SUPER GT 2009 - A New Season Begins
Round 3 : FUJI GT 400km

Round 3 of the 2009 SUPER GT championship went to the Toyota-owned Fuji circuit, ran as the FUJI GT 400km race on the weekend of May 3rd and 4th 2009. After winning the pole position in the previous round at Suzuka, defending champions No. 1 MOTUL AUTECH (R35) GT-R was fastest again here at Fuji Speedway, outrunning the rival Lexus SC430 teams on their home course from the morning session. Motoyama repeated this feat again in the afternoon's Super Lap session, beating out the PETRONAS TOM'S SC430 driven by Andre Lotterer by a very slim 0.072 sec. margin with a lap time of 1 min. 34.622 sec.

This was the MOTUL AUTECH GT-R's 2nd consecutive pole position this season, and Motoyama's 3rd pole-position in his GT-500 class racing career.

This round, it was the turn of No. 8 ARTA NSX to fly the Honda flag in qualifying, taking P3 in the starting grid. There was only one other NSX in the top-10, the No. 100 Raybrig NSX of Takahashi Kunimitsu's team. Close behind however were the rest of the NSX'es, with No. 32 Epson in P11, No. 18 Rockstar-Dome NSX in P13 and No. 17 Keihin NSX in P14.

Come race-day on May 4th, the defending champions No. 1 MOTUL AUTECH GT-R took the win from the pole-position, actually their first victory of this season.

The race started exactly at 14:00. Despite being the second longest race on the SUPER GT schedule at 400 km, the middle stages brought close-fought battles, including the pole-starting MOTUL AUTECH GT-R (Motoyama) giving up the lead at one point to the PETRONAS TOM'S SC430 (Andre Lotterer). Still, Motoyama and later teammate Treluyer stayed right on the tail of the SC430, waiting for the chance to retake the lead. The chance came during the second routine pit stops, where the PETRONAS TOM'S team lost time in the pit works and thus allowed the tables to be turned with some fast pit work by the MOTUL AUTECH GT-R team mechanics.

With Motoyama back at the wheel of the GT-R after the second pit stop, he maintained the lead until a tense moment on the last lap when the PETRONAS TOM'S SC430 driven by Lotterer was closing in on his tail. But Motoyama managed to hold off Lotterer's charge and take the checkered flag. In the previous round at Suzuka, the MOTUL AUTECH GT-R team had also led the race most of the way and appeared to have a sure victory in hand when trouble struck with just seven laps remaining and victory slipped through their fingers. So for them, this victory was all the more sweeter.

With this win, Motoyama now has 11 GT career wins which puts him back in the tie for most career wins with Yuji Tachikawa of the No. 38 ZENT CERUMO SC430. This win was also the second win of the 2009 series for the R35 GT-R, which now threatens to dominate the championship again like how it did last year. The finishing podium for this race was also uniquely shared by Nissan (1st), Toyota (2nd) and Honda (3rd), all three major manufacturers on the podium.

Honda had a reasonable race. No. 8 ARTA NSX took podium, maintaining its P3 starting position to also finish P3 in the race, just behind the No. 36 Lexus. Also finishing in the top-10 was the No. 32 Epson NSX. Just outside of the top-10, in quick succession were the No. 100 Raybrig NSX in P11, No. 17 Keihin NSX in P12 and No. 18 Rockstar-Dome NSX in P13. It is actually not looking too good for the Honda NSX thus far in this season, mainly due to the rather erratic forms of the leading factory-back teams of No. 8 ARTA and No. 18 Rockstar. While they both had podium finishes, both also quickly follows them up with very bad finishes. So, just like last season, what the Honda NSX needs most is consistency in pace during the race.

WongKN
2009
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