Round 5 of the AUTOBACS SUPER GT 2016 season, the FUJI GT 300KM RACE, will be held over August 6th to 7th at Fuji Speedway, Oyama, Sunto District, Shizuoka Prefecture. Although round 2 was held at Fuji over the Golden Week vacation as a 500km race, this time around the racing distance will be 300km. On top of that, the air and road surface temperature has significantly increased and it is predicted to be a tough race not only for the cars and tires, but also the drivers. Although no official tests were held here leading up to this round, with official tests held in March and round 2 being occurring here in May, the teams have a plethora of data from which to work with. Preparations are all set for an intense battle to unfold.
2016 SUPER GT Round 2, “Fuji GT 500km RACE”
This season, the Michelin tire sporting #1 NISMO of Tsugio Matsuda / Ronnie Quintarelli, which has its sight set on a series first 3 consecutive titles, took two victories in a row at the opening round at Okayama and round 2 at Fuji. With the Yokohama Tires wearing #24 KONDO RACING driven by Daiki Sasaki / Masataka Yanagida taking their season first victory the other day in round 4 (round 3 at Autopolis was cancelled so this acted as the third race of the season), held near Sendai at Sportsland SUGO, the GT-R has effectively achieved 3 consecutive victories since the opening round. Although they have had a string of bad luck and are yet to grab a win, the #46 MOLA of Satoshi Motoyama / Katsumasa Chiyo, also riding on Michelins, and Hironobu Yasuda / Joao Paolo de Oliveira’s Bridgestone sporting #12 TEAM IMPUL have both demonstrated competitive pace and are clearly capable of being top contenders.
One of the unique aspects of the SUPER GT is the assignment of handicap weight proportionate to the number of earned points in order to ensure close battles. Until last year the maximum handicap weight was set at 50kg and anything beyond that was achieved through an equivalent fuel restrictor. However, this season the maximum weight has been raised to 100kg. For this reason, the #1 NISMO, having achieved two consecutive victories and earning 2 points at SUGO will be laden with 84kg of ballast as it heads into the next round. Although the effect of the weight is undeniable, since the 2014 regulations were adopted the GT-R has taken 4 victories in 5 rounds at Fuji, proving that it is clearly a strong circuit for the car. Of course it would be best not to be overtly heavy and within the GT-Rs the #46 MOLA and #12 TEAM IMPUL, which was on the verge of winning at Fuji in May before some last minute trouble, are relatively light, raising hopes that they can achieve a comeback. Although the possibility of a counterattack from other rivals cannot be overlooked, the GT-R’s Fuji low drag specs are competitive and the likelihood of a strong showing from the GT-R is high.
In the GT300 class the #3 NDDP RACING, driven by Kazuki Hoshino and GT Academy graduate, Jann Mardenborough, grabbed victory at Fuji in round 2 and is garnering a lot of attention. Despite being weighed down with a class heaviest 42kg handicap weight at SUGO, that left them unable to secure a top order qualification, they achieved a phenomenal comeback to place 5th. Going into its fifth season since debuting, the GT-R NISMO GT3 has further enhanced its brake performance and there are high hopes that, as with the Fuji round in May, the Nissan machines will achieve another double title in both classes.
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