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Twin Ring Motegi, Tochigi-pref. (November 15, 2015) - The final round of this year's SUPER GT series was held on November 15th (Sun) at Twin Ring Motegi, Motegi, Tochigi Prefecture, where the #1 MOTUL AUTECH GT-R (Tsugio Matsuda / Ronnie Quintarelli) accomplished an amazing come back from 12th to finish 2nd. Displacing the ranking leader, the #12 Calsonic IMPUL GT-R (Hironobu Yasuda / Joao Paolo de Oliveira), they secured their second GT500 championship in a row.
Due to strong rain that fell during the previous day's qualification sessions, the #1 GT-R's settings did not quite match the road surface conditions and they failed to advance to Q2. For this reason they found themselves starting from 12th place on the grid.
The #12 GT-R, on the other hand, was able to advance into Q2 where it qualified 5th and, at this point, it seemed the most likely to take home the title. On race day, the 15th, the rain that had been falling all morning abated and the start of the race looked like it would occur under dry conditions. However, just before the race began, a light shower started to fall and the entire circuit became wet once again. This saw every team hastily switch to rain tires right at the last minute. Under these circumstances it seemed that the race would be anybody's game.
The rainfall ceased immediately after the race started and, as the racing line gradually dried up, starting driver Quintarelli displayed a seriously fast paced performance that saw the #1 GT-R pass rival after rival with each lap and, by lap 10, he had climbed up to 6th place. With the road surface becoming completely dry, the erosion of every competitor's rain tires became severe and one after another all teams headed into the pits at around lap 20.
The NISMO team, which boasts some of the fastest pit work in the SUPER GT, managed to send the #1 GT-R back out onto the course as much as 3 seconds faster than their rival, IMPUL. Matsuda then rewarded this hard work with a tenacious drive that never gave the #12 GT-R a chance to regain its position.
At this point the #1 GT-R was running in 3rd. After this, a crash prompted the dispatch of the Safety Car (SC) and, after the race resumed, the #1 GT-R leapt into the lead. However, the #37 RC-F put up a formidable fight and Matsuda was somewhat hindered when dealing with GT300 vehicles and back markers. In spite of this, he protected their position in front of the #12 GT-R and, after 53 laps, passed the chequered flag in 2nd to secure the championship. This is Matsuda's second championship in a row following on from last year and, in Quintarelli's case, after combining this consecutive championship with those of 2011 and 2012, he has now taken an impressive 4 SUPER GT titles.
Oliveira started from 5th place in the #12 GT-R and managed to protect this position in the first half of the race before pitting at lap 24 to hand the wheel over to Yasuda. Having pitted one lap earlier than the #1 GT-R, Yasuda returned to the track and expeditiously warmed up the tires with the aim of pulling out in front of the #1 on its out-lap. However, the blisteringly fast work of the NISMO team resulted in an unstoppable reversal.
Being unable to achieve an immediate re-reversal during the #1 GT-R's out-lap, he was set to pounce in the lap that followed but the dispatch of the safety car did not work in his favour and he missed his chance. From then on, with the #100 NSX-CONCEPT sandwiched between them, he kept a keen eye out for any chance to move up the order but he just couldn't quite break through and he passed the finish line in 4th. Having a mere 2-point lead in the rankings over the #1 GT-R the title slipped out of their grasp right at the end of the season.
The #24 D'station ADVAN GT-R (Daiki Sasaki / Michael Krumm) started from an 11th place qualification and completed the race in 12th, while the #46 S Road MOLA GT-R (Satoshi Motoyama / Masataka Yanagida) began from 13th but unfortunately made contact with a GT300 vehicle causing significant damage that forced them to retire.
In the GT300 class the #3 B-MAX NDDP GT-R (Kazuki Hoshino / Mitsunori Takaboshi) started from 15th on the grid but unfortunately was embroiled in an accident with another vehicle and also had to retire. Having already secured the championship in the previous round, the #10 GAINER TANAX GT-R (Andre Couto / Katsumasa Chiyo) closed off the season with a top order finish of 6th place.
QUOTES:
NISMO Team Principal, Yutaka Suzuki:
?It was the never-give-up spirit of the whole team that allowed us to achieve this victory. This could be seen in the amazing effort from Ronnie as well as the fastest pit work in the race. You could say that our mechanics really created a stir. Tsugio's out-lap was a fitting reward for all the team's hard work. This was definitely a race fit for NISMO and it enables us to take home the championship. Thank you to all the fans who supported us throughout the year.?
#1 GT-R driver, Tsugio Matsuda:
?I don't know what to say, Ronnie did a fantastic job in the first half and that pit work was astounding. We've been diligently practicing our driver changes and pit work all year and it was the effort from the whole team that spurred me on in my out-lap. In the second half there was only one line you could take and there were some close calls when dealing with GT300 machines and back-markers. It was an incredibly tense race. However, I feel like we were able to display a performance worthy of a champion.?
#1 GT-R driver, Ronnie Quintarelli:
?For us it was lucky that rain began to fall right before the race. We had been struggling to decide which tyres to go with but in the end we headed into the first half with the perfect setup. I had a great deal of confidence in our light rain tires and so that rain was truly a blessing. I was able to push the car to its limit and this made implementing our strategy a breeze. On top of that Tsugio's tenacious drive in the second half was fantastic.?
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[ GT 500 class ] - 53 laps
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[ GT 300 class ] - 50 laps
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