2023 AUTOBACS SUPER GT Round7

AUTOPOLIS GT 450km RACE

Dates: October 14-15, 2023
Location: Autopolis (Oita Prefecture)
Attendance: Prelims: 6,500 Finals: 13,500
Qualifying: 5th
Finals: 6th
Points Earned: 5pts
Series Rank: 13th (20 points in total)

There are only 2 races left in the 2023 SUPER GT season. GOODSMILE RACING & Team UKYO, despite showing strength in each race, have been struggling this season without a single podium finish. However, they have finished in 5th place in the last two rounds in a row, and their momentum is not bad. The team has come to Autopolis for the Kyushu round, vowing to be on the podium this time.
This season, the circuit in Hita City, Oita Prefecture, is set as the 7th race out of the 8 races in the series, and the success weight (SW) will be reduced by half depending on the results. This race often determines the season’s champion and becomes a crucial race for the top group in the points ranking. However, at this point in the season, GOODSMILE RACING & Team UKYO’s ranking is 14th and they are not in the championship battle.
This track in the mountains of Kyushu is said to have a dusty and rough surface due to the fact that it is less frequented than circuits in Honshu. It is also notorious for being a track with high tire wear. Furthermore, in this race, a race format of 450km with a mandatory refueling twice, which was introduced last year, is being applied for the first time at Autopolis, causing each team to struggle with their strategies.
For the BoP (Balance of Performance) of car number 4, the air restrictor remains the same as in the previous race. However, the weight has increased by 5kg, making it 45kg, and bringing the total vehicle weight to 1330kg. Additionally, the car will be equipped with a SW of 23kg, which is equal to the points gained x 1.5kg.

October, 14th(Sat) [Official Practice, Official Qualifying]

At 9:25 AM, the official practice began and car number 4 entered the track with driver Taniguchi.
The road surface was damp due to the rain that fell in the Aso region at dawn. In addition, the temperature was an unexpectedly low 16 degrees Celsius and the road surface temperature was 18 degrees Celsius, making for a difficult start to the session. Car number 4 waited in the pit for about 30 minutes until the road conditions improved before entering the track.
Despite some improvements in the road conditions, the unexpectedly cold surface remained the same, making it difficult to start the race with cold tires, and Taniguchi ended up overrunning in turn 1. After that, Taniguchi carefully completed several laps, gradually improving his time as the road conditions got better. He recorded his personal best of 1 minute 44.975 seconds on the 8th lap and moved up to 4th position at that point. After approximately 1 hour into the session, Taniguchi was replaced by driver Kataoka.
Driver Kataoka also performed a balance check in a full tank state for the final race and recorded the last half lap in the 1-minute 40-second range. Toward the end of the session, the team called Kataoka back to the pit, before the GT300 class-exclusive race, to attempt a time attack simulation with new tires, but due to traffic, they were unable to improve their best time of 1 minute 45.894 seconds.
Both drivers had a good run, completing 13 laps each and setting the 5th fastest time of the session. However, the time gap to the top 3 GT300 cars (former JAF-GT) was very large, with a gap of 1.614 seconds which made it hard to believe they were in the same category. Since it seemed impossible to surpass these cars, the goal for this race week was to win against the same FIA GT3 cars.
At 3 PM, the official qualifying begins. The temperature is not too high, at a chilly 18 degrees, and the road temperature is 25 degrees. This time, GOODSMILE RACING & TeamUKYO will be running in Group Q1A, assigned according to the ranking order.
Driver Taniguchi took charge of the Q1 attack driver, which included official practice, FCY testing, and steering at the Circuit Safari. The team aims to secure a Q2 spot amidst tough competition with GT300 cars like car number 52 and car number 2 (muta Racing GR86 GT), as well as strong GT3 contenders such as car number 56 (Realize Nissan Mechanic Challenge GT-R), car number 65 (LEON PYRAMID AMG), and car number 88 (JLOC Lamborghini GT3).
As soon as the session started, Taniguchi carefully warmed up his tires while adjusting the distance between the cars in front and behind him in preparation for the time attack. After finishing the warm-up, he entered into two consecutive time attacks starting from the fourth lap. Taniguchi’s initial measurement was 1 minute 44.196 seconds, placing him temporarily in third position. In the following attack, although he maintained a pace that surpassed his previous time, he was overtaken by car number 360 (RUNUP RIVAUX GT-R) which was also in the midst of a time attack, in the uphill and continuous corner section of Sector 3. As a result, he only managed a slight time improvement to 1 minute 44.121 seconds. Nonetheless, he secured an impressive fourth position in Group A and successfully advanced to Q2.
At 3:53 pm, Q2 began with driver Kataoka in charge. After the start of the session, each team finished their warm-up and began their attack. With less than 2 minutes remaining, car number 61 (SUBARU BRZ R&D SPORT) recorded an outstanding time of 1 minute 42.141 seconds, becoming the provisional leader.
In the first attack, Kataoka showed an impressive lap time of 1 minute 43.466 seconds, placing second behind car number 61. However, he was quickly overtaken by the GT300 cars that demonstrated abnormal speed during the official practice. Car number 31 (apr LC500h GT) and car number 52 recorded the second and third fastest times respectively. Furthermore, car number 2 (muta Racing GR86 GT) set a new course record of 1 minute 42.016 seconds with about 30 seconds remaining, taking the lead and pushing car number 4 down to fifth place. Despite continuing to attack during the following laps, Kataoka was unable to achieve a personal best update with a time of 1 minute 43.932. He finished the qualifying session in fifth place, the highest among the FIA-GT3 models, following the four GT300 cars. The final race started from the fifth grid position on the third row.
During the team’s post-qualifying broadcast, they will not only review the qualifying day but also unveil the “Hatsune Miku KYOJO Project (tentative name).” This project is a three-year collaboration between TKRI, led by driver Kataoka, and GOODSMILE RACING. The project aims to develop female drivers and is set to launch in 2024.

October, 15th (Sun) [Final]
Weather: Sunny
Course: Dry
Air/Track Surface Temperature:
Prior to Start (1:25 PM): 17℃, 25℃
Mid-Race (2:55 PM): 17℃/25℃
End of Race (4:30 PM) 16℃/20℃

On Sunday morning, the temperature was supposed to be higher than the previous day according to the forecast. However, the entire area was covered in thick clouds and a cold wind was blowing, making it very chilly. After events such as the pit walk and a welcome flight by F-15 aircraft from the Nyutabaru Air Base of the Air Self-Defense Force, the first-ever 450km race at Autopolis was about to begin.
During the warm-up session from noon, driver Kataoka took the lead. He recorded his best time of 1 minute 47.671 seconds on the fifth lap while maintaining the race pace on the cold and dry track. Although the clouds cleared and the sun occasionally appeared, there was a strong wind blowing in the tailwind direction towards the home straight, so the chilliness remained unchanged.
The parade and formation lap began at 1:30 PM. At this time, the temperature was 17 degrees and the road temperature was 27 degrees, which was almost the same as the conditions during the qualifying race the day before.
Driver Kataoka maintained the 5th position from the signal green and gradually widened the gap with the following car, car number 88 (JLOC Lamborghini GT3). However, the leading GT300 car was astonishingly fast and quickly pulled away, widening the gap to 4.970 seconds on the 4th lap, 8.246 seconds on the 5th lap, and 10.541 seconds on the 6th lap, making it impossible to catch up.
In the 6th round, car number 31 started in third place. As soon as the leading car reached the first SC line on the 5th lap, which was the designated rule, car number 31 immediately headed to the mandatory pit stop, causing car number 4, Good Smile Hatsune Miku AMG, to rise to fourth place.
During the 13th lap, car number 18 (UPGARAGE NSX GT3) ranked second, was hit from behind by a following vehicle and got stuck in the gravel, resulting in a Full Course Yellow (FCY) being displayed. However, the Safety Car (SC) was not called in and the FCY was lifted the following lap.
On the 24th lap, the left front tire of car number 27 (Yogibo NSX GT3) came off. Despite dragging the car, car number 27 headed towards the pit, but the detached tire was left by the side of the track, causing a second Full Course Yellow (FCY) to be displayed for its recovery. Car number 4 headed to the first mandatory pit stop immediately after the FCY was lifted. After receiving a full service, driver Kataoka entered a double stint. Just before the pit exit, car number 27, which had just returned to the track, went off the track again, resulting in another FCY. As a result, all cars were required to complete the warm-up lap of the out-lap at a maximum speed of 80km/h, allowing for some slight advantages.
Position 12 at the time of returning to the course was overtaken by car number 88, which completed its routine on lap 29 and only made a two-wheel change in the pit. As a result, Kataoka was hindered from going to the LAMBORGHINI HURACAN GT3 for more than 10 laps.
After returning to the course, the first two laps were clean and recorded a time of 1 minute 47 seconds, but then it became slower, ranging from 1 minute 49 to 51 seconds, clearly slower than his own pace. On the 37th lap, Kataoka was briefly overtaken but then engaged in a dogfight and was overtaken again. Finally, just before the FCY was activated due to a GT500 class car going off the course at the second hairpin, he managed to overtake car number 88 and return to sixth position. When the FCY was lifted on the 40th lap, the driver increased their pace to catch up to car number 61 which had taken the lead while they were being held back by car number 88.
After completing 45 laps, car number 56 headed to the pit for the first time, while car number 52 and 31 went for their second pit stop, allowing Kataoka to move up to third place. Car number 4 continued to lap in the 1 minute 48-49 second range, completing lap 56, while car number 61 took the lead on lap 57 as car number 2 entered a routine pit stop, temporarily taking the lead.
It is now the 61st lap. Car number 4 called Kataoka to the pit for the second routine work and driver change.
In the final stint, driver Taniguchi was overtaken by car number 56 and car number 88 in the out-lap before the tire grip was activated. However, from the 64th lap after completing the warm-up, he consistently marked lap times in the 46-second range, starting from 1 minute 46.506 seconds to 46.704 seconds, and then 46.914 seconds. He set laps more than 2 seconds faster than the top runners and regained the 7th position by passing car number 88 on the 66th lap. From here, he will once again challenge car number 56.
Car number 4 driven by Taniguchi showed a lap time progression of almost 1 minute 48-50 seconds until the 90th lap of the checker. By the 70th lap, he had caught up to car number 56, trailing by less than a second. It was an intense battle until the very end, with Taniguchi saying, “I felt like I was battling until the final corner of the final lap.” However, unfortunately, he was unable to overtake and secure the lead until the end. During the battle with car number 56, car number 360 was pitted, allowing Taniguchi to move up one position. He ultimately finished in 6th place, crossing the checkered flag.
Despite starting in 17th place after failing to qualify for Q1, car number 56 made a strategic move by completing a full-service routine pit stop at almost half the race distance. They managed to advance to the top positions by using a unique strategy of completing the mandatory refueling towards the end of the race with a “splash and go” approach. On the other hand, car number 4 fell behind and ended up falling far short of reaching the podium it aimed for.

 

■Comments from the Team

Team Owner: Aki Takanori
We finished in 6th place, but I believe we were able to execute the planned strategy according to our expectations. However, even during the qualifying round, it was evident that the 4 cars in front of us (GT300 regulation vehicles) were exceptionally fast. I had hoped to catch up to them or maybe even overtake a few cars with our tactics, but there were cars blocking our path… I really started to dislike them (laughs). The unpredictability of how things will unfold is also an interesting aspect of the race, but when our strategy is hindered… it’s quite frustrating. It’s a mutual feeling, but there is some dissatisfaction remaining. We are always in close competition with car number 88, and I believe we have a good rivalry with each other, but I was hoping to go a little higher, so the result is a bit disappointing. Nonetheless, I think we have been able to deliver a good performance, so please look forward to the final race.

Team Manager, Ukyo Katayama
In conclusion, it was unfortunate that there was a slight mismatch. We were able to address the fundamental issues with the pickup and graining at this circuit, but we experienced some setbacks in the GT500 category, such as a delay in tire warming and being blocked by rivals. If we were to make excuses, car number 31 struggled with pickup and car number 61 was somewhat affected by it, but they could have competed for a podium finish. On the other hand, car number 56, which had a completely different strategy, was able to run consistently in the 1 minute 48-second range even with hard tires. As the number of tire sets brought in decreases in the future, we will need to master the use of harder tires even more. I feel that there is still much to research.