2023 AUTOBACS SUPER GT Round5

SUZUKA GT 450km RACE

Dates: August 26-27, 2023
Location: Suzuka circuit(Mie Prefecture)
Attendance: Prelims: 12,500 Finals: 20,500
Qualifying: 3rd
Finals: 5th
Points Earned: 6 points
Series Rank: 17th (9 points)

What comes to mind is the previous year’s Suzuka round in August 2022. At Fuji Speedway just prior to the Suzuka round in August 2022, the team was at the top of the standings and was confident of winning the race when it experienced an unfortunate flat tire in the final laps of the race. In the Suzuka race, which was just after the experience of “Hell,” the team betrayed the expectations that it would be a tough race and ran smoothly. They won for the first time in five years and the first time in Suzuka as a team. It was the summer that the team experienced “Heaven” from “Hell.”
Then came the previous round at Fuji this year. The team took pole position in qualifying and was in the lead for most of the race. When on the verge of a pole-to-win in the last stages, the car spun out just after changing from rain tires to slick tires. The team, which missed out on the championship due to an unexpected blunder, was hoping for another “Heaven” like last year at Suzuka.
In SUPER GT, where various types of cars are entered, performance adjustments (BoP, Balance of Performance) are made to balance performance levels. The BoP weight of this Mercedes-AMG GT3 is 35 kg, and the total vehicle weight is 1320 kg, with an additional 9 kg of success weight imposed according to driver points earned this season. In addition, two 34.5 mm intake restrictors will be attached to the car to limit engine power.
This race will also be contested over the same 450 km distance as the third race held here at Suzuka Circuit in June. Although more teams have registered a third driver, Car 4 will continue to have two drivers, Taniguchi and Kataoka. In the 450 km race, two pit stops for refueling are required, and pit strategy will greatly determine the outcome of the race, as each team will have to decide when to complete their two pit stops and how to organize the details of each pit stop.

August 26th(Sat) [Official Practice, Official Qualifying]
Weather: Sunny
Course: Dry
Air/Track Surface Temperature:
Q1 Start: 33℃/52℃
Q2 Start: 32℃/48℃

Due to the delay in the FIA F4 qualifiers held first thing in the morning, the official practice was rescheduled to start five minutes later at 9:20 a.m. Conditions were a dry road with an air temperature of 33 degrees Celsius and a road surface temperature of 39 degrees Celsius. Kataoka took the steering and started running.
Headed out to the course to check the set brought in at the start of the session. On the third lap, he set the second fastest time at 2 minutes 01.078 seconds (2:01.078). Kataoka went to the pits on the fifth and ninth laps to adjust settings and check tires to repeat short runs. Kataoka got off the seat after recording a personal best time of 2:00.763 on the 11th lap and handed it over to Taniguchi.
Taniguchi originally wanted to check the race pace by completing a large number of laps. He said, “I think our rivals around us were in the same situation, but we were not doing well at all. Even on the long runs, the tires were not good, and we were like, ‘Oh no, this is no good.’” The team was unable to find the right settings for the car. He kept going out and in, setting his personal best time of 2:00.724 and 2:00.567 in a row during the class-exclusive running session that began at 10:45 a.m., finishing the session in 12th position.
Afterward, confirmation work was continued during the Circuit Safari/FCY test session that Kataoka was driving, but there was no sign of improvement in the situation, and the official qualifying session began.

The official qualifying session, which was originally scheduled to start at 3:10 p.m., was pushed back by 5 minutes due to the FIA F4 qualifying session in the morning, and an additional 5 minutes due to the FIA F4 final race, making it a total of 10 minutes late. It started at 3:20 p.m.
The 25 cars entered in Q1 of the GT300 qualifying session were once again divided into two groups in order of ranking, with GOODSMILE RACING & TeamUKYO running in Group B. Q1 was run by Taniguchi, who had done a qualifying simulation during the morning’s exclusive running session.

The temperature was about the same as in the morning, but the road surface temperature had risen to 52 degrees Celsius. This change in conditions seemed to favor Car 4, as Taniguchi said, “The atmosphere has suddenly changed since qualifying, and it felt good.” Taniguchi finished his warm-up early and made an attack lap. On the second measured lap, he recorded the overall best in sectors 2, 3, and 4, with a lap time of 1:59.313, taking him to the top of the group. Right after that, Car 6 went slightly ahead to leave the team in 2nd position, but Taniguchi continued his attack lap on the following lap. He again recorded his best in sectors 2 and 4, reducing the total to 1:59.029 and taking the checkered flag. Even so, it was about 0.05 seconds behind Car 6, and the team was in 2nd position to advance to Q2.

Kataoka, who was in charge of Q2, also made a good run despite the concerns in the morning. At 4:13 p.m., the road surface temperature was 48 degrees Celsius at the start of Q2. Kataoka waited in the pits for 1 minute and 30 seconds to let his rivals go ahead in order to make an attack lap with as much rubber on top. He entered the attack lap 10th out of 16 cars.
Kataoka, who had received feedback from Taniguchi’s Q1 that the day’s peak grip would arrive fairly early, immediately finished warming up the tires as soon as he entered the course, and then made an attack lap on the second measured lap. With the fastest overall time in the final sector, he clocked 1:58.652 and was in 2nd position when he passed the control line. However, Car 96 (K-tunes RC F GT3), which had started its attack lap from behind, was slightly ahead, and Car 4 Good Smile Hatsune Miku AMG lost one position to finish the session.
The next day’s final starting position was third in the second row, a position where the team could fully expect to win the championship, and they set their sights on “Heaven.”

August, 27th (Sun) [Final]
Weather: Sunny
Course: Dry
Air/Track Surface Temperature:
Prior to Start (2:45 PM): 32℃, 50℃
Mid-Race (4:15 PM): 31℃/47℃
End of Race (17:28 PM) 30℃/39℃

Heavy rain fell in the Suzuka Circuit area late on Saturday night, washing away the tire rubber on the road surface, leaving the road surface conditions and grip situation to a blank state on Sunday morning.

The final race was another 450 km long race, following the second, third, and fourth races. For the two refueling requirements, Kataoka, who was in charge of the start, took a double stint, and Taniguchi was in charge of the last stint, which was the team’s usual strategy.

Under the midsummer conditions—an air temperature of 33 degrees Celsius and a road surface temperature of 50 degrees Celsius, the parade lap started at 2:45 p.m., led by the Mie Prefectural Police motorcycle squad and police cars. After a formation lap, the race got underway. From the beginning, the pole sitter Car 61 (SUBARU BRZ R&D SPORT) ran away at a high pace, and as expected, Kataoka continued to lap in the 2:02-03 range, chasing Car 96 ahead of him within seconds.

On the 10th lap, Car 6 (DOBOT Audi R8 LMS) in 8th position had trouble with its rear tire falling off at the NIPPO corner following the reverse bank, bringing out the first FCY (full course yellow) of the race. All cars were running at 80km/h maximum on the track from the countdown. When it was lifted on the following lap after the car was removed, Kataoka, aiming for this timing, accelerated nicely and overtook Car 96. He quickly rose to second position.
From this point on, Kataoka began to close the gap between him and the leading Car 61—a gap of about 8 seconds. From the 15th lap onward, he cut the margin down to 7.8 seconds and then 7.4 seconds with each lap. Then, after completing 16 laps, Car 61 headed to the pits first, and Kataoka took the interim lead.
The team called Kataoka back on the 18th lap, and after changing four tires and completing his first refueling requirement, he returned to the course with a stoppage time of 35.9 seconds.

Kataoka returned to the course in 19th position, and continued to set a steady lap pace, slowly working his way back up as his rivals went about their routine work.
On the 28th lap, he passed Car 52 (Saitama Toyopet GB GR Supra GT) at the NIPPO corner, then on the 30th lap passed Car 20 (Shade Racing GR86 GT) at the hairpin corner, and on the 31st lap passed Car 60 (Syntium LMcorsa GR Supra GT) at the 1st corner. On the 32nd lap, at the NIPPO Corner, Kataoka also passed Car 5 (Mach Shaken Air Buster MC86 Mach), and made a comeback to 8th position. Kataoka also overtook Car 7 (Studie BMW M4) at the NIPPO corner on the 34th lap to take 7th position, and from there on, the top cars also began their second routine. On the 37th lap, he overtook Car 27 (Yogibo NSX GT3). Even at the end of the second stint, he continued the same pace of being the fastest in the upper ranks.
As Car 61—the leader again—headed to the pits on the 42nd lap, Kataoka moved up to second. Only Car 88 (JLOC Lamborghini GT3) remained ahead by 8.8 seconds. From there, Kataoka also closed in with two minutes and two seconds in a row.

On the fateful 45th lap, Car 56 (Realize Nissan Mechanic Challenge GT-R) in 3rd position behind him went off course due to a right rear tire coming off before the high-speed 130R, and crashed into the barriers. This was the second time an FCY was triggered.
At this moment, Kataoka was already about to enter the final corner from the chicane, but Car 4 was unable to make a pit stop just before the pit lane closed, and failed to take advantage of this sudden FCY. On the other hand, Car 18 (UPGARAGE NSX GT3) and Car 87 (Bamboo Airways Lamborghini GT3), which were running behind Car 4, were behind Car 56. So they took advantage of this FCY and made their second pit stop and got ahead.

After the FCY was lifted, Car 4 headed to the pits after 47 laps with the leader, Car 88, to change four tires and complete a refueling requirement for the second time, and then Taniguchi took over. Taniguchi, starting from 8th position after his return, pressed on, saying, “Kataoka has already run two-thirds of the race, so I only have to run the remaining one-third.” He was “trying to catch up with the one ahead” and set a new personal best time of 2:02.146 in the 52nd lap, but he encountered a close call in the following lap. One of the cars competing for the podium in the GT500 class pushed itself in the inside on the entry to Degner, and Car 4 was forced out and skidded on the gravel on the outside before reaching the bridge. Taniguchi, who managed to maintain control in the difficult situation, said, “I was fine. No damage.” He was able to get out of the problem by successfully avoiding the impact, and on the following 54th lap, he improved his time to 2:01.726.
On the 57th lap, the third FCY was issued due to an accident in the GT500 class, and Car 9 (PACIFIC Vspo NAC AMG), which had stayed out without doing any pit work, headed to the pits, resulting in the team moving up to 7th place. Taniguchi continued to run in the 2:02 range in the final laps of the race, and on the 60th lap, he passed Car 2 (muta Racing GR86 GT) at the 1st corner to take 6th position. On the 66th lap, he passed Car 31 (apr LC500h GT), which went wide entering the spoon, taking 5th position. However, the race came to an end, even though the team continued to run in the 2:02 range until the final lap, showing off the fastest time in its class. Car 4 completed 71 laps and finally took the checkered flag in 5th place.
For GOODSMILE RACING & TeamUKYO, which was aiming for “Heaven” this time, it was the “disappointing” highest ranking of the season.

 

■Comments from the Team

Team Owner: Aki Takanori
I would say it went mostly as planned. We were able to run the race as we had planned before the race. However, there were still some concerns about the set that we brought in to the race… Because we “felt” anxious, nobody thought about changing two tires (laughs). If we had felt a little more confident when we started running, we might have come up with a different strategy. As for the final race, with various judgment on the timing, we could have made it (to the pits) in the second FCY. The thought lingers, but we were not wrong. The pace was actually good. This kind of momentum and response was something we had never had before at Suzuka, but this time we showed a real strength. We seemed to be able to win with what we actually had. In that sense, I think we are in a good condition now, and I think it was really close.

Team Manager, Ukyo Katayama
Watching the monitors, one thing I want to point out is that we could have won if we had the car rushed in early during the second FCY. But really, that is about it. On Saturday morning, the tires were kind of soggy (laughs), but once the rubber got on the road surface, it became normal. There were no problems. Everything was progressing pretty much exactly as planned. While the people who entered the pits under the rules (taking advantage of the FCY) gained something, and although the time was too short for our own circumstances, it was a decision that “might have been” possible. Considering that, all that are left to train are Kono-san’s reflexes (laughs). If the drivers managed the first half of the race with perfect temperature control and management, they would be able to run at a good pace like that. We were able to do that properly and carefully, and we felt good about it here at Suzuka. I think we can run another good race.