Debut of the New Machine: STANLEY CIVIC TYPE R-GT Takes 3rd place on the Podium

Honda RACING has switched the base car of the GT500 class entry for this season from NSX Type S to CIVIC Type R, and thus the newly developed CIVIC TYPE R-GT has been launched into the opening round. Driver combinations of the Honda camp, except for #100 STANLEY CIVIC TYPE R-GT assigned to Naoki Yamamoto/Tadasuke Makino, have gone into a major shuffle as follows: #8 ARTA MUGEN CIVIC TYPE R-GT to Tomoki Nojiri/Nobuharu Matsushita, #17 Astemo CIVIC TYPE R-GT to Koudai Tsukakoshi/Kakunoshin Ohta, #64 Modulo CIVIC TYPE R-GT to Takuya Izawa/Riki Okusa, #16 ARTA MUGEN CIVIC TYPE R-GT to Hiroki Otsu/Ren Sato.

The new CIVIC TYPE R-GT inherited the primary components of the car such as engine, chassis, suspension system, etc., from the predecessor model (NSX-GT), however, the big difference in the body shape required the setting to be drastically changed in order to maximize the performance of the car. For this purpose, a series of vigorous tweaking works has been done during the pre-season joint tests.

On 13 (Sat), official qualifying sessions were carried out under the fine sky with faint clouds where both ambient and road surface temperatures hiked up as the day went on. From this season on, some of the sporting regulations were changed, for example, the number of tires usable in a normal race week is reduced to four sets per entrant, and the starting grids for the race are decided by the "Q1-2" aggregated times.

As the result of Q1 and Q2 sessions, #100 STANLEY CIVIC TYPE R-GT (Yamamoto/Makino) gained the 3rd grid, the highest among the Honda brigade, whereas #8 ARTA MUGEN CIVIC TYPE R-GT (Nojiri/Matsushita) ended up in the bottom grid to start the race due to the complete course off (all four wheels went out of the track) that inevitably incurs the nullification of time usually recorded as "DNS". #17 Astemo CIVIC TYPE R-GT (Tsukakoshi/Ohta) and #64 Modulo CIVIC TYPE R-GT (Izawa/Okusa) sat on the 10th and 13th grids respectively.

The weather stays fine on 14 (Sun), and at 1:30 p.m., the 300km/82-lap race was duly started. #100 STANLEY CIVIC TYPE R-GT (Makino) launching from the 3rd grid maintained its position and looked set to run a prospective race, however, a minor shunt occurred in the midfield of GT500 class forced #17 Astemo CIVIC TYPE R-GT (Ohta) an immature retirement in the opening lap. #17 car unable to avoid a stranded car incurred some damage at the front of the body and had to stop immediately due to coolant leakage.

The safety car dispatched for the incident withdrew on Lap-7, and the race was resumed from Lap-8. #100 STANLEY CIVIC TYPE R-GT (Makino) closed on to #38 car in front, but could not practically make the move. Later, on Lap-17, #100 car was lobbed of its position by #38 car who shrewdly caught the opportunity at Atwood corner, and dropped down to 4th.

On Lap-29 when one-third of the race distance was run, #100 STANLEY CIVIC TYPE R-GT (Makino) made its stop just as #38 car did the same a fraction of a second earlier. #100 car now in the hands of Yamamoto quickly left the pit thanks to the lightning-fast skills of the pit crew, rejoining the course ahead of #38 and resumed the 3rd position.

#100 STANLEY CIVIC TYPE R-GT (Yamamoto) gradually pulled away from #38 car and begun gaining on #39 car running ahead in 2nd. The gap between the two cars came to the tail-to-nose situation over and over again, however, the position swap has never been materialized ever after.

In the end, #100 STANLEY CIVIC TYPE R-GT (Yamamoto) settled in 3rd, 1.251 sec. behind #39 finishing 2nd, and brought the CIVIC TYPE R-GT car the first podium finish at its debut race. #8 ARTA MUGEN CIVIC TYPE R-GT (Nojiri/Matsushita) finished 8th all despite the unfortunate pit lane start. #16 ARTA MUGEN CIVIC TYPE R-GT (Otsu/Sato) and #64 Modulo CIVIC TYPE R-GT (Izawa/Okusa) came in 9th and 10th respectively, each one of them received its fair share of points.

GT500 Race Result

GT300 Race Result