Keihin HSV-010 wins at SUGO GT300km Race

The round 5 of the 2010 Autobacs Super GT was a 300-kilometre race which took place at the 3.704-kilometre Sportsland SUGO Circuit. The cars completed a total 81-laps of the circuit to round up the 300-kilometre battle.

Pole sitter, Benoit Treluyer of the MOTUL Autech GT-R had a great start and continued to open up a gap over the rest of the pack to 15-seconds at one point. The second half of the race was driven by Benoit's teammate, Satoshi Motoyama, who continued to hold the lead with a difference of 6-seconds, what looked like a victory for the MOTUL Autech GT-R.

Unfortunate for the GT-R, as the car came to a halt at the last corner of the circuit with just 8-laps remaining, due to a developed electrical problem.

With Motoyama out of the race, the battle for the win was between the two Honda HSV-010 GT cars, with Takashi Kogure in his Weider HSV-010 and Koudai Tsukakoshi in the KEIHIN HSV-010. The battle was head-to-head till the last corner of the last lap, when Tsukakoshi brought his HSV-010 even with Kogure from the outside and then nosed ahead just as they crossed the chequered flag.

Tsukakoshi managed to snatch the win over Kogure with just 0.025-seconds apart from each other as the crossed the finish line.

Tsukakoshi, who was still in disbelief during the post race interview, was very happy with the win and felt that the achievement was just luck.

"I think I was just very lucky. As a team, we have confidence that we can run good races, now all we need to work on is getting a better qualifying position. Then, I will try my best to go for a second win in the next round.", he added.

In the GT-300 class, the Apple K-ONE Shiden driven by Hiroki Katoh and Hiroshi Hamaguchi started from pole position and never gave up the lead all the way to the chequered flag.

A GT-R One Two at Sepang

The drivers from the Calsonic IMPUL GT-R, Tsugio Matsuda and Ronnie Quintarelli, took the win at the Round 4 of the Autobacs SuperGT International Series in Sepang International Circuit, Malaysia last weekend, claiming the win in the GT500 series and overall winners, with a total time of 1:50'54.084.

Team Calsonic IMPUL won the converted EBBRO Pole Position trophy which they gained in the Super Lap Qualifying session on Saturday, placing them first on the starting grid. Initially, the team had difficulties with this season's new 3.4L power plant in the GT-R, and with their strong teamwork and combined forces, led them to the finish line in first.

Tsugio Matsuda mentioned in a post race interview, that he felt that the race was doubtful for a win, but they have managed it with a good combination of speed with his fellow driver, Ronnie Quintarelli and the ever hardworking team members and Team Manager, Hoshino, who gave them a chance at the winter test despite the tight finances.

His teammate, Ronnie Quintarelli, added that nothing can beat this feeling of having won the race, with Tsugio and the team all worked very hard for this achievement.

The second place winner in the GT500 category was secured by the Motul Autech GT-R drivers, Satoshi Motoyama and Benoit Treluyer, completing the the race in 1:51'07.417, whilst Takashi Kogure and Loic Duval brought their Weider HSV-010 to the finish line in third, completing the top three finishers of the GT500 category with a total time of 1:51'10.757.

M7 RE-Amemiya Racing of Mutiara Motors secured their win here at Sepang International Circuit in the GT300 category recording a total time of 1:52'09.593.

Ryo Orime from the M7 RE-Amemiya Mutiara Motors Racing Team expressed his gratitude to our local Malaysian Sponsors, Mutiara Motors, who came out to give their full support last weekend and he is happy to give them this victory in return.

"Trouble developed in our suspensions in the last seven laps, so I had to avoid the curbing, and that slowed my pace by almost 2 seconds per lap. Actually, it was a miracle that I was able to make it to the finish", he added.

The second spot in the GT300 race category went to ARTA Garaiya's Morio Nitta and Shinichi Takagi, 27.625" behind the leader, with Takuto Iguchi and Yuji Kunimoto from the Corolla Axio APR GT team completing the top three finishers with a total lap time of 1:53"00.939.

This year marks the 10th edition of the SuperGT International Series since it was firstly held here at Sepang International Circuit back in 1999. The teams will be heading back to Japan for the Round 5 of this series to be held at the Sugo Circuit from 24-25 July 2010.

More pictures at my flickr site.

Autobacs SuperGT 2010 returns to Sepang

Japan's biggest and hottest racing series, The Autobacs Super GT International Series, will be making a return for Round 4 in the racing calendar, to Sepang International Circuit from 18-20 June 2010.

The 2010 Super GT International Series will mark the 10^th anniversary of the event being held at the circuit. The race series has come a long way since it was first held at the circuit in June 2000.

"Malaysia is the only country to host the Super GT outside of Japan. When it first came to Malaysia, it was purely a Japanese race series, it was only followed by Japanese race fans and had Japanese sponsors", Razlan Razali, CEO of Sepang International Circuit.

"Now we have a significant number of Super GT followers in Malaysia, and there are many non-Japanese drivers taking part in this race. We also have two Malaysian corporations being part of the two top teams in Super GT, namely Mutiara Motors in GT300 and Petronas TOMS in the GT500 Series.", he added.

The Super GT International Race Series not only is recognised to be held at renowned Japanese tracks such as the Twin Ring Motegi Circuit, The Fuji Speedway and the Suzuka Circuit, it is also long being known among motorsports fans as a powerful combination of dazzling mean machines and their beauty queens.

This year's Super GT International Series would also be featuring support races by the all-new GT4 Asia Cup, the GT3 Asia Series, Yaris/Vios Experience Race in Sepang as well as the environmentally-friendly Scirocco Cup.

In conjunction to the racing event, SIC will be organising the children's pit walkabout on Saturday, 19 June 2010 at 1730hrs. The already eventful Super GT International Series being held at Sepang will also feature the ever exciting Circuit Safari, where fans will be able to get a closer feel and look at the race as they are transported via a low-loader bus doing the laps around the track during the Super GT practice session.

SIC will also be organising a contest where fans will be able to win themselves a ride in the Super GT Official Safety Car, the Nissan GTR-R35, pit passes and circuit safari rides. To qualify, they will have to purchase a minimum of two tickets, answer three simple questions and complete a slogan.

There will also be a charity car wash session at the circuit during the race weekend.

More info, visit SuperGT @ SIC.

source: Media release by Sepang International Circuit.

Autobacs 2009 SuperGT Round 4

The roaring engines, the flaming exhausts and not to forget, the ambassadors of the Super GT is back in Malaysia for the 2009 Autobacs SuperGT Round 4 held in our home circuit, Sepang International Circuit in Sepang. The Official SuperGT Ambassadors were already here in Malaysia for the whole month to promote the event with road shows being held all around the country. Sana Yuki and Nana Shibata, the 2 selected ambassadors for the inaugural Round 4 of the Autobacs SuperGT.

I've been given the opportunity to cover the event in SIC by my fellow photographer friend "Bugger" and Jerry, more to cover the support event, the Aston Martin Cup. The SuperGT cars arrived Sepang on Thursday, where unpacking take place at the pit area. A very busy morning till late afternoon. Teams unpack and prepare the pit garage and pit lanes with refueling rigs, impact wrenches, tool kits, tyres, and more importantly, the car!

As usual, the main attraction to the event was the SuperGT ambassadors, like Sana & Nana, the official ambassadors, as well as the team Race Queens. The grandstands were filled with spectators on raceday. Some of which have passes to the Pit Walk. Some of which, also have acquired themselves the Circuit Safari where they ride in a bus on the track with the superGT cars doing their flying laps around the track.

The circuit was wet in the morning and it started to rain just before the race started. The track started to dry up just before race start. Unlike the practice and qualifying sessions, the track was wet and it rained cats & dogs.

At the starting grid lineup, there was an opening window of approximately 30 minutes for the paddock and sic hospitality guests to walk around and snap some photos of the cars with the drivers and race queens.

Round 4 of the Autobacs SuperGT held in Sepang International Circuit was won by No. 3 Team Hasemi Tomica Ebbro GT-R in the GT500 class while the No. 2 I.M. Jihan Co. Ltd Apple Shiden driven by Hiroki Katoh and Hiroki Yoshimoto took the winners podium for the GT300 class. 

36 Team Petronas Tom's SC430 driven by drivers Jyuichi Wakisaka and Andre Lotterer finished 6th in the GT500 class.

A great weekend at the track and hope to see more of this event to come in the future. Till next year!