Krumm made an unscheduled pit stop - the track had apparently dried enough to warrant a quick change to slick tires. And that marked the start of a mad rush to switch back to slick tyres, bringing big changes in the order of the leaders. When it was over, the No. 12 CALSONIC GT-R and No. 39 DENSO SC430 emerged as the new leaders. In third but behind by a large gap was the No. 23 XANAVI NISMO GT-R. Even after a very fast tire change, their outright pace was hindered by the heavy handicap weights it was carrying due to their previous race successes. No. 23 (Treluyer) continued to lose ground gradually after that. Seeing this, the team called Treluyer back to the pit on lap 23, just after the 1/3 point in the race required for a driver change. With a tire change and change of drivers to Satoshi Motoyama, No. 23 returned to the race. Also, No. 39 (Couto), which was running in 2nd place at this point, pulled in for its pit stop on lap 27 and changed drivers to Toranosuke Takagi.

Just around this time, rain began to fall again, making it hard to maintain fast lap times with slick tires. Until his tires could warm up, Takagi was forced to run so slow that he was being passed even by GT300 machines. Seeing this, the No. 38 ZENT CERUMO SC430 (Richard Lyons > Yuji Tachikawa) and the No. 36 PETRONAS TOM'S SC430 (Andre Lotterer > Juichi Wakisaka) switched to shallow groove rain tires while also performing their routine pit work. Despite having just finished its pit stop, No. 23 (Motoyama) returned to the pit again to change to rain tires as a safety measure, incuring the penalty of an unscheduled pit-stop. The leader, No. 12 (Matsuda) too made its pit stop just at the race’s halfway point on lap 33, switching to rain tires.

At this point all the machines had finished their pit stops. In the lead was No. 12 (Philippe) with more than a 40-second margin over the No. 35 houzan KRAFT SC430 (Tatsuya Kataoka > Peter Dumbreck) in 2nd place. Takuya Izawa was running in third position in car No. 1 but unable to maintain a fast enough pace. Likewise, the No. 18 TAKATA DOME NSX (Takashi Kogure > Ryo Michigami) and the No. 17 REAL NSX (Toshihiro Kaneishi > Katsutomo Kaneishi) were running at very slow paces. Apparently the tires chosen by the NSX teams did not fit the wet, cool track conditions at all. This allowed No. 38 (Tachikawa) to move up to 3rd position and the No. 6 ENEOS SC430 (Bjorn Wirdheim > Daisuke Ito) to move into 4th position.

Later on, Dumbreck in No. 35 made a mistake in the hairpin of lap 48 which let No. 38 (Tachikawa) and No. 6 (Ito) get past him. By moving into 2nd place, and with No. 23 (Motoyama) running out of the point range, Tachikawa in car No. 38 had a chance at winning the race and enough points to take the season’s driver title in a big come-from-behind upset. Although it would be very difficult for Tachikawa (No. 38) to catch the leader, No. 12 (Philippe), about 40 seconds ahead with just over 10 laps to go, he pushed hard, closing the gap down to within 20 sec. as the race entered the final five laps.

But time would run out, and the race finished with still a 16-sec. gap remaining between the two leaders. No. 38 (Tachikawa) had come close but failed to win. So the victory in the final SUPER GT race went to the No. 12 CALSONIC IMPUL GT-R driven by Tsugio Matsuda and Sebastien Philippe. It was the team’s second win of the season, following the Pokka 1000km in round 6, and for the Nissan GT-R it was the seventh victory of the season, a new record for most season wins by a single make. Second place went to the No. 38 ZENT CERUMO SC430 (Yuji Tachikawa/Richard Lyons) and 3rd to the No. 6 ENEOS SC430 (Daisuke Ito/Bjorn Wirdheim). For Ito, this podium finish came in his first race back from injury.

Further back in the field, Satoshi Motoyama in car No. 23 moved into 9th place by passing car No. 1 (Izawa), which continued to race with miserable pace. This finish was enough to win the pair of Motoyama and Benoit Treluyer the season’s driver title. The team title went to the No. 36 PETRONAS TOYOTA TEAM TOM'S team, which finished the race in 7th place.

And so, sadly the 2008 SUPER GT ended as miserably as it started for Honda. Double defending champions No. 1 ARTA started the 1st race with transmission problems. They ended the last race with such a miserable tyre selection that they finished in the last 4 positions, P12 along with No. 18 TAKATA NSX which finished in P14 (out of 15 finishers). Once again, a clearly very fast car let down by poor strategy - tyre selection this time round. Pole sitter No. 17 REAL NSX finished the race in P10. The top finisher was No. 32 EPSON NSX in a good P4 finish. No. 100 RAYBRIG ended the season finale with a DNF.

Race Results

12 CALSONIC IMPUL GT-R; Tsugio Matsuda, Sebastien Philippe
38 ZENT CERUMO SC430; Yuji Tachikawa, Richard Lyons
6 ENEOS SC430; Daisuke Ito, Bjorn Wirdheim
32 EPSON NSX; Loic DUVAL, Katsuyuki Hiranaka
39 DENSO DUNLOP SARD SC430; Toranosuke Takagi, Andre Couto
35 houzan KRAFT SC430; Peter Dumbreck, Tatsuya Kataoka
36 PETRONAS TOM'S SC430; Juichi Wakisaka, Andre Lotterer
25 ECLIPSE ADVAN SC430; Takeshi Tsuchiya, Hiroaki Ishiura
23 XANAVI NISMO GT-R; Satoshi Motoyama, Benoit Treluyer
17 REAL NSX; Katsutomo Kaneishi, Toshihiro Kaneishi
22 MOTUL AUTECH GT-R; Michael Krumm, Masataka Yanagida
1 ARTA NSX; Ralph Firman, Takuya Izawa
3 YellowHat YMS TOMICA GT-R; Ronnie Quintarelli, Naoki Yokomizo
18 TAKATA DOME NSX; Ryo Michigami, Takashi Kogure
24 WOODONE ADVAN Clarion GT-R; J.P.L. De Oliveira, Seiji Ara

FINAL CHAMPIONSHIP RESULTS

Honda started as the defending champions for both the drivers and teams title. And they raced the season strongly, regularly showing very fast pace and with one or more NSX'es qualifying at or near the top of the grid at almost all races. However, it was to be a case of the 'skipping record' as one after the other, the Honda teams threw away strong qualifying and early race positions to end up with nothing to show, or small consolations at best.

Transmission problems, poor tyre selections, poor strategy, NSX teams taking each other out, all these and more helped to put paid to numerous top-3 or even pole winning qualifying performances by the NSX teams. Of course the 5 NSX teams are run by different teams. But then both No. 1 ARTA and No. 18 TAKATA are racing under Team Honda Racing, so it was particularly bizzare -for me at least- to read of races where they more or less raced each other to the point of putting each other out of contention, like at SUGO in Round 5. No. 1 ARTA too drove particularly unusual race strategies, often going for outright wins even when they were comfortably inside the podium. While this may be logical in the early part of the season, towards the latter half when it was clear that their title defence wasn't getting much headway, it was surprising to continue to read of their overly aggressive driving style. This happened in Round 6 at SUZUKA for e.g. Eventually regular top qualifying were quite regularly let down by poor racing.

In the end, Honda ended the 2008 SUPER GT season with nothing to show. For all their dominance during qualifying, the NSX only managed to win 1 solitary race. Despite leading both driver's and teams championship rankings numerous times, in the end, the best result from a Honda team was the No. 18 TAKATA NSX which finished P6 in the drivers championship and P5 in the teams championship. Defending champions No. 1 ARTA had some sort of a miserable season, ending the year P8 in the drivers ranking and a lowly P12 in the teams championship. No. 32 EPSON/NAKAJIMA and No. 100 RAYBRIG/KUNIMITSU more or less finished the season on par, with No. 32 leading No. 100 by 2 points and finishing P10 versus P11 for No. 100 in the drivers championship. In the teams championship, they were tied on points and were ranked P9 and P10 with the positions reversed - No. 100 leading No. 32. Finally No. 17 REAL finished P19 in the drivers championship and P15 in the teams championship.

It was a dream debut for Nissan and their new super-car the R35 Skyline GT-R. They started the season with a race win and ended the season with the drivers title courtesy of the No. 23 NISMO pair of Motoyama and Treluyer. For Toyota, they regained the teams title which they lost to Honda last year, the No. 36 PETRONAS/TOM's team winning the title. Actually Toyota took the top 2 places in the teams championship this year.

So altogether, it can be considered a relatively disastrous year for Honda in the SUPER GT. What's more dissapointing is the fact that the NSX has consistently showed so much outright pace, regularly qualifying within the top 3 places. But again and again, mechanical (un)reliability, poor strategy and sometimes outright overtly agressive racing styles simply put paid to Honda's chances of successfully defending their double titles which they worked so hard to win last year. Nevertheless, we know Honda well enough to know that as the new 2009 season gets underway, Honda will surely have learnt valuable lessons and will again be contending for the titles again.

We shall continue to provide in-depth coverage of the SUPER GT for 2009 so do check back here at TOVA MOTORSPORTS to follow the championship.

2009 SUPER GT Final Drivers championship standings

23 Satoshi Motoyama, Benoit Treluyer - 76pts
38 Yuji Tachikawa, Richard Lyons - 72pts
36 Juichi Wakisaka, Andre Lotterer - 63pts
12 Tsugio Matsuda, Sebastien Philippe - 61pts
18 Ryo Michigami, Takashi Kogure - 60pts
22 Michael Krumm, Masataka Yanagida - 57pts
1 Ralph Firman, Takuya Izawa - 49pts
35 Peter Dumbreck, Tatsuya Kataoka - 45pts
32 Loic DUVAL, Katsuyuki Hiranaka - 43pts
100 Yuji Ide, Shinya Hosokawa - 41pts
3 Ronnie Quintarelli, Naoki Yokomizo - 39pts
6 Daisuke Ito, Bjorn Wirdheim - 39pts
24 Joao Paulo Lima De Oliveira, Seiji Ara - 34pts
25 Takeshi Tsuchiya, Hiroaki Ishiura - 23pts
17 Katsutomo Kaneishi, Toshihiro Kaneishi - 16pts

Note : Not the exact official rankings. Some drivers/teams have been left out for sake of clarity.

2008 SUPER GT Final Teams championship standings

36 PETRONAS TOYOTA TEAM TOM'S - 94pts
38 TOYOTA TEAM CERUMO - 93pts
23 NISMO - 86pts
12 TEAM IMPUL - 78pts
18 DOME RACING TEAM - 75pts
22 NISMO - 69pts
35 TOYOTA TEAM KRAFT - 68pts
6 ENEOS TOYOTA Team LeMans - 64pts
100 TEAM KUNIMITSU - 60pts
32 NAKAJIMA RACING - 60pts
24 KONDO RACING - 56pts
1 AUTOBACS RACING TEAM AGURI (ARTA) - 54pts
3 HASEMI MOTOR SPORT - 53pts
25 TOYOTA TEAM TSUCHIYA - 44pts
17 REAL RACING with LEON - 30pts
39 TOYOTA TEAM SARD - 29pts