GOODSMILE RACING & TeamUKYO RACE REPORT 6

2024 AUTOBACS SUPER GT Round6　SUGO GT 300km RACE

Due to the impact of Typhoon No. 10, Round 5 at Suzuka Circuit was postponed to December. Therefore, the SUPER GT Round 6 “SUGO GT 300km RACE” at Sportsland SUGO was held as the 5th race of the season.
　However, this weekend was also affected by the autumn rain front and low pressure that stalled over the Sea of Japan, and the circuit in Miyagi, Michinoku was hit by heavy rain.
　The BoP (Balance of Performance) of No. 4 Good Smile Hatsune Miku AMG, driven by Nobuteru Taniguchi and Tatsuya Kataoka, was a total of 1,369kg, with the Mercedes-AMG GT3′s basic weight of 1,285 kg, plus 45kg of BoP weight and 39kg of additional weight as a speed suppression measure, placing it in the heavyweight group, as usual. On the engine side, the diameter of the intake restrictor was returned to the conventional 34.5mm x 2.
　Furthermore, the success weight (SW/points x 2), which is added according to the results, reached 50kg, which is the upper limit for this season (56kg under the previous year’s regulations). This circuit is marked with “S,” which GOODSMILE RACING & TEAMUKYO are not good at, so this race was also expected to be a difficult one.

9/21 [Official Practice]
Weather: Rainy
Course: Wet
Temperature / Track Surface Temperature:
9:00 AM : 17°C / 20°C
10:00 AM : 16°C / 19°C
11:00 AM : 17°C / 20°C

　Since bad weather was originally predicted for the day of the race, the day before the meeting, the team managers were informed that “the grid order for the race may be decided according to the time of the official practice session (on Saturday).” With this notice, the official practice session started at 9:15, and despite the inclement weather, all the cars entered the course as soon as the session started as if they were jostling to be first, and began their attacks in an attempt to set as good a time as possible, creating what could be described as a “long qualifying session.”
　At the start of the session, it was raining hard and heavy, and the temperature was 17°C, with the track surface temperature at 20°C, making it even feel cold. Kataoka, like his rivals, immediately entered the course, but was unable to heat up the wet tires he had brought for this race. Meanwhile, car No. 52 (Green Brave GR Supra GT) got out of shape on the exit of SP Out Corner and crashed, causing the race to be red-flagged to recover the car and repair the barriers.
　When the session resumed about 15 minutes later, the rain intensified and in Sector 1, car No. 61 (SUBARU BRZ R&D SPORT) and car No. 11 (GAINER TANAX Z) spun one after another, and many other cars fell victim to hydroplaning (tires floating on the water film, making them inoperable) all over the track. As a result, the second red flag “due to rain” was displayed less than 10 minutes after the race resumed.
At 9:53, when the rain eased off, the race resumed. Kataoka set a 1:36.695 on his 11th lap, and was provisionally 5th fastest. However, his rivals also improved their times one after another, and his position gradually dropped.
　On lap 17, he set a new personal best time of 1 min 33.711 sec, but on lap 18, under braking in turn 4, he ran off the course as if tripped up and got stuck in the gravel. At about the same time, car No. 30 (apr GR86 GT) hit the barriers at the final corner, causing the race to be red-flagged for the third time.
　The car was then towed out of the gravel by FRO. Fortunately, there was no serious damage, so Kataoka returned to the pit on his own. At the pit, the mechanics again confirmed that the car could be driven without any problems, and at this time, the driver was switched to Taniguchi. However, at 10:31, the race was red-flagged again due to increased rainfall, and Taniguchi was sent back to the pit after only one full lap and had to get off the car.
　Then, at 10:45, it was announced that the GT300 class private practice session would start 5 minutes later than scheduled, and Kataoka got back on the machine. Car No. 4, which had not been able to attack the time as expected due to numerous interruptions up to this point, was now in 19th position in its class. With the qualifying session in the afternoon in doubt, as soon as the last 10-minute session started, Kataoka took off onto the course with the intention of qualifying.
　However, car No. 22 (R.C. AMG GT3) soon crashed and the session was red-flagged for the fifth time. The session resumed at 10:55 with 10 minutes remaining, but car No. 6 (UNI-ROBO BLUEGRASS FERRARI) went off the course at high speed after braking at a ridge, obviously due to hydroplaning, and crashed, resulting in a red flag. With this, the official practice session came to an end.
　As the weather continued to worsen, the GT500 class private practice session, the FCY (Full Course Yellow) test session, and the official qualifying session in the afternoon were all cancelled, and the starting grid for the race on the following day was decided based on the results of the official practice session, as previously announced. As a result, No. 4 Good Smile Hatsune Miku AMG had to start the next day’s race from the 19th grid.

9/22 [Final]
Weather: Rainy/Sunny
Course: Wet/Dry
Air/Track Surface Temperature:
Prior to Start (2:30 PM): 19℃, 24℃
Early Race (3:30 PM): 19℃/22℃
Mid-race (4:00 PM) 19℃/22℃
End of Race (4:30 PM) 19℃/21℃

Rain from the previous day continued to fall on Sunday morning, but the weather was to gradually clear up according to the forecast, and the rain was expected to stop during the final race in the afternoon. The race management decided to delay the warm-up session gradually, keeping an eye on the weather, and the warm-up session, which was scheduled to start at noon, was finally delayed by one hour.
The warm-up session started under a steady rain, though not as heavy as in the morning. However, soon after the session started, car No. 30 went off the course on the exit of SP Out Corner, bringing out the red flag and interrupting the session. At 13:17, the session resumed with 10 minutes remaining, and Kataoka, behind the wheel of No. 4, finished this session at the 21st position.
　At 13:45, Kataoka headed to the grid for the final race after a 7-minute delay due to the interruption of the warm-up session.
　The sky over the circuit was gradually becoming brighter and the sky could be seen slightly through the clouds. The weather forecast and weather radar indicated that the rain clouds would be gone, and the maximum race time was extended by 15 minutes to 16:45, so there was a possibility that the track would dry off from the middle of the race.
　GSR had no choice but to adopt a “gambling tactic” in order to aim for a higher finish from the disappointing 19th position on the grid. Considering the characteristics of the SUGO course, which makes overtaking difficult, they decided to start the race on slick tires. The strategy was to endure the early part of the race in wet conditions with dry tires while rivals were using rain tires, and then aim for a chance to move up to the top as rivals pitted in to install dry tires.

　At 14:22, after the shortened start procedure, all cars left the grid. After the two formation laps, the safety car (SC) continued to lead the race. After checking the track conditions, race control removed the safety car on the 4th lap, and the race got underway.

Due to the fact that the track was still too wet to be called “damp,” and also due to the tire set-up that made it difficult to find grip, No. 4 and No. 18 (UPGARAGE NSX GT3), which was also equipped with slicks and starting from the 16th grid, lost their position at once.
No. 4 dropped to 25th and No. 18 to 26th, and as early as the 8th lap, they were lapped down by the leading pack of the GT500 class. No. 4 afterwards allowed No. 18 to pass it as well, dropping to 26th, or the lowest position.　
The lap times did not improve at the expected pace, and it was not possible to keep up with the cars ahead of them running on rain tires. Nevertheless, the lap times, which were initially in the low 1 min 40 sec range, gradually improved, reaching 1 min 31.703 sec by the 21st lap.
　At this point, however, a collision between No. 25 (HOPPY Schatz GR Supra GT) and No. 96 (K-tunes RC F GT3) occurred, and the SC was brought in to recover No. 25, which had stopped on the side of the course, and the dry tires of No. 4, which had barely begun to warm up, were again cold.
　On the 29th lap, the race resumed, and Kataoka began to heat up the tires again, but they did not warm up well. Under such circumstances, he was unable to overtake others on his own, but with the help of cars dropping out and teams making pit stops to change to slicks, he recovered his position to 21st. After struggling with warming up the tires, he was able to improve his lap time to the 1 min 28 sec range, showing tenacity in his driving.
　However, on the 39th lap, when he climbed up to the 20th position, car No. 11 (GAINER TANAX Z) crashed at Rainbow Corner, resulting in an FCY, requiring the car to be recovered, and the race was switched to SC. After the formation arrangement and prolonged slow running, the tires got cold again.
When the race restarted on lap 46, Kataoka improved his times to 1 min 27.3 sec on lap 47 and 1 min 25.084 sec on lap 48, and by lap 50 he was 16th.
　At this point, the team brought Kataoka back to the pits for a driver change, and after changing to slick tires of different specs, sent Taniguchi out to the course.
Taniguchi entered the course in 20th position, and like Kataoka, he had trouble getting the tires to heat up, but on lap 59, he recorded a 1 min 29.630 sec time, and from there he gradually increased his pace. Toward the end of the race, Taniguchi set new personal bests on lap 65 (1 min. 24.339 sec.), lap 69 (23.609 sec.), and lap 70 (23.371 sec.).
　In the final stage of the race, on lap 73, he set a personal best time of 1 min 22.846 sec, but just before the maximum extended time, the race ended after 74 laps. He finished the race in 20th place, five laps down from the leader.
　The gamble failed completely, and the result of the race was very disappointing. However, after this race, they were still able to stay in 5th place in the ranking, 36 points behind the leader. The following Round 7, the “AUTOPOLIS GT 3Hours RACE” in Kyushu, will be held in mid-October with the most weight on the car for the season due to the change of rounds. The AUTOPOLIS circuit is known for being aggressive on the tires, and since this is a “full-weight” long-distance event, the team, which has always shown its strength in rough endurance races, will be looking to make a comeback.

 

■Comments from the Team

Team Owner: Aki Takanori
As far as strategic decisions are concerned, we didn’t miss much. The track surface was dry. Unfortunately, the tires we gambled with as recommended did not work as expected. That was the tough part. If we had used wet tires (at the start), we could have been in a better position, but, even so, I wonder if we could have finished in the top 10. It was a gamble, and it failed magnificently. All I can do now is stress (bitter laugh). I dared to use the last tires in a condition that was a bit like a test. Taniguchi set a series of bests at the end, but it took about 15 laps to warm up (an even bitterer laugh). When it is hot, there is a sense of closing in, but when it gets cold, the strength of the opponents stands out more. In the next round at AUTOPOLIS, we will be competing with full weight, the same as our rivals, but I hope our tires will be able to catch up with them anyway.

Team Manager, Ukyo Katayama
We were informed of the possibility of there not being qualifications due to rain, so we all drove hard because we knew our position in the free practice might be adopted. However, we struggled a bit at that stage because we didn’t have the right set-up. At the beginning of the session, when we got a good time, I thought, “Oh, that’s good,” but from there on, it was a little sluggish. In the meantime, the times turned into close combat, so we got in a difficult situation. As a result, we were forced to gamble, but even taking all of that into consideration, this time Dunlop and Michelin were ahead of us. They beat us completely. Even if our gamble had succeeded in the race, we would have finished 9th (at best) or 11th (at worst), which is really bad. The shock of losing the gamble was a big one (bitter laugh), but there are issues that needed to be addressed before that.