SUPER GT 2010 BEGINS
Round 1 : SUZUKA GT300 KM

The 2010 season of Japan's famous SUPER GT Championship started with the SUZUKA GT300 race on March 20 & 21. After retiring the legendary NSX in 2009, Honda debuts their brand new HSV-010GT FR Super-GT race car this season.

Although a little bit late like previous years, this review marks the start of our 2010 SUPER GT coverage and as with previous years, we will bring a round-by-round review of this great championship.

QUALIFYING : Honda HSV-010GT grabs pole position in GT Debut!

In the qualifying for the SUZUKA GT 300km, Round 1 of the 2010 AUTOBACS SUPER GT held at Honda's SUZUKA Circuit (one lap 5.807 km) in Mie Pref. on March 20, the No. 18 WEIDER Honda HSV-010GT driven by by Takashi Kogure and Loic Duval took pole position in its first ever qualifying !

While most SUPER GT qualifying rounds use the "Super Lap" format of time trials run one machine at a time, however, this opening round adopts a "knock out" format run in three sessions. The cars with the slowest lap times in the first two sessions are "knocked out" of the competition and only the cars remaining for the last session run the individual time trails to determine the top grid positions for the race.

In the first qualifying session, last year's opening round victor, the ZENT CERUMO SC430, posted the fastest time, with the Weider HSV-010 second fastest among the machines moving on to the second session. In the second session, Loic Duval, now at the wheel of the Weider HSV-010, just managed to qualify for the third session by running the 6th fastest time. At the HSV-010's wheel again in the third and final session, Kogure ran a time of 1 min. 53.182 sec. to win the pole position.

For the rest of the HSVs, No. 100 RAYBRID HSV was the 2nd best qualifier in P7 with No. 17 KEIHIN HSV in P9. Languishing at the bottom of the qualifying grid was No. 32 EPSON in P11 and No. 8 ARTA in P12, both failing to make the cut in the first qualifying session.

RACE : Victory goes to Match's HIS ADVAN KONDO GT-R

Race day was on March 21 with a slight drizzle marking the start of the race. This resulted in a series of spin-outs and crashes from the first lap. Pole sitter No. 18 WEIDER HSV-010GT was one of those and they ran wide at the 130R corner, dropping to P12 after rejoining the pack. Charging up through the pack from P10 on the starting grid, the No. 24 HIS ADVAN KONDO GT-R team gained 5 positions to take P5 at the end of lap 1.

Honda's tradition of a miserable start to a SUPER-GT season continued again this year sadly. After running off in lap 1, Kogure drove masterfully to fight for P8 by lap 10, setting the race's fastest lap in the process. Unfortunately the first race jinx struck again on the next lap. The three Honda HSV-010GTs of No. 8 ARTA, No. 18 WEIDER and No. 32 EPSON approached the 1st corner side by side. As the No. 8 ARTA HSV-010GT turned in, it crashed into the No. 18 WEIDER HSV-010, almost taking out the No. 32 EPSON HSV at the same time. That puts an end to No. 8 and No. 18's races. The No. 32 EPSON went back to the pits for a quick repair but the jinx continues to bug Honda as it exited the pits just as the safety car passes by and had to sit just outside pit exit and wait for the entire field to pass by before rejoining in the tail end. The No. 32 EPSON was to end its race there as well, in last place.

Through all the confusion, Joao Paulo Lima de Oliveira in the No. 24 HIS ADVAN KONDO GT-R moved up steadily from tenth position on the starting grid to eventually take the lead on lap 25. After that, the Kondo team took the very bold strategy of foregoing any tire changes at their routine pit stop to save time and open up an even bigger lead over the pack. With that advantage, second stint driver Yasuda held a steady pace to the end for the win. This was the first win for the KONDO RACING team since the opening round of last season, and its fourth overall in SUPER GT competition.

From the Honda camp with its new HSV-010 GT car debuting in this race, the RAYBRIG HSV-010 GT got a podium finish with 3rd place. This podium is especially impressive as No. 100 RAYBRIG's 2nd driver, race rookie Naoki Yamamoto actually race with worn tyres for his stint at the wheel, i.e. the 2nd half of race. It was their strategy of not changing tyres at their pit-stop which allowed them to jump several cars to eventually seal their P3 podium. So the HSV-010GT debut can be considered successful in a number of ways. As reported No. 8 ARTA and No. 18 WEIDER crashed out of the race on lap 11. No. 32 EPSON managed to escape the crash but finished in P10 or last place in the finishing grid. Meanwhile No. 17 KEIHIN HSV had a relatively quiet race to finish P7 up 2 places from their P9 starting position and earning important points.

RACE DIGEST VIDEO

GT-A, organiser of the SUPER-GT now offers a video of the race in digest form (i.e. race highlights) on the official SUPER-GT website. For this round, the video can be viewed in the link below: http://supergt.net/supergt/movie/newsmovie/mov2010/1001move.htm. The controversial move by the No. 8 ARTA which lead to the three Honda HSV come-together on lap 11 can be viewed in the video.

WongKN
April 2010
© Temple of VTEC Asia