Astemo CIVIC TYPE R-GT Finish on the Podium in 3rd Place
May 3 (Fri) - 4 (Sat) --- The second round of the 2024 SUPER GT series specially named as “FUJI GT 3-Hours Race” was held at Fuji Speedway (Shizuoka Pref.) and five CIVIC TYPE R-GT cars and a NSX-GT3 car participated in each of the GT500 and GT300 class.
![Astemo CIVIC TYPE R-GT Finish on the Podium in 3rd Place](https://d3dup97zc5osq9.cloudfront.net/production/79531/conversions/2024-SUPER_GT-rd02_Fuji_R_0001_L-large.jpg)
The SUPER GT race has so far been conducted on the distance-oriented race format between 250-1000km, but for this time, as an experimental case, the race was run on a 3-hour time-oriented format. The race distance is estimated to be around 500km, and the 2-stop strategy is deemed as the standard practice.
Fuji Speedway on May 3 (Fri) was blessed with fine weather. CIVIC TYPE R-GT cars were generally in good shape right from the 10 min Q1 session began at 2:58 p.m., and #17 Astemo CIVIC TYPE R-GT (Kakunoshin Ohta) marked the top time followed immediately by #8 ARTA MUGEN CIVIC TYPE R-GT (Tomoki Nojiri) and then by #16 ARTA MUGEN CIVIC TYPE R-GT (Hiroki Otsu), making up a CIVIC TYPE R-GT’s 1-2-3 sweep going into the Q2 session. #100 STANLEY CIVIC TYPE R-GT (Tadasuke Makino) that had finished 3rd in the opening round had to accept the undeserved 8th fastest time partially due to the 24kg success weight.
The Q2 session started at 3:54 p.m. saw another clean shot made by #17 Astemo CIVIC TYPE R-GT (Koudai Tsukakoshi) that eventually marked the aggregated top time added up on Q1 time. This is the maiden pole position achieved for the first time by CIVIC TYPE R-GT in its second official appearance. #16 ARTA MUGEN CIVIC TYPE R-GT (Ren Sato) marked the second best time next to #17 car, however, the time was nullified because yellow flags were presented on the track during its attack. By this mishap, #16 car was forced to start the race from the grid as low as 14th. #8 ARTA MUGEN CIVIC TYPE R-GT (Nobuharu Matsushita) seized the 4th grid and #100 STANLEY CIVIC TYPE R-GT (Naoki Yamamoto) 6th to start the race.
May 4 (Sat), the race day was again greeted by clear blue sky, and the race started at 1:36 p.m. #17 Astemo CIVIC TYPE R-GT (Tsukakoshi) started from the pole position, but was soon caught by #3 Niterra MOTUL Z from outside and was passed by at the exit of Turn-1. Worse still, #17 car was overtaken also by #23 MOTUL AUTECH Z and dropped down to 3rd. As it is, #17 car made its first stop on Lap-34 and then retrieved the 2nd place back from #23 car when it made stop on Lap-38.
In the meantime, #8 ARTA MUGEN CIVIC TYPE R-GT (Matsushita) launching from 4th grid made its first stop on Lap-33 and was handed over to Nojiri, who began closing up on #23 car running now in 3rd. Later on Lap-71, Nojiri overtook #23 car at Turn-1 and climbed up to 3rd making the CIVIC TYPE R-GT’s 2-3 formation with #17 Astemo CIVIC TYPE R-GT ahead.
#17 Astemo CIVIC TYPE R-GT (Tsukakoshi) running 2nd made its second stop on Lap-74 and Ohta clung on the duty. As #3 car was also pitted at the same time, #8 ARTA MUGEN CIVIC TYPE R-GT (Nojiri) took up the nominal top position. #8 ARTA MUGEN CIVIC TYPE R-GT (Nojiri) came in on Lap-78 for the second driver change to Matsushita, who returned to the course ahead of #17 Astemo CIVIC TYPE R-GT (Ohta) but behind #23 car that had completed its second stop earlier. This means that #8 ARTA MUGEN CIVIC TYPE R-GT (Matsushita) was now running 3rd and #17 Astemo CIVIC TYPE R-GT (Ohta) was chasing it hard in 4th. An head-on fight between two CIVICs for the 3rd place looked imminent.
To everyone's surprise, however, #8 ARTA MUGEN TYPE R-GT (Matsushita) was hit by a transmission failure on Lap-110, and hurried to the pit only to have the team decide the pitiable retirement. #17 Astemo CIVIC TYPE R-GT (Ohta) inherited a windfall 3rd knowing that further pursuit of #23 car in front for 2nd was not feasible because the race was entering its final stage. CIVIC TYPE R-GT achieved a back-to-back podium finish following the season opener in April. #100 STANLEY CIVIC TYPE R-GT (Yamamoto/Makino) came in 7th, another back-to-back point finish on its own merits.
![Masahiro Saiki](https://d3dup97zc5osq9.cloudfront.net/production/52139/conversions/佐伯昌浩LPL11-thumb.jpg)
#17 car started the race from the very first pole position for CIVIC TYPE R-GT, but our rivals were strong too, and we had to settle in 3rd. As for CIVIC TYPE R-GT, two podium finishes in a row weren’t very bad, and we’d like to get on the top of it next time in Suzuka. For this time, I felt we needed to improve the accuracy of the tire choice that would fit better to the long run for CIVIC TYPE R-GT. We’ll try our best for those finishing touches in each round we’d confront in the future. We appreciate the continuous support from the fans. Thank you very much.
![Koudai Tsukakoshi](https://d3dup97zc5osq9.cloudfront.net/production/46600/conversions/025-icon-thumb.jpg)
My partner, Ohta, did a terrific job in Q1 session. It put a little pressure on me but we’re happy to be able to bring the first pole position for CIVIC TYPE R-GT. It’s a shame that we’d allowed #3 car to get ahead right after the start of the race for we had some setting deviations in the varying situation and so force. I tried to hang on to #3 car but my radio had some trouble during the race and I couldn’t communicate well with the team. I mean, we couldn’t share detailed information, so, it’s not the way I wanted to do in the first place. I think it’s not the 3rd place earned by our own right, but there’s a lot of reflection and learning in it for us to apply. We’re sure to make the best use of the experience for the next round at Suzuka.
![Kakunoshin Ohta](https://d3dup97zc5osq9.cloudfront.net/production/74636/conversions/icon-thumb.jpg)
As for the qualifying session, the car felt much better than I did in the opening round three weeks ago, so I could make a perfect attack that I’d been expecting. After that, Tsukakoshi-san did an excellent job too, and we could get the pole position. When it comes to the one-shot qualifying speed, I think we’ve done the limits of our ability available right now. But in the race, I lost positions during the pit stop. I reckoned we’re running 2nd at the time of driver change, but I found myself dropped 4th when I go back on the track. That’s a bit shame. It’s OK in the qualifying, but we need to improve our race pace, for sure.
GT500 Race Result
Pos. | Num. | Machine | Driver | Laps/Gap |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 3 | Niterra MOTUL Z | Mitsunori Takaboshi Atsushi Miyake |
117 Laps |
2 | 23 | MOTUL AUTECH Z | Katsumasa Chiyo Ronnie Quintarelli |
+13.738 |
3 | 17 | Astemo CIVIC TYPE R-GT | Koudai Tsukakoshi Kakunoshin Ohta |
+36.354 |
4 | 36 | au TOM'S GR Supra | Sho Tsuboi Kenta Yamashita |
+38.002 |
5 | 38 | KeePer CERUMO GR Supra | Hiroaki Ishiura Toshiki Oyu |
+41.637 |
6 | 12 | MARELLI IMPUL Z | Kazuki Hiramine Bertrand Baguette |
+48.364 |
7 | 100 | STANLEY CIVIC TYPE R-GT | Naoki Yamamoto Tadasuke Makino |
+50.361 |
12 | 64 | Modulo CIVIC TYPE R-GT | Takuya Izawa Riki Okusa |
+1 Lap |
14 | 8 | ARTA MUGEN CIVIC TYPE R-GT #8 | Tomoki Nojiri Nobuharu Matsushita |
+7 Laps |
15 | 16 | ARTA MUGEN CIVIC TYPE R-GT #16 | Hiroki Otsu Ren Sato |
+21 Laps |
GT300 Race Result
Pos. | Num. | Machine | Driver | Laps/Gap |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 88 | JLOC Lamborghini GT3 | Takashi Kogure Yuya Motojima |
108 Laps |
2 | 56 | REALIZE NISSAN MECHANIC CHALLENGE GT-R | Daiki Sasaki Joao Paulo de Oliveira |
+17.702 |
3 | 52 | Green Brave GR Supra GT | Hiroki Yoshida Seita Nonaka |
+19.730 |
4 | 4 | GOODSMILE HATSUNE MIKU AMG | Nobuteru Taniguchi Tatsuya Kataoka |
+25.951 |
5 | 31 | apr LC500h GT | Kazuto Kotaka Jin Nakamura Yuki Nemoto |
+1 Lap |
6 | 2 | muta Racing GR86 GT | Yuui Tsutsumi Hibiki Taira |
+1 Lap |
7 | 18 | UPGARAGE NSX GT3 | Takashi Kobayashi Syun Koide Yusuke Mitsui |
+1 Lap |
GT500 Ranking
Pos. | Num. | Driver | Machine | Pts |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 36 | Sho Tsuboi Kenta Yamashita |
au TOM'S GR Supra | 31 |
2 | 3 | Mitsunori Takaboshi Atsushi Miyake |
Niterra MOTUL Z | 27 |
3 | 23 | Katsumasa Chiyo Ronnie Quintarelli |
MOTUL AUTECH Z | 22 |
4 | 39 | Yuhi Sekiguchi Yuichi Nakayama |
DENSO KOBELCO SARD GR Supra | 19 |
5 | 100 | Naoki Yamamoto Tadasuke Makino |
STANLEY CIVIC TYPE R-GT | 16 |
6 | 17 | Koudai Tsukakoshi Kakunoshin Ohta |
Astemo CIVIC TYPE R-GT | 14 |
10 | 8 | Tomoki Nojiri Nobuharu Matsushita |
ARTA MUGEN CIVIC TYPE R-GT #8 | 3 |
12 | 16 | Hiroki Otsu Ren Sato |
ARTA MUGEN CIVIC TYPE R-GT #16 | 2 |
13 | 64 | Takuya Izawa Riki Okusa |
Modulo CIVIC TYPE R-GT | 1 |
GT300 Ranking
Pos. | Num. | Driver | Machine | Pts |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 2 | Yuui Tsutsumi Hibiki Taira |
muta Racing GR86 GT | 27 |
2 | 88 | Takashi Kogure Yuya Motojima |
JLOC Lamborghini GT3 | 26 |
3 | 52 | Hiroki Yoshida Seita Nonaka |
Green Brave GR Supra GT | 19 |
4 | 65 | Naoya Gamou Takuro Shinohara |
LEON PYRAMID AMG | 18 |
5 | 56 | Daiki Sasaki Joao Paulo de Oliveira |
REALIZE NISSAN MECHANIC CHALLENGE GT-R | 16 |
6 | 4 | Nobuteru Taniguchi Tatsuya Kataoka |
GOODSMILE HATSUNE MIKU AMG | 12 |
11 | 18 | Takashi Kobayashi Syun Koide |
UPGARAGE NSX GT3 | 4 |
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