Preview
Must
see, race fans!
Fuji
stages exciting battles & dramatic ending!!
Enjoy
Golden Week with SUPER GT!
On May 1st and
2nd, 2010 AUTOBACS SUPER GT Round 3 "FUJI GT 400km
RACE" will be held at Fuji Speedway (Shizuoka
prefecture). The annual spring event held amid Golden Week is
known for staging exciting battles and dramatic ending, owing
to its 400km race distance, longer than usual 300km, and the
nature of Fuji Speedway that allows many over-taking. It is a
sure provider of excitements to not only SUPER GT fans but
also motor sports beginners.
Can winless
SC430 fleet strike back at its home track?
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No.6
ENEOS SC430
Round 3 venue Fuji Speedway is Toyota's
affiliated circuit. It means a home-coming event for
the LEXUS SC430 squad. Finishing second at both the
season opener and the Round 2 put No.6 ENEOS SC430
(Daisuke Ito/Bjorn Wirdheim) at top of the series
ranking, but they are yet to climb to the top of
podium. That gives all SC430 teams enough reason to be
fiercely eager to bring in the first win of the season
to the manufacturer. Especially, for No.38 ZENT CERUMO
SC430 (Yuji Tachikawa/Richard Lyons) driven by
"Fuji Meister" Yuji Tachikawa who boasts 5
career wins at Fuji, defending champion No.1 PETRONAS
TOM'S SC430 (Juichi Wakisaka/Andre Lotterer), and
ENEOS SC430, the result at Fuji may become a
significant factor in their voyage to conquer the
series. So the question is not simply a SC430, but
which SC430 team will claim triumph at Fuji. |
Will it be 2
straight wins for HSV-010 GT? What about GT-R?
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No.8
ARTA HSV-010
Weider HSV-010 (Takashi Kogure/Loic Duval)
brought in the first win for Honda's HSV-010 GT in a
fantastic way at previous round in Okayama. It had
been said from the beginning that HSV-010 GT should
suit well to a technical circuit like Okayama. But
Fuji's track layout is totally opposite in nature.
Nevertheless, Honda would never be satisfied with
"mediocre": they should come into Fuji with
their machines well prepared for the high-speed track.
Scoring 1 win (Round 7) out of 2 races at Fuji last
season, No.8 ARTA HSV-010 (Ralph Firman/Yuji Ide) is
considered to be the driving force for the
manufacturer along with No.100 RAYBRIG HSV-010 (Takuya
Izawa/Naoki Yamamoto), who favors the track.
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No.12
CALSONIC IMPUL GT-R
Although No.24 HIS ADVAN KONDO GT-R (Joao Paulo
de Oliveira/Hironobu Yasuda) pulled off a win at the
season opener, NISSAN GT-R doesn't seem to have the
advantage it enjoyed in last two years -but it's not
left in the dust of other two rival models either
though-. A clever racer No.23 MOTUL AUTECH GT-R
(Satoshi Motoyama/Benoit Treluyer) should be planning
various tactics to claim the winner two years straight
at this long stretch that mandates 2 pit stops. One of
the most popular teams in the series, No.12 CALSONIC
IMPUL GT-R (Tsugio Matsuda/Ronnie Quintarelli), may be
able to push their limit to be in the contention with
the enthusiastic support from the huge crowd
anticipated for the annual Golden Week.
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A clear road ahead for
European GT300 cars at the high-speed track!
No.7
M7 MUTIARA MOTORS AMEMIYA SCC 7 |
Looking into the GT300
class, Fuji is not exactly the most favorite track for
both of the winners of last two rounds, No.7 M7
MUTIARA MOTORS AMEMIYA SCC 7 (Nobuteru Taniguchi/Ryo
Orime) and No.46 UP START MOLA Z (Naoki Yokomizo/Tsubasa
Abe). In addition, the handicap weights they have to
carry could be too heavy compared to their rivals.
Therefore, it is most likely that the two teams will
go with a strategy to pick as many points as possible
from the race. Of course, given how clever the both
are, they can throw a surprise if the long distance
race turns out to be a rough one. |
No.33
HANKOOK PORSHE |
Considering all the
elements required for the race held at the foot of Mt.
Fuji, European GT cars should be highlighted in the
watch-out list of the event. It would be a huge chance
for the teams fielding cars that boast outstanding top
speed: namely, Porsche GT3 RSR, Ferrari F430, and
Lamborghini Gallardo RG-3. Out of those, No.33 HANKOOK
PORSCHE (Mitsuhiro Kinoshita/Masami Kageyama/Tomonobu
Fujii), No.11 JIMGAINER DIXCEL DUNLOP F430 (Tetsuya
Tanaka/Katsuyuki Hiranaka), and No.86 JLOC LAMBORGHINI
RG-3 (Koji Yamanishi/Yuhi Sekiguchi) would be the
favor this weekend. |
No.43 ARTA Garaiya |
In addition, winner of
last year's third round No.43 ARTA Garaiya (Morio
Nitta/Shinichi Takagi) as well as No.19 WedsSport
IS350 (Manabu Orido/Tatsuya Kataoka) and No.74
COROLLA Axio apr GT (Takuto Iguchi/Yuji Kunimoto),
both psyched up for the race at Toyota's home track,
should be paid attention. In others, making their
first appearance to the series this season, No.25
ZENT Porsche RSR (Akihiro Tsuzuki/Takeshi Tsuchiya)
and No.51 Sabel CINE CITTA' TAISAN PORSCHE (Yuya
Sakamoto/Shogo Mitusyama) deserve attention too
especially when some proven drivers are taking the
wheels. |
Speaking of attention, No.9
HATSUNEMIKU X GSR PORSCHE (Taku Bamba/Masahiro Sasaki), known
as "Ita-sha," will enjoy true rivalry from Round 3.
No.31 Corolla Axio received new coloring on its body with a
design originated from a robot featured in the super popular
anime "Neon Genesis Evangelion," and they will
compete in the series as EVANGELION RT TEST TYPE-01 apr
COROLLA (Koki Saga/Kosuke Matsuura). Besides their look, MIKU
X PORSCHE has a good potential to finish the race in points
and it wouldn't be surprising if EVA CAROLLA pulled off a win.
You may see it "awaken" and bring sensation to Fuji.
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